Баю-баюшки баю- Hush-a-bye, Hush-a-bye

Title: Баю-баюшки баю

General Information:

  • Verbal Folklore: Russian nursery rhyme
  • Language: Russian
  • Country of Origin: Russia
  • Informant: Katya Pronichenko
  • Date Collected: 5/13/2020

Informant Data:

  • Katya Pronichenko was born November 6, 2000.  She was born and raised in L.A., where she lived with her older brother and Russian and Ukrainian parents.  Growing up, Katya attended Russian school in her native L.A. and frequently spoke Russian to her friends and family.  Katya is a current Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.

Contextual Data:

 

  • Social context: As a young girl, Katya learned this nursery rhyme from dad, who told it to help her fall asleep.
  • Cultural context: This nursery rhyme is well-known and uniform throughout Russia but has little to no cultural implications. 

Item:

Audio File:

 

Original Text:

Баю-баюшки баю

Не ложись на краю

Придёт серенький волчок,

И укусит за бочок

Transliteration:

Bayu-bayushki bayu

Ne lozhis’ na krayu

Pridyot seren’kiy volchok,

I ukusit za bochok  

Word-for-word translation:

Hush-a-bye, Hush-a-bye,

Don’t lie on the edge.

Will come a gray wolf,

And bite you in the side.

Free translation:

Hush, hush, hush

Stay away from the edge.

If not, a gray wolf will come

And bite your side.

Informant’s Comments: Katya interpreted the nursery rhyme as a calming ritual before falling asleep.  She also recognized that it contained warnings about not lying too close to the bed at night, a warning that is indicative of other nursery rhymes that served to lull a child to sleep.

Collector’s Comments: The nursery rhyme was told to help still a child’s movements, easing both the parents’ and childs’ mind at night.  In Russian folklore, wolves are frequently used as an omen of danger, which reflects that this rhyme is deeply rooted in the verbal folklore of Russian culture.

Collector’s Name: Jasmine Li

Tags/Keywords:

  • Russian
  • Nursery rhyme
  • Lullaby
  • Verbal folklore

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