Strike, grêve, ...

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ThomasK

Senior Member
(near) Kortrijk, Belgium
Belgium, Dutch
I suddenly noticed that the origins of the translations of the verb/concept 'to strike' are quite different in languages.

I just give the Dutch here, with some comment, and I add the English/ German/ French without:
- Dutch staken (lit. to stop, to cease, but used without an object when meaning 'to strike' --> staakt-het-vuren (ceasefire), de werkzaamheden staken (to stop the activities [for some time])
- E to strike
- German: streiken
- F : être en grêve
-

There is a thread about striking, but it does not refer to the origin (metaphorical, ...) of the word. ;-)
 
    • apmoy70

    apmoy70

    Senior Member
    Greek
    In Greek:
    «Απεργία» (aper'ʝia f.); prefix and preposition «ἀπὸ» (ā'pŏ)-->from, asunder, away, off, finishing, completing, ceasing from, back again + neuter noun «ἔργον» ('ĕrgŏn)-->work, deed, action; PIE base *werg-, to work; «απεργία» lit. the "ceasing from work". Derivatives: «απεργώ» (aper'ɣo)-->to strike, «απεργός, -ός» (aper'ɣos m./f.)-->striker.
    PS: The structure of joining together the prefix «ἀπὸ» + verb, in order to express completion or ceasing of an action is common in Greek, i.e. «ἀπὸ» (ā'pŏ) + «ἔχω» ('ĕxō)-->to have, gives «απέχω» (a'pexo)-->to hold oneself off, abstain, desist off.
     
    T

    ThomasK

    Senior Member
    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    Thanks, A. An interesting one I picked out at the other thread, is the Japanese
    ストライキ [sutoraiki], which seems to be/ sounds very Japanese, but :

    Uninterestingly, it is a phonetic approximation of the English strike.

    The physical collision between two objects (eg, a bat and a ball) uses the same English word but in a different approximation; sutoraiku.
    Click to expand...
    Of course, that reminds us of the fact that strikes depend on modern industry, I guess: in a cultural-historic perspective one could only go on strike within the legal context of 'paid labour', I guess.
     
    T

    ThomasK

    Senior Member
    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    Too bad, but while re-reading the other thread, I came across some interesting/ funny explanation of Galician folgar:

    "In medieval times, when Portuguese and Galician were one only language, folgar meant "to frolic", from the Latin follicare, which is the root of modern Spanish words such as holgazán (lazybones) and follar (a step further from just a mere frolic) :D."
    Click to expand...
    I note that in Spanish it is translated as huelga (f) [hacer huelga, estar en huelga], whereas Galician uses folga (f) [facer folga, estar en folga], Asturian fuelga, which seems very similar.

    Finnish uses Lakko, based on the verb "lakata" (to stop or to finish), so I read.
     
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    S

    Saluton

    Banned
    Moscow, Russia
    Russian
    Russian: to strike - ударять/ударить (udaryat'/udarit', imperfective/perfective). It comes from the noun удар (udar) - strike, hit.
    "Originates from a Common Slavonic form. Other words coming from the same form: Old Russian, Old Slavonic оударити (Greek κρούειν), Ukrainian уда́р, ударити, Czech úder, udeřit. Connected with драть (drat' - "tear, tear off, scrape"), раздор (razdor - "enmity, disagreement"); reflects Indoeuropean *dōr-; compare: Greek δῆρις "argument", Ancient Indian dāras "crack, chink, hole", dr̥ṇā́ti "he splits apart"." That's about all there is to be found, I suppose.
     
    F

    Favara

    Senior Member
    Catalan - Southern Val.
    Catalan:
    Strike = vaga
    To strike = fer vaga

    From vagar (to be idle), itself from Latin vacare (same meaning), ultimately from vacuus (empty).
     
    T

    ThomasK

    Senior Member
    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    This striking/ hitting seems strange. I looked at etymonline.org and found this:

    "concentrated cessation of work by a body of employees," 1810, from verb meaning "refuse to work to force an employer to meet demands" (1768), from strike (v.). Perhaps from notion of striking or "downing" one's tools, or from sailors' practice of striking (lowering) a ship's sails as a symbol of refusal to go to sea (1768), which preserves the verb's original sense of "make level, smooth." (...).
    Click to expand...
    We know 'de zeilen strijken' in Dutch too, but strijken, ironing, is household work, does not have any relation with striking.
     
    B

    bibax

    Senior Member
    Czechlands
    Czech (Prague)
    Czech:

    stávkovati = to strike

    from the noun stávka (= strike), which is derived from the factitive verb

    staviti (imperf.), zastaviti (perf.) = to stop, to halt something;

    All from the IE root *sta-.

    Slovak:

    štrajkovať from the noun štrajk (from German: der Streik).
     
    O

    Orlin

    Banned
    София
    български
    bibax said:
    Czech:

    stávkovati = to strike

    from the noun stávka (= strike), which is derived from the factitive verb

    staviti (imperf.), zastaviti (perf.) = to stop, to halt something;

    All from the IE root *sta-.
    Click to expand...
    I'm not completely sure if this applies to Bulgarian стачка (n.), стачкувам (v.) = strike too. I had no idea about their etymology before reading this post.
     
    T

    ThomasK

    Senior Member
    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    Interesting parallel with the Dutch staken. Could it also be interpreted as suspending? Our staakt-het vuren, ceasefire, is not yet an armistice.

    Any idea, Rusita, why the word has been inspired by Italian?
     
    B

    bibax

    Senior Member
    Czechlands
    Czech (Prague)
    Yes.

    zastaviti palbu = to cease fire;

    zastaviti let = to cease a flight (an euphemism for to bring down an aircraft used by the communists when the Soviet Air Forces downed the Korean Airlines Flight 007).
     
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    B

    bibax

    Senior Member
    Czechlands
    Czech (Prague)
    Yes.

    zastaviti palbu = to cease fire;

    zastaviti let = to cease a flight (an euphemism for to bring down an aircraft used by the communists when the Soviet Air Forces downed the Korean Airlines Flight 007).
     
    O

    Orlin

    Banned
    София
    български
    Rallino said:
    In Turkish we use a pretty original word for it: Grev !
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    I think it's simply a French loan. My personal opinion is that Turkish has borrowed many words (popular internationalisms and others) as close phonetically as possible to the respective French words and written according to the Turkish orthography, which is almost completely phonetical.
     
    R

    Rallino

    Moderatoúrkos
    Erzincan
    Turkish
    Orlin said:
    I think it's simply a French loan. My personal opinion is that Turkish has borrowed many words (popular internationalisms and others) as close phonetically as possible to the respective French words and written according to the Turkish orthography, which is almost completely phonetical.
    Click to expand...
    Yes, I was being sarcastic there. ;)
     
    catlady60

    catlady60

    Senior Member
    Nazareth, PA
    English-US (New York City)
    rusita preciosa said:
    Just wanted to add that ударить means "to hit / to smack" rather than 'to go on strike".
    The verb for "to go on strike" is бастовать /bastovat'/
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    That's exactly what we need to do to some of those greedy bosses, Rusita: smack them over the heads! ;) :p :D
     
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    M

    Maroseika

    Moderator
    Moscow
    Russian
    One more Russian word for a strike - стачка.

    Its etymology is not very clear. It maybe from Russian стакнуться - to agree (about a strike) < стакать < такать - to say так ('yes'), i.e. to arrange for, to come to an agreement.
    Another version is a loan from English staking or Dutch staken.
    Influence of tehse foreign words to Rusisan стакать is alos possible.
     
    Yulan

    Yulan

    Senior Member
    Lombardia
    Italian
    Hi Thomask :)

    In Italian:

    Strike = sciopero
    To be on strike = scioperare

    From Latin "Ex-Operari": ex (outside, out from) - operari (to work) meaning "to be out from any work activity" "to stop/cease any activity".

    Ciao :)
     
    J

    jazyk

    Senior Member
    Brno, Česká republika
    Brazílie, portugalština
    In Portuguese: greve, from French grève. Verbs: fazer greve (make strike), entrar em greve (enter into strike), estar em greve (to be in strike), all literal translations.
     
    Tamar

    Tamar

    Senior Member
    Israel, Hebrew
    Hebrew: שביתה (shvita), f.
    Click to expand...
    שביתה is strike - the noun. The root is ש.ב.ת
    The verb is לשבות [lishbot] - to go on strike, but originally it means to cease work.
    The best example is from the Old Testament where it is said that on the seventh day God ceased all (his) work -

    "...וישבת ביום השביעי מכל מלאכתו אשר עשה" [va-yishbot ba-yom ha-shvi'i mi-kol melachto asher asa]
    "שבת מכל מלאכתו" [shavat mi-kol melakhto] (Genesis 2: 1-3)
     
    Tamar

    Tamar

    Senior Member
    Israel, Hebrew
    Could we then say that it has to do with suspending, and starting work again afterwards?
    Click to expand...
    Never thought of that, but yes, I think we can say that.

    We can't use לשבות it for "cease-fire". לשבות today is only used in meaning of strike.
    A cease-fire in Hebrew is הפסקת אש [hafsakat esh]
    Here the verb is להפסיק [lehafsik], root פ.ס.ק, which means "to stop".

    I think that in the military where "cease fire!" is an order we would say
    "חדל ירי" [khadal yeri], the verb here is לחדול [lakhdol] root ח.ד.ל, also means to cease, to stop, but not commonly used these days (ירי means "shooting").
    I'm not sure but I think there's also חדל אש [khadal esh].
     
    T

    ThomasK

    Senior Member
    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    Tamar said:
    ... the verb here is לחדול [lakhdol] root ח.ד.ל, also means to cease, to stop, but not commonly used these days (ירי means "shooting"). I'm not sure but I think there's also חדל אש [khadal esh].
    Click to expand...
    Do I understand לחדול [lakhdol] root ח.ד.ל contains the root 'shoot'? That seems intriguing to me...

    (I should not go into this here, but I understand you have two quite different words for 'ceasefire' (one of which is no longer in use..), containing entirely different words for stopping and even for fire.)
     
    Tamar

    Tamar

    Senior Member
    Israel, Hebrew
    We have להפסיק [lehafsik] to stop
    לחדול [lakhdol] to cease
    לשבות [lishbot] to go on strike

    ירי [yeri] shooting (ירי is "schieten" (? so says MWB...)
    אש [esh] fire (אש is "vuur")

    Do I understand לחדול [lakhdol] root ח.ד.ל contains the root 'shoot'?
    Click to expand...
    No, לחדול is simply to cease, has nothing to do with shooting. חדל ירי is a command in the military, I'm pretty sure it's in use, probably in this form alone.
    I meant that the verb לחדול is not so much in use in everyday life, we use להפסיק.

    הפסקת אש [hafsakat esh] is truce.

    I hope it's more clear now (?)
     
    M

    Maroseika

    Moderator
    Moscow
    Russian
    Tamar said:
    שביתה is strike - the noun. The root is ש.ב.ת
    The verb is לשבות [lishbot] - to go on strike, but originally it means to cease work.
    Click to expand...
    The same in Russian - шабашить, пошабашить (to cease the work) < Шабаш! ([shabash] - Stop!, That'll do!).
    In Russian it was loaned thru Polish szabas from German-Yiddish Schabbes - Saturday.
     
    Tamar

    Tamar

    Senior Member
    Israel, Hebrew
    The same in Russian - шабашить, пошабашить (to cease the work) < Шабаш! ([shabash] - Stop!, That'll do!).
    In Russian it was loaned thru Polish szabas from German-Yiddish Schabbes - Saturday.
    Click to expand...
    That's great! We now go back to Hebrew, since schabbes is nothing more than the Yiddishe pronunciation of Hebrew שבת shabat :D
     
    M

    Maroseika

    Moderator
    Moscow
    Russian
    ThomasK said:
    "To moonlight": I diid not know that expression, but is there a link with shabat, do you think? (Not sure I can follow, I am sorry)
    Click to expand...
    I don't know whether these two words are connected or just coincide, but the first moonlighters were the members of the Irish Land League, exterminating in the nights crops and cattle of the English landloards.
     
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