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Q: translating and correcting Latin ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: translating and correcting Latin
Category: Reference, Education and News > General Reference
Asked by: timespacette-ga
List Price: $3.00
Posted: 19 May 2006 15:32 PDT
Expires: 18 Jun 2006 15:32 PDT
Question ID: 730536
I learned this song years ago; it is sung as a round:

Non nobis dominae, non nobis
Sed nomini tu, oh da glorium
Sed nomini tu, oh da glorium
Non nobis dominae, non nobis

I get the general drift of the meaning, but could someone give me a
clear translation, and also correct any errors?  thanks

***
Answer  
Subject: Re: translating and correcting Latin
Answered By: pinkfreud-ga on 19 May 2006 15:59 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Howdy, timespacette. This sounds unmistakably like "Non Nobis Domine."
It is an adaptation of Psalm 115:1. The exact origins of the musical
version are in dispute, but it apparently dates back to the sixteenth
or seventeenth century, and was often used during ceremonial occasions
which involved victories and achievements. The text is also the motto
of the Knights Templar.

"Non Nobis Domine Non Nobis 
 Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam

 Not To Us O Lord Not To Us 
 But To Your Name Give Glory"

The Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon 
http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/templars/nonnobis.htm

"Though Non nobis Domine was written by a skilful composer versed in
counterpoint, it cannot convincingly be attributed to William Byrd
(1542/3-1623). The late, eminent Byrd specialist Philip Brett came to
the view that most of the canons attributed to Byrd were spurious,
including this one. The earliest source of this particular canon dates
from 1620 to 1625 and is preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge, in the 'Bull' manuscript, MS 782, f.122v, where it is
anonymous, unbarred and untexted; the TUMS edition (CPDL #10739) above
was made directly from the facsimile reprint in Musical Times volume
113 (1972), page 856, by transposing down a perfect fourth (for the
soprano) and quartering the note values. The canon was published
anonymously in three 17th century collections, yet the earliest
attribution to a specific composer was made as late as 1715 by Thomas
Tudway, who ascribed it to Morley; the woefully inaccurate Dr Pepusch
ascribes it to Byrd in his 1731 Treatise on Harmony; and in 1739 the
theme is quoted in a concerto by Carlo Ricciotti as Canone di
Palestrina! The canon is known to have been admired by Mozart and
Beethoven, whomever its composer was."

Choral Public Domain Library: Non nobis Domine
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Non_nobis_Domine_(William_Byrd)

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "sed nomini tuo da gloriam"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22sed+nomini+tuo+da+gloriam%22

Google Web Search: "psalm 115" "non nobis"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22psalm+115%22+%22non+nobis%22

Google Web Search: "non nobis domine" "knights templar"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22non+nobis+domine%22+%22knights+templar%22

I hope this helps!

Best,
Pink
timespacette-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $1.00
thanks once again . . .  nice to know it's 'tuo da gloriam' not 'tu,
OH da glorium' . ..   ;-)

Comments  
Subject: Re: translating and correcting Latin
From: pinkfreud-ga on 20 May 2006 10:34 PDT
 
Thank you for the five stars and the tip! 'Tu, oh o da gloriam'
reminded me of an old joke that used to be passed around among
students of Latin:

Sibile, si ergo,
Fortibus es in ero.
O nobili, deis trux!
Vates enim? causa an dux.

This is, of course, nonsense in Latin. But, if you read it aloud, it
sounds like this;

See, Billy, see 'er go,
Forty buses in a row.
Oh, no, Billy, they is trucks!
What is in 'em? Cows and ducks.

~Pink
Subject: Re: translating and correcting Latin
From: timespacette-ga on 20 May 2006 23:01 PDT
 
very cute .... 


       . . . .     ;-)

****

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