English term
United Kingdom
Sensible solutions
Native in: English (Variant: Wessexois) 
Works in: French to English, English, English to French
Weela Weela Walya
There was an old woman and she lived in the woods
Weela Weela Walya
There was an old woman and she lived in the woods
Down by the river Saile.
She had a baby three months old
Weela Weela Walya
She had a baby three months old
Down by the river Saile.
| 3 +4 | Weela Weela Walya |
Joanna Pavadé
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| 4 +1 | malheur à moi, hélas |
Bourth
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| 4 | tralalére.tralalére |
Maïté Mendiondo-George
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| street song in Dublin |
Yvonne Gallagher
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Apr 18, 2023 08:50: Anastasia Kalantzi changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Rob Grayson, Yvonne Gallagher, Anastasia Kalantzi
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Proposed translations
France
Making words work for you
Native in: French
Works in: Spanish to French, English to French, French
Weela Weela Walya
Maybe we could add an explanation about that part at the end.
I think it should stay the same in French, just like with "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and the 'ee-i-ee-i-o' which stayed the same in French.
| thanks! |
| agree |
Jennifer Levey
30 mins
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| agree |
writeaway
2 hrs
|
| disagree |
Maïté Mendiondo-George
: il faut trouver l equivalent en français
3 hrs
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| agree |
Andrew Bramhall
5 hrs
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: yes, it should stay the same. It has to rhyme with the river Saile
22 hrs
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| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weela_Weela_Walya
5 days
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France
Au Plus près des mots et des cultures
Native in: French 
, German
Works in: German to French, English to French, French to German, and 2 more.
tralalére.tralalére
pour exemple
n 'est de fait qu' un refrain
malheur à moi, hélas
According to Wikipedia, "The refrain "Weile Weile Waile" (/ˈwiːljæ ˈwiːljæ ˈwɔːl.jæ/) is a version of the Middle English expression of grief "wellaway!" (Old English wā lā wā, "woe, la!, woe*) ".
* Not to be confused with "Woah, la, woah!".
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Note added at 8 hrs (2023-04-12 23:23:49 GMT)
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Moving back to the literal 'woe la, woe la, woe la', with a terminal deformation to 'way la', we could take the Old French for malheur, dehait, or dehé, amongst others (https://www.persee.fr/doc/roma_0035-8029_1889_num_18_71_6067... and turn it into something like déhé, déhé, dahé.
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: we sang it as children in Dublin and certainly thought of the refrain as just meaning woeful! //It should rhyme with "Saile" ( > Sol-yah)
14 hrs
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I'd try if I knew how that is pronounced!
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Reference comments
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK)
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
street song in Dublin
Obviously none of us, as children, were "Woke" because we never considered the serious aspect of the lyrics. though the woman did get her comeuppance so I guess that made it OK!
Just really enjoyed singing the song and chorus in a raucous way
And we often skipped to it as we sang
Still sung in pubs from time to time.
so the refrain = woe is me
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Note added at 1 day 8 hrs (2023-04-13 23:57:59 GMT)
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https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/weile-weile-walie...
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Note added at 1 day 9 hrs (2023-04-14 00:02:02 GMT)
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I think the above link explains it well.
The river saile (sol-ya) was the Irish name for the Poddle, the river that runs under Dublin Castle
Discussion