O, Canada
Ton histoire est une épopée des plus brillants exploits
My attitude towards this national anthem has changed significantly in recent years, due chiefly to my having learned (thanks to a comment below by TH) of the additional verses it once contained. Presently I consider the lyrics to have a quite problematical purport. To see what I am talking about, read to the very end of this file, to the sections after “French Lyrics with English Translation” entitled “What’s With the ‘Fleurons'” and “Additional Verses.”
I have given this anthem the tag “French-Canadian.” Why tag the Canadian national anthem as “French-Canadian”? Because, in its origin, it was an entirely québécois1 production. It was composed a) at the behest of a French-Canadian Lieutenant-Governor of Québec, b) by a French-Canadian musician, c) with a French text written by a third French-Canadian. (See the Wikipedia article on the subject; see also this Canadian Government page on the composer and the lyricist. Finally, see this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia [the same article in French].)
As do most national anthems, this one tickles me with its gloriously vague, vaguely glorious wording. What (Christian) country would these words not apply to?
One does however note a certain balancing of the martial and the devout (épée…croix, valeur…foi)—perhaps meant as a symbol of the joining of the two linguistically different groups of colonizers? …One wonders what the words would have meant in the time and place they were written: late 19th-century Québec.2
Recordings abound online. Many people perform it, not excepting Céline Dion. This version is perfectly unobjectionable: O Canada
Compléments prépositionnels (or, The Many Uses of De)
In the lyrics to this song, de sometimes has its usual, boring function of linking two nouns together –
- terre de nos aïeux (land of our forefathers)
- une épopée / Des plus brillants exploits (an epic / Of the most brilliant exploits)
– but it also functions together with some past participles. Observe:
- Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux (Your brow is girt with glorious fleurons)
- Et ta valeur, de foi trempée (And your valor, tempered with faith)
On these compléments prépositionnels (prepositional phrases used together with a verb form) you can consult Reduction of the Partitive Article Part IV (but it won’t explain very much).
French Lyrics (English Translation Follows)
O, Canada! terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux.
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix.
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,3
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
French Lyrics With English Translation
| O, Canada! terre de nos aïeux, Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux. Car ton bras sait porter l’épée, il sait porter la croix. Ton histoire est une épopée Des plus brillants exploits. Et ta valeur, de foi trempée, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. | O, Canada! Land of our forefathers, Your brow is girt with glorious fleurons. For your arm knows how to bear the sword, It knows how to bear the cross. Your history is an epic Of the most brilliant exploits. And your valor, tempered with faith, Will protect our hearths and our rights! Will protect our hearths and our rights! |
In the Comments section below, Mr. Bernie Roehl has proposed a less archaizing translation.4 From his several versions I take the following (with slightly different punctuation):
O, Canada! Land of our ancestors,
You wear a garland of glorious flowers,
Because your arm knows how to carry the sword,
And it knows how to carry the cross.
Your history is an epic tale
Of the most brilliant adventures,
And your courage, strengthened by faith,
Will protect our homes and our rights!
Will protect our homes and our rights!
What’s With the “Fleurons”?
A fleuron5 (in French or English) is a is a stylized flower or leaf used ornamentally. It has a typographical usage, and an architectural one; but here we seem to be dealing a third usage, namely, the precious stones that are wont to be set into crowns. Observe that the brow of the personified Canada is “girt” with these fleurons, so clearly we are not talking about the printed page or a piece of architecture (or a piece of pastry, another place where fleurons can appear); only a crown will fit in the present context.
Now, one finds in various editions of the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française in the 18th and 19th centuries (see here) the following explanatory note: “One says figuratively of one of the greatest privileges a Prince has, or of one of his greatest sources of revenue, or of one of his finest provinces, that ‘It’s one of the finest fleurons of his crown, it’s the finest fleuron of his crown.'”
So, the idea seems to be that Canada 1) is of royal condition and 2) has a lot of things going for it (territory-wise or wealth-wise or prerogative-wise or in some other way). If the fleurons are thought of in particular as representing territories, these would of course be areas taken over by European settlers, and the crown would thus be a crown of conquest. Compare the equivalent English expression “the jewel in the crown,” especially when used for something like, say, the position of India within the British Empire.
To repeat, the image is of jewels in a crown, not (as I used to think, as is evident in many of my responses below) of a garland of some kind (though perhaps crowns were at some early point thought of as more permanent garlands?).
Additional Verses
It turns out there were originally other verses to the anthem. Aesthetically, I am inclined to say they do not add a lot6; as regards content, they reinforce certain themes of the better-known first stanza in perhaps unfortunate ways. If a non-Canadian may voice an opinion, I think we are better off without them.
For the sake of completeness, however, I include them here with an English translation and some preceding reflections.
Stanza 2. According to this stanza, the standard Canadian is a person who grows up près du fleuve géant, which must be the St. Lawrence. We may not now automatically associate Canada with the St Lawrence, but no doubt the French-speaking originators of the song thought of the lands drained by the St Lawrence as the heart of the country. –Note, at the end of the second stanza, the emphasis on double loyalty to flag and religion (compare the sword and the cross of the first stanza). Which flag? Well, the modern national flag of Canada had not yet been devised, but I imagine what is meant is some flag indicative of British suzerainty.7
Stanza 3. Though it was not until 1925 that John the Baptist (précurseur du vrai Dieu) was officially designated patron saint of French-speaking Canadians (by Pius X), he was much venerated and celebrated by them long before that. —In the latter lines, there is a balancing act between (anti-)tyrannie – loyauté, liberté – harmonie: the (French-speaking) Canadian can’t be pushed around, he is his own person, but he is still a loyal citizen of the (English) crown. —In the very last line, does la vérité he is going to establish on the soil of Canada refer to the Christian (and preferably Catholic) religion?
Stanza 3. Perhaps the most disturbing stanza of them all. The librettist appears to be encouraging the Christian settlers, both Catholic and Protestant, to form a united front (on the basis of a common legal system and a common faith) against the races étrangères.8 The final, repeated cry of le Christ et le roi is downright aggressive (it is conquérant), and the whole stanza casts the very first stanza in an unpleasant light: By means of your prowess and your faith (Et ta valeur, de foi trempée) you are going to protect your home and rights… Against whom, one wonders…? And what “rights” are we speaking of? Property rights, perhaps? Citizen-rights? (The French-first bilingual version does perhaps a service in replacing the last two lines of the French text with the still patriotic, but blander and less specific, wording of the English.)
| 2 Sous l’oeil de Dieu, près du fleuve géant, Le Canadien grandit en espérant. Il est d’une race fière, Béni fut son berceau. Le ciel a marqué sa carrière Dans ce monde nouveau. Toujours guidé par sa lumière, Il gardera l’honneur de son drapeau. (bis) | 2 Beneath God’s eye, near the giant stream, The Canadian grows up hoping. He is of a proud race, His cradle was blessed. Heaven has signaled his career In this new world. Ever guided by his (?) / its (?)9 light, He will guard the honor of his / its (?) flag. (twice) |
| 3 De son patron, précurseur du vrai Dieu, Il porte au front l’auréole de feu. Ennemi de la tyrannie Mais plein de loyauté. Il veut garder dans l’harmonie, Sa fière liberté; Et par l’effort de son génie, Sur notre sol asseoir la vérité. (bis) | 3 Of its patron, precursor of the true God, He bears on his brow the aureole of fire.10 An enemy of tyranny, But full of loyalty, He wants to keep in harmony His proud liberty, And through the effort of his genius On our soil establish the truth. (twice) |
| 4 Amour sacré du trône et de l’autel, Remplis nos cœurs de ton souffle immortel! Parmi les races étrangères, Notre guide est la loi; Sachons être un peuple de frères, Sous le joug de la foi. Et répétons, comme nos pères Le cri vainqueur: Pour le Christ et le roi. (bis) | 4 Sacred love of throne and altar, Fill our hearts with your immortal breath! Amidst the foreign races, Our guide is the law; Let us learn to be a people of brothers, Beneath the yoke of the faith. And let us repeat, like our fathers, The conquering cry: For Christ and king! (twice) |
- At the time, “Lower Canada.”↩
- My thinking about this anthem has evolved, thanks to some comments below and also to my coming across additional verses, presumably by the same author. Please see the sections below.↩
- Trempée (“tempered”), in the sense that you harden a sword by dipping the hot metal into cold water. (The chief meaning of the French verb tremper is “to dip in a liquid.”) However, when sung, since “de foi” sounds exactly like “deux fois,” the phrase de foi trempée also sounds like “twice dunked.”↩
- Regarding the archaisms, if I’m going to use the possessive form “thy,” I really ought to use the “-eth” 3rd-person singular verb ending as well: “For thy brow KNOWETH how to bear the sword, / It KNOWETH how to bear the cross.”↩
- The French word appears to be a combination of fleur with the natively-French masculine ending –on, meaning: “a little (one of), so, here, “a little flower.” See this Language Topic: French Ending -on.↩
- They also do not fit well rhythmically with the current standard melody.↩
- One imagines the idea of a flag just for Québec (Lower Canada) would not have gone over well, in the aftermath of the Papineau Rebellion of 1837. As it happened, Québec did not get an official flag of its own until the mid-twentieth century.↩
- Who are these races étrangères? It is an odd way to describe the indigenous peoples of Canada. On the other hand, by 1880 immigration had been mostly from Western Europe. So who is meant by this phrase?↩
- heaven’s?↩
- Meaning, a halo? The French Canadian, is, like John the Baptist, a saint? And why “of fire”? Is this a reference to the fact that St John was a martyr?↩
I like the French version better then the English version. It’s more the truth on what this country was founded on.
So do I. It is more lyrical and gives reasons why we should love our country. ‘True patriot love, in all of us COMMAND’ is harsh by comparison. And God could be omitted, too. An indigenous grade 6 student of mine said that it isn’t really everyone’s native land and I agreed. Maybe chosen land would be more appropriate.
I would like to add something that you may know, I am uncertain, but for the benefit of those who may read this. A native is any natural-born citizen of this great land. As of 2021, the native population constitutes about 74% of the public, the rest are migrants, citizens or otherwise. Although saying native in the anthem may not include those who have migrated, it is not necessarily important to include our naturalized citizens as their future generations will too become native. In my experience, most migrants (Those beyond their youth at least) struggle to fully embrace their new home and appreciate its history and culture as fully as a native would. Do not get me wrong, it is not that migrants are in any manner lesser, it is just that they are not Canadians first and foremost, it is oft their heritage with which they identify.
I have always loved it.
It hasn’t been changed 3 or 4 times to accommodate entitled or special people.
If it were ever accepted to replace the ever changing English version, some would immediately want forefathers removed.
Needless (?) to say, “forefathers” (which occurs only in my [quite literal] translation of the French words [it corresponds to the form aïeux, which is masculine plural], not in the official English words) is meant to include any and all “foremothers.”
“French always uses the masc. plural when there are mixed sexes, so “aiëux” could be interpreted as male and female. I do realize that the word “ancêtres” exists, but I still do not see a need to change the original text.
I like amended gender based lyrics of our national anthem. Now it reflects the heart sound of every Canadian male and female.
How do you see the intended meaning of “Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux” Is it similar to a victor’s crown?
Yes. The victor, Canada en l’occurrence, is crowned with a garland.
LATER: The “garland” in question is actually a stiff, metallic one, i.e., a crown. See the section above (added after this comment and my reply) named “What’s Up With the ‘Fleurons’?”
Great job on the translation!
I have a few suggestions…
I would use “carry” instead of “bear” (since in English, “bear” can mean “endure” which is not what’s intended here.
I would use “Your” instead of the archaic “Thy”. I would use “covered” instead of “girt” for the same reason. I would use “home” instead of “hearth”, again for the same reason. I would use “courage” instead of “valor” for the same reason (or at least use “valour” instead of “valor”, eh?)
The version I grew up with uses “brilliante” instead of the second “glorieux”, which avoids repeating the word.
I would change “forefathers” to “ancestors” or possibly “forebears” since the original word is not gendered as far as I know.
I would change “exploits” to “adventures”, since “exploits” has negative connotations that make us sound like pirates.
And finally, there’s the question of “tempered”. It has two different meanings in English, and I think the one in the original is more like “strengthened” than like “moderated”.
So….
O, Canada! Land of our ancestors,
Your brow is covered with glorious flowers
For your arm knows how to carry the sword,
And it knows how to carry the cross.
Your history is an epic tale
Of the most brilliant adventures.
And your courage, strengthened by faith,
Will protect our homes and our rights!
Will protect our homes and our rights!
I’ve made another pass at it, adjusting where the sentence breaks are and tweaking some things. “Ceint” is really “encircled” (as in “ceinture” meaning “belt”) but I like the image of the garland. The arm and the sword connect to the idea of brilliant adventures more than to the garland (but I could see both alternatives).
I’ve used “strengthened” rather than the more correct “bolstered”, again with an eye towards keeping it accessible to modern audiences.
I’ve also changed “epic” to “epic tale”, since “epic” as a noun really only refers to feature films. Using “epic” as an adjective requires a noun, so I chose “tale”. I’ve heard some people translate épopée as “saga”, but that’s a word that I haven’t heard since… well, since the CBC did “The Forsyth Saga” years ago. :-)
Anyway, here’s another pass…
O, Canada! Land of our ancestors,
You wear a garland of glorious flowers.
Because you arm knows how to carry the sword,
And it knows how to carry the cross,
Your history is an epic tale
Of the most brilliant adventures.
And your courage, strengthened by faith,
Will protect our homes and our rights!
Will protect our homes and our rights!
Thanks for your suggestions and alternate translations (in this and your preceding comment). Your version is, I must say, much more natural than mine, and no doubt for most purposes preferable. My own version is meant to be as revelatory of the French as possible, in both syntax and word choice; also, since this is a national anthem, a genre that tends towards the vague and the grandiose, I have not eschewed old-fashioned choices (“thy,” “brow,” “girt,” “tempered,” “hearths”). Even within those parameters, however, “forefathers” and “thy” are hard to justify and would be better as “ancestors” and “your.”
If you permit, I will incorporate your version into the file.
Yes, please feel free to do so.
A friend pointed out that the second verse should stand by itself (I had joined them), the intent being “since your arm knows how to carry a sword, it (also) knows how to carry a cross”.
So the (final?) version would be…
O, Canada! Land of our ancestors,
You wear a garland of glorious flowers.
Because you arm knows how to carry the sword,
It knows how to carry the cross.
Your history is an epic tale
Of the most brilliant adventures.
And your courage, strengthened by faith,
Will protect our homes and our rights!
Will protect our homes and our rights!
Thanks. – Your friend’s interpretation of lines 3 and 4 is, strictly speaking, possible, but the juxtaposition of the two clauses could also imply complementarity, and that is what I take it to mean: “we are not only good fighters, we are also good Christians.”
LATER: I now think that, although the clauses are complementary, both are (by modern standards) “aggressive”: we are capable of guarding with the sword the territories we have occupied, and we can also maintain and spread the faith there…
Yes, I agree with your interpretation — I think it’s “Since your arm knows how to carry the sword, it also knows how to carry the cross”. It is, after all, the same physical pose. And as you pointed out much earlier, there’s the parallel between sword/cross and courage/faith.
I think the linkage to the preceding line (with its possible reference to a victory wreath) would make sense if it were “Et il sait porter la croix”, but without the “and”. I think the two lines about the sword and the cross are self contained and not (directly) connected to either a victory wreath or to brilliant adventures.
The English lyrics make use of thee and thy so I don’t see why they wouldn’t be appropriate in a translation of the French.
This is a great conversation. I found the English translation by the parliamentary translation bureau:
O Canada!
Land of our ancestors
Glorious deeds circle your brow
For your arm knows how to wield the sword
Your arm knows how to carry the cross;
Your history is an epic
Of brilliant deeds
And your valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights,
Will protect our homes and our rights.
http://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC2602_11/458?r=0&s=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada#cite_note-5
Thanks for the additional translation. I very much like “steeped.”
Thanks to Mad Beppo for starting the conversation and to everyone else for sharing their thoughtful suggestions about suitable English translations, traditional and contemporary.
We have to thank those who commissioned the original French-Canadian anthem. It is indeed original in lyrics and music and has stood the test of time.
Hi, I was just wondering if u could give me some info on this line:Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux.
Like the history and why people added that to the national anthem
Don’t know anything in particular about this particular line. I take it to be referring to the ancient practice of honoring great athletes or other heroes by crowning them with garlands (of leaves or flowers), such that “Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux” is equivalent to saying “You’re the greatest! You have won all the prizes!”
LATER: For a better answer to Beatrice’s question, see the section above entitled “What’s Up With the ‘Fleurons’?”
Has anyone ever wondered how Indigenous peoples in Canada feel about the glorious exploits involving the sword and the cross? I can’t believe this is sung in schools still.
Bonjour/ hi,
Indigenous people might be offended by a few of these lines as might new immigrants as might atheists and non Quebecers.
The English Canadian lyrics have been altered to be inoffensive to all, but Quebec officialdom cares only the for descendants of old Quebec. They seem to be singing about the nation of old Quebec, certainly not about Canada.
I confess I had not considered what the lines “Il sait porter l’épée, / Il sait porter la croix” might imply, or be taken to imply, when viewed from an indigenous perspective. In the worst case, they could seem to be saying: “We’ll slaughter you—unless you act nicely and convert.” Hopefully that is not what the original lyricist meant. (I am inclined to think that the original meaning might rather have been: “We can defend ourselves when required, but like good Christians we can also bear up under adversity if required” [cf. ‘bearing one’s cross’]).
French colonizers of the Ancien Régime (i.e., pre-Revolutionary) are said to have had better dealings on the whole with North American indigenous peoples than other European nations did in the places they colonized (English, Spanish, Portuguese)—such, at any rate, is my vague impression. Can anyone who is well informed about the French implantation in North America comment on both points: How the French interacted with native North Americans, and what these lines of the anthem might actually be referring to?
LATER: See above the two sections I added later to this song file, “What’s Up with the ‘Fleurons’?” and “Additional Verses.”
I suspect that the anthem as a whole is a kind of underwriting/glorification of what was the status quo circa 1880, with English speakers and French speakers in possession and in charge, and either group promoting some version of Christianity.
Fleurons glorieux= fleurs de lys,French
Porter l’épée=military
Porter la croix= catholic religion, suffering
I think you are right about the significance of the “épée” and the “croix.” As for the “fleurons” being fleurs de lys, well, I gather the fleur de lys has, historically, been associated with French Canada (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fleur-de-lys), but the idea of lilies, or even stylized fleurs de lys, being used in a garland, seems strange to me. I gather fleurs de lys appear on some tiaras, but Iberian ones (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2013/02/tiara-thursday-fleur-de-lys-tiara.html). Of course, I suppose a metaphorical brow could be garlanded with any flower that seems symbolically appropriate. Here is the TLFi article on “fleuron”: http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/fleuron.
Thanks for this. I never really understood the meaning of the French lyrics very well!
Merci beaucoup!
The Acadian French in Nova Scotia got along very well with the Mi’kmaq. They were allies against the English there, and depended on one another. Their was intermarriage between the two, and many if not most Acadians have Mi’kmaq blood in them. But the anthem comes from Quebec it seems. The Quebecois and Natives got along fairly well too, as they were fur trappers. I was told they cooperated regarding this.
Wield your sword has historical and Christian references but today can be figuratively interpreted: We are armed and ready to defend truth and love for our country. If you wield a tool or a weapon, you handle it effectively.
Literally to carry the cross could mean to deal with your burdens and problems. The lyrics of Oh Canada in French allude to the strong possibility they were written by Christians. In the Bible, Jesus carried a cross that has come to be symbolic of the world’s problems.
However the metaphorical meaning that applies to all is that to carry your cross means that you can sacrifice your own gain for the love of another. Sometimes you need to give up what you want to allow others to benefit and feel their needs are being addressed. Self-sacrifice is giving up something you want or something you desire for the greater good or to help others.
Ah so, and do you know where the “cross” really came from? It’s an old symbol invented during the many years of male dominance. And the symbolism is strictly all about male superiority, male sacredness, etc.
Cross: horizontal top short part – penis
Two vertical short parts – testes.
Bottom horizontal part – to hold symbol in processions and religious celebrations.
Very interesting discussion. I’m very traditional and don’t care for all the tampering of the English version at this time. The song as written and adopted is piece of our history.
Thank you. Of course, as I’m sure you realize, all the above attempts at translation are not meant as replacements of the official English lyrics, but simply as accurate renderings of the French.
And wonderful they are! I see no attempt to change lyrics
On a recent CBC talk show an expert on national anthems said that the French version is much older and that a direct translation to English was prohibited not sure by whom but the lyricist I presume.
According to various webpages, the date of the original composition (and lyrics) is 1880; English translations started coming in the early 1900s. To me it seems unlikely the author of the French version would have tried to prohibit translation into English; how could he have done so?
It has always bothered me that knowing how to hold a sword meant knowing how to hold a cross.
I am a lifelong atheist, and resist religious expressions, but even I know that Christianity is supposed to be a religion of love and peace. If it truly were, it would not glorify the sword as a prerequisite for the cross.
This part of the anthem is shameful.
I think that, in the anthem, bearing a sword and bearing a cross are meant to be essentially contrary alternatives, such that one is not a means to the other. However, I agree that the easy passage between them is disturbing, if, as is certainly possible, “to bear the cross” means to prosetylize. But what if “to bear the cross” simply means to endure suffering? (I really have no idea which interpretation is more likely.)
The French lyrics are more poetic and better express what an anthem should strive to stir at our nation’s emotional centre.
As a spanish speaker, I would translate:
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
As
”
Your actions are the best of human history
It is full of amazing achievements!
”
Is just not that simple to translate “epopee” or “epopeya”, for us Latin speakers this word refers to a great historical dramas, like WW2 or the conquers of Alexander the Great.
Also, “exploits” to me would mean great achievements, like the landing on the moon or so.
To settle this debate I follow the Greatest Of All Time Roger Doucet he knew how to sing it.
Roger Doucet is certainly a contender for number-one interpreter of the anthem. You can find him singing it on YouTube; I particularly like this “Vignette“, in which he is shown getting ready for a performance. Also, this other one, in which you catch a glimpse of Pierre Trudeau singing along (or at least mouthing the words). —The disadvantage of these versions, for me, is that RD sings part of the anthem in English.
These interesting discussions could go on forever if we should study all four stanzas of O Canada.
The lyrics help me to appreciate the broader understanding the lyricists wanted to express:
1.A love for nation and the laws that were implemented to protect our rights and freedoms
of every individual:
2. Regardless by birthright or by choice who dwell in Canada.
On this special Remembrance Day, I honour all the men( including my husband who served) and women who serve in our armed forces and for those who have laid down their lives to protect us from unlawful invasions. “God keep our land
Glorious and Free. We stand on guard for thee.”
I feel the lyrics penned in French and English were inspired and express a clearer understanding what the writers wanted a Citizen of Canada to experience which lends well even in our modern
era.
There are more stanzas to “O Canada”? Please tell me where I can find them!
I can’t understand why Canada’s national anthem is different from one language to the other. I find some of the meanings and references to be somewhat different. As far as the French version goes, I find it appalling that it has references to the cross (Catholic church) when one looks at the treatment of Canada’s indigenous people by, for the most part, the church and how they operated the residential school system and it’s attempt to eradicate indigenous peoples, their language and culture. Canada needs a new, updated national anthem. I love this country and I am very proud of those who built, and fought for this country. Sadly, I can’t say the same for our national anthem.
The French version came first (1880), the English versionS later, and the current English version (1908) is not even an attempt at a loose translation of the French, except for the multiple “O Canada”s. If you did try for a closer translation, you still couldn’t make it extremely close, because the new version would have to have rhymes and have to fit with the set meter. But why should you want a close translation, if the French version is objectionable? What perhaps would make more sense is to come up with a new French version (which is what you seem to be proposing).