Greek δημοτικά τραγούδια are anonymous songs transmitted through performance, so different regions and collectors preserve legitimate variants. This page reads six lines from the opening of Του νεκρού αδελφού, a traditional narrative ballad or παραλογή, with meter—not a vocabulary list—as the organizing principle.
Source and rights: the song is anonymous traditional folk material and is public domain. The wording follows the version reproduced in the Greek Ministry of Education's upper-secondary literature textbook; punctuation has been presented in current monotonic spelling. The textbook itself notes the song's many circulating variants.
The selected lines
Μάνα με τους εννιά σου γιους και με τη μια σου κόρη,
mána me tus eniá su yus ke me ti mia su kóri,
Mother, with your nine sons and your one daughter,
την κόρη τη μονάκριβη, την πολυαγαπημένη,
tin kóri ti monákrivi, tin poliaghapiméni,
the only daughter, the dearly beloved one,
την είχες δώδεκα χρονώ κι ήλιος δε σου την είδε!
tin íches dhódheka chronó ki ílios dhe su tin ídhe!
you had kept her to twelve years of age, and no sun had seen her!
Στα σκοτεινά την έλουζε, στ’ άφεγγα τη χτενίζει,
sta skotiná tin éluze, st’ áfenga ti chtenízi,
In darkness she bathed her; in the lightless hours she combs her hair,
στ’ άστρι και τον αυγερινό έπλεκε τα μαλλιά της.
st’ ástri ke ton avyerinó épleke ta maliá tis.
by starlight and the morning star she braided her hair.
Προξενητάδες ήρθανε από τη Βαβυλώνα,
proksenitádhes írthane apó ti Vavilóna,
Matchmakers came from Babylon,
The mother has guarded her only daughter from public sight; the matchmakers' arrival launches the plot. The translation stays literal because χρονώ and κι ήλιος δε σου την είδε are folk-poetic.
The fifteen-syllable line: 8 + 7
The characteristic πολιτικός στίχος has fifteen syllables, normally with a strong internal break after the eighth. The first line scans cleanly when μια is treated as the one-syllable form it is in ordinary speech:
Μά-να με τους εν-νιά σου γιους || και με τη μια σου κό-ρη
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 || 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
The caesura balances nine sons before it against one daughter after it.
Η λέξη μια μετράει ως μία συλλαβή στον πρώτο στίχο.
i léksi mia metrái os mía silaví ston próto stícho.
The word mia counts as one syllable in the first line.
In the tighter second line, πολυαγαπημένη can be sung with internal synizesis. See elision and synizesis.
Elision and hiatus control
In στ’ άφεγγα and στ’ άστρι, the final vowel of στα and στο respectively has been elided before another vowel. The apostrophe occupies the lost vowel's place and protects the meter.
Κι ήλιος uses κι before a vowel and can be sung closely across the boundary. Neutral Standard normally prefers και before consonants; κι is natural before vowels and available for rhythm in song.
Στην πεζή απόδοση λέμε στο άστρο, αλλά ο στίχος κρατά το στ’ άστρι.
stin pezí apódhosi léme sto ástro, alá o stíchos kratá to st’ ástri.
In the prose rendering we say sto astro, but the verse keeps st' astri.
Narrative movement: background, historical present, aorist
Imperfect έλουζε and έπλεκε background the routine. Historical present χτενίζει momentarily makes it vivid; aorist ήρθανε then presents the plot-changing arrival as bounded.
Η μάνα την έλουζε και της έπλεκε τα μαλλιά μακριά από τα βλέμματα.
i mána tin éluze ke tis épleke ta maliá makriá apó ta vlémata.
The mother used to bathe her and braid her hair away from people's eyes. (neutral prose background)
Ύστερα ήρθαν προξενητάδες και άρχισε η ιστορία του γάμου.
ístera írthan proksenitádhes ke árchise i istoría tu ghámu.
Then matchmakers arrived, and the story of the marriage began. (neutral prose storyline)
This outside, bounded view—not event count—motivates the aorist; see using the aorist.
Poetic compression: article and copula
In κι ήλιος δε σου την είδε, expected article ο is absent. Neutral prose normally says κι ο ήλιος δεν την είχε δει: it restores both the article and the normally retained final -ν of δεν. The compressed folk line saves meter and makes ήλιος feel cosmic.
The second line is an appositive nominal continuation: την κόρη τη μονάκριβη, την πολυαγαπημένη. It has no copula because it renames and describes the daughter introduced in line one; this is not an independent verbless clause. Prose can also use apposition, but a self-contained prose clause must spell out the relation. One clear paraphrase is:
Είχε μία κόρη που ήταν μοναχοκόρη και πολυαγαπημένη.
íche mía kóri pu ítan monachokóri ke poliaghapiméni.
She had one daughter, who was her only daughter and dearly beloved. (neutral prose equivalent)
Literary and poetic style explains why recoverable compression is not a general license to omit words.
Address gives the ballad a voice
Initial Μάνα makes the story an address rather than a detached report. Later Μάνα μου and Κωσταντή let voices enter the narration directly.
Μάνα, άκουσε τι σου λέει ο μικρότερος γιος σου.
mána, ákuse ti su léi o mikróteros yos su.
Mother, listen to what your youngest son is telling you. (neutral prose with direct address)
Cultural context
Παραλογές were sung narrative ballads at communal gatherings and work, carrying long, often uncanny stories through memory and performance. Their anonymous verses circulated in regional variants; repeated formulas, direct address, and the fifteen-syllable line helped singers sustain the tale.
Common Mistakes
Counting μια as two syllables. Unstressed μια is one syllable here; emphatic numeral μία is two.
Στον στίχο ακούμε μια σε έναν μόνο ρυθμικό χτύπο.
ston stícho akúme mia se énan móno rithmikó chtípo.
In the verse we hear mia in a single rhythmic beat.
Expanding every short form while quoting. A prose paraphrase may restore vowels and articles, but a quotation should preserve the documented version and its meter.
Στην πεζή αφήγηση ο ήλιος δεν την είχε δει ως τότε.
stin pezí afíyisi o ílios dhen tin íche dhi os tóte.
In the prose narration, the sun had not seen her until then.
Equating folk tense variation with random tense use. The imperfect supplies background, the historical present heightens a moment, and the aorist advances the plot.
Οι γυναίκες την πρόσεχαν, ώσπου έφτασαν οι προξενητάδες.
i yinékes tin prósechan, óspu éftasan i proksenitádhes.
The women watched over her until the matchmakers arrived. (background followed by bounded event)
Key Takeaways
- The πολιτικός στίχος normally has fifteen syllables with an 8 + 7 division.
- Μια, elision in στ’ άφεγγα, and close vowel joining support the meter.
- Imperfect background and aorist storyline remain a real aspect contrast inside folk diction.
- Bare ήλιος is poetic compression. The second line is apposition rather than a clause with a freely omitted copula; neutral prose may preserve that apposition or expand it into an explicit relative clause.
- Initial Μάνα turns narration into address and helps create the oral ballad's dramatic voice.
Related Topics
- Elision and SynizesisB1 — Why σε αυτό becomes σ' αυτό, από εδώ becomes απ' εδώ, and θα έρθω becomes θα 'ρθω — and why μια is one syllable ('mya'), not two. The vowel-smoothing that makes spoken Greek flow; full forms sound stiff.
- Literary and Poetic StyleC1 — Read Greek literary style through marked order, register mixing, dialect color, elevated diction, rhetorical patterning, and poetic ellipsis.
- Using the AoristA2 — The aorist is Greek's default perfective past: it presents an event, a narrative step, a result or even a finite series as one bounded whole — and often lines up with the English simple past while contrasting with the imperfect's internal view.
- Text: Φεγγαράκι μου λαμπρόA2 — Read a traditional Greek children's rhyme through its affectionate diminutive, direct address, imperative, and chain of purpose clauses.