Commemorative inscription on the facade of the Ardez house of a teacher friend, where Robert Cantieni composed the song
Robert Cantieni, the composer of the song
Gudench Barblan, the poet of the hymn
Chara lingua da la mamma ( Romansh in the idiom Vallader for "love (nswert) language of the mother") is the unofficial anthem of the Engadin and Münstertal Romansh . She celebrates the Ladin as the language familiar from the cradle and as a good that creates identity. The song is also known under the official title Lingua materna ("mother tongue").
Chara lingua da la mamma, tü sonor rumantsch ladin, tü favella dutscha, lamma, o co t'am eu sainza fin! In teis suns, cur eir'in chüna m'ha la mamma charezzà, e chanzuns da l'Engiadina in l'uraglia m'ha chantà.
M'hast muossà cun vair'algrezcha mia patria ad amar, seis eroes, sa bellezza, in chanzuns a dechantar. Since l'amur la dutscha brama hast express tü e guidà, nudri la soncha flamma chi'm rendaiv'uschè beà.
Sco il chant da filomela am parettast tü sunar, cur alur'in ma favella meis infants sentit chantschar. Millieras algordanzas svagl in mai teis pled sonor, svaglia saimper veglias spranzas chi ün di han moss meis cour.
Dearest mother tongue,
you sonorous Rumantsch Ladin,
you gentle, soft language,
oh how endlessly I love you!
To your sounds, still in
my cradle, mother caressed me
and sang songs of the Engadine
in my ear.
You showed me with joy
to love my homeland,
to sing about
its heroes and its beauty in songs.
You expressed and guided the
sweet longing for love,
nourished the sacred flame that
made me so blissful.
You seem to sound like
the song of the nightingale
when, in their mother tongue,
I hear my children speak.
Your harmonious sound awakens
thousands of memories in me,
always awakens old hopes that
my heart once showed me.
