Foreign language words for Shadow?

The Sigil · Nov 13, 2002

And here's Hungarian, which has words that (I think) sound dark and menacing for the requested words:

Dark = Sötét (SHOET-ayt)

Shadow = Árnyék (ARNY-ayk)

Nightmare = Árnyrém (ARNY-raym, literal translation would be "shadowy horror")

Night = éj (pronounced like the english letter "A" with just a touch of "y" sound on the end)

Obscure (adj) = jelentéktelen (YELL-en-take-tell-en, best literal translation into English is probably "without a known presence")

Obscure (verb) = elhomályosít (EL-hohm-eye-oh-sheet, best literal English translation would probably be "fully blotting/causing to fade out")

Eclipse (noun) = fogyatkozás (FOH-dyaht-kohz-ahsh, best literal translation into English would be "the gradual diminishing" though there is much more connotation than that)

Eclipse (verb) = there are four of them:
elhomályosít (see "obscure" above)
elsötétít (EL-shoet-ayt-eat, best literal translation would probably be "to fully darken")
felülmúl (FEL-uehl-mool, best translation would probably be "to cover up")
túlszárnyal (TOOL-sahr-nyahl, best translation would probably be "to completely fly in front of" - metaphorically, "to outstrip or exceed")

--The Sigil

Undead Pete · Nov 13, 2002

The Sigil said:
And here's Hungarian, which has words that (I think) sound dark and menacing for the requested words:

Dark = Sötét (SHOET-ayt)

Shadow = Árnyék (ARNY-ayk)

Nightmare = Árnyrém (ARNY-raym, literal translation would be "shadowy horror")

Night = éj (pronounced like the english letter "A" with just a touch of "y" sound on the end)

Obscure (adj) = jelentéktelen (YELL-en-take-tell-en, best literal translation into English is probably "without a known presence")

Obscure (verb) = elhomályosít (EL-hohm-eye-oh-sheet, best literal English translation would probably be "fully blotting/causing to fade out")

Eclipse (noun) = fogyatkozás (FOH-dyaht-kohz-ahsh, best literal translation into English would be "the gradual diminishing" though there is much more connotation than that)

Eclipse (verb) = there are four of them:
elhomályosít (see "obscure" above)
elsötétít (EL-shoet-ayt-eat, best literal translation would probably be "to fully darken")
felülmúl (FEL-uehl-mool, best translation would probably be "to cover up")
túlszárnyal (TOOL-sahr-nyahl, best translation would probably be "to completely fly in front of" - metaphorically, "to outstrip or exceed")

--The Sigil

Beat me to it. My wife is Hungarian...i was gonna ask her for some help.

The only Hungarian I know is Badz Meg (no offense...it's probably spelled wrong anyway)

The Sigil · Nov 13, 2002

Undead Pete said:
Beat me to it. My wife is Hungarian...i was gonna ask her for some help.

The only Hungarian I know is Badz Meg (no offense...it's probably spelled wrong anyway)

It's "Bassz Meg" and you're fortunate Eric's grandmother doesn't know Magyar.

--The Sigil

zouron · Nov 14, 2002

Greenlandic

Dark = Târtok
Shadow = Alángok
Nightmare = Okimangernek or Angnikitdliûtekangârnek
Night = únuak
Obscure = ulípâ
Eclipse = târsinek
Eclipse of the Sun = Sekernup Pulenara

Maerdwyn · Nov 14, 2002

Arabic:
Shadow: Till (the t has a very heavy sound, like the t in "Tom"
Night: leila
Eclipse: kasoof
Twilight: ghasaq (the gh is a gutteral "r" like "Paris" said with an
outrageous French accent)
Obscure: ghamaD (gh as above, D is very heavy, as in "thud")

Welsh:

Shadow: Cysgod (pronounced "kus-gid")
Eclipse: diffyg ("dee-fug")
Night: nos ("knowss"), or hwyr ("hyoo-er", also means "evening")
Obscure: aneglur ("ah-nay-glir") or tywyll ("tow-eel" - "tow" as in "towel"; the"l" is breathy)

ramuji · Nov 14, 2002

Japanese:

Shadow:
kage = shadow
kuragari = darkness; dark place (e.g. "someone is lurking in the darkness")
hitokage = shadow of a person, or silhouette

Dark:
kurai = dark
yami = darkness (e.g. "He escaped under cover of darkness/into the dark night.")
kuroi = black

Eclipse:
nisshoku = solar eclipse
gesshoku = lunar eclipse
kaikigesshoku = total lunar eclipse
bubungesshoku = partial lunar eclipse

Obscure:
fumeiryo = indistinct, inarticulate, ill-defined
aimai = ambiguous, vague

Night:
yoru = night
yakan = night, nighttime
nichibotsu = sunset, sundown

tarchon · Nov 14, 2002

Swahili

shade/shadow = uvuli, (class 11) apparently in the general sense

shade/shadow = kivuli, (class 7) specifically a ghost as in many other languages, it might also refer to a cast shadow. The contrast in noun classes suggests that uvuli is probably what we call shade while kivuli is what we call a shadow, but the dictionary I'm using is unclear about it.

dark = -ausi/-eusi What goes before the - depends on what it modifies, e.g. kivuli chausi, dark shadow.

Mongolian (standard Halka)

shadow = sïïder
dark = baraan, bïrenhii, har

Both of the on-line dictionaries roughly agree, but I have no idea about the particular connotations, except that har is basically the color black (related to Turkish kara and perhaps Japanese kuroi). They each give several other options, so I'm guessing that Mongolian doesn't have a closely corresponding semantic category. Mongolian terms for visual appearance generally don't correspond well to Western concepts, I've found.

Eristophenes · Nov 14, 2002

And what about polish?

Shadow - Cieñ

Dark - ciemny, mroczny

Eclipse - zacmienie (instead of "c" there should be "c" with a dot on top of it - but it's polish letter

)

Oscure - ciemny, ponury

Night - noc

Irbis · Nov 14, 2002

In Russian...

Shadow -- ten'

Dark -- t'ma (also the word for "ten thousand" in Old Russian, btw)

Eclipse -- zatmenie

Obscure -- temniy

Night -- noch'

Hope this helps