# To sunbathe



## Włoskipolak 72

Hi

I recently realised that the Polish word *opalać się *, which means to sunbathe sounds quite strange !

opalać= poddawać działaniu płomieni ( expose to  flames )
palić =  burn , smoke , to be on fire .

How do you say to sunbathe in your language ?

I am sunbathing= Ja opalam się .

sunbathing = opalanie
(to) get brown = opalać się , brązowieć
to sunbathe = zażywać kąpieli słonecznej
suntan = opalenizna
suntanned = opalony


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## AndrasBP

If you look at "sunbathing" in various European languages, people tend to...


"burn themselves" (Polish, Slovak, Russian, Lithuanian),
"sun themselves" (Hungarian, Latvian, Serbian/Croatian),
"take the sun" (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian),
"bathe in the sun" (English, German),
...but the most professional sunbathers are the Greeks: they do "heliotherapy".


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## Circunflejo

AndrasBP said:


> ...but the most professional sunbathers are the Greeks: they do "heliotherapy".


We do have _helioterapia _too in Spanish but it's not exactly sunbathing but some sort of medical treatment in which you are exposed to sun rays.


AndrasBP said:


> "take the sun" (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian),


Catalan too.


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## DearPrudence

Circunflejo said:


> AndrasBP said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you look at "sunbathing" in various European languages, people tend to...
> 
> "take the sun" (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian),
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Catalan too.
Click to expand...

In French as well: "*prendre le soleil*".

We also *take a sun bath*: "*prendre un bain de soleil*".

And we *have ourselves tan*: "*se faire bronzer*"
or, we *do/make a little tan*: "*faire bronzette*",
or we *bronze/tan the pill*: "*se (faire) dorer la pilule*".


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## apmoy70

In Greek, sun is therapeutic:

Sunbaithing: *«Ηλιοθεραπεία»* [i.ʎo̞.θe̞.ɾaˈpi.a] (fem.) --> _sun-therapy_ a MoGr word (1896) calqued for the Fr. héliothérapie, a compound: MoGr masc. noun *«ἥλιος»* [ˈi.li.o̞s] or (dial.) [ˈi.ʎo̞s] --> _sun_ < Classical masc. noun *«ἥλιος» hḗliŏs* --> _sun_ (PIE *seh₂u-el- _sun_, old IE word retained in many languages cf Skt. स्वर् (svar), Lith. saulė, Proto-Germanic *sōwul, Lat. sōl, Proto-Slavic *sъlnьce etc.) + MoGr *«θεραπεία»* [θe̞.ɾaˈpi.a] (fem.) --> _cure, therapy_ < Classical fem. noun *«θεραπείᾱ» tʰĕrăpeíā* --> initial meaning _serving_, later _cure, therapy_ (of unknown etymology; per Beekes the word is Pre-Greek, while van Brock sees a connection with the Hitt. tarpašša-).

To sunbathe: Periphrasis *«κάνω ηλιοθεραπεία»* [ˈka.no̞ i.ʎo̞.θe̞.ɾaˈpi.a] --> _to do sunbathing_.

Suntan: *«Μαύρισμα»* [ˈma.vri.zma] (neut.) --> lit. _blackening, darkening_ < Byz.Gr. adj. *«μαῦρος» maûros* --> _black, dark_, a boomerang word:
Classical adj. *«ἀμαυρός» ămaurós* --> _hardly seen, dim, faint_ (of unknown etymology; per Beekes a substrate word, per Puhvel a Scythian loan maurva-) > Lat. *maurus* > Byz.Gr/MoGr *«μαῦρος»*. 

To get suntan: *«Μαυρίζω»* [maˈvri.zo̞] --> lit. _to become black, dark_.

Suntanned: *«Μαυρισμένος, -νη, -νο»* [ma.vriˈzme̞.no̞s] (masc.), [ma.vriˈzme̞.ni] (fem.), [ma.vriˈzme̞.no̞] (neut.) --> _blackened, darkened_, from «μαῦρος» + suffix *«-μενος, -μενη, -μενο»* for constructing verbal adjectives (aka participles) in the medio-passive voice < PIE *mh₁no- or *m(e)no-


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## Awwal12

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> I recently realised that the Polish word *opalać się *, which means to sunbathe sounds quite strange !


In Russian it isn't any better: imperf. загорать (zagorát') "to sunbathe", perf. загореть (zagorét') "to acquire a tan", with basically the same notion of burning.


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## Frank78

AndrasBP said:


> If you look at "sunbathing" in various European languages, people tend to...
> 
> 
> "sun themselves" (Hungarian, Latvian, Serbian/Croatian),
> "bathe in the sun" (English, German),



Both are actually possible in German: "sich sonnen" as well as "sonnenbaden"


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## Kaoss

DearPrudence said:


> And we *have ourselves tan*: "*se faire bronzer*"
> or, we *do/make a little tan*: "*faire bronzette*",


"Broncearse" does exist in spanish as well. Literally turning oneself to bronze...


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Awwal12 said:


> In Russian it isn't any better: imperf. загорать (zagorát') "to sunbathe", perf. загореть (zagorét') "to acquire a tan", with basically the same notion of burning.


In BCS izgoriti means to get brown from the sun.


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## amikama

In Hebrew it's "to do a sun bath": לעשות אמבטיית שמש.
The verb "to tan" is להשתזף.


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## Penyafort

They're different concepts though. You can sunbathe and not tan, or get a tan without sunbathing.


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## Awwal12

Penyafort said:


> You can sunbathe and not tan


But apparently most Slavs don't. 

Granted, there are also expressions "греться на солнышке" (lit. ~~"to warm oneself in the (little) sun", roughly "to sun oneself") or "принимать солнечные ванны" (lit. "to take sun bathes") in Russian, but it's not what Russians normally do on the beach or in other similar circumstances.

Note  that there is actually no lexical distinction between sunbathing (presumably in order to get a tan) and the process of acquiring a tan naturally without any intention. Moreover, the verb can be extended, at least figuratively, to the cases when there is clearly no intention or possibility to get a tan (like speaking about cats).


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## Włoskipolak 72

DearPrudence said:


> In French as well: "*prendre le soleil*".
> 
> We also *take a sun bath*: "*prendre un bain de soleil*".
> 
> And we *have ourselves tan*: "*se faire bronzer*"
> or, we *do/make a little tan*: "*faire bronzette*",
> or we *bronze/tan the pill*: "*se (faire) dorer la pilule*".


It is widely known that French and Italian are both Romance languages.., but how similar is French to Italian..? 

prendere il sole = prendre le soleil
abbronzarsi , dorarsi = se faire bronzer
prendere la tintarella = faire bronzette ?
abbrunarsi (_il sole abbruna la pelle)_


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## Włoskipolak 72

Frank78 said:


> Both are actually possible in German: "sich sonnen" as well as "sonnenbaden"


ein Sonnenbad nehmen . Is it correct ?


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## Penyafort

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> It is widely known that French and Italian are both Romance languages.., but how similar is French to Italian..?
> 
> prendere il sole = prendre le soleil
> abbronzarsi , dorarsi = se faire bronzer
> prendere la tintarella = faire bronzette ?
> abbrunarsi (_il sole abbruna la pelle)_



I'll add Catalan then. 

*prendre el sol* = prendere il sole = prendre le soleil
*bronzejar-se* = abbronzarsi , dorarsi = se faire bronzer
*fer bronzo* = prendere la tintarella = faire bronzette
*embrunir-se* = abbrunarsi (_il sole abbruna la pelle)_
*emmorenir-se* or *posar-se morè* (or *moreno*)  <- calques from Spanish but more used in common speech than _embrunir_
And a nice one which I think is only Catalan:
*colrar-se* [from Latin colorare 'to get colored'] = get a tan because of exposure but not done on purpose


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## Włoskipolak 72

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek, sun is therapeutic:
> 
> Sunbaithing: *«Ηλιοθεραπεία»* [i.ʎo̞.θe̞.ɾaˈpi.a] (fem.) --> _sun-therapy_ a MoGr word (1896) calqued for the Fr. héliothérapie, a compound: MoGr masc. noun *«ἥλιος»* [ˈi.li.o̞s] or (dial.) [ˈi.ʎo̞s] --> _sun_ < Classical masc. noun *«ἥλιος» hḗliŏs* --> _sun_ (PIE *seh₂u-el- _sun_, old IE word retained in many languages cf Skt. स्वर् (svar), Lith. saulė, Proto-Germanic *sōwul, Lat. sōl, Proto-Slavic *sъlnьce etc.) + MoGr *«θεραπεία»* [θe̞.ɾaˈpi.a] (fem.) --> _cure, therapy_ < Classical fem. noun *«θεραπείᾱ» tʰĕrăpeíā* --> initial meaning _serving_, later _cure, therapy_ (of unknown etymology; per Beekes the word is Pre-Greek, while van Brock sees a connection with the Hitt. tarpašša-).
> 
> To sunbathe: Periphrasis *«κάνω ηλιοθεραπεία»* [ˈka.no̞ i.ʎo̞.θe̞.ɾaˈpi.a] --> _to do sunbathing_.
> 
> Suntan: *«Μαύρισμα»* [ˈma.vri.zma] (neut.) --> lit. _blackening, darkening_ < Byz.Gr. adj. *«μαῦρος» maûros* --> _black, dark_, a boomerang word:
> Classical adj. *«ἀμαυρός» ămaurós* --> _hardly seen, dim, faint_ (of unknown etymology; per Beekes a substrate word, per Puhvel a Scythian loan maurva-) > Lat. *maurus* > Byz.Gr/MoGr *«μαῦρος»*.
> 
> To get suntan: *«Μαυρίζω»* [maˈvri.zo̞] --> lit. _to become black, dark_.
> 
> Suntanned: *«Μαυρισμένος, -νη, -νο»* [ma.vriˈzme̞.no̞s] (masc.), [ma.vriˈzme̞.ni] (fem.), [ma.vriˈzme̞.no̞] (neut.) --> _blackened, darkened_, from «μαῦρος» + suffix *«-μενος, -μενη, -μενο»* for constructing verbal adjectives (aka participles) in the medio-passive voice < PIE *mh₁no- or *m(e)no-


Thank you for all interesting informations !

Traitement de certaines maladies par la lumière solaire, riche en rayons ultra-violets. _L'*héliothérapie* rend des services immenses dans le traitement des plaies atones, des tuberculoses chirurgicales, etc.

*L'ensoleillement*− qu'il ne faut pas confondre avec _l'héliothérapie,_ moyen thérapeutique de traitement, dirigé, dosé et contrôlé par un spécialiste − doit être pratiqué avec une réelle prudence .(R. Vuillemin, Éduc. phys.,1941, p. 80)._


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## Włoskipolak 72

sun + *bathe*

From Middle English *bathen*, from Old English baþian (“to bathe, wash”), from Proto-Germanic *baþōną (“to bathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian boadje (“to bathe”), Dutch baden , German Low German baden , Danish bade , Swedish bada,  Icelandic baða.


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## Ansku89

AndrasBP said:


> If you look at "sunbathing" in various European languages, people tend to...
> 
> 
> "burn themselves" (Polish, Slovak, Russian, Lithuanian),
> "sun themselves" (Hungarian, Latvian, Serbian/Croatian),
> "take the sun" (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian),
> "bathe in the sun" (English, German),
> ...but the most professional sunbathers are the Greeks: they do "heliotherapy".


Finnish is also in the sun-taking group (which is interesting, because Spanish and Italian aren't the European languages that in general have had the biggest impact on Finnish...), _ottaa aurinkoa_. Ottaa = take, aurinko = sun, -a = partitive ending (because we don't take the entire sun, just a part of it). When we do it, we may or may not _ruskettua_, "brownify ourselves" derived from ruskea = brown. Another very similar derivative is _ruskistua_, but that's what happens to meat on a frying pan. They're definitely two different things but as a native speaker I still can't explain why it is the way it is. Languages are so wonderfully confusing sometimes...


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## alfaalfa

Ciao


Włoskipolak 72 said:


> It is widely known that French and Italian are both Romance languages.., but how similar is French to Italian..?
> 
> prendere il sole = prendre le soleil
> abbronzarsi , dorarsi = se faire bronzer
> prendere la tintarella = faire bronzette ?
> abbrunarsi (_il sole abbruna la pelle)  _It sounds too strange. Maybe _*annerirsi*, _but it's not that common too.


A long time ago we went to the beach to _prendere/fare i bagni di sole_


Nowadays you can find  signs like this to indicate there's no lifeguards available. So the bathing is unsafe  but you can freely enjoy the _elioterapia. _


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## AutumnOwl

In Swedish it's _(att) solbada_ (to sun bath), but we usually use the shortened version _(att) sola._ To get a tan is _att bli solbränd_ (to become sun burned). If a person has been painfully burned in the sun, then we use _att ha blivit bränd_ (to have been burned), unless you are on the island of Gotland, then you have a case of _soleld_ (sunfire).


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh*

sunbathing (= to sunbathe) *'torheulo'* or (in South Wales)* 'bolaheulo'*

In both cases we invoke the idea of 'sunning our bellies' ('tor' or 'bol/a' being words for the tummy or stomach. 'Tor' is an older word.)


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## raamez

Arabic:
shammasa شمّس [v.] to expose to the sun e.g. food
*ta*shammasa تشمّس [v.] to expose *yourself* to the sun -> to sunbathe
ash-shams الشمس is sun


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## Messquito

Mandarin:

曬太陽 to expose yourself to the sun
曬 is also used for hanging somethubg in the sun to dry, e.g. 曬衣服(sun-drying your clothes)

洗日光浴 to have a sunlight bath

The first one can be unintentional or deliberate. The second one is a deliberate action.


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