Olin minä ennen Åltermanni

SKVR VII3 4017·Kontiolahti·1914·Collector: Hotinen, Juho

In the SKVR edition: Kontiolahti. Hotinen n. 2. -14. Alku Savossa ja täydellisempi Kontiolahdella.

Song type: Onnimanni

SKVR textEnglish

1Olin minä ennen Åltermanni,I was once an Alderman,

2Åltermannista Matikka,From Alderman to Matikka,

3Matikasta maitopyörä,From Matikka to a milk churn,

4Maitopyörästä Pöveli,From milk churn to Pöveli,

5Pövelistä pöyvän jalka,From Pöveli to a table leg,

6Pöytärikistä Rimento,From broken table to Rimento,

7Rimennosta rintasolki,From Rimento to a brooch,

8Rintasolesta sopukka,From brooch to a nook,

9Sopukasta sormikinnas,From nook to a mitten,

10Sormikintaasta Kipunki,From mitten to Kipunki,

11Kipungista kirjanmerkki,From Kipunki to a bookmark,

12Kirjanmerkistä meteli,From bookmark to noise,

13Metelistä meijänherra,From noise to our master,

14Meijänherrasta hevonen,From our master to a horse,

15Hevosesta heinäkelkka,From horse to a hay sled,

16Heinäkelkasta rapukka,From hay sled to a crab/runt,

17Rapukasta raijan haara,From crab to Raija's branch,

18Raijan haarasta harakka,From Raija's branch to a magpie,

19Harakasta haista perse.From magpie to "smell ass!"

English translations by DeepSeek R1, provided by Lidia Pivovarova (University of Helsinki). AI-generated translations may contain inaccuracies.

The text is that of the SKVR digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), with these changes:

The editors’ signs inside the verses ([ ], ⌈ ⌉, *, [!], [?]) are left out, as in the poem reader; the letters they enclose are kept.
The edition’s line numbers are replaced by a number on every verse, counted as in the poem reader.
The editors’ notes, and the marks in the verses that point to them, are left out; they can be read at SKS.

Source

Text: SKVR (Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot), the digital edition of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS), licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Added by RunoVerse: the English translations, the song types, the verse numbers and the links.