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Unknown language of old prayer from grandparents - they spoke a mixture of Polish, Slovak & Hungarian


badtranslator 1 | 2
26 Nov 2019 #1
This clip is an old prayer that my baba taught me and I'm sure over the years I have either wrong or bad pronunciation so I apologize ahead of time. I do know that my grandparents spoke a mixture of polish, slovak & hungarian. But I do not know or remember what language this actually is? Hoping someone can identify it for me? If I did screw up the language, could someone re-post the proper speech? If not that's ok too :)

Thank you very much!

Audio Clip link-
clyp.it/ts0g2xfi
mafketis 36 | 10,687
26 Nov 2019 #2
clyp

Sounds like Polish more than anything though the vowels are wonky, probably a version of this:

pacierz.pl/aniele-bozy.php

Aniele Boży (ModlitwaA do Anioła Stróża)

Aniele Boży, stróżu mój,
Ty zawsze przy mnie stój.
Rano, wieczór, we dnie, w nocy
Bądź mi zawsze ku pomocy,
Strzeż duszy, ciała mego,
zaprowadź mnie do żywota wiecznego.

Quick and very rough translation

Angel of God (prayer to a guardian angel)

Angel of god, my guardian
Always stand beside me.
Morning, evening, in day and night
Always be (ready) to help
Guard my soul, my body
Lead me to the enternal gate

There's probably a more polished translated out there.
OP badtranslator 1 | 2
26 Nov 2019 #3
I will give it look, thank you so much for the reply! And yeah it's probably wonky lol...I haven't said it in 25+ years :P
zasdfjkl
26 Nov 2019 #4
my grandparents spoke a mixture of polish, slovak & hungarian.

Perhaps it was a Carpo-Rusyn dialect?
Polushhhhhhhhka
29 Nov 2019 #5
Hmmm, it sounds like you need some Polish lessons... Your grandmother should not be translated as 'baba', she is "babcia" and/or "babunia". Having such great ancestor and not be able to pronounce/say/write basic words in Polish is a real shame. You're smart, aren't you? There are many websites that teach languages online for free...
Atch 22 | 4,096
29 Nov 2019 #6
We have a similar prayer in English that we learned when I was a kid, in Ireland:

Oh angel of God my guardian dear
To whom His love commits me here
Ever this day be at my side
To light and guard
To rule and guide
Amen

It's a childrens' prayer.
OP badtranslator 1 | 2
30 Nov 2019 #7
@Polushhhhhhhhka
For your information that is how SHE pronounced it and spelled it for us as kids. Yes I am smart and yes I know about the internet so no I don't need online lessons.

But thank you for the informative assumptions.
dolnoslask 6 | 2,934
30 Nov 2019 #8
Baba (Slavic for grandmother) is /was used in Poland mainly in the east which is now the Ukraine

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babcia
kaprys 3 | 2,249
30 Nov 2019 #9
Mafketis is right. It's Aniele Boży. It's Polish. You misssed some words but it's recognisable.
Here's how it's pronounced by a native speaker

youtu.be/DOB2XFw8Pns
Magosci
2 Dec 2019 #10
It's Polish

And perhaps that is how the Carpo-Rusyns pronounce those words?
kaprys 3 | 2,249
2 Dec 2019 #11
@Magosci
All I heard was an American pronounce the words. Polish words. Not a dialect.
Also it's a Catholic prayer. I don't know if it exists in the Orthodox church as well.
mafketis 36 | 10,687
2 Dec 2019 #12
All I heard was an American pronounce the words

The weird thing for me was the pronunciation of mój and stój as closer to moj and stoj... it's easy to believe that some dialect has the pronuncations though.

But still very recognizable for someone who presumably had no idea what he was saying, his babcia taught him that prayer very well.

how SHE pronounced it and spelled it for us as kids

you're probably no longer around but in more modern Polish 'baba' became a not very polite word for 'woman', not obscene or that crude but not very polite either, maye a little like 'broad' in older American English.
kaprys 3 | 2,249
2 Dec 2019 #13
@mafketis
Of course, it was recognisable and well done but the thing is that we can't really judge his grandma's accent through his pronounciation.

Also I don't know if the prayer exists in the Orthodox church and most Rysyns were Orthodox. The language is Polish.

As for baba, when babies learn to speak, grandmas are called babas to make it easier for the kid. Perhaps it stayed like that in that family as Polish wasn't their first language.
Magosci
2 Dec 2019 #14
I don't know if the prayer exists in the Orthodox church and most Rysyns were Orthodox.

Rusyns changed from Orthodoxy to Catholicism throughout their history, but most in Europe were Ruthenian Greek Catholics per WP and most of what I read. In the U.S. many changed back to Orthodoxy, but not in Europe, at least not in recent history before WWII. The Carpo-Rusyn language matches the OP's discription of a language that is a mixture of languages, i.e., Eastern Slavic grammar mixed in with Western Slavic and Hungarian words. Stalin called them all Ukrainains, which wasn't true, and their language is distinct as well.
kaprys 3 | 2,249
3 Dec 2019 #15
I don't think I can make such assumptions based only on a prayer said by an American descendant of a Polish immigrant.
As for Rusyns converting to Catholicism, I have no such knowledge either. In fact, as far as I know it was them who constituted a large part of the Orthodox church in Poland.


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