I'm reading through the creole songs in Chants D'esperance which seem to use an older style spelling. I can still recognize most of the words but I'm stuck on gnou - such as in "Gnou jou avan kouche soley." Also, are the last two words reversed from their normal order?

Gnou, youn, or yon – indefinite article a, an

Gnou jou – one day

To answer your question, no it’s not reversed. It’s the possessive being used here.

kouche  /solèy / la

setting / sun / the

the setting of the sun

gnou  / jou / avan / kouche / solèy

a / day / before / laying / sun

one day before the setting of the sun

one day before sunset

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