[PW] Re: Swedish phrase translation Stumper

[Douglas Eric Anderson]

My Swedish is extremely rusty, but I'll take a shot:

"En ... granne" does indeed mean "a ... neighbor".  "Hart" I'm not
familiar with, but it shows up in my one dictionary as an adverb =
"nearly, almost"; it could conceivably be some archaic or regional
adjective meaning "near" or "close."

"bra at finna" would translate as "good to find".

The one that puzzles me is "iz", which is most decidedly not the standard
Swedish word for "is"; as far as I can determine, it isn't a standard
Swedish word at all.  In contemporary Swedish, the letter "z" is used
pretty much exclusively in words borrowed from other languages.  However,
again, as with "hart", it may be some regional or archaic word that
doesn't show up in contemporary dictionaries.

So my (poorly) educated guess is "A close neighbor is good to find".

Doug Anderson
Reference Librarian & armchair philologist




On Wed, July 19, 2006 4:21 pm, Terry Wirick wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am looking for a translation of this Swedish phrase - En hart granne iz
> bra at finna.
>
> I have used an online translator service and this is what they came up
> with - A (hart) neighbor is a good joke find (or found).  The patron saw
> it on a beach house in the area.
>
> Can anyone provide me with a more accurate translation?
>
> Would you reply to this address directly?  I am not an active member of
> the list.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Terry
> Erie County Public Library


-- 
Douglas E. Anderson
Reference Coordinator
Ashtabula County District Library
335 W. 44th St.
Ashtabula, OH 44004 USA
440/997-9341 ext. 1
http://www.acdl.info/