# clear



## Gavril

The English word "clear" has a concrete meaning and an abstract one:

Concrete: *free from darkness, obscurity, or cloudiness; light: a clear day.
*Abstract: *easily understood; without ambiguity: clear,concise answers.
*(definitions from dictionary.com)

Does your language normally use the same word for both of these meanings, or does each meaning have its own word(s)?


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## francisgranada

Hungarian
*világos *(both abstract and concrete meaning)

Slovak
*jasný  *(both abstract and concrete meaning)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Concrete meaning: Adj. «καθαρός, -ρή, -ρό» (kaθa'ros, _m._/kaθa'ri, _f._/kaθa'ro, _n._)--> _clean, spotless, pure_; Classical adj. «καθαρός, -ρὰ, -ρόν» (kătʰā'rŏs, _m._/kătʰā'ră, _f._/kătʰā'rŏn, _n._) with the same meaning (with obscure etymology).
Abstract meaning: Adj. «ξεκάθαρος, -ρη, -ρο» (kse'kaθaros, _m._/kse'kaθari, _f._/kse'kaθaro, _n._)--> _clear, consice_; Byzantine and modern variation of the Classical adj. «ἐκκάθαρος» (ĕk'kătʰārŏs, _the cleansed, purified_); compound, prefix and preposition «ἐκ» (ĕk), which becomes «ἐξ» (ĕks) when the next word begins with a vowel--> _out of, forth from_ + adj. «καθαρός» (kătʰā'rŏs). «Ξεκάθαρος, -ρη, -ρο» lit. is anything that comes out clear, well-defined, straightforward.


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## jazyk

Portuguese _claro_ is like English _clear._


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## ThomasK

There is a link in German (*'Klar'*) but in Dutch it is not perfectly true: one could say: "Is dat *klaar *(en duidelijk)?", but it is not that common, or that is my impression. But funnily 'klaar' generally means 'ready'. What we do have is "*verklaren*", 'to explain', lit. to make clear. _(But see also the other thread in this list: "I see = I understand")_


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## DearPrudence

The *French* "*clair*" is like the English.


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## 涼宮

in Spanish ''claro'' works for both, abstract and concrete.


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## jana.bo99

Croatian: jasno 

Slovenian: jasno (it can be "clear sky" or "clear word")


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## ThomasK

Just by the way: isn't that the basis of the verb 'explain' in lots of Slavic languages (something like 'clearing up', like _*clarifi*... _in Romanic languages) ?


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## Orlin

Such a relation definitely exists at least in the Slavic languages I actively know: "to explain" is _(да) обясня/обяснявам _in Bulgarian, _объяснить/объяснять _in Russian and _objasniti/objašnjavati _in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, all literally meaning something like "to make clear".


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## francisgranada

*objasniť *- to make clear
*vysvetliť *- to explain

svetlý - clear (opposite of dark)
jasný - clear (lucid)


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## ThomasK

Thanks! What precisely does the root word *jas(n*)- mean? I had thought something like 'sunshine', but I noticed something like 'clear sky' in #8.


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## ger4

The German adjective _klar_ corresponds to English 'clear' in many contexts: 


Gavril said:


> The English word "clear" has a concrete meaning and an abstract one:
> 
> Concrete: *free from darkness, obscurity, or cloudiness; light: a clear day.
> *Abstract: *easily understood; without ambiguity: clear,concise answers.
> *(definitions from dictionary.com)
> 
> Does your language normally use the same word for both of these meanings, or does each meaning have its own word(s)?


_klar _can express both a concrete and an abstract meaning: _ein klarer Himmel_ - 'a clear sky' (free from clouds, for instance); _klare Antworten_ - 'clear answers'


ThomasK said:


> Just by the way: isn't that the basis of the verb 'explain' in lots of Slavic languages (something like 'clearing up', like _*clarifi*... _in Romanic languages) ?


This reminds me of the German verb _erklären_ (to explain)...


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## 810senior

Gavril said:


> The English word "clear" has a concrete meaning and an abstract one:
> 
> Concrete: *free from darkness, obscurity, or cloudiness; light: a clear day.
> *Abstract: *easily understood; without ambiguity: clear,concise answers.
> *(definitions from dictionary.com)
> 
> Does your language normally use the same word for both of these meanings, or does each meaning have its own word(s)?




Well...　I think an adjective form of the verb _saeru[冴える]_:saeta[冴えた] fits in.
_saeta _has mainly two meanings: 1.(sky, color, sound is)clear 2.(one's brain/knowledge/skill/competence is)clear

e.g.
(1) 冴えた月の光 _saeta tsuki no hikari_ meaning clear moonlight
(2) 冴えた頭脳 _saeta zunou_ meaning _clear head/brain_


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## Dymn

I only add Catalan _clar_, working the same way as Spanish and Portuguese _claro _and French _clair,_ of course.


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## ThomasK

What is the verb then, 810senior? And what does it mean? I suppose something like 'shine' or ... ?


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## 810senior

_saeta _is an adjective form. its original form is _saeru _and is verb. (but it's mostly used for modifying something, like the usage of participles)
It means: to see or hear something clearly, to have clear-head, to get skillful. (Unfortunately it hasn't the meaning like shine...)


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## ThomasK

That is quite interesting, not what I had expected. Do you have a verb for 'to shine'? Do you have a separate verb for seeing and for understanding? English does not have a perfect translation of the verb, I suppose...


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## 810senior

We use _saeru_ as intransitive verb. some examples below:

今宵は月が冴えるね。_koyoi wa tsuki ga saeru ne_ meaning _I see the moon clearly tonight_ or_ the moon is seen clearly tonight_.
思うに彼は頭がかなり冴える。omouni kare wa atama ga sugoku saeru meaning upon my reflection, he has so clear head. (lit. upon my reflection, as for him, (his) head is so clear) *I couldn't find the adequate verb in English...

----------------------
In Japanese:
to shine = kagayaku, hikaru, kirameku etc.
to see(something like mountain, birds, river...) = miru, nagameru etc.
to see(similar to understand, comprehend...) = wakaru[intr.], rikaisuru etc.
to understand = wakaru[intr.]

On top of that, we don't use miru, nagameru meaning to see as the meaning of understanding.
How about dutch or other languages? Do you have a verb like _saeru_?


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## ThomasK

I think it must be something like shine/ schijnen, or am I mistaken?


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## ThomasK

_(I'd invite Holger to publish what he had published but then deleted. It might be useful or relevant!)_


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## Messquito

In Chinese, we don't use the same word, but they usually contain the same character 清/朗:
Concrete: *free from darkness（清澈）, obscurity（清晰;清楚）, or cloudiness（晴朗）; light（晴朗）: a clear day*
Abstract: *easily understood（清楚/明朗）; without ambiguity（清楚）: clear,concise answers*
清＝氵(=水)(water)+青(=倩)(beautiful)-->water without impurities
e.g. 澄清=purify(liquid)/clarify(meaning)/set right(situation);清洗=wash;清新=refreshing;清唱=sing opera arias...
朗＝良(nice)+月(moon)-->bright moonlight-->bright, clear and nice
e.g. 朗朗上口=catchy(bright and loud and clear);朗誦=recite; 朗讀=read out loud


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## ThomasK

Those meanings resemble "ours", also the link with purity.


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## Gavril

Old English: the adjective _*sweotol*_ seems to have meant "clear" in both senses described in the first post.

_sweotol _is thought by some to be a compound of _sweo_- "self, own" and -_tol _< *-_tāl_ "shining" (a root that is not otherwise attested in Old English, but that may be cognate with Ancient Greek _dêlos _"clear")


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## apmoy70

^Interesting...the ancient meaning of adj. *«δῆλος» dêlŏs* has survived in MoGr only as the first part in the compound adverbs *«δηλονότι»* [ðiloˈnoti] --> _that is to say, quite cleary_ < Classical phraseme *«δῆλον *(«ἐστι»)* ὅτι» dêlŏn *(ĕstĭ)* hótĭ* --> _(it is) visible that, clear that_, and *«δηλαδή»* [ðilaˈði] --> _id est, that is, namely_ < Classical phraseme *«δῆλᾰ δὴ» dêlă dḕ* --> _evidently, manifestly_; and also in the toponymic of the island of *«Δῆλος» Dêlŏs* (MoGr [ˈðilos]) (fem.) which according to the ancient Greek myth it appeared in the middle of the Aegean suddenly, out of nowhere (and became the birthplace of Apollo). For Beekes *«δῆλος»* derives from a_ possible_ PIE root *deih₂- _to shine_; Babiniotis suggests it's definitely from the PIE root *dei-ə- _to shine_ cognate with Skt. दिदेति (dideti), _to shine_.


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## kaverison

francisgranada said:


> Hungarian
> *világos *(both abstract and concrete meaning)
> 
> Slovak
> *jasný  *(both abstract and concrete meaning)


got curious about Hungarian - 
Tamil
viLakku - light (lamp), clarify
விளக்கு

That said,

we have a word, தெளிவு - theLivu that has a meaning clear and can be used in both the contxts
vaanam thelivaaka irukkirathu
sky being clear

theLivaakap purikirahu
verly clearly understood (to me)


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