smalka

English translation: starve/not be able to afford/go without/go hungry

17:15 Aug 9, 2012
Swedish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Swedish term or phrase: smalka
Another sentence from a letter from 1879 (also see previous KudoZ call relating to 'satte efter')

"Vi hade ej ett öre att köpa något för, på båten kunde man få köpa äpplen, Citroner, Öl, lemonad, men vi fick smalka."

The author of the letter came from Linköping. I wonder if there are any dialectal or archaic terms, or whether this is a mistake, and he actually meant 'smalna'?

NB: Any spelling mistakes and capitalising of the first letter of some nouns are from the source.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Richard Green
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:30
English translation:starve/not be able to afford/go without/go hungry
Explanation:
Hm, lots of room for creative guessing here … :-)

I can't find any 'smalka' in Swedish either. You might be right that it is connected to Sw. 'smal'. Most etymologists seem to agree Sw. 'smal' is related to Sw. 'små' and En. 'small', and that these in turn derive from an Indo-European root with a range of related meanings like 'small', 'fine', 'thin', 'grind' etc. Reflexes with -lk- appear in Latvian and Lithuanian, which probably had trading connections with Linköping as it is on the east coast. So maybe 'smalka' means something like 'starve' here.

But Sw. 'smal' can also be used with the meaning 'meagre' when talking about financial circumstances. They're writing about the lack of money in the letter. In this case perhaps it could be translated as 'not be able to afford'.

Leif's suggestion 'försmäkta' is also interesting. Just 'smäkta' would also work, in this case it can also simply mean 'be without'.

In fact, in Old Swedish, there was an alternative form 'smakta', and the first part of the word 'sma-' is again related to Sw. 'små' and En. 'small'. 'Smäkta' in turn is related to a word for 'hunger' in Old German. So again, this could imply that 'smalka' can be translated as something like 'go hungry'.

Confusing and speculative, but these are actually the likeliest connections out of many that I found.

Here are some of the web pages that I used:

http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/ 'smal' (”det är smalt för honom”), 'smäkta', 'smolk'
http://dnghu.org/indoeuropean.html Indo-European roots
http://indo-european.info/indo-european-etymology.pdf More IE etymology
http://spraakbanken.gu.se/swe/resurs/dalind Dictionary of 19th century Swedish
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/ German Lexicon Project
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/small#Etymology
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spalva Latv. 'smalka'
http://runeberg.org/svetym/#tocs 'smal'
Selected response from:

J Christian Odehnal
Czech Republic
Local time: 15:30
Grading comment
Thank you for taking so much care, time, and effort in preparing your answer. Your research has been invaluable in helping me reach the most appropriate translation.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4taste
aventura22
4go/do without
Cynthia Coan
3grow thinner
Michele Fauble
2languish, pine
Leif Henriksen
2starve/not be able to afford/go without/go hungry
J Christian Odehnal


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


50 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
taste


Explanation:
Jag tror också det blev fel. Och ska vara smaka.

aventura22
Sweden
Local time: 15:30
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish, Native in EnglishEnglish
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
languish, pine


Explanation:
This might look a bit far fetched, but let us give it a try. I agree with Richard in that from the context, a typo for 'smaka' does not seem very probable.

First, the otherwise excellent 'Svenskt dialektlexikon : ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket' does not recognise 'smalka' or any other close variant. But trying to imagine what could be meant, I looked up the a Swedish translation of the Norwegian 'vansmekte' (which would fit the bill perfectly), and found 'försmäkta'. Could it be possible that a rural Swede at the time used 'smalka' as a word 'in the family' of 'smäkta'? Maybe......



    Reference: http://runeberg.org/nosv1947/0067.html
    Reference: http://etymologi.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/vansmekte/
Leif Henriksen
Norway
Local time: 15:30
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in NorwegianNorwegian, Native in Norwegian (Bokmal)Norwegian (Bokmal)
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you for your help and useful references as always Leif. Much appreciated.

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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
starve/not be able to afford/go without/go hungry


Explanation:
Hm, lots of room for creative guessing here … :-)

I can't find any 'smalka' in Swedish either. You might be right that it is connected to Sw. 'smal'. Most etymologists seem to agree Sw. 'smal' is related to Sw. 'små' and En. 'small', and that these in turn derive from an Indo-European root with a range of related meanings like 'small', 'fine', 'thin', 'grind' etc. Reflexes with -lk- appear in Latvian and Lithuanian, which probably had trading connections with Linköping as it is on the east coast. So maybe 'smalka' means something like 'starve' here.

But Sw. 'smal' can also be used with the meaning 'meagre' when talking about financial circumstances. They're writing about the lack of money in the letter. In this case perhaps it could be translated as 'not be able to afford'.

Leif's suggestion 'försmäkta' is also interesting. Just 'smäkta' would also work, in this case it can also simply mean 'be without'.

In fact, in Old Swedish, there was an alternative form 'smakta', and the first part of the word 'sma-' is again related to Sw. 'små' and En. 'small'. 'Smäkta' in turn is related to a word for 'hunger' in Old German. So again, this could imply that 'smalka' can be translated as something like 'go hungry'.

Confusing and speculative, but these are actually the likeliest connections out of many that I found.

Here are some of the web pages that I used:

http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/ 'smal' (”det är smalt för honom”), 'smäkta', 'smolk'
http://dnghu.org/indoeuropean.html Indo-European roots
http://indo-european.info/indo-european-etymology.pdf More IE etymology
http://spraakbanken.gu.se/swe/resurs/dalind Dictionary of 19th century Swedish
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/ German Lexicon Project
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/small#Etymology
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spalva Latv. 'smalka'
http://runeberg.org/svetym/#tocs 'smal'

J Christian Odehnal
Czech Republic
Local time: 15:30
Native speaker of: Swedish
PRO pts in category: 15
Grading comment
Thank you for taking so much care, time, and effort in preparing your answer. Your research has been invaluable in helping me reach the most appropriate translation.
Notes to answerer
Asker: My goodness! Thank you for this fountain of knowledge!

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23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
grow thinner


Explanation:
My Norwegian>English dictionary has 'smalke' - 'to narrow', 'to taper'.
I think the meaning here is that they will grow thinner from lack of food.



Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 07:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you for your relevant and useful input to the discussion, Michele.

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3 days 21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
go/do without


Explanation:
Makes sense in this context.

Cynthia Coan
United States
Local time: 07:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 19
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