# What does pěnkavinka mean?



## philthethrill

I have a Czech movie with Czech subtitles. The movie is Babička, and I used Google translate to translate the subtitles into English. It does a fairly good job, but it doesn't recognize some of the words. One of them is pěnkavinka. Here is the original line: Pojd' se podívat. -Kdo je to? -Pěnkavinka. Here is the Google translation: -Let 's look. -Who is it? -Pěnkavinka. The movie is about 2 girls and 2 boys who have a grandmother who comes often to visit them. The 2 girls are playing in the meadow and they find a dead bird. Would Pěnkavinka be a name that they gave the dead bird? They talk about bridesmaids for her funeral. At least that's how Google translate interpreted the next line which is: Ona umřela? Půjdeme jí za družičky na pohřeb. Here's the translation it came up with: She died? We will go for her bridesmaids at the funeral.


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## bibax

Pěnkavinka is a diminutive of pěnkava.

Pěnkava obecná - Chaffinch - Buchfink - Fringilla coelebs.


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## philthethrill

Thanks. It makes sense now.


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## Enquiring Mind

Google and other translation machines are reasonably good at finding basic word-for-word equivalents, but not much good at all at recognising different meanings of words according to context, and are quite poor at grammar, so "we will go for her bridesmaids at the funeral" is actually nonsense here. 

We're in the realm of children's fantasy. The chaffinch has died, so they are going to show their respect by giving it a funeral and then (presumably) burying it.
Družička is, indeed, a "bridesmaid", (also "matron of honour", "lady in waiting"), but you don't have bridesmaids at funerals.  You have mourners, people who come to pay their respects.
*Půjdeme jí za družičky na pohřeb*: *we will be mourners at her funeral *(we will go to her funeral as mourners).


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## bibax

It is debatable how to translate it to English. The little girls mistakenly used the word družička (instead of plačka). However the Czech noun družička is not etymologically related to bride or marriage but to druh and družina (retinue, suite, dryht), so the mistake is tolerable in Czech but probably not in English.


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## Enquiring Mind

bibax said:


> It is debatable how to translate it to English.



Yes, that's a good point, bibax. It's possible that Němcová deliberately put the wrong word into the mouth of the little girl in order to add to the "charm" of the story.  Maybe the fact that the "wrong" word is being used is developed further in the narrative.  I have the book on my shelves but, I'm ashamed to say, I haven't read it yet! 
As far as the grammar goes, Google didn't make the sense of the sentence clear, unfortunately.


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## Faustin

When using the word družička in connection with a funeral, Němcová didn't make a mistake. There is an old funeral tradition, probably of a pre-christian origin, in both Bohemia and Moravia. If the deceased person is young and unmarried, a symbolical wedding is incorporated into the funeral rite. There are bridesmaids, flowers, a feast after the burial, the coffin might be white instead of black etc. For a man there is a black bride carrying a broken candle in the procession. Many other such things and symbols. You can find it at some villages, quite a rare thing these days but probably much more common back then in the 19th century. It looks like the finch is a young innocent creature in the girl's eyes so in her opinion it deserves that kind of ceremony.
If you want to know more about it, start at "PhDr. Alexandra Navrátilová CSc."


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## abeseda

I don't remember the movie, but I would say that "družička" had to be in white (dress) in the movie, but other "funeral-related" words would have to be depicted e.g. in black... So "Božena Němcová" did not make a mistake... as Faustin has pointed out.


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## werrr

*Pěnkava* stays for *fringilla* in modern Czech, but that is result of restrictive scientific terminology. In older Czech it was used for various small sing birds.



			
				Faustin said:
			
		

> It looks like the finch is a young innocent creature in the girl's eyes...


Bird diminutives like *pěnkavinka* were commonly used figuratively for maids, especially in amative context.


I see Němcová's usage of *družička* as very fitting and it doesn't matter whether it refers to the practise mentioned by Faustin. The word on its own means for me any _junior female companion_, but I can even imagine its usage for an isolated young women.

I think you can translate it to English as *Maid of honour* (the British spelling is preferable) as it could be also interpreted in a broader sense.


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## bibax

> ... When using the word družička in connection with a funeral, Němcová didn't make a mistake. ...





> ... So "Božena Němcová" did not make a mistake... as Faustin has pointed out.


Nobody claimed that Němcová made a mistake. We only speculated on that that she _"deliberately put the wrong word into the mouth of the little girl in order to add to the "charm" of the story"_.


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## abeseda

Faustin: 





> When using the word družička in connection with a funeral, Němcová didn't make a mistake.


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## Faustin

I asked an American who has been at a wedding recently about the wedding terminology, the attendants and their ages. By what she told me, the Czech word družička may cover any of these:
a bridesmaid (bride's unmarried peers)
a maid of honour (the main bridesmaid, also a matron of honour, if married)
a junior bridesmaid (young girls who can't get married yet)
a flower girl - (little girls)
Providing that more than one flower girl is allowed, the last one might work for the girls in the movie, what do you think?


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