# The owl hoots.



## Encolpius

Good morning ladies & gentlemen, how would you translate the sentence "the owl *hoots*" into other languages? Thank you in advance and have a productive day. 

*Hungarian*: A bagoly *huhog*. (well, we use -h- too)


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: A coruja pia/A coruja coruja (much less common)


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Η κουκουβάγια χουχουτίζει»* [i ku.kuˈva.ʝa xu.xuˈti.zi] --> _the owl hoots_

-MoGr fem. noun *«κουκουβάγια»* [ku.kuˈva.ʝa] --> _owl_, onomatopoeia from the bird's hoot for the ancient Greeks *«κικκαβαῦ» kĭkkabaû*.

-MoGr v. *«χουχουτίζω»* [xu.xuˈti.zɔ] (onomatopoeia) --> _to hoot_.


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## AndrasBP

Russian:  *сова́  у́хает* (sová úkhayet)

Lithuanian: *pelėda ūkia* (the word for "owl" literally means "mouse-eater" )


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## nimak

In *Macedonian* the _Strix_ is known as *ут *(ut) _m_., *утка *(útka) _f_., and the _Bubo Bubo_ is known as *був *(buv) _m_.

The most common is to say: *утот **ука* (útot úka), and *бувот **ука* (búvot úka).
Other words used are: *утот **ута* (útot úta), and *бувот **бува* (búvot búva).


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## elroy

Standard Arabic:

البومة تنعق -- _al-būma(tu) tanʿaq(u)_


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## AndrasBP

nimak said:


> In *Macedonian* the _Strix_ is known as *ут *(ut) _m_., *утка *(útka) _f_.,


That's funny because утка is a duck in Russian.


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## nimak

AndrasBP said:


> That's funny because утка is a duck in Russian.


Interesting!
In Macedonian *утки* (útki) _pl_. is actually the family name for all species of owl. Thus, the *був* (buv) is утка too, and several species of owl have "buv" in their name. Other species names are: *ќук* (ḱuk), *кукувија* (kukúvija), *кукумјавка* (kukúmjavka), *улулајка* (ulúlajka) etc.


p.s. duck = пајка (pájka), патка (pátka), шатка (šátka)


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## Armas

Finnish: *pöllö huhuilee*.
Also, Bubo bubo is *huuhkaja*.


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## Penyafort

Catalan:  *El mussol esgaripa*.


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## Encolpius

*Pöllö *- what a beautiful word. what is the origin?


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## Olaszinhok

Well, in Italian the owl can be* civetta* (strix)* la civetta stride *or (bubo bubo) _gufo _*il gufo bubola.*


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## Encolpius

Il gufo bubola - what a beautiful collocation.


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## Sowka

I don't think there is a special term for this in German. I would say:

*Die Eule schreit*. ("schreien" is a general verb for "call, scream, shout")

We do have the verb "heulen", but this is used for wolves, not for owls. Unfortunately, because "die Eule heult" would be rather nice. 

Edit: I have to correct myself. There are instances of "das Heulen der Eulen", even on a scientific website.

*Die Eule heult*.

I look at the sentence, well, OK, OK -- but I still think that "die Eule schreit" is more common.


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## Welsh_Sion

*Welsh*

Not very impressive, I'm afraid but ....
*
Mae'r (d)dylluan yn hwtio/hwtian*
Is DEF ART SM owl PRED hooting
The owl hoots/The owl is hooting

However, *(d)ylluan* (n.f.) is an interesting word in that it's a rarity in (possibly) suffering Soft Mutation (SM) twice - something no 'normal' word would (or should) do. This means, the original form was *tylluan* which if lenited become *dylluan,  /t/ > /d/* But, ove time, people I guess took *dylluan* to be the 'original' form and so lenited it further when appropriate, * /d/ > /ð/.*

Another oddity perhaps is that Celts think of owls as *'death birds'*, predicting or announcing death - there is no idea of 'wise' owls in our mythology, just destruction and Death.

Finally, a little off topic, I give you a palindromic story (a conversation between two owls who are courting) written by Kiwi, Jeff Grant. They are squabbling and mishearing each other. (The battle of the sexes - what else is new?!)

*"Too hot to hoot."
"Too hot to woo!"
"Too wot?"
"Too hot to hoot!"
"To woo!"
"Too wot?"
"Too hoot! Too hot to hoot!"*


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## AndrasBP

Welsh_Sion said:


> Mae'r (d)dylluan yn hwtio/hwtian


What about "*gwdihŵ*" (pron. goodihoo)? Is that a different kind of owl? 
I remember this word from my Welsh-English dictionary. I like how it sounds, it's so onomatopoeic.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

L'hibou hulule, in French. In French, as in Italian, English, and other languages (as noted) there are different nouns for different types of owl; _hibou _is the generic term.) P. S., the /h/ is silent.


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## DearPrudence

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> L'hibou hulule, in French. In French, as in Italian, English, and other languages (as noted) there are different nouns for different types of owl; _hibou _is the generic term.) P. S., the /h/ is silent.


I can't agree with this.
The /h/ is definitely not silent:
*> "Le hibou (h)ulule".*
If the owl has no egrets, then, it will be "*une chouette*". I don't think "hibou" is the generic term.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

DearPrudence said:


> I can't agree with this.
> The /h/ is definitely not silent:
> *> "Le hibou (h)ulule".*
> If the owl has no egrets, then, it will be "*une chouette*". I don't think "hibou" is the generic term.



Yes, I meant the /h/ in 'hululer', sorry I wasn't specific enough. (What's an egret, apart from a non-owl type of bird, please*?)
Une chouette - _una civetta _(IT), _Tyto alba_, a barn owl in English. In all language, ornitholigical taxonomy has different names of owl have specific equivalent nales in eveyday langage (barn owl, screech owl, eagle owl, great horned owl, snowy owl, etc.

*I've just checked R&C, the source for WR; it gives 'chouette' _f_; (with ear tufts) hibou _m_. So I guess a) that since chouette is given first, it's more common [trust natives, ain'tt!] and b) 'egrets' are ear tufts (I've learned a new word today, although I can't imagine when I'd be likely to use it...) Mais c'est hibou chouette, quand même!


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## DearPrudence

Oh yes, sorry, "aigrette", and "ear tuft", even better. I'll suggest it to the WR dictionary.


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## Welsh_Sion

AndrasBP said:


> What about "*gwdihŵ*" (pron. goodihoo)? Is that a different kind of owl?
> I remember this word from my Welsh-English dictionary. I like how it sounds, it's so onomatopoeic.



Good find, @AndrasBP - I'd forgotten about that. It's odd to have a stressed vowel in the ultimate syllable in Welsh - guess it must be the onomatopeia!

My excuse? Well, in part, it's more often with Southern Welsh (I'm a Northerner and these things are important, even in small languages like mine.) Otherwise, I'd also argue it's more a child's word for the bird, too.


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## AndrasBP

Welsh_Sion said:


> My excuse?


I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you _should have_ mentioned it, I was just _asking about_ it.



DearPrudence said:


> I can't agree with this.
> The /h/ is definitely not silent:


Isn't the "h aspiré" a silent letter, too?


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

AndrasBP said:


> Isn't the "h aspiré" a silent letter, too?



Hmmm... in "le hibou" we don't pronounce "hibou" with the aspirated 'h' pronounced like in English "house", "half", "head", but "le ibou"... Yes, I guess it is!


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## Welsh_Sion

No apologies needed, @AndrasBP ! I should be apologising to you for omitting it. (It's not part of my 'active' vocabulary, I guess ...)


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## Nizo

In Esperanto, *La strigo huas*. (Hu hu!)


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