“La nina y el peix”. Indirect Translation of a Slavic Lyric Folk Song

Abstract

The present article is a research on the Catalan translation of a Slavic lyric folk song. The translation has been published in the magazine L'Aureneta in 1896, the author of the translation being Josep Carner using one of his pseudonyms.                As a starting point we use the variation of the song “Riba i djevojka” form the Serbian Folk Song Book (1815) compiled by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. In the article we try to reconstruct and contextualise the path that the song has taken to get to Catalonia. Next, we establish the source that served as the basis for the Catalan translation. In order to reconstruct Carner's work in translating and recreating the verses of the folk song, we analyse the changes in vocabulary, style, and meter that appear in Carner's version with respect to the original and the intermediate translation.                The translation of the young Carner is the only Catalan translation of this folk song known to date, and is likely the only example of Balkan folk poetry that has ever been translated into Catalan.