Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 April 12
Appearance
Language desk | ||
---|---|---|
< April 11 | << Mar | April | May >> | April 13 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
April 12
[edit]Let it be
[edit]Has the expression "let it be" been adopted by any foreign language? It strikes me as a rather unique form of expressing a concept and thus difficult to translate. OsmanRF34 (talk) 17:17, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
- "Fiat" and "Amen" are two well known examples, from Latin and Hebrew, respectively. In Polish, it would be "Niech będzie", and I expect that most languages have a way of conveying the concept. I don't understand what you think is so unique about it. Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 17:37, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
- In some English dialects, "let it be" means "leave it alone". Alansplodge (talk) 18:21, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
- Right, "fiat" and "amen" are not the only translations possible and I don't mean these. OsmanRF34 (talk) 18:40, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
- @Alansplodge: Not at all unique to English. The same is true for the exact literal translation in German, Danish and perhaps all other Germanic languages, as well. French has a similar construction with "laisser". Not cognate, but probably influenced by Germanic.
- @OsmanRF34: It would help a lot if you explained what you mean. Your question is pretty vague. Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 18:47, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
- The song "Let It Be", to this American, means "leave it alone", with the implied followup, "things will work out OK." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:18, 14 April 2013 (UTC)
- The term has been translated into many different languages, but it had to be abandonned due to copyright infringement claims. μηδείς (talk) 19:32, 12 April 2013 (UTC)