The Desert Colossus

Community => Chatboard => Topic started by: LadyNintendo on October 07, 2007, 11:00:54 PM

Title: Question
Post by: LadyNintendo on October 07, 2007, 11:00:54 PM
I've been searching for the answer for nearly about 15 hours now, and I'm pretty sure the answer is "no", but just to be sure:

Is there a word in English for 24 hours/day + night? I've trying to find a translation for the Dutch word "etmaal", but couldn't come up with anything.
Title: Re:Question
Post by: Twilight Wolf on October 07, 2007, 11:21:53 PM
You raise an interesting question... I've never really thought about that before. But if there is an English word for a whole 24-hour period, I've never heard it. Sorry...
Title: Re:Question
Post by: Gamefreak on October 08, 2007, 06:45:30 AM
I don't know of any specific words.

Sorry.
Title: Re:Question
Post by: DW on October 08, 2007, 06:48:27 AM
I believe that's what we just call a day here...I dunno though...
Title: Re:Question
Post by: Zoratunic on October 08, 2007, 08:49:08 AM
Like Shika said, Uno Día (One day en Español).
Title: Re:Question
Post by: LadyNintendo on October 08, 2007, 01:40:50 PM
hah, okay. Thanks everyone. This probably is the first time I've stumbled on an objective word I can't translate into English.
Title: Re:Question
Post by: MagmarFire on October 08, 2007, 01:49:19 PM
I guess it kind of depends on the function of the word you're looking for. If it's an adjective... Mmm...maybe around-the-clock? Would perpetually work? It seems that "24 hours/day + night" would just reset itself, making it seem like an infinite loop... Man, my suggestions are crappy... :-*

If it's a noun, then day would probably be at its greatest simplification. Sorry.
Title: Re:Question
Post by: Bboy94 on October 08, 2007, 04:21:07 PM
Dawn of the second day?
Title: Re:Question
Post by: LadyNintendo on October 08, 2007, 10:36:53 PM
Neah, it's a noun. It's just that in Dutch, we usually call the 24-hours cycle a "dag" ("day"), like in English. But if we need to specifically indicate the entire thing (so no confusion can exist), we have the word "etmaal".
Title: Re:Question
Post by: darkphantomime on October 09, 2007, 06:46:38 AM
Sometimes exact words aren't the best thing to try to go with in a translation, so in such a case, a phrase would be more appropriate like oh...

(I can't figure out what type of situation would require that I use a word for a day/night cycle...)
Title: Re:Question
Post by: MagmarFire on October 09, 2007, 03:13:21 PM
Quote from: LadyNintendo on October 08, 2007, 10:36:53 PM
Neah, it's a noun. It's just that in Dutch, we usually call the 24-hours cycle a "dag" ("day"), like in English. But if we need to specifically indicate the entire thing (so no confusion can exist), we have the word "etmaal".

In that case, I suppose the only word is "day." English uses it for both the cycle and a unit of time. But then again...a (solar) day is also the time it takes for any one celestial body to make a complete 360o rotation on its axis once, which in the case of Earth, it's about 23 hours and 56 minutes...I think. But for simplicity, people round it to 24. So a "day" can refer to that, too.

In your case, LN, it appears to me that dag and etmaal are synonyms, but they can't be if there are different usages between the two... Eh, I guess in a way, I'm just as confused as you are. :P
Title: Re:Question
Post by: LadyNintendo on October 10, 2007, 06:22:31 AM
QuoteSometimes exact words aren't the best thing to try to go with in a translation, so in such a case, a phrase would be more appropriate like oh...

I know, but that's not really the issue. It's just that, it's quite a useful word that doesn't indicate something abstract, so I was quite surprised it doesn't exist in English (I woudn't know about any other language).

QuoteIn your case, LN, it appears to me that dag and etmaal are synonyms, but they can't be if there are different usages between the two... Eh, I guess in a way, I'm just as confused as you are.

Not really. Lke I said, "etmaal" can only mean the whole thing of 24 hours, while "dag"/day can refer both to that and to just a part of itself (the part when it's not night).
Title: Re:Question
Post by: darkphantomime on October 10, 2007, 12:24:49 PM
But in what type of context would such a word need to be used? Can you give us an example?
Title: Re:Question
Post by: LadyNintendo on October 10, 2007, 11:24:15 PM
Well, the reason I came up wit this question is because I was thinking about what games have been promised in the past, but for whatever reason never released. Monkey Island 5, Lady Sia 2, Duke Nukem Forever, LBA3, Dungeon Keeper 3, Dead Phoenix, Raven Sword etc.  My thoughts eventually stumbled upon what the third "TLOZ:Oracle of"-game would've or could've been like. Of course, the issue of Farore's Oracle status and subsequently the title of the game came up. Since she most likely only bears the title of Oracle of Secrets because of her link-supporting role in the two games she was put into as some kind of leftover, I was wondering what she could've been. Since the other two have time-related titles, I thought "Orakel van Etmalen" is quite well possible. But somehow the translation of "Oracle of Days" just doesn't cover it appropriately. That would've been like calling Din the "Oracle of Spring and Summer".
Title: Re:Question
Post by: darkphantomime on October 10, 2007, 11:55:29 PM
How about "The Oracle of Hours"? I had a theory about that whole thing, that maybe it had something to do with that, day-night. I really really did think that. If Zeldablog is still up, try searching the comments for Dark Mime Gogo. I mention it somewhere... Can't remember what the article topic was though... though it'd have to be sometime in spring 2007 I think.
Title: Re:Question
Post by: LadyNintendo on October 11, 2007, 08:43:11 AM
heheh, that's exactly to what I had changed the title when I figured the first one didn't work. I'll see if I can find your comment.
Title: Re:Question
Post by: MagmarFire on October 11, 2007, 05:00:48 PM
Quote from: LadyNintendo on October 10, 2007, 06:22:31 AM
Not really. Lke I said, "etmaal" can only mean the whole thing of 24 hours, while "dag"/day can refer both to that and to just a part of itself (the part when it's not night).

Ah, I think I get you... Mmm...maybe dawn would work (a.k.a., Link's idea)? There's also daytime, I guess... Gah, I'm sorry; I feel like I'm just blurting out stuff. ???