Making the Signs Known
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nerunaṟṟuc ceṉṟāreṅ kātalar yāmu / meḻunāḷē mēṉi pacantu.
Our beloved went away yesterday; and we, with the body gone pale, are already seven days old in this parting.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“My loved one left me, was it yesterday? / Days seven my pallid body wastes away!”
“My beloved parted only yesterday: but it is seven days since my form hath lost its freshness!”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
எங் காதலர்சென்றார்நெருநற்று= எங்காதலர் பிரிந்து போயினார் நெருநற்றே; யாமும் மேனி பசந்து எழுநாளேம்= அப்பிரிவிற்கு யாமும் மேனிபசந்து ஏழுநாளுடையம் ஆயினேம் எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar keeps both numbers side by side and reconciles neither. He glosses the first half as: our beloved parted and went, and it was yesterday. He glosses the second as: for that parting we too, our body having gone pale, have become of seven days. The 'we too' is his emphasis; he reads her as setting her own count against his going. He does not say which figure is the true one, and he does not call the seven an exaggeration or a figure of speech. In his reading the sentence exists so that the state may be known, which is what this whole chapter is about.