What's Elvish for Rainbow?
Dec. 16th, 2009 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primsongThere are times when the English language fails me.
Early this morning the sky was a light overcast drizzle and as we came up over the mountain to head towards the kids school a golden sunlight washed across the grey sky and there, smack in front of us as we came over the rise was the hugest, brightest, most gob-smacking rainbow we'd ever seen. This was not a rainbow, it was a RAINBOW in tall, blinking, neon letters - framed by wet, golden fields and dark evergreens. There was a collective gasp and I actually pulled the car over to the shoulder just to gape.
What language can capture such overwhelming out-of-this-world beauty? I wondered if some African tribe somewhere that uses onomatopoetic sounds might help, but then figured if they *did* use onomatopoeia, it would probably be something like "GUH..oooooo!" which would hardly be an improvement.
Unless the Elves pulled it off, there are some things that are just too amazing and beautiful to be captured with words.
Early this morning the sky was a light overcast drizzle and as we came up over the mountain to head towards the kids school a golden sunlight washed across the grey sky and there, smack in front of us as we came over the rise was the hugest, brightest, most gob-smacking rainbow we'd ever seen. This was not a rainbow, it was a RAINBOW in tall, blinking, neon letters - framed by wet, golden fields and dark evergreens. There was a collective gasp and I actually pulled the car over to the shoulder just to gape.
What language can capture such overwhelming out-of-this-world beauty? I wondered if some African tribe somewhere that uses onomatopoetic sounds might help, but then figured if they *did* use onomatopoeia, it would probably be something like "GUH..oooooo!" which would hardly be an improvement.
Unless the Elves pulled it off, there are some things that are just too amazing and beautiful to be captured with words.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-16 04:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-16 06:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2009-12-16 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-16 08:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-16 11:11 pm (UTC)Spanish - Arco iris
Hebrew - keshet
Chinese - tien-hoong
You're right. None of them do the phenomenon justice as far as sound goes, but Spanish comes the closest of the three I know.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 06:40 am (UTC)