Origin of "there is/are" (Philological Room) Language Learning Forum

Origin of "there is/are"
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15 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

PaulLambeth
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Message 9 of 15

28 October 2011 at 1:51pm | IP Logged

Ari wrote:

No no no, "det är" is not the (at least Swedish) equivalent of "there is". That would be "det finns", which translates literally as "it is found". "to exist" is "att finnas" in Swedish (or "att existera", but that's a loan), which is really the passive form of "att finna", meaning "to find".

I'd be very interested in the answer to the thread's original question, too.

Interesting. I only knew about Norwegian, not Swedish.
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tractor
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Message 10 of 15

29 October 2011 at 1:59am | IP Logged

I think Ari's explanation is valid for Norwegian too. However, depending on the context, "there is" can sometimes be
translated as "det er" (or even "der er" in more archaic language).
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Ari
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Message 11 of 15

29 October 2011 at 9:32am | IP Logged

tractor wrote:

However, depending on the context, "there is" can sometimes be
translated as "det er" (or even "der er" in more archaic language).

That's probably true, but could you give an example?
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tractor
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Message 12 of 15

29 October 2011 at 10:39am | IP Logged

Ari wrote:

tractor wrote:

However, depending on the context, "there is" can sometimes be
translated as "det er" (or even "der er" in more archaic language).

That's probably true, but could you give an example?

I'll try:
There is a man at the door who … = Det er en mann på døra som …
There is a reason for that. = Det er en grunn til det. = Det fins en grunn til det.

Come to think of it, "there is" / "there are" can often be translated using other verbs: det står, det ligger.
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tritone
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Message 13 of 15

31 October 2011 at 7:48pm | IP Logged

It's definitely Germanic.

Compare with Danish:

Der er

(There are)

Der var

(There were)

...same thing

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Mauritz
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Message 14 of 15

31 October 2011 at 11:03pm | IP Logged

I believe that the equivalent of "there is/are" would be used in Old English as well
(þǣr is/sind). Although my knowledge of Old Saxon, a language very close to Old
English, is very limited, I think I found the way that Saxons expressed this
construction: "here is/are". Just look at the following quote from the Heliand which I
(probably really bad!) tried to translate:

...he is theses kunnies hinen, quâðun sie, the man thurh mâgskepi: hêr is
[is] môder mid ûs, uuîf undar thesumu uuerode.

....he is of this tribe from now on, they said, the man because of / through (the)
relationship. There(here) is a mother with us, a wife/woman between/under (?) this
people.

I'd love it if someone more well-versed in Old Saxon could provide a better
translation!

Edited by Mauritz on 01 November 2011 at 12:31pm
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m89
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Message 15 of 15

15 January 2012 at 8:14am | IP Logged

Hay in Spanish and y a in French both come from Latin habet ibi, 'there has'.
Also, there is an expression in American English that maybe we should consider: what gives?
I think here the verb to give has some kind of existential meaning.

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