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Cupids playing with a lyre_ Roman fresco from Herculaneum_edited_edited_edited_edited_edit

Δημοτικό τραγούδι

Greek

Τα μονοκοτυλήδονα
και τα δικοτυλήδονα
ανθίζανε στον κάμπο

σου το ’χαν πει στον κλήδονα
και σμίξαμε φιλήδονα
τα χείλια μας, Μαλάμω!

English

The monocots
and the dicots
were blossoming in the meadow

they had told you so at the fair
and lustfully, we joined
our lips, Malamo!

μονοκοτυλήδονα / δικοτυλήδονα

Monocots and dicots are categories of plants, whose seeds contain one, and two embryonic leaves respectively.


κάμπος

The word is borrowed from Latin campus, which means the same thing. English campus has the same origin.


κλήδονας

A vanishing folk custom, κλήδονας was a festival that used to take place every year on the 24th of June – St John’s day. It revolved around an oracular ritual, that was believed to reveal to young unmarried women the name of their future husband.


σμίγω

The verb means ‘to join’, but it also means ‘to couple’, as in two people meeting in a sexual way.


χείλια

Although the plural of (το) χείλος ‘lip’ is normally χείλη, colloquially you may at times hear χείλια, which is considered informal.

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