# Ebony and Ivory



## Outsider

I'm trying a new way to ask multilingual questions. Instead of giving the English phrase at the start, I've written it in Portuguese, in the hope that some other poster will recognize it, and translate it into another language, and so on. This should give English speakers a chance to participate in the thread.

So, how do _you_ say *ébano e marfim* in your language?


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## Zap Brannigan

Ébano y marfil... en español


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## irene.acler

Ebano e avorio in *italiano*.


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## MarcB

English: ebony and ivory. Good idea


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## Hakro

Finnish: Ebenpuu ja norsunluu.


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## Nanon

French: ébène et ivoire.
Acho excelente a ideia, Out !


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## ErOtto

Deutsch: Ebenholz und Elfenbein.

Gruss
ErOtto


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:
abanoz ve fildişi*


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## Whodunit

Latin:

*Ebenum et ebur*


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## Whodunit

Zap Brannigan said:


> Ébano y marfíl... en español


 
Is there really a tilde on the *i*?


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## Zap Brannigan

Whodunit said:


> Is there really a tilde on the *i*?


Oups! sorry, my bad.


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## OldAvatar

Chazzwozzer said:


> *Turkish:
> abanoz ve fildişi*



Romanian:

abanos şi fildeş


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## Flaminius

Japanese:
黒檀と象牙
kokutan-to zōge

Is there any metaphorical meaning here?  I translated the phrase as the name of two precious matarials.


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## FranParis

Dutch:

*Ebbehout en ivoor*


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## daoxunchang

Thanks go to MarcB
Chinese: 
Simplified: 乌木象牙
Traditional: 烏木象牙


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## elpoderoso

Flaminius said:


> Is there any metaphorical meaning here? I translated the phrase as the name of two precious materials.


I couldn't resist.
Ebony and Ivory is the name of a rather dreary song which touches upon the theme of Black and White people living together in harmony, like the Ebony and Ivory keys on a piano.


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## Outsider

I like the song.


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## Vagabond

Έβενος και ελεφαντόδοντο (*e*venos ke elefant*o*donto) material wise; in this context, I'd go with έβενος και φίλντισι (*e*venos kai f*i*ldisi). Φίλντισι obviously being a Turkish loan word into Greek for ivory; it has more of a "poetic" feel in Greek than ελεφαντόδοντο.


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## samanthalee

elpoderoso said:


> Ebony and Ivory is the name of a rather dreary song which touches upon the theme of Black and White people living together in harmony, like the Ebony and Ivory keys on a piano.


 
Ah...then the Chinese translation given is not correct, because the words for "Ebony piano keys" and "Ivory piano keys" have nothing to do with "Ebony" and "Ivory".


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## Outsider

O.K.: the translation I request has no necessary association to the song by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Besides, in the song the words "ebony" and "ivory" are clearly metaphorical.


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## AMINOWANA

på Svenska: EBENHOLTS och ELFENBEN
(Swedish)


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## suslik

In Estonian:
eebenipuu ja elevandiluu


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## elroy

Arabic:

الأبنوس والعاج (_al-abnuus wal-`aaj)_


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## daoxunchang

samanthalee said:


> Ah...then the Chinese translation given is not correct, because the words for "Ebony piano keys" and "Ivory piano keys" have nothing to do with "Ebony" and "Ivory".


 
No, I don't think so. elpoderoso just said it's "like" the ebony and ivory keys on a piano. The song sings about black and white people living in harmony, so you just give the colours and it's Ok.


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## samanthalee

Ok, but "Black Wood and Elephant Tooth" don't conjure up the implication of "different yet similar" as "Ebony and Ivory" can.


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## daoxunchang

It's not "Black Wood and Elephant Tooth" here! It's the colours!


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## ilocas2

Czech:

*eben a slonovina* (ébano e marfim)
*ebenové dřevo a slonovina* (madeira de ébano e marfim)


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## Gavril

Armenian: էբենոսափայտ եւ փղոսկր (_ebenosap'ayt yev p'ǝghosgǝr_)

Icelandic: _tinnuviður / íbenviður og fílabein_

_tinnuviður_ means "flint-wood"; both words for "ivory" are compounds of words meaning "elephant" and "bone".


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## Dymn

Catalan:

_eben i ivori_


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: ébenfa és elefántcsont


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