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English to Serbo-Croat translations [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Title on web page
English term or phrase:Literature
I need both a Serbian and a Croatian translation of this word. I assume, that would be the same word, but written once in Cyrillic and once in Latin letters.
However, I looked it up on Google Translate and there seem to be 2 translations available: књижевност / književnost OR литература / literatura
Now I would be more in favor of књижевност / književnost, because it's a pure Slavic word, not Latin. But I also want to make sure, that it means exactly literature, so that it's equal to литература / literatura. If for some reason it's not quite the same, then please, explain the difference!
Explanation: http://hjp.novi-liber.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=elxv... knjȉžēvnōst 1. duhovno stvaranje pomoću riječi, tekst kao umjetničko djelo, umjetnost riječi; 2. sveukupnost pisanih djela, spomenika jednog kulturnog kruga [hrvatska književnost] ;
http://www.vokabular.org/?search=literatura&lang=sr-lat literatura (l.litteratura) književnost, pismenost uopšte; naročito: lepa književnost, pesništvo; stručna literatura ona koja obuhvata samo pojedine struke (napr. tehnička, medicinska, muzika, vojna, filozofska, pedagoška literatura);
http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Књижевност Књижевност, термин настао од речи књига, представља превод стране речи литература и њен је најближи синоним. Термин литература потиче из латинског језика од речи littero — слово, настали превођењем грчке речи са истим значењем γραμματικη (τεχνη) од γραμμα – слово. http://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Književnost Književnost, termin nastao od reči knjiga, predstavlja prevod strane reči literatura i njen je najbliži sinonim. Termin literatura potiče iz latinskog jezika od reči littera – slovo, nastao prevođenjem grčke reči sa istim značenjem γραμματικη (τεχνη) od γραμμα – slovo.
Started with things not said. Ending with things unsaid. :) There is no point in closing a question if the conclusion is old vs modern works (needless to say I never said anything like it). Example: modernist literature = moderna književnost http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Модерна_књижевност I seriously advise you to consider using another term and/or perhaps ask for advice in the EN>EN combination.
I really appreciate your help and I understand, that "književnost" is literature more in the traditional sense, therefore tied strictly to something like a certain writer/poet, a certain language, period or some great old works, as Vesna put it. Then for something more modern one would rather use "literatura", but it may not apply to everything, so it really depends on what I'm gonna put under those pages, but I don't know yet myself, either.
Anyway, I don't want to drag this out too much, so I'll proceed to grading now. But I really appreciated all of your input. Thank you all very much!
re. your example on smt. to read, we'd use "literatura" for the stuff the interviewer gives you. Leaflets can be referred to as "literatura", but not "književnost". Frankly, having read what you want, I am not sure either would work. User manual or dictionary is "literatura"; "literatura" is the title above the list of references and works you used for e.g. PhD thesis (even though those works might contain "književnost"). Sándor Petőfi, Imre Kertesz, Magda Szabó... that's "književnost". A phone book is neither.
Perhaps it would be the simplest if we say that "književnost" is The body of written works of a language, period, or culture. "Literatura" on the other hand is The body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field: medical literature. Printed material: collected all the available literature on the subject. Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/literature#ixzz2c1uyV000
English literature in this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature is "engleska književnost", not "literatura". "Literatura" would include books that you use to study the subject, prepare for an exam (like here: http://www.fil.bg.ac.rs/katedre/anglistika/informator/201120... look at the list under the title LITERATURA; or here: http://www.ff.uns.ac.rs/stara/srpski/donji/upis/200506god/in... Preporučena literatura za englesku književnost i kulturu: - Oxford Companion to English Literature (1985), Oxford: Oxford University Press - Rečnik književnih termina ( 1988 ), Beograd: Nolit - Tartalja, Ivo ( 2003 ), Teorija književnosti , Beograd: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva )
Okay, maybe this will help you decide more. Can I use "književnost" as a collective term for example for articles? Would articles fall under "književnost", too? I think, it should, but since "књига/knjiga" is book, would the meaning of "književnost" also be limited to books or not?
(The Latin root of "literature" is not so limited, since "litera" just means "letter", so that could include anything written. In Hungarian "irodalom" literally means "something written", so that's not limited to books, either. So now all eyes are on Serbo-Croatian, what's the situation there?)
Okay, here's another point. Often you go to a company here in America and when you're leaving, your host or interviewer gives you a bunch of papers and tells you "And here's some literature about our company, you might want to read." So is he referring to any kind of literary works? Absolutely not. All, he meant, was that he's simply giving you "something to read", so you'll be more informed about his company and what he handed to you, was a mix of brochures, printouts, flyers, charts and his business card. So it goes from colorful to boring black & white and he put all of that into a folder or just hands you the whole package like that. Anyway, it's just "SOMETHING TO READ", so that's the general idea of literature in English. Now in Hungarian that wouldn't work. If in the same situation you tell your visitor, that you're giving him some "Irodalom" about your company, he will have a hard time not to laugh, because in Hungarian this word is meant in the traditional, artistic sense. I mean, I've heard someone say it like that, but it sounds very strange. One would rather say, I'll give you some "Olvasnivaló" (something to read). So what's the story in Serbo-Croatian?I'm very curious
So I just want to know, what's the story with Serbo-Croatian. You have both a Slavic and a Latin version, so now the question is only, which one is used more often or are both used equally? Okay, I've heard some contextual differences, fine, but when you don't commit to a specific context, because you just mean it in a general sense, THEN how do you say "Literature" in Serbo-Croatian? If both ways, then I'll pick "Književnost" as my title, because it's Slavic=native and problem solved.
Let's be realistic! In every language not always, but often you have 2 words for the same thing: a native word and a Latin-derived word. (Okay, could be from Greek, too, but that's not the point.) Now in every language it's decided already, which version is used more often and which is used less.
(It could be a regional preference, too or a contextual preference, but I don't want to get into it that deeply. The idea is to keep it simple in case of simple words and yes, this word is very simple. It's not as complicated as "exacerbation" or "ostensibly" or "recertification". Try to translate those and we'll be sitting here till next year, because there would be so many different opinions, that it would open up a Pandora's box. Other people like to create titles of multiple words, like "Services Available from our Office", although they could have just said "Services". But that's not me. That's those complicated people. Not me.)
So getting back to the idea of simplicity, some languages have only one or the other, not both. So German has "Literatur" from Latin, but they don't have their own German word. In Hungarian we only have a non-Latin Hungarian word for it: "Irodalom".
Why not? Because I only need 1 (one) word, not two or more AND when you say "Literary Works", that means the works of some famous figure of literature, usually from the past. However, I don't want to limit myself to famous authors, you understand? So for example, if you write an article for me, then that's literature to me, so I'll put it under Literature, subsection Articles and you DON'T have to be famous. However, being famous is a subcontext of "Works", therefore I want to avoid this word. Yes, you can argue, that "Works" can be meant in general and refer to anybody's works, creations, but USUALLY it's not used in a general sense, but for famous literary figures from the past. So now that I cut "Works", what remains is "Literature", so why complicate it, just translate it into your language and that's it!
I don't see a need to draw this out into more, than one word, because then it becomes an explanation, not a title any more. But it's supposed to be a short title, nothing more, so I need one word only, not two. For example, when you want to list a title like, let's say "Cars", don't complicate/extend it to "Vehicles" or "Means of Transportation", etc., just keep it simple!
Why don't you just change the title, i.e. use smt. like "literarna dela" (literary works), which is IMHO sufficiently vague to cover most of what you need.
Well, I gave the context below in my previous comment. Beyond that I wrote "Title on web page" (see above on a green background). So there's really not more to tell you. It's a title, so it's one word only. However, this will be the main title on top of a web page, under which there will be other buttons or links, which will subdivide this collective term "Literature" into Books, the next one into Articles, the next one into Recipes, the next one into Jokes, the next one into Proverbs and so on. You may not agree with my explanation about audio and video, so just forget that and consider these sub-titles only! So on that page someone could click on Books and be taken to a Books page, where there will be only books, no articles, no proverbs, nothing else, just books.
I speak Polish and Russian fairly well, my mother tongue is Hungarian, so although I might have an idea, what's being said, when it comes to Serbo-Croatian, I might get easily lost, too, I admit.
I do not think anyone here could claim the words are the same. Sorry, I've been quite busy today and didn't realize you needed the answer in English. I still do not see where did you specify that? In short, from what I see with a quick look at your last comment - NO - you can not use "književnost" for that (nor literature if you ask me). PS I can imagine how you feel (I asked for a term to be translated into a language I am totally unfamiliar with once and that was an adventure..) but you must provide a more precise context because from what I gather so far, it looks like you have a book and want to reference the sources at the end. So, give us the English word and context and forget about Google translate..
However, now I see from Daryo's and Aleksandar's ENGLISH (thank you!) comments, that they are indeed equal. As far as the usage goes, literature in my context will be used as a collective noun for all kinds of literature: articles, books, jokes, proverbs and yes, even audio and video, since with today's technology a book can exist as an audio book or as a movie, plus any documentary (movie) is also literature, whether the text is spoken, writtendown or subtitled. So that's my context, but still, literature should be literature in general, bot just a collection of books, which I was afraid, that "književnost" meant because of its root: "book". So I'm free to use "književnost" then as a general term. Thank you all!
Sorry, I don't understand Serbo-Croatian, so all those quotes below are great, but I specifically asked for explanations in English, when I filled out the KudoZ questionnaire. Vesna must have overlooked that. So I just wanted IN YOUR OWN WORDS, not from quotes, whether you think, that the 2 words are equal or not and if not, then why. That's all, I wanted.
What I do (without much thinking about it, though) is use "književnost" for fiction, poetry, drama... belles-lettres; and "literatura" for technical/professional books. Naturally, there is no real delimiter that one could pinpoint, but "stručna književnost" would not be my choice of words, just like "Nobelova nagrada za literaturu" sounds somewhat awkward.
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literature
literatura / književnost
Explanation: http://hjp.novi-liber.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=elxv... knjȉžēvnōst 1. duhovno stvaranje pomoću riječi, tekst kao umjetničko djelo, umjetnost riječi; 2. sveukupnost pisanih djela, spomenika jednog kulturnog kruga [hrvatska književnost] ;
http://www.vokabular.org/?search=literatura&lang=sr-lat literatura (l.litteratura) književnost, pismenost uopšte; naročito: lepa književnost, pesništvo; stručna literatura ona koja obuhvata samo pojedine struke (napr. tehnička, medicinska, muzika, vojna, filozofska, pedagoška literatura);
http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Књижевност Књижевност, термин настао од речи књига, представља превод стране речи литература и њен је најближи синоним. Термин литература потиче из латинског језика од речи littero — слово, настали превођењем грчке речи са истим значењем γραμματικη (τεχνη) од γραμμα – слово. http://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Književnost Književnost, termin nastao od reči knjiga, predstavlja prevod strane reči literatura i njen je najbliži sinonim. Termin literatura potiče iz latinskog jezika od reči littera – slovo, nastao prevođenjem grčke reči sa istim značenjem γραμματικη (τεχνη) od γραμμα – slovo.
Vesna Maširević Serbia Local time: 05:41 Works in field Native speaker of: Serbian, Serbo-Croat
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