# Norwegian: Du skal finne idealet i din egen opprinnelse



## Solvang

Is there an equivalent in English for this Norwegian saying?

"Du skal finne idealet i din egen opprinnelse"


----------



## mezzoforte

It is like "Home is where the heart is"?  I'm probably way off... sorry.


----------



## Solvang

Takk, mezzoforte!

Well, not exactly. The meaning of this saying, translated literally, is: "You will find the ideal in your own origin".

I wonder if there is a saying in English which conveys the same idea.


----------



## mezzoforte

That doesn't make sense to me.  Can you give a synonym for "_origin_"?  Can you explain what the phrase is saying, perhaps with an example?


----------



## mezzoforte

My second guess is: "_Go back to your roots_" (something like that...).  Though it's an imperative.


----------



## Solvang

Precisely! Origin = Roots

I'm sorry I can't think of a better literal translation of the Norwegian saying.

Mezzoforte, _Go back to your roots_ is a good suggestion - though it doesn't convey the meaning of the original sentence -, but what I am trying to find is a "proverb" in English with the same meaning (even if it is expressed through other words).


----------



## mezzoforte

Can you give a synonym for idealet?

Also, maybe search Bible proverbs....


----------



## Cerb

"Idealet" (noun) means the same as "the ideal" (noun) in English. I'm not familiar with this saying and I'm not getting any hits when googling it other than this discussion. Maybe some context would help. Where is it from? What this "Idealet" is, is a bit vague to me as well (the ideal of what?).


----------



## mezzoforte

Not to be pessimistic, but it's possible that there is no similar proverb in English.  Consider how the Chinese have all these cool proverbs that sound really strange when translated.


----------



## Solvang

mezzoforte said:


> Also, maybe search Bible proverbs....


By Tor and all the trolls! No! Nothing to do with religiously bound sayings; this is a naturalistic maxim.



Cerb said:


> "Idealet" (noun) means the same as "the ideal" (noun) in English. I'm not familiar with this saying and I'm not getting any hits when googling it other than this discussion. Maybe some context would help. Where is it from? What this "Idealet" is, is a bit vague to me as well (the ideal of what?).


I'm beginning to think that the author of the text actually invented this presumed proverb.  I'll have to invent myself in turn a sentence who would ressemble a proverb in English. 



mezzoforte said:


> Not to be pessimistic, but it's possible that there is no similar proverb in English. Consider how the Chinese have all these cool proverbs that sound really strange when translated.


Be as pessimistic as you wish, mezzo! There's no such proverb in English, for sure. 

Though peculiar, we Norwegians aren't as far as enigmatic as the Chinese!!!


----------



## Cerb

I also very much doubt there is any common English way to express it as it seems quite rare in Norwegian as well. If you need a a proverb or saying I guess this is as far as we get, but maybe we could come up with something if you give us the source (book, author, school of thinking, whatever).


----------



## mezzoforte

As an aside, you _should _read the Bible proverbs.  They are "naturalistic", as you put it.


----------



## Solvang

mezzoforte said:


> As an aside, you _should _read the Bible proverbs. They are "naturalistic", as you put it.


I've read them - all of them; that's why I know what I am talking about (well, just a personal opinion, of course). It's quite impossible that any part of a religious text wouldn't be influenced by religion. Something "naturalistic", as I see it, is not based in any philosophy, thinking or belief, just in Nature itself, in the way things develop naturally without any social, "civilized" imposition.

I should have given all the info from the start, Cerb! Sorry!  It's not a literary work; it's a text that will appear on a furniture designer's website. 

Mange takk, Mezzoforte & Cerb!


----------

