[Lexicog] Equivalents for German "Heimat"

[Dr. Hayim Y. Sheynin]

Dear Fritz,
 
One small correction for Russian example: while semantically Russian
"rodina" and "otechestvo" are identical, their use and etymology differ.
Etymologically "rodina" stems from the verb "rodit' " and as such means
the country of birth (very much alike French "le pays natal",
Latin: terra natalis or Dutch: "geboortestreek"; Russian "otechestvo"
stems from "otec" [c=tz] (father), and as such is || patria.
Nevertheless the word "rodina" has a much higher frequency and do not
give derived words, while "otechestvo" is used in most solemn terms,
poetry, high style speeches and give derived words, like adj.
otechestvennyj (related to my country, produced in our country, or [war]
for our country. Cp. WWII in Russian is Velikaja Otechestvennaja Voina
(Great Fatherland's War). 
 
PS. To go home in Russian "idti domoj" (like Engl. "go home" or Hebrew
"la-lekhet ha-bayta" (domoj and bayta are semantically
in locative case (so Russians can explain it as an adverb of direction).
 
Best wishes,
Hayim Sheynin
 
________________________________

From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Fritz Goerling
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 12:22 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Equivalents for German "Heimat"
 
 
Marco,  
 
The problem with "Heimat" is that it is difficult to translate into
other languages.
None of the following Italian words functioning in a similar semantic
field are equivalents: "natio", "patria", "paese", "terra natia", "casa"
French has "le pays natal" (land of birth), "la patrie" (fatherland),
the latter being more a term which belongs to the national or juridical
domain
Spanish has "patria."
Dutch: "geboortestreek" , "vaderland" (fatherland) , "bakermat" (=
cradle), "tehuis" (at home)
          I don't know Dutch, but "tehuis" might come close to the
warmth of the German term
Swedish: hem = home; hemland or hembygd = home(land)
Russian: rodina (fatherland)
Arabic: el-Watan
           This word seems to have the nostalgic, romantic component as
German "Heimat". It occurs in many Arabic songs. 
Polish: Translators of German literature into Polish either paraphrase
the word or just borrow it because it is diffiuclt to translate.
 
Fritz Goerling
 
 
<http://www.gemeinsamlernen.de/laufend/heimat/h311.htm#A16>  I think
there is no proper translation for Heimat in Italian, either.

"Patria" works for the more political meaning -- country one belongs to
and should defend in case of a war? -- and at least to me it has a
vaguely
negative connotation because it was over-used during fascism and it
strongly collocates with war-related terms.

"Casa" in the sense of English "home sweet home" (but, as far as I can
tell, we don't even distinguish between "home" and "house", either --
they
are both "casa").

Regards,

Marco
 
________________________________

Yahoo! Groups Links
*	To visit your group on the web, go to:
	http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/
	  
*	To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
	lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
<mailto:lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe
> 
	  
*	Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> . 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20050602/db5b2453/attachment.htm>