Romance for a Sunday

Question

My lovely wife is finishing her 3rd year of a course to become a "licensiada" in history here at the univeristy in Chihuahua. This semester "paleografia" is one of the subjects, deciphering and transcribing handwritten documents from the 16th and 17thcentury in old Spanish. Of course I get roped into helping- -What!! ME --read in old Spanish!!-- One document was a letter home from a man of fairly high rank, as it appears he wrote well.

He begins the letter with "Querida mía" and the phrase in the letter I like so much is this;

"Me he pasado la noche en vela pensando en ti"

Of course the signature is unreadable, but to me the phrase is very romantic and makes all of us travellers think of home, even today.

It is really a very lovely romantic phrase- lets see what we can do to maintain the romantic "feeling" of this in an English translation!

I will post my version at the end of the thread.

Beautiful mate , and great to see you again , give my love to your lovely and intelligent wife. I remember her well with affection. - ray76, Jul 8, 2013

Gracias Amigo!! i surely will! - pacofinkler, Jul 8, 2013

Answer 1

"My beloved, I have kept vigil through the night, thinking of thee."

Hope you get more responses! Please share more antique texts as you can. I have a feeling that in day-to-day business there was the elegance of using the Second Person Plural as the formal "you" and "Vuestra merced" as the form of polite address.

Terrific mate. I am glad you answered, it gives me courage. - ray76, Jul 8, 2013

I agree - pmikan-pam, Jul 8, 2013

Muy romántico! - rac1, Jul 8, 2013

Good idea to reflect the "old" angle - lagartijaverde, Jul 8, 2013

hola - 0080b918, Jul 8, 2013

Hola Jubilado, I have to admit I do have an eye for thes old documents- but Good god they can be so difficult at times. I will put more as time passes they are challenging to work with. - pacofinkler, Jul 8, 2013

Jubilado, I think this is the best answer without being a direct translation, It has the character of the original. - pacofinkler, Jul 9, 2013

Answer 2

Hola Paco, ¿Qué tal?

¿Qué te parece de esto?

What do you think of this?

My darling,

I could not sleep a wink all night thinking of you....

Hi Sandy - ian-hill, Jul 8, 2013

Answer 3

I am not sure if this is what you are wanting mate , but here goes for starters.

Mis pensamientos de usted queridísima mía , y me recuerdan

el sol brillando a través de la llovizna.

My thoughts of you my dearest ,

and I remember the sun shining through the mist.

I guess that was another letter... ;) - chileno, Jul 8, 2013

Answer 4

Hi everyone,and thank you for your responses. Here is my version of the phrase in the letter. I am not saying one is better than the other- just my version. Nice to see some of our more romantic side.

My dear;

I have spent the night by candlelight thinking of you.

I forgot about vela being a candle and the English word vigil came to mind. They may be related because vigils are kept by candlelight. - Jubilado, Jul 8, 2013

Answer 5

I was thinking about you all day!

I hope this helps!

Yo pensaba todo el día

Estaba pensando en usted todo el día

Pensaba en usted todo el día

Answer 6

Hi Paco - nice to hear from you again. Ian

My attempt.

My love, I floated through the night with your lips on mine.

Answer 7

Me he pasado la noche en vela pensando en ti

I spent the night sleepless, thinking of you...