Now We Are Free – English Lyrics

• By: Lisa Gerrard, Gavin Greenaway, The Lyndhurst Orchestra
• Album: Gladiator - Music From The Motion Picture

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the power of music to transcend language with "Now We Are Free." This iconic song from *Gladiator* features Lisa Gerrard singing in a personal, invented language, proving that emotion and meaning can be conveyed through the sheer beauty of the human voice and melody. It's a perfect example of how music is a universal language, allowing you to connect with profound feelings of hope and liberation without needing to understand a single word. This makes it a special piece for appreciating the expressive potential of sound itself.

[English]

Anol shalom

Anol sheh lay konnud de ne um

Flavum

Nom de leesh

Ham de nam um das

La um de

Flavne...

We de ze zu bu

We de sooo a ru

Un va-a pesh a lay

Un vi-I bee

Un da la pech ni sa

(Aaahh)

Un di-I lay na day

Un ma la pech a nay

Mee di nu ku

...

La la da pa da le na da na

Ve va da pa da le na la dumda

La la da pa da le na da na

Ve va da pa da le na la dumda

La la da pa da le na da na

Ve va da pa da le na la dumda

La la da pa da le na da na

Ve va da pa da le na la dumda

Anol shalom

Anol sheh ley kon-nud de ne um

...

Flavum

Flavum

M-ai shondol-lee

Flavu...

Lof flesh lay

...

Nof ne

Nom de lis

Ham de num um dass

La um de

Flavne...

Flay

Shom de nomm

Ma-lun des

...

Dwondi

Dwwoondi

...

Alas sharum du koos

Shaley koot-tum

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
shalom /ʃəˈlɒm/ B2	noun - peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility
flavum /ˈfleɪvəm/ C1	adjective - yellow or golden yellow (Latin)
flesh /fleʃ/ B1	noun - the soft substance consisting of muscle and fat that is found between the skin and bones of an animal or a human
liss /lɪs/ C2	noun - joy, happiness, alleviation of sorrow

Key Grammar Structures

• Anol shalom

  ➔ While the song's language is constructed, "Anol shalom" resembles a greeting or expression of peace, similar in function to standard greetings.

  ➔ In the context of a song, such opening lines usually set a tone or establish a theme. Think of it as equivalent to starting a sentence with "Hello" or "Peace be with you".

• Anol sheh lay konnud de ne um

  ➔ This line seems to follow a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure, even though the meaning is unclear. "Anol" is likely the subject, followed by a verb-like phrase "sheh lay konnud," and then the object "de ne um."

  ➔ Even in constructed languages, grammatical structures often borrow from or resemble existing languages. Identifying the potential SVO order can help in deconstructing the meaning if related to a real-world language.

• Un va-a pesh a lay

  ➔ The repetition of vowel sounds and the consistent "a" before the supposed verb suggests a potential infixation or agglutinative language structure.

  ➔ Infixation involves adding affixes *within* a word rather than at the beginning or end. Agglutinative languages build words by stringing together multiple morphemes, each with a distinct meaning.

• Un di-I lay na day

  ➔ The "Un" prefix reappears, potentially indicating a case marker or a repeated pronoun. The suffixation and internal vowel changes (lay na day) suggest verb conjugation or declension.

  ➔ Case markers indicate the grammatical role of a noun in a sentence. Verb conjugation involves changing the form of a verb to reflect tense, person, number, etc. Declension involves changing the form of a noun or pronoun to indicate grammatical case.