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

Origin of "there is/are"
Tags: Meaning of words
Share with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Language Learning Forum : Philological Room

15 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

PaulLambeth
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5160 days ago
244 posts - 315 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Icelandic, Hindi, Irish

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.
1 person has voted this message useful

tractor
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5240 days ago
1349 posts - 2292 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: French, German, Latin

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).
1 person has voted this message useful

Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 6369 days ago
2314 posts - 5695 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Studies: Czech, Latin, German

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?
1 person has voted this message useful

tractor
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5240 days ago
1349 posts - 2292 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: French, German, Latin

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.
1 person has voted this message useful

tritone
Senior Member
United States
reflectionsinpo
Joined 5907 days ago
246 posts - 385 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, French

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

1 person has voted this message useful

Mauritz
Octoglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 4855 days ago
223 posts - 325 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English^C2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Esperanto, French
Studies: Old English, Yiddish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, Welsh, Icelandic, Afrikaans

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
1 person has voted this message useful

m89
Diglot
Newbie
Argentina
Joined 4484 days ago
2 posts - 2 votes
Speaks: Spanish*, English

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.

1 person has voted this message useful

This discussion contains 15 messages over 2 pages: << Prev 1 2

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.6445 seconds.