# Croatian (BCS): Mlohava čuna



## Sebastiano

Hi everybody,

I'm wondering if someone could help me with translation of these two words 'mlohava čuna'? I was listening to a very nice song of Croatian band 'Hladne Pivo' (which is easy to translate because the same is in Polish) but I don't even know the meaning of the title. Thanks in advance for the help. 

Have a nice day!


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## dudasd

Ooooops, I think you should have put  sign. It means "limp dick".

Regards. 

PS "čuna" is from Bosnian slang, and actually it's a bit less "off-coloured" than in the English translation.


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## Sibenik

Sto je to limp or dick?
What is it limp or dick?


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## Sibenik

I am a Croat and have never heard the word *čuna

*Mlohava might be in English "soft"


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## dudasd

As I have already said, it's not a Croatian word, it's from Bosnian slang. And the meaning is penis. And limp is similar to soft. (Though I think this explanation is off-topic, it's concerning English language.)


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## Sibenik

Hvala / Thanks.


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## micamaca

Sibenik said:


> I am a Croat and have never heard the word *čuna
> 
> *Mlohava might be in English "soft"



Nisi nikada cuo za tu rijec jeli to je bosanski dijalekt (kao sto je rekao/la dudasd)  
Znaci muski polni organ... Kuzis ? 


You never heard this word because it's from bosnian slang (as dudasd said)  
It mean male genital organ... 


Bye


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## micamaca

OK, kasnim... Nisam vidjela odgovor dudasd... sorry


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## Sebastiano

thanks everybody for your help  

now I know what it means but have to admit it must be very controversial band this 'hladne pivo' 


ps. btw the song sounds great!!

cheers


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## micamaca

you're welcome Sebastiano


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## Hal1fax

I don't even speak Croatian and I still thought the second word looked a little vulgar


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## micamaca

Not so vulgar... the equivalent in English could be "willy"


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## Glitz

micamaca said:


> Not so vulgar... the equivalent in English could be "willy"


 

Micamaca,hhhmm kako lipo ime


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## micamaca

Ne zezaj me ! Nemas pojma koliko se kajem sto sam taj nickname izabrala ...


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## Athaulf

dudasd said:


> PS "čuna" is from Bosnian slang, and actually it's a bit less "off-coloured" than in the English translation.



I think it should actually be _* ćuna*_; at least that's how we pronounced it in Bosnia when I was living there. You're right that the word isn't particularly vulgar, especially in comparison with other slang words for "penis".


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## Athaulf

Sebastiano said:


> now I know what it means but have to admit it must be very controversial band this '*H*ladn*o* pivo'



Hardly. It's actually been one of the most popular bands in Croatia for the last 10-15 years.  The song from the title was a major hit. As suggested by the title, it speaks about a peculiar sort of problem one can get oneself into by excessive drinking.


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## dudasd

Athaulf said:


> I think it should actually be _* ćuna*_; at least that's how we pronounced it in Bosnia when I was living there.


 
It's diminutive of *čunak*, meaning stove-pipe (of Turkish origin, or more precisely - of Persian, primarily it meant water-pipe.) Bosnians often pronounce *č *like *ć*, but you know that.  Especially in Sarajevo it sounds like pure *ć*. Though *ćuna *and *ćunak* esentially aren't wrong pronunciations in this particular case (concerning that the word comes from *k**ünk*), *čuna* and *čunak *are considered to be more correct forms.


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## Athaulf

dudasd said:


> It's diminutive of *čunak*, meaning stove-pipe (of Turkish origin, or more precisely - of Persian, primarily it meant water-pipe.) Bosnians often pronounce *č *like *ć*, but you know that.  Especially in Sarajevo it sounds like pure *ć*. Though *ćuna *and *ćunak* esentially aren't wrong pronunciations in this particular case (concerning that the word comes from *k**ünk*), *čuna* and *čunak *are considered to be more correct forms.



However, based on a totally unscientific observation of a bunch of examples and some conversations with a Turkish friend of mine , I've concluded that in Turkish words in Bosnia there has been some sort of regular sound change where the initial _k_ became _ć_ in some cases, like for example in the words _ćenifa_, _ćuprija_, or _ćilim_ (though not all, e.g. _kutija _or_ kundak_), whereas the initial _č_ normally comes from the exact same sound _ç_ in the original Turkish word, as in _čekić _or _čizma_. Assuming I'm right, shouldn't then the Turkish _k__ünk_ yield an initial _ć_, rather than _č_? Has this particular sound change been studied systematically by anyone?


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## dudasd

Athaulf said:


> However, based on a totally unscientific observation of a bunch of examples and some conversations with a Turkish friend of mine , I've concluded that in Turkish words in Bosnia there has been some sort of regular sound change where the initial _k_ became _ć_ in some cases, like for example in the words _ćenifa_, _ćuprija_, or _ćilim_ (though not all, e.g. _kutija _or_ kundak_), whereas the initial _č_ normally comes from the exact same sound _ç_ in the original Turkish word, as in _čekić _or _čizma_. Assuming I'm right, shouldn't then the Turkish _k__ünk_ yield an initial _ć_, rather than _č_? Has this particular sound change been studied systematically by anyone?


 
Yes, you are absolutely right. The most of the words we adopted from/via Turkish (process that actually started by the end of 17th century) were pronounced very randomly (how people "heard" them), and of course, now it's too late for any kind of afterwards corrections. But some rules do exist; *ç *is (almost) always *č*, soft *k* (usually of Arabian origin) - in front of "soft" vowels - most often became *ć *(kâba - ćaba, köfte - ćufte, küprü - ćuprija). In front of "hard" vowels (kutu - kutija, kundak - kundak etc.) it usually remained *k*. There are some deviations, of course, and some doublets (ćaba-kaba, rekat-rećat; Abdulah Škaljić even concerned ćunak to be more correct that čunak - and essentially he was right, but contemporary-language-makers do not agree with him, so my comment about *čuna* was from the point of the modern spelling rules, not my personal). 

Rules about transcription of contemporary Turkish words do exist (in Serbia: Pravopis MS from 1993 - or it was 1994? - my edition is from 2002), but they refer only to the modern language, not to settled forms. And as much as I know (I am a Turkish learner, so I am interested in the same topic), the issue of older Turkish forms in our language(s) has not been seriously studied, or if such a study exists, it's obviously inaccesible and, unfortunately, not wide-known.


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