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Question I'm 2nd generation in the US, the generation that looses the language. My mother taught us to say our nighttime prayers in Slovak. I thought I was saying - Mow I lay me down to sleep, etc. But I'm not sure. I remember only a fragment.
boodsme stedy napomotsi, stedy dusha moiya, opravadju vishnoa
Do you recognize this prayer? Can you write it out in full. I bet other Slovaks would like to teach it to their kids.
Answer Hello Henry,
I don't recognise the prayer, unfortunately, but I am able to pick up some words.
"boodsme stedy napomotsi"
- I don't know what "stedy" could mean; perhaps 'vtedy' (at that time); is it pronounced the same as "steady" in English?
- leaving out "stedy," this means something like "be here for my help," or "be of help to me"
- it would be spelled "bud mi na pomoci" (pron. boodj me napomotsi) but in some parts of Slovakia may be pronounced just as you wrote it (boods me)
- bud = be (imperative), mi = to me, na pomoci = on help (literally)
"stedy dusha moiya"
- "stedy" is a bugger :-)
- translates "my soul," or "soul of mine", spelled "dusa moja"
- dusa = soul, moja = mine (both feminine)
"opravadju vishnoa"
- this could mean "really eternal" (referring to the "soul of mine"), but I am not sure about this at all
- if so, it is spelled as "opravdu vecnoja," but "opravdu" is more of a Czech word (really) while "vecnoja" is more Ukrainian or Russian (eternal). They can both be used in colloquial Slovak, but it's unlikely you should find them used together in one dialect. One is Eastern, the other Western.
- the pronunciation in this case would be "opravdoo vetchnoya" - which doesn't match what you remember that well
- it's more likely the first word is "odprevad ju," meaning "accompany it" (again, referring to the soul), but in that case I have no clue what "vishnoa" could mean
- "odprevad ju" would be pronounced as "od-pre-vadj-you", the 'e' in "pre" as in "bet". Do you think this could be it?
As for "mow I lay me down to sleep," I have no clue.
I tried to find the prayer through Google (using those words I was sure of), but I didn't find anything. I am pretty sure it is nowhere online (which does not surprise me that much). If you want to have a go at it, you can be sure about the spelling of "na pomoci" and "dusa moja" - Google disregards Slovak accents, so you can enter these terms as you see them here.
I will try to find out for you. I will ask my wife's family, which is traditional Catholic; they may recognise it.
Hope this helped. This is one of the most interesting questions I have been asked :-)
