Dec 3, 2012 18:54
11 yrs ago
Danish term
Østen for Solen...
Danish to English
Art/Literary
Linguistics
fairy tale
"Østen for Solen..." is a header and the name of a new book about the adventures of knitting. I wish to explain, briefly, what it means in English. How would you explain it using as few words as possible?
Obviously, I am not going to translate the header.
In Danish, we usually say: østen for solen og vesten for månen, som er
"ufattelig langt væk SPROGBRUG især i eventyr"
http://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=sol
There was a time, and there was not a time… the opening line of the fairy tale "The Riddles", which signify a time and a place far, far away.
Obviously, I am not going to translate the header.
In Danish, we usually say: østen for solen og vesten for månen, som er
"ufattelig langt væk SPROGBRUG især i eventyr"
http://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=sol
There was a time, and there was not a time… the opening line of the fairy tale "The Riddles", which signify a time and a place far, far away.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 5 | East of the sun |
bodilvendele (X)
|
| 5 | To the horizon and back |
Peter Smedskjaer-Stenland
|
| 3 +1 | in a realm far, far away |
Sven Petersson
|
| 3 | Coming Full Circle |
Alexander C. Thomson
|
Proposed translations
15 hrs
Selected
East of the sun
Den direkte oversættelse er kendt i den engelsksprogede verden. Bl.a. Diana Krall har en sang med titlen East of the sun west of the moon.
Reference:
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you, so much. I apologise for being so late, but in my rush to finish the translation, I forgot."
50 mins
Peter Smedskjaer-Stenland
Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
Native in English
Faroe Islands
The technical solution
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Danish to English, Faroese to English, Norwegian (Nynorsk) to English, and 2 more.
To the horizon and back
A literal translation would be 'east of the sun and west of the moon', but there is an old joke a comic strip titled Homer depicted wonderfully.
Homer was made a supervisor for slaves in Roman times, given the task of building a road to the horizon. A slave suggested Homer run to the horizon to find out how long the road would need to be. The joke is, the horizon is always at the horizon, and Homer was being tricked.
I wouldn't use 'Riding into the sunset', because that has another meaning; to ride away in a conclusion to a story or chapter.
To the Horizon and Back implies you just keep going for a very, very long time, and is ironic in saying you will be coming back.
Homer was made a supervisor for slaves in Roman times, given the task of building a road to the horizon. A slave suggested Homer run to the horizon to find out how long the road would need to be. The joke is, the horizon is always at the horizon, and Homer was being tricked.
I wouldn't use 'Riding into the sunset', because that has another meaning; to ride away in a conclusion to a story or chapter.
To the Horizon and Back implies you just keep going for a very, very long time, and is ironic in saying you will be coming back.
Note from asker:
| To the Horizon and Back. That's quite good! At one point I considered "East of the Rising Sun", but it doesn't have the fairy tale feeling I am after. |
+1
1 hr
Sven Petersson
Sweden
Sweden
Native in English
Sweden
Medical Translator
Native in: Swedish , English
Works in: English to Swedish, Danish to Swedish, German to Swedish, and 13 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
in a realm far, far away
:o)
Note from asker:
| Plain and simple also works, sometimes better than the fancy stuff. Thank you, I like that too. |
| Thank you, Sven. |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
564354352 (X)
: Sounds like the opening to Star Wars, though, doesn't it? "In a galaxy far, far away"...
13 hrs
|
| agree |
Charlesp
: This really is the best suggestion !
22 hrs
|
|
Thank you very much!
|
2 hrs
Alexander C. Thomson
Netherlands
Netherlands
Native in English
Specializes in field
Netherlands
Academic translator/interpreter
Native in: English (Variants: Scottish, British) , Scots
Works in: Dutch to English, German to English, German to Dutch, and 54 more.
Coming Full Circle
You might like this option. "East of the Sun" is used in English, by the way: it's the title of a history of Siberia, for instance (although in that instance there is of course no element of finishing back where one began).
Note from asker:
| Such good and varied answers. Now it's difficult to select the best one ;-) |
| Thank you, Alexander. |
Reference comments
3 hrs
Lene Johansen
Native in English
Experienced translator, editor, and wr
Native in: Norwegian (Bokmal) , Norwegian , English
Works in: Norwegian to English, English to Norwegian, Swedish to English, and 1 more.
Reference:
English speaking people are not unfamiliar with fairytales
However, Wikipedia has a nice introduction that might inspire your explanation.
Note from asker:
| Thank you, Lene. A nice link. |
Discussion