# Norwegian dialect:  Her e' koma ei fine jente inja Olda



## girecole

Hi,

This question is about a sentence in what I believe is in a nynorsk dialect.  The speaker is a Sogn man born in the 19th century:

"Her e' koma ei fine jente inja Olda."

I can read most of it, I think:  "Here came a nice girl  ___________."

It's "inja Olda" that has me puzzled.  Is "inja" a dialect version of "ingen?"  Is Olda a place name, do you think?

Any help will be appreciated.


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## oskhen

girecole said:


> Hi,
> 
> This question is about a sentence in what I believe is in a nynorsk dialect.  The speaker is a Sogn man born in the 19th century:
> 
> "Her e' koma ei fine jente inja Olda."
> 
> I can read most of it, I think:  "Here came a nice girl  ___________."
> 
> It's "inja Olda" that has me puzzled.  Is "inja" a dialect version of "ingen?"  Is Olda a place name, do you think?
> 
> Any help will be appreciated.




Hi,

First: "Nynorsk dialect" doesn't really make sense, since nynorsk is a written language.

But anyway: I think the correct translation of the first part is "Here has come a fine/nice/pretty girl..." 

It don't think "Olda" is a place name. I haven't found it, at least, but it is a girl's name - although hardly or not used today (I've never heard it before, and the online statistics says that 3 to 0 people has it).

"Inja" looks like gibberish to me. Are you sure it's correct?


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## girecole

Thank you.  I  guess what I meant to say is that the quote may be a nynorsk transcription of a statement in a Nordfjord-area  dialect.  My apologies for not knowing quite how to express this correctly.

Here it is in context:

"Mor fortalde at bestemor som ung hadde stort, brunt hår, og bestefar skulle ha sagt:  'Her e' koma ei fine jente inja Olda.'


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## vestfoldlilja

My thoughts, though they might not be correct, it is tricky to understand and translate old texts:

On first look I would say the sentence would go like this in bokmål: Her er kommet ei fin jente innfra Olda. 

Here’s come/arrived a nice girl from Olda.  

I read Olda as a place name, but have also been unable to find it online, though it might have been a place that has since disappeared.  Or it might be a shortened version of Volda, a place that lies in the neighbouring county to Sogn og fjordande;  Møre og Romsdal.  

Inja, or innfra means that Olda lies further inland than the place, or town the girl have come to. Though Volda lies by Voldsfjorden; to get there from Sogn og fjordane without the use of the sea, one would need to travel further inland and up the mountains.  

More information about the text might be helpful to give you a better and clearer answer.


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## kirsitn

Inja could perhaps be a shortened dialect version of "inn igjennom" (in through), but that would imply that Olda should be the name of a place. It could also be a shortened version of "i henne" (literally "in her", but in this case "her" is used as a kind of demonstrative pronoun. "Hos han Petter" = "Hos Petter" = at Petter's place), but that doesn't really make sense in this context. A third idea could be that it's a weird pronunciation of "inn hjå" (in to/at), so that the translation is "A nice girl has come to Olda".


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## girecole

Thank you! I think you have made a breakthrough!  When I read your these responses, suggesting that Olda might, in fact, be a place name, I went back into an earlier chapter of the text and found that the young woman in question had come from Olden.  I don't know if such a place now exists, but it clearly was there in the late 19th century.  Now the text makes sense, particularly if "inja" is, indeed, related to "innfra."

My thanks for these responses and your work on my behalf.  I am so grateful to have your expert help with this work I am doing.  I am learning something new every day.


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## Pteppic

Olden does indeed still exist, it's about as far inland as it's possible to get on  the Nordfjord, so "innfra" definitely makes sense.


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## girecole

Thank you for providing the map link.  I am very grateful for the help.  Had I searched online, I would have found beautiful Olden.  I may, in fact, have been close to it myself on a trip a year ago, without storing the name in memory.


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## Norvégienne

Hi, my ex-husband is from the Sogn og Fjordane, near Olden, and this is the meaning of the phrase "Her e' koma ei fine jente inja Olda":

It has two possible meanings, either:
- a beautiful girl has arrived from Olden (meaning she just came from Olden)
- a beautiful girl has arrived and she is from Olden (allthough she may not live there now)

Olda is normally spelled Olden, this is an old form of "dativ", I think

Inja is, I think, dialect for the words "inne frå/fraa"


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## girecole

Hi and thank you,

I appreciate your help.  One thing that I wonder about is what the best English translation of the word "fine" might be.  You use the word "beautiful," while other choices might be  "good-looking"  or  "nice-looking"  (although these two might be used more often in English to refer to men), or perhaps "pretty."  I am inclined to select "pretty," as it is in more common, everyday usage.


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## Norvégienne

Hello again. Sorry, I didn't really pay attention to wich would be the best word for "fine".

 I'm not a native english speaker, so I can't say for sure, but I'm leaning against "pretty" now that you mention it. "Beautiful" is more right for "vakker".


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## girecole

Thank you.  I agree.  I lean toward pretty as well.


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## oskhen

"Pretty" is fine ))​


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## girecole

Beautiful!


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## oskhen

Well, strictly speaking, I suppose "fine" here could mean more than simply "pretty". It could refer to the girl as a whole so to speak, and not just appearances. Therefore, it could be proper to translate it simply as "fine" or something.
I think.

Well, that's probably nitpicking. "Pretty" should work.


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## motstraumen

Great to see our dialect discussed here. Another item about the word Olda instead of Olden. Olda is the dative form.


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## NorwegianNYC

Yes, it is dative, thus _inja_ has to mean 'in' or 'at'. It might be a dialect for of 'inni'


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