Eagle root

[-JKP-]

This seems like a very romantic way of saying 'they sang folk songs which contained a fair amount of melodic nonsense words, onomatopoeia and archaic vocabulary'. Like many European folk songs tend to do. My daughter learns ancient ditties in language no longer understood in daycare.

Of course the origin of folk songs can be interesting, especially if those songs relate to traditions and festivals. But the presence of unintellegible language need not imply anything out of the ordinary.

I don't think this should be dismissed as nonsense words.

When I was a school-child I was taught a couple of songs in foreign languages without it being explained, except VERY briefly, what the songs were about. They were not translated word by word or even by phrase, just a general description.

I remember the songs very well but it was years before I learned the language in which they were in. If it were an ancient language, I might also remember the songs without necessarily ever being able to understand individual words.


Many people around here sing Hava nagila without knowing the meaning of a single word, but they repeat the sounds fairly accurately.