Brothers-in-arms in other languages

Jan 08, 2011 15:38

It's expressly permitted in the rules or I'd just do a workaround ( Read more... )

multiple languages, phrases, epithets, input methods, theremustbeawordforit, notquiteatranslation

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Comments 47

homa January 8 2011, 06:50:23 UTC
Well, Russian соратник sounds quite appropriate. It means exactly what you describe, and has the same origin.

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homa January 8 2011, 06:58:30 UTC
Well, it means "a brother-in-arms", so it is not exactly what you've asked for... I can transform it into a conceptual word morphologically, but it won't sound that natural...

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maroon_ed January 8 2011, 07:18:07 UTC
--perks up-- Origin? I don't know the origin of the word/phrase...

If the meaning's the same, it'll do nicely. --checks off 'Russian'--

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trinker January 8 2011, 07:20:39 UTC
Why is this entry tagged "input methods" and "epithet" ?

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maroon_ed January 8 2011, 07:29:03 UTC
"Epithet" because that's how the word will be used.

"Input methods" I may be wrong, I detailed how I searched the term and thought maybe that's what the tag meant.

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trinker January 8 2011, 07:33:30 UTC
Input methods means "how to type alternate writing systems using a keyboard encoded for a different one". I.e. how to write Cyrillic on a Latin keyboard, how to write kanji, etc.

While you're correct, strictly speaking, on the definition of the word "epithet", the tag is being used here to mean "expletives/verbal ejaculations", as opposed to "titles". Your tag then becomes confusing rather than illuminating.

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maroon_ed January 8 2011, 08:13:09 UTC
Sorry--I'll try to fix it.

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Finnish pikku_gen January 8 2011, 07:22:54 UTC
Are you searching the plural ("brothers") or just the spirit of the thing? Finnish is one of your choices for a language in which anything can be one word *pimps one's native tongue*.

A brother-in-arms would be aseveli (aseveljet in plural) both literally and in essence, and asevelihenki would be "the spirt of being brothers-in-arms". So there. =P

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Re: Finnish pikku_gen January 8 2011, 07:25:52 UTC
Oh, and never trust what Google Translate tells you in any given instance, especially when it's about languages with different syntax than English. I Googled both the Finnish and English versions of this, and the results... *eyeroll of doom*

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Re: Finnish maroon_ed January 8 2011, 07:30:45 UTC
"asevelihenki". :) --checks off Finnish--

Yeah I know about automated translators in general, but it mangles Korean less horribly than Babelfish.

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fpb January 8 2011, 07:33:59 UTC
In Italian it would be singular CAMERATA, plural CAMERATI, always masculine - I don't know what kind of usage would arise now that Italy has women soldiers. Unfortunately it has been ruined by its use by Fascists, but people still speak of CAMERATISMO as a positive feeling - mateship, comradeship.

To explain: Socialists used to, and still occasionally do, address each other as COMPAGNO - English COMRADE. Mussolini, to distinguish his movement, had his followers address each other as CAMERATA. This makes it difficult to render the difference in English, where both translate as COMRADE, but in Italian CAMERATA has a decidedly more military and corporate meaning, reflecting their etimology: COMPAGNO is "someone who shares one's bread" (CON+PANE), whereas CAMERATA is "somoeno who lives in the same room" (from CAMERA, room, chamber, and particularly CAMERATA, a large sleeping room with multiple beds as for a boarding school or barracks).

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fpb January 8 2011, 07:40:41 UTC
Oh, just to specify: while CAMERATA as brother-in-arms is always masculine, CAMERATA as large sleeping room is always feminine. That makes it easy to distinguish them in Italian, which uses gendered articles: "il mio camerata", my brother-in-arms, cannot poossibly be confused with "la mia camerata", my sleeping hall.

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dichroic January 8 2011, 12:21:34 UTC
Odd. I'd have guessed "companion" would be used for "compagno" and "comrade" for "camerata" since they match as cognates *and* for meaning.

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fpb January 8 2011, 12:24:33 UTC
Try and call an English or an American Communist "Companion", see how it works.

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fpb January 8 2011, 07:37:31 UTC
Oh, and in Latin it would be COMES, COMITIS, plural COMITES, "one who walks together" {CUM+IRE), Oddly enough, this ended up, in modern European languages, as "Count" - that is, a "companion" or peer of the Emperor or of the King. But in classical Latin it decidedly can be used of one's mate, army friend, brother-in-arms.

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maroon_ed January 8 2011, 08:17:35 UTC
"Cameratismo" it is! I don't know my Latin grammar to sort out which one of those to use. It will be his title, as in "You are the walking embodiment of cameratismo, therefore you are the Angel of Brothers-in-Arms.

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ioanna_ioannina January 8 2011, 12:24:06 UTC
It is easy. Comes, singular, comites, plural.
(Comitis is genitive, singular.)

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fpb January 8 2011, 12:30:14 UTC
Ah, but people do the most hideous things with Latin words because most don't understand the concept of inflexion or the difference between nouns and verbs. The first thing that springs to my mind is an otherwise excellent fan writer I know, who tried to back-translate "faith, hope, love". The result? "Fides, Spero, Amor." But I have seen plenty even more hilarious. Our friend does well to stay away from Latin if s/he doesn't know the grammar, and I wish more of us had the same common sense.

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