# Měl jsem totiž v hlavě



## Tagarela

Ahoj,

I'm trying to understand some parts of the song _Život je sen_ sung by Petr Skoumal but I can't get the meaning of some parts:

*Zdálo se mi to naléhavě, 
Však nešel jsem, 
Měl jsem totiž v hlavě*

My attempt: 

_It seemed to me urgently,
Althought I haven't gone,
I had it in mind_

Thank you for the attention and nice dreams for all!

Nazdar


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## werrr

“Mít v hlavě” is idiomatic expression for “to be drunken” or possibly “to be hangover”. See the following lines of the song (you know where ) to get better picture.


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Thank you, omnipresent Wer , you have reminded this expression, I have seen it on lesson by Radio Prague about expressions with hlava (in Spanish). 

But I still have a problem with  *totiž*, for me it's very hard to understand phrases when *totiž* come in. *totiž* shows that he was very drunk or only a little drunk? 

Nazdar.:


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## winpoj

I've never heard it referring to "hangover". What do other native speakers think?

As for the "totiž", it says nothing about how much drunk the singer was. The "totiž" in the last sentence shows us that that sentence is giving the reason for the fact stated in the previous sentence: He didn't go because he was drunk.


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## texpert

Hangover would not cross my mind either - unless the speaker had already withdrawal symptoms but was tested positively by the police - perhaps. But this is rather clumsy construction. 

The expression itself is mostly used as an euphemism for being relatively well-drunk (if you can say so) but indicating this does not affect you as much. The others around you might think otherwise, though.


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## K.u.r.t

More precisely: I did not go for I was drunk. Because would be translated as protože


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## winpoj

I don't see, Kurt, why "for" would deliver the meaning of "totiž" better than "because". Neither is an "exact" translation, I believe.


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## werrr

winpoj said:


> I don't see, Kurt, why "for" would deliver the meaning of "totiž" better than "because". Neither is an "exact" translation, I believe.


I too consider it better, but you are right it doesn’t deliver the exact meaning of “totiž”.

“Totiž” comes from old Czech “točíš” (= to čuješ, to cítíš, to tušíš; EN: you know that, you feel that). Later it was infected by the prounoun “toti” and enclictic “-ž”. In this infected form it is a coumpound of the demonstrative pronoun “to” (=that), of the personal pronoun¹ “ti” (= to you) and the enclitic “-ž”.
That means that the exact translation for the modern infected form should be:

_  …that (is [to say]) to you that I was drunk. _



¹Alternatively it is explained as an old permissive.


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## nedvidek

It is hard to say whether *totiž* came from "točíš" or from "tudíž" as some contend. Interesting thing though is it's function: *totiž* is one of those verbal tiaras that look great, sound like a winner but nobody really know what they mean. We say : totiž, abych nezapomněl..., já jsem totiž ráno zaspal..., totiž takhle: já jsem ti předtím lhal... It could mean "by the way", "as a matter of fact", "to be precise". It is being used so liberally that the closest english counterpart to me would be "actually".


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## werrr

nedvidek said:


> It is hard to say whether *totiž* came from "točíš" or from "tudíž" as some contend.


How could it come from “tudiež” of totally unrelated meaning? The only the both forms have in common is the enclitic “-ž”.


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## texpert

This *actually *secondary meaning mentioned by nedvidek is a good point, though.. 

.. though here (for tagarela) it can't be anything else than *because* or *for*. 

As to the _točíš_ origins - it's an exciting gloss, can one take it for granted?


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## werrr

texpert said:


> As to the _točíš_ origins - it's an exciting gloss, can one take it for granted?


Yes, if you consider Rejžek’s Etymology Dictionary or Vokabulář webový as sufficient.

Rejžek has the same explanation as in my first post, except that he uses the permissive origin of “ti” as the basic variant and the personal pronoun origin as an alternative.

Vokabulář also coincides in all points, but it gives also alternative contamination by “toť-již”.

(Notice the forms: totíž, točúš, číš, čúš, číšto, čúšto, točúšto, točíšto…)


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## texpert

Great link, indeed. And it is advised to read the fist post (resources and tips) more carefully as it is listed there as well. I was looking for an online etymological dictionary before and found none, while this seems to be the closest match.


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## nedvidek

Mr. Werrr you are correct and I was wrong. Totiž and Tudíž are not related at all.

As per the poem "Život je sen", here is my stab at translating it. Sorry for imposing myself and even more so for bending the laws of English, but this is fun...

_*Life is a dream*_

_I had a dream while slept at night_
_That I should rise, should go outside_

_Insistant little dream, a bug truly_
_Nowhere I went ..._
_Since I was drunk a bit, actually_

_And even though the beers I drunk were few_
_I dreamt of having dreams about them through_

_As it's like that - with everything, it seems_
_That all my dreams are just like that - like dreams_


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## texpert

Not bad  The final part sounds better than the original in fact, which could be an asset as well as liability..


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Thank you again everyone for the further explanations.

I've got the meaning of the phrase now. But still, I'm not very confident on the usage of _totiž_, perhaps it's a matter for another thread. 

Nazdar.:


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