# mind (noun)



## anahiseri

Is there a word for "mind" in your language?

You may not believe it if you don't speak German, but actually there is no German word which means exactly (or more or less exactly) *mind.*
you will find a lot of words in a dictionary, but none of them is a really good translation. 
 In Spanish we say *mente*
I would guess there isn't a good equivalent in French either.


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## AndrasBP

No, not really. "Mind" is difficult to translate into Hungarian. English phrases with "mind" sometimes have the word "ész" /e:s/ in Hungarian, but that translates roughly as "sense, reason, cleverness", which is not the same thing. If we want to translate "mind" as in "you're always on my _mind_", we often have to resort to the verb "think" or use the noun "head" in a figurative sense.


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## anahiseri

Thanks, AndrasBP. I have the impression in Hungarian the situation is similar to German.

Of course the English word "mind" has different meanings. too. But I was thinking of the so-to-speak philosophical, psychological term: 
the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons (Mirriam-Webster)


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## Penyafort

In Catalan, *ment*, from Latin _mente_.

The word already appears in Ramon Llull's gigantic _Llibre de Contemplació en Déu _(1271). Often it plays a complementary role with *seny*, the word for good sense, common sense, judgment, wit, right-mindedness.


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## anahiseri

interesting, Penyafort.
By the way, I think it's *mens* in Latin. I remember 
mens sana in corpore sano


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## Penyafort

anahiseri said:


> interesting, Penyafort.
> By the way, I think it's *mens* in Latin. I remember
> mens sana in corpore sano



Yes, it is indeed. In the singular nominative case. As a general rule, the Romance languages took words from the accusative case, which in the case of mens was _mentem_, probably losing the final -m in the Vulgar Latin stage, right before the formation of the Romance languages. This is why I wrote _mente_, but of course the word appearing in Latin dictionaries is _mens_.


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## jazyk

_Mente_ in Portuguese as well.


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## bibax

Mente is a Latin word as well, e.g. piā mente (abl. sing.), hence the Romance adverb piamente > -mente/-ment (adverbial suffix).


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## j-p-c

There is in fact a pretty good equivalent in French of one of the meanings of "mind", it's "esprit", in the sense of mental faculties or mindset.

"To lose one's mind", "Perdre l'esprit"
"To have a twisted mind", "Avoir l'esprit tordu".
"Body and mind", "Le corps et l'esprit".

Just like "mind" in English, "esprit" turns up in many French expressions with various meanings, with "ghost" and "humor" among them.
If I mention the derived adjective "spirituel", you can see the connexion with the English "spirit".


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## anahiseri

j-p-c said:


> There is in fact a pretty good equivalent in French of one of the meanings of "mind", it's "esprit", in the sense of mental faculties or mindset.
> 
> "To lose one's mind", "Perdre l'esprit"
> "To have a twisted mind", "Avoir l'esprit tordu".
> "Body and mind", "Le corps et l'esprit".
> 
> Just like "mind" in English, "esprit" turns up in many French expressions with various meanings, with "ghost" and "humor" among them.
> If I mention the derived adjective "spirituel", you can see the connexion with the English "spirit".


Of course you're right, and I think the situation is the same as with German *Geist*; the nearest to "mind", but which, among other things, can be a ghost es well. . . . .


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## Jimbob_Disco

The Russian is ум (oom)


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## bibax

Czech:

*mysl*, related verb is *mysliti* = to think (*myšlenka* = thought);

Co máte na mysli? → What do you have in mind?
vytanout na mysli komu → to rise up in sb's mind;
otupělá mysl → torpid mind;
but
to change one's mind → změnit [svůj] názor (= opinion);
to read sb's mind → číst komu myšlenky (= thoughts);
a thought ran through my mind → hlavou (= through [my] head) mi proběhla myšlenka;
etc.

Slovak:

*myseľ* (verb *myslieť* = to think);

The Russian cognate *мысль* (mysľ, verb *мыслить* = to think) means rather a _thought_, than _mind_.


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## anahiseri

I am not thinking of expressions like "make up your mind", "have in mind", etc., but about the basic meaning of *mind* as that part of our being that is non-material. 
As I quoted in message 3, 
*the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons *(Mirriam-Webster)


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## anahiseri

In case you don't believe what I say in my introduction about the non-existence of a German word for the concept *mind,*I  quote the German philosopher *Markus Gabriel*

"We have no German word for what in English is called mind"


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## Perseas

anahiseri said:


> By the way, I think it's *mens* in Latin.


*Νους* (masc.) [nus] in Greek. Colloquially, *μυαλό *(neut.) [mɲaˈlo]



anahiseri said:


> mens sana in corpore sano


νους υγιής εν σώματι υγιεί (monotonic orthography).


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## bibax

Well, in the philosophical sense we have Czech words vědomí and uvědomění, both derived from the verb věděti (= to know, scire), which is related to the verb viděti (= to see, videre).

*vědomí* = consciousness, mind;
*hmota a vědomí* = matter and mind;

However there is also another meaning of vědomí (not philosophical, but physiological):
ztratit/nabýt vědomí → to lose/regain consciousness;


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## swindaff

In Italian we say *mente*.

@anahiseri would you explain to me what it is like in German?


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## anahiseri

Al.ba,

In German you have to use the word *Geist, *but this noun means a lot of things. If I hear the word without any context I think of *phantom, spirit, ghost.  *Other words that you find in a German- English dictionary are *intellect, wit, psyche, demon, genie, . . . . 
*
and then there are compounds like
*Geisteswissenschaften - humanities, arts
*
and adjectives like  *geistig - mental, spiritual, intellectual, cognitive*
which is different from* geistlich - spiritual, religious
*
The German word "mind" is very similar in its many meanings to the French word "ésprit".


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## elroy

Arabic: عقل (_caql_)


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## swindaff

anahiseri said:


> Al.ba,
> 
> In German you have to use the word *Geist, *but this noun means a lot of things. If I hear the word without any context I think of *phantom, spirit, ghost.  *Other words that you find in a German- English dictionary are *intellect, wit, psyche, demon, genie, . . . .
> *
> and then there are compounds like
> *Geisteswissenschaften - humanities, arts
> *
> and adjectives like  *geistig - mental, spiritual, intellectual, cognitive*
> which is different from* geistlich - spiritual, religious
> *
> The German word "mind" is very similar in its many meanings to the French word "ésprit".


So curious! I only knew the word "Verstandnis" in the meaning of "intellect", I think.


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## anahiseri

anahiseri said:


> I quote the German philosopher *Markus Gabriel*
> 
> "We have no German word for what in English is called mind"



There's much more: I have very easily found three google-books in which the author regrets this "deficiency" of the German language. 2 of them: (the link leads to the appropriate page)

Das mentale Universum

Denke und handle automatisch richtig!


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## nimak

Jimbob_Disco said:


> The Russian is ум (oom)



Same in *Macedonian*


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Arabic: عقل (_caql_)


I think it depends on context. Sometimes you could use بال. For example: 'it's on my mind' would be هو ببالي. I don't know, but to me عقل implies rational thought and I'm not sure if the English 'mind' necessarily implies rationality.


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