What is the meaning of と in this sentence?


Its from the song "Stay with me";

> 帰らないでと泣いた

Also, is there a better way to translate the 'naide' form of a verb than
"without doing"? It sounds quite odd I think.




This could be the quoting `と`:

"Don't go!", [she] cried.

Or the the contidional one (though it's unlikely here , as mentioned by
@snailplane below):

When [she] said "Don't go", [I] cried.

To tell which it is, we'd need more context.

* * *

**EDIT**

I found the lyrics (「真夜中のドア～Stay with me」 by 唐沢美帆) and the song goes like
this:

[code]

    私は私　貴方は貴方と
    昨夜言ってた　そんな気もするわ
    グレイのジャケットに見覚えがある　コーヒーのしみ
    相変わらずなのね
    ショーウィンドウに二人映れば
    
    Stay with me...
    真夜中のドアをたたき　帰らないでと泣いた
    あの季節が今　目の前
    Stay with me
    口癖を言いながら　二人の瞬間を抱いて
    まだ忘れず　大事にしていた
    
[/code]

So it seems the first version is correct, except the subject is the singer.

> I cried, pleading "Don't go!".

(changed slightly to avoid the double meaning of the English verb "cry")

The other stanzas also use the quoting `と` many times.

* * *

As for `～ないで`, here it is short for `～ないで下さい`, i.e. it's a request to not do
something (go back in this case). See also [Why don't we use ～なくて instead of
～ないで?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/25246/)




This could be the quoting `と`:

"Don't go!", [she] cried.

Or the the contidional one (though it's unlikely here , as mentioned by
@snailplane below):

When [she] said "Don't go", [I] cried.

To tell which it is, we'd need more context.

* * *

**EDIT**

I found the lyrics (「真夜中のドア～Stay with me」 by 唐沢美帆) and the song goes like
this:

[code]

    私は私　貴方は貴方と
    昨夜言ってた　そんな気もするわ
    グレイのジャケットに見覚えがある　コーヒーのしみ
    相変わらずなのね
    ショーウィンドウに二人映れば
    
    Stay with me...
    真夜中のドアをたたき　帰らないでと泣いた
    あの季節が今　目の前
    Stay with me
    口癖を言いながら　二人の瞬間を抱いて
    まだ忘れず　大事にしていた
    
[/code]

So it seems the first version is correct, except the subject is the singer.

> I cried, pleading "Don't go!".

(changed slightly to avoid the double meaning of the English verb "cry")

The other stanzas also use the quoting `と` many times.

* * *

As for `～ないで`, here it is short for `～ないで下さい`, i.e. it's a request to not do
something (go back in this case). See also [Why don't we use ～なくて instead of
～ないで?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/25246/)

