Slovak: moja zlatá dzetsko / moya zlatá baba

[wovenpottery]

Hi all,
One side of my family is Slovak, and my grandma always says 'moja zlata dzetsko' which she says means 'my sweet child'. She is sick and I'd like to write it for her in a card but to change it to 'my sweet grandma' or 'our sweet grandma' (for me and my sibling). She told my once it was: "moja zlata baba (pronounced 'bubba')", but can anyone confirm if that's right?

I'm unsure for a few reasons:
1. She never wrote it down so I never had to spell the words, just learn the phrases from her. The only word she would spell for me was 'dzedo' for my grandpa.
2. No other living relatives really speak Slovak, but my relatives are telling me I'm wrong (or at least they say to spell it 'bubba' instead of 'baba')
3. In trying to learn the language, it looks like we speak a non-standard dialect? Google translate says dzetsko is 'childhood' not 'child', but I'm sure that's the word she uses. But that could also be a grammar piece that I need to learn. I'm not sure if our dialect changes anything else with the standard grammar I've been starting to learn.

I'd really appreciate any clarity you can provide- I'd like to get this right for her right now and continue learning in the future.

Thanks,
wp

 

[Panceltic]

That would be moje zlaté decko (my golden child) and moja zlatá baba (my golden grandma). As far as I know standard word for a child in Slovak is dieťa, but decko seems plausible enough as a diminutive or a dialectal expression. A Slovak speaker will be able to confirm.

Grandpa is spelled dedo, and our golden grandma would be naša zlatá baba.

 

[wovenpottery]

That would be moje zlaté decko (my golden child) and moja zlatá baba (my golden grandma). As far as I know standard word for a child in Slovak is dieťa, but decko seems plausible enough as a diminutive or a dialectal expression. A Slovak speaker will be able to confirm.

Grandpa is spelled dedo, and our golden grandma would be naša zlatá baba.

Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to respond and the information / confirmation.

 

[francisgranada]

... my grandma always says 'moja zlata dzetsko' which she says means 'my sweet child'.

I guess she speaks an eastern Slovak dialect. If so, it should be "mojo zlate dzecko". And yes, the meaning in this context is "my sweet child" (literally "my golden child").

The only word she would spell for me was 'dzedo'

"Dzedo" is the dialectal term for the standard Slovak "dedo" or "starý otec" (=grandfather).

She told my once it was: "moja zlata baba ...", but can anyone confirm if that's right?

It is right (in dialect). But the polite usage of the term "baba" may depend on the local practice or convention. I'd prefer "moja zlata babička", where "babička" is the diminutive of "baba". ("Babička" is commonly used in Slovak, including various dialects).

 

[jasio]

I guess she speaks an eastern Slovak dialect. If so, it should be "mojo zlate dzecko".

I would, perhaps naïvely, locate it somewhere along the Northern border of Slovakia as the word is almost identical to the Polish "dziecko". I also looked it up in a Carpatorusyn (Lemko) dictionary. They list "дзецко" and "дітина" as the equivalents. They did not provide geographical distribution, but the former is identical to the word in question, while the latter is close to the Ukrainian "дитина". So with no further hints I'd locate the latter towards the East, while "dzecko" towards the Western area of the Ruthenian settlement and nearby Slovak dialects.

Would it make any sense?

 

[wovenpottery]

I guess she speaks an eastern Slovak dialect. If so, it should be "mojo zlate dzecko". And yes, the meaning in this context is "my sweet child" (literally "my golden child").


"Dzedo" is the dialectal term for the standard Slovak "dedo" or "starý otec" (=grandfather).


It is right (in dialect). But the polite usage of the term "baba" may depend on the local practice or convention. I'd prefer "moja zlata babička", where "babička" is the diminutive of "baba". ("Babička" is commonly used in Slovak, including various dialects).

Thanks! That would make sense- I think I've only heard her use 'baba' and "babička" once or twice, but it would also make sense that she was using 'baba' somewhat jokingly the few times I heard it.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond.

 

[wovenpottery]

I would, perhaps naïvely, locate it somewhere along the Northern border of Slovakia as the word is almost identical to the Polish "dziecko". I also looked it up in a Carpatorusyn (Lemko) dictionary. They list "дзецко" and "дітина" as the equivalents. They did not provide geographical distribution, but the former is identical to the word in question, while the latter is close to the Ukrainian "дитина". So with no further hints I'd locate the latter towards the East, while "dzecko" towards the Western area of the Ruthenian settlement and nearby Slovak dialects.

Would it make any sense?

Thanks for taking the time to look that up! That's really interesting about the the word usages and locations / similarity to the Polish and Ukrainian. Geographically it does make some sense from what I can piece together. She does like talking about whatever brought her family here very much, so I can't completely confirm at the moment, but you've given me more context for understanding and piecing together the bits she has mentioned and given me more of a starting point for research.

Thanks for the response.

 

[vianie]

decko seems plausible enough as a diminutive or a dialectal expression

To my understanding, decko sounds rather banally, almost pejoratively.

For example: decko jedno nepodarené! or narodilo sa jej už piate decko..! - I'm not truly able to translate that into English.

The same goes for žena / ženská, mama / mamka or tato / tatko.

EDIT 1:

Decko may be also being meant as a diminutive expression.

For example: pome decká! - c'mon kids! / go kiddies!

I guess she speaks an eastern Slovak dialect. If so, it should be "mojo zlate dzecko".

If so, dzecko (as well as mamko!) is a perfectly informal and natural way of addressing family members.

EDIT 2:

The phenomenon of dzekanie and cekanie (pronouncing of ď as dz and ť as c) is present in the Western Slovak dialects too.