Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Latvian term or phrase:
Moins!
English translation:
Hello! (dialectal), also "Oh, my!"
Added to glossary by
Irene Elmerot
Nov 18, 2007 12:29
16 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Latvian term
Thorough, motorcycling Swedish linguist
Native in: Swedish
Works in: Dutch to Swedish, Danish to Swedish, English to Swedish, and 5 more.
Mojns!
Latvian to English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
I'm writing a short thing for the Swedish Translators' magazine Facköversättaren on greetings, and I bumped into the Latvian word mojns. Could anyonw please translate the Wikipedia site for me, and perhaps give me more info on the word?
http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moins
I understand it says something about the similar looking mojn in Denmark and moi/moj in Dutch/Frisian, but I would have thought such a word would rather come to Latvia from the Finnish word for Hello, moi? Not that the languages are related, but the countries are closer than Latvia and Denmark or the Netherlands.
http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moins
I understand it says something about the similar looking mojn in Denmark and moi/moj in Dutch/Frisian, but I would have thought such a word would rather come to Latvia from the Finnish word for Hello, moi? Not that the languages are related, but the countries are closer than Latvia and Denmark or the Netherlands.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 5 +1 | Hello! |
dianastr
|
| 5 | Hi! Chiao! |
Kristine Sprula (Lielause)
|
| 2 +1 | oh my! |
mjbjosh
|
Proposed translations
+1
19 mins
Selected
Hello!
It is a very slangish word for "hello". It wouldn't usually be used in fiction, media or any other official or semi-official writings.
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Note added at 33 mins (2007-11-18 13:02:44 GMT)
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An sms or an e-mail to close friends, who have good sense of humour, would be OK. Definetely not your teachers or shop-keepers, unless they are close friends or perhaps relatives of yours. It is used more frequently by younger people rather than by older. But overall, I wouldn't encourage using it at all in writing. In speech it would be OK - but again - with very well-known people. Instead of "mojns", I would suggest "sveiki" (if several people are greeted or if you wish to refer to someone more politely than not), "sveiks" (when addressing a male), or "sveika" (when addressing a female).
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Note added at 1 hr (2007-11-18 13:33:07 GMT)
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According to the wikipedia article (and it in part corresponds with my ideas about the subject matter), has derived from the Northern part of Germany, Southern Denmark and Eastern part of the Netherlands. It also says that it has derived from the Frisian dialect as follows: mooi (beautiful) and moin (day) --> the greeting used to be "moin, moin", which over the time has lost one of the stems, thus becoming simply "moin". I don't believe, however am not certain and cannot justify my opinion about the guess of the term having derived from Finnish or Swedish languages.
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Note added at 1 hr (2007-11-18 13:36:50 GMT)
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Evija, still - it might not be frequently used in some parts of Latvia or by certain people, but it is rather widely used in Kurzeme (I am absolutely certain about it) and not only there. And of course - it is not a literary term. But it is definitely used as a greeting.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-11-18 14:31:20 GMT)
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In my opinion, the "oh my" meaning of the word is derived from the same word - I have a vague idea of how it has derived: a close equivalent of "oh, my" and "oh, dear" in Latvian is "ak, manu dieniņ", "oh, my day" (in word by word translation), and, as we can see, the same stem - "day" - appears in this expression. It is, however, only a guess.
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Note added at 33 mins (2007-11-18 13:02:44 GMT)
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An sms or an e-mail to close friends, who have good sense of humour, would be OK. Definetely not your teachers or shop-keepers, unless they are close friends or perhaps relatives of yours. It is used more frequently by younger people rather than by older. But overall, I wouldn't encourage using it at all in writing. In speech it would be OK - but again - with very well-known people. Instead of "mojns", I would suggest "sveiki" (if several people are greeted or if you wish to refer to someone more politely than not), "sveiks" (when addressing a male), or "sveika" (when addressing a female).
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Note added at 1 hr (2007-11-18 13:33:07 GMT)
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According to the wikipedia article (and it in part corresponds with my ideas about the subject matter), has derived from the Northern part of Germany, Southern Denmark and Eastern part of the Netherlands. It also says that it has derived from the Frisian dialect as follows: mooi (beautiful) and moin (day) --> the greeting used to be "moin, moin", which over the time has lost one of the stems, thus becoming simply "moin". I don't believe, however am not certain and cannot justify my opinion about the guess of the term having derived from Finnish or Swedish languages.
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Note added at 1 hr (2007-11-18 13:36:50 GMT)
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Evija, still - it might not be frequently used in some parts of Latvia or by certain people, but it is rather widely used in Kurzeme (I am absolutely certain about it) and not only there. And of course - it is not a literary term. But it is definitely used as a greeting.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-11-18 14:31:20 GMT)
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In my opinion, the "oh my" meaning of the word is derived from the same word - I have a vague idea of how it has derived: a close equivalent of "oh, my" and "oh, dear" in Latvian is "ak, manu dieniņ", "oh, my day" (in word by word translation), and, as we can see, the same stem - "day" - appears in this expression. It is, however, only a guess.
Note from asker:
| Thanks! Would you write it in an sms or an email to your friends, though? Would you say it to your teachers? To a shop keeper? |
| Thanks for clearifying! No idea of it's origins? |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Evija Rimšāne
: Diāna - nestrīdēšos, bet esmu pati no Kurzemes, te dzimusi un augusi, un nekur neesmu dzirdējusi, ka "moins" lietotu sveiciena nozīmē:) Iespējams, ka tomēr lieto, bet noteikti ne plaši izplatīti
2 days 22 hrs
|
| agree |
Oceansea
: Mans skolotājs sveicinoties vienmēr teica - Moins!
52 days
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks! Your answer was the best of the first ones, so I have quoted you in our magazine Facköversättaren :-)"
+1
25 mins
oh my!
I just read the Wikipedia article and it looks like a case of popular etymology to me. As far as I know, "[nu] mojns!" has always been used in the sense of English "oh my!" and not as a greeting. The only etymology dictionary of Latvian by K. Karulis doesn't list the word. It seems very unlikely to me that it could be a late loan word.
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Note added at 39 mins (2007-11-18 13:09:07 GMT)
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Like I said, not that I know. Nobody does know every words though. Might be a regional thing etc.
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Note added at 39 mins (2007-11-18 13:09:07 GMT)
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Like I said, not that I know. Nobody does know every words though. Might be a regional thing etc.
Note from asker:
| Thanks for trying the etymological dictionary! But see Diana Strausa's answer, it obviously works as "hello" at least with the young?! |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Inese Poga-Smith
: It has never been used as "hello". "Nu moins! was rather expression of surprise and appeared by the end of 60, begin 70 as modern slang expression, it should be something similar to Wow"!
2 days 16 hrs
|
2 days 11 hrs
Kristine Sprula (Lielause)
Latvia
Latvia
Native in Latvian
Specializes in field
Latvia
Almost 30 years in translations
Native in: Latvian 
Works in: English to Latvian, Russian to Latvian, Latvian to Russian, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Hi! Chiao!
It was used in the middle 20th century among men, which now each other well.
Nowadays it is rarely used or almost not used at all. Now it is replaced by chiao :)
Both are absolutely unformal greetings and should not be used to greet your teacher or shopkeeper.
You can find the origin of moin in the links below.
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Note added at 2 dienas11 h (2007-11-20 23:57:39 GMT)
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Of course, I mean Italian "ciao" :)
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Note added at 2 dienas11 h (2007-11-20 23:58:53 GMT)
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Today more frequently is used exclamation "Nu, moins!" (not "moins" alone) - to express surprise.
Nowadays it is rarely used or almost not used at all. Now it is replaced by chiao :)
Both are absolutely unformal greetings and should not be used to greet your teacher or shopkeeper.
You can find the origin of moin in the links below.
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Note added at 2 dienas11 h (2007-11-20 23:57:39 GMT)
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Of course, I mean Italian "ciao" :)
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Note added at 2 dienas11 h (2007-11-20 23:58:53 GMT)
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Today more frequently is used exclamation "Nu, moins!" (not "moins" alone) - to express surprise.
Example sentence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moin
Discussion