Rainbow explained in different languages

Learning a language is not just fitting words into a box in the right order, nor is it just grammar. There is a cultural context, a world that you open up to fully grasp how a language functions. Because languages are human creations - and since we learn by context and symbols, our many languages reflect this. The 'rainbow', a natural phenomenon which would have seemed intensely mystical in the ancient world, is no exception. in this video, we have a look at this word in different languages, and the concepts which were built into them.
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[@qwertylello]

This has to be one of the best unintentional ASMR channels

[@BenLlywelyn]

My rugged softness is beyond talent.

[@dinofangzz]

Fr

[@siamerr]

Nice video! The Cherokee one is my favorite! In Ukrainian there are actually two words for a rainbow: 1. веселка (veselka) comes from весело (veselo), which means "fun" 2. райдуга (rajduha) consists of two words: рай (heaven) and дуга (arch)

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you. Ukrainian would be good to learn, if only to show support.

[@msbarnes40342]

Water door/korean: “I like that. Next” my favorite part 😂

[@michaelhalsall5684]

There seems to be quite different words for 'rainbow' in the various Celtic languages. Breton has either 'kanevedenn' OR 'gwareg-ar-glav'. The second one translates approximately as 'bow of the rain' which suggests a Germanic (Frankish!!!) interpretation of the 'rainbow' concept. Irish has either 'bogha baisti' OR 'tuar ceatha'. Some clever Irish speaker will be able to give us a word by word translation of each.

[@asleszynska]

The Polish word is also quite unique - tęcza. It originally meant a rain/hail/storm cloud from Proto-Slavic *tǫča, but the meaning shifted overtime to something that sometimes is a result of a rain cloud - the rainbow. I think other Slavic languages haven't undergone that change in meaning or at least not to such degree.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Slavic languages are my weak point in European Languages. Thank you.

[@asleszynska]

@@BenLlywelyn My pleasure! Slavic languages can be quite challenging, even for a native speaker, but not impossible!

[@mayanlogos92]

The silent g - ğ in turkish actually serves as to lenghten the previous vowel, in this case the a.. so it would be ghiokuşaaŷ (sorry if mistook on the ö sound) 6:45 - reminds me of the romanian legend of this phenomenon... lit a young beautiful girl droping off her colorful belt on the sky as a sign of some sorts...

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you.

[@stancalung5186]

Just a little note: "sz" in Hungarian reads like an "ß" in German (or an "ss"). If you want an "sh", it writes "s" in Hungarian. Ergo, "szivárvány" would be "ssivarvañi" (with a very short "i"). Actually, Hungarian ist the most easy-to-read language in Europe, even if you don´t understand what you are saying, ´coz Phonetics :)))) Thank you for remembering me what a beautiful language my mother tongue is (Romanian) and how wonderful it is to know how others sound and how they are (or not) related!

[@bradwilliams7198]

In Cornish the word is kammneves. The last half is kind of similar to enfys, so I wonder if they might be cognates? Kamm is a prefix in a number of words in Kernewek and has the general meaning of something not straight, curved, or crooked (it can also indicate crooked in the moral sense or as in missing the mark). Nev is the word for heaven, and nevek is heavenly. So maybe the meaning is "heavenly arc"? Just wondering if this might provide any clues to the etymology in Cymraeg? After a little searching, the word in Breton is kanevedenn.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Y nef in Welsh is Heaven in literary Welsh. So maybe, ynfys (heavenly finger).

[@omarmyia]

I had no idea that the Romanian word curcubeu comes from Latin, thanks. For contemporary speakers it can sound derogatory in some context - now that it's associated with gay people, some people emphasize the "cur" in "curcubeu" because is means "ass" (so you can read it "cur cu beu" as in "ass with _____ (beu is not a word so it doesn't stand for anything, but it sounds a bit funny)). A bad joke that some people make, but the Internet need this information.

[@Retrogamer71]

Cur in Romanian means ass. Lol

[@facelessguy]

Your awesome and your pronunciation (I can only speak about German) was quite good. I love languages so much. Thank you for this video.

[@cliftonfurney5083]

This is great stuff. I like the style in which information is delivered

[@SKW212]

I love your videos, this one is not an exception! Though I've got to say, understanding the grammar and alphabet will get you a fantastic head start in learning Hebrew, since almost every word comes from a certain root. It's actually one of the easiest languages to learn, my aunt who is a musician master it within half a year. You probably can do the same! (:

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you. I doubt I will learn it so fast, as I have so many other things going on. But Hebrew is a renewed focus and I am resolved to delve more into it. I am already using it for Jewish prayers and songs, which gives me sight into the language.

[@obraym4992]

Hi, in tamazight (berber language) we call it ( tislit n unzar ) tislit is the bride , n means of and unzar or anzar if he doesn't attached with particules means rain, so tislit n unzar means the rain's bride.

[@BenLlywelyn]

That is wonderful. Thank you.

[@obraym4992]

@@BenLlywelyn You are welcome

[@TreforTreforgan]

On the face of it the en- suffix in Enfys is likely an emphasiser: mawr = big, enfawr=huge. So the meaning of Enfys could be huge finger. Another thing to consider is sometimes letters go arwy in Welsh toponyms and nomenclature. It’s known for first letters and other letters within agglutinated words to disappear in mutation. Perhaps an earlier form of the word Enfys might have been nenfys; heaven-finger or even gwybrenfys; sky-finger?

[@BenLlywelyn]

Skyfinger is possible.

[@TreforTreforgan]

@@BenLlywelyn possibly. Makes sense anyway. Gwefys (lips) is a quirky one when you separate both elements that make the word: gwe(dd)=face, -fys (bys)=finger. So your lips in Welsh are face fingers!

[@JoseFerreira-n9v]

In portuguese the most used is arco iris, but sometimes is used arco celeste (celestial arc). When I was younger, I heard and used "arco da velha". It's similar to "arco da vella" in galician. As a kid I thought it was the arc of an old lady. The first written references are more complete - "arco da lei velha" (arc of the old law)' regarding the pact between God and Noah after the flood.

[@BenLlywelyn]

The Rainbow for many, represents to Noahides, who keep the 7 Laws. So this is fascinating. Obrigado.

[@AMplusPM]

It has no connection to the video's ideea, but I saw that in Korean, water=mul, and I know that in Japanese, water=mizu, while in Romanian/Latin, wetness/wet=umezeală/humidus. It sounds similar to me. I wonder if there is a connection between those words, or if it is just a coincidence.

[@BenLlywelyn]

I doubt Latin has links to Japonic or Korean languages that are more than coincidence, but there could be prehistoric trade links in some very old words used in commerce (meade, honey, rock, ?)

[@mimisor66]

The connection is water /rain, as a rainbow appears after the rain.

[@cv5w]

It's a coincidence, umezeală comes from umed (indirectly related to the English word humid and with the same meaning), and the d to z sound change is one of the most common and predictable phonetical shifts in Romanian.

[@Ciprianamican]

From Earth, we see the rainbow as a semi-circle, but in reality each rainbow is a full circle. From a higher height, such as from an airplane, the full rainbow can be seen. So, the Romanian word "curcubeu" (a ring that drinks) best describes the reality.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Is the other half below ground?

[@Ciprianamican]

​@@BenLlywelynkzbin.infocwQbEo75k70?si=ybOq_pZlf_5hCdfc

[@Ciprianamican]

No, it's beyond the horizon line. The rainbow does not touch the ground.

[@balak1]

With sprinkles

[@BenLlywelyn]

😉

[@SlaviSokol]

How about Enfys came from VIS ? Also Hungarian sziva could be switch of VISA. The Vis meaning hi up,sky.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Quite a journey.

[@cennethadameveson3715]

Wales here, as children we were told not to point at rainbows as it was bad luck. Disrespecting God's work I think is the reason. As for the bow in the sky; in the bible God put the rainbow in the sky as a promise not to drowned us again. There is an earlier Mesopotamian myth were a god started killing humans (can't remember the reason, maybe being noisy) with his bow and arrows, but decides not to kill everyone and to show he wasn't going to do it again hung his bow up in the sky so all could see he'd kept his promise. As ever great video.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Cool tale, never heard that about Wales.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Cool tale. Never heard that in Welsh stories before. Diolch yn fawr.

[@mayanlogos92]

Wondering how s in Irish? Anything to do w a treasure? Like how it sound in Hungarian & the meaning qt enigmatic & culturally awe... 😍😍😍 N didnt know as a romanian what does curcubeu really means or that it actually stems from latin... Always an awe to listen to you... a delight ❤ have a beautiful week! All the best❤ Edit: 4 irish google gave me - tuar ceatha - tuar gave me also to mean 'prophecy' (??) & ceatha also 'rainbow' - im aware any of this or all might be false... (almost)

[@mihaiilie8808]

You can tell the romanian curcubeu is the older word from when people toght the gods drink water through the rainbow. First time i hear this. From the dacians.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you Mihai.

[@luisfernandez9978]

En galego dicimos Arco da vella ( Old woman arch)

[@BenLlywelyn]

Fermoso.

[@fredericosampaio6457]

Gwych iawn, Ben! It's interesting how thoughtful is all the meanings of enfys in different languages...

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch yn fawr, hapus fod ti wedi hoffi e'.

[@pavelaevii6687]

In romanian as kid with my friends we was talking about the river where we thought the ring is drinking. And obvious it was every timethe first valei inagter the hill inbertwan us anr d the rainbow

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you for your memory.

[@tedi1932]

Diolch Ben, diddorol iawn.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso mawr!

[@norielgames4765]

In french arc also means bow, so it really literally is a skybow instead of a rainbow xD

[@Ajemone]

In Italian Is “Arcobaleno”

[@norielgames4765]

@@Ajemone I'm willing to bet an arm and a leg that arco also means both bow and arch. I'm also willing to bet you'll understand this phrase in my mother tongue: Salve, frate latin!

[@Ajemone]

Non so per cosa il baleno stia ma si deriva sempre da arco o più precisamente credo “Arco colorato”

[@norielgames4765]

@@Ajemone Grazie

[@balak1]

Am I the only one who finds Romanian and Hungarian ones similar in meaning? 🌈

[@BenLlywelyn]

Mysterious.

[@jackportugge5647]

"Arco-íris", in Portuguese! ("iris-arch"). I wonder how old this term is, because "iris" sounds to me as a modern word. Just my impression, i'm not a linguist.

[@TheDinisPT]

Íris is in reference to the greek goddess of the same name.

[@MM-jm6do]

Same in Spanish but without the hyphen: arcoíris!

[@christopherellis2663]

Hungarian sz ß / s as sn sp, st .

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you.

[@mashu7846]

👏

[@mariablgh6279]

Szivárvány= rainbow

[@Hector-dk8iy]

In Albanian we say "ylber" (rainbow), according to Vladimir Orel from protoalbanian *ulnā bhõra, a mirror reflection of protoalbanian *bhorei ulnā > bërryl (elbow). Although, Çabej (Albanian linguist) identifies the first component of "ylber" with "yll" (star).

[@rafalkaminski6389]

In lithuanian dangus nowadays means sky, but IT probably meant 'rainbow', in Polish tęcza 'rainbow', but IT meant probably 'cloud', dęga was for 'rainbow' in pod Polish 😅

[@Flowering_Glume]

May I just say that I am delighted to finally be able to say someone has that certain je ne sais quoi! You really do. This is my favorite youtube video ever made to date. You keep knocking my socks off with these recent really exciting "Explained in 1 sentence" series simultaneously upping the ante on Sprinkles (they were increasingly generous, thank you for extra sprinkles! I have the opposite of an attention deficit disorder (hmm, what would that be, enlighten, agape, transfixed? ) to hear you explain anything. I am being silly here, but in all seriousness, I tend to really have a hard time comprehending the way most people explain things and get hung up thinking about whether I am obtuse or stubborn or stupid or does their brain just interpret and explain so wildly different than me so I can't? Then I completely by chance watched one video and had to tell everyone about how much I learned and understand people, history, geography, culture, language, and it's effortless. It blowns my mind how you know so much without being 500 years old. These videos are lovely. You endeared my heart to every single country, language, and people in a way that made me love people and their differences in such a deeply edifying way. I consider these to be great gifts, it's been a real long overdue morale boost. You're love for language and your grasp of the rules and interesting ways of articulating hard to translate or even put into any words is like a linguistic magic show. Fascinating and adorble sprinkles.

[@BenLlywelyn]

The journey continues. Thank you very much for joining the journey.

[@Flowering_Glume]

@@BenLlywelyn I would really like to know what your thoughts are on just how bad an idea it is to rely on google translator and perhaps you might like to make a video about that? I spend a lot of time translating a phrase from one language to the other then reverse it and do it over and over in a few languages and it is frightening how strange it gets to be sometimes. I wish I had a great example. I should have been keeping a log of these things as I find them not only wrong, but almost sinister in nature, if that makes sense. Have you any experience with what I am on about? Let's just say that if understanding each other and it not getting really weird is Google's main objective, they are lying. I can see it actually causing people problems if used to help yourself speak a language you don't know and need help in a foreign place.

[@macedon1anyosh107]

Macedonian is unique from all slavic languages, as almost all use some variation of duga/d'ga, while we have виножито(vinozhito, vino(wine) + zhito(grain)) and ѕуница(dzunica)

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you.

[@DunstervonDilea]

Don't forget "Божилак" (God's Bow).

[@carron979]

as always it sounds best in Italian: "arcobaleno"

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is pretty.