Lejontämjaren - The name of a Swedish film made in 2002 and released the following year. I was wondering if English "Strong as a lion" is a literal translation or a free translation of the Swedish? Usually, languages use a conjuction  meaning ‘as’ or ‘like’ to make comparisons. It seems to be almost universal. . Lejon-  is obvious for ‘lion’ but what does the -tämjaren segment of the word mean? You could say "lion-strong" in English but it sounds a little quaint.  

Below is a brief summary of the film from http://www.time out:

http://www.timeout.com/film/75512.html

<<<Lejontämjaren [...]I was wondering if English "Strong as a lion" is a literal translation or a free translation of the Swedish? [...] Usually, languages use a conjuction  meaning ‘as’ or ‘like’ to make comparisons. It seems to be almost universal.<<<

I don’t know for the Swedish and leave that to others (though, between BIG brackets, i think the Swedish should be literally (and hence badly) translated as ‘the lion-tamer’ - Sw. tämja is to tame).

But what you describe makes me think of Dutch, in which we do have compounds as "beresterk" (as strong as a bear), "loodzwaar" (as heavy as lead), and many many more.

Frank

Yes, Frank, "The lion tamer" it is. And not badly either - my dictionary supports you.

<<<Usually, languages use a conjuction  meaning ‘as’ or ‘like’ to make comparisons. It seems to be almost universal. [...]
You could say "lion-strong" in English but it sounds a little quaint.<<<

Fascinating…
If i got it right, you’re talking about adjectives composed of  noun+adjective.
In Dutch it’s possible, in German too. In English, the only one that comes to mind is Snow White .

Any other languages?

Frank

beresterk

Any relation to English berserk? I thought I’d heard that somewhere…

J

berserk?

I think it comes from bear-shirt, serk as in ‘sark’, the Scottish word. Apparently they liked to wear bear suits while they were enjoying themselves.

Interesting…

J

I think it comes from bear-shirt, serk as in ‘sark’, the Scottish word.

The Online Etymology Dictionary agrees, but there is an alternative theory that the first part is related to "bara/bare", meaning "only" in Swedish/Norwegian, and that berserks went into battle wearing only a shirt. That’s as in "no armour", not as in "no trousers"...

Wikipedia has a good article about them. Sound like the kind of guys you’d want fighting with you, not against you!

Noddy

I think that the animal bear safely can be excluded from the berserk discussion. To me, it’s a tie between "wear = be clad in" and "only".

"beresterk" (as strong as a bear), "loodzwaar" (as heavy as lead)[/Quote]
Of course possible in Swedish as well: those two words are björnstark, blytung.

<<<Usually, languages use a conjuction  meaning ‘as’ or ‘like’ to make comparisons. It seems to be almost universal.<<<

Chinese bing1leng3: English ice-cold.
Would they both fit the pattern?

I think I would never learn Chinese, I’m not good at math.

Brazilian dude

<<<I think I would never learn Chinese, I’m not good at math.<<<

1 2 3 4… that’s all :-P :-)

Nah, it’s indeed a very unhandy way of notating Mandarin.
If only this forum would allow us to use tone marks or characters or other scripts… GVD.

Frank and Anders,

Thanks for setting me straight on this Swedish film title. It appears that the people who produced the English version of the film  more likely retitled it thinking that  "The Liontamer" wouldn’t attract as many viewers as "Strong As A Lion." Sometimes translations of films and novels from foreign languages into English are not faithful ones. I think of the Turkish novel "Mehmed, My Hawk" by Yashar Kemal about a boy in a poor Turkish village  seeking to avenge an evil landlord. Where its original Turkish title was " Ýnce Mehmed (in-jay mekh-med)" instead meaning "Slim Mehmed."  :)