# Darkness



## Vejrudsigt

Because it is cool enough to warrant its own discussion.

Danish: mørke
German: Finsternis
Dutch: duisternis


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## marcoszorrilla

Español:Niebla, oscuridad, tenebrosidad, calígine, lobreguez, tinieblas.


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## avalon2004

GREEK:
το *σκοτάδι *[skotádhi] (another, older form is το *σκότος*)

FRENCH: 
*L'obscurité  *(probably the most general one)
*La noirceur*
*Le noir
Le foncé

*CATALAN:*
L'obscuritat

*ROMANIAN:*
 întuneric 

* ITALIAN*
L'oscurità*


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## DrWatson

*Finnish:* pimeys
*Swedish: *mörker


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## Cecilio

In Catalan:

- foscor, obscuritat.


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## Thomas1

In Polish:
ciemność

In Russian:
темнота


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## claudine2006

In Italian:
Buio, oscurità.


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## Josh_

In Arabic:

ظلام
thalaam ('th' as in 'that')


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## robbie_SWE

In Romanian you can say "*obscuritate*" too. 

 robbie


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## spakh

In Turkish
karanlık


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: escuridão.


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## Maja

In Serbian:

mrak, tama, tmina.


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## Outsider

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese: escuridão.


Or also *trevas*.


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## zaigucis

In Latvian: tumsa


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## übermönch

I also love it! 
German: aside from Finsternis - Dunkelheit, Düsterkeit, Düsternis
Finster, düster and dunkel are just different kinds of 'dark'! 
Russian (Church Slavonic?): T'ma, Mrak - those are more poetical (and darker?) darknesses than the one proposed by Thomas1. They f.e. are used in the bible and in the lord of the rings.


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## Flaminius

Lithuanian:
tamsa

Japanese:
yami (闇)


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## IkHouVanPulcino

In italian you can also say Tenebre 

Simona


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## Thomas1

übermönch said:


> [...]
> Russian (Church Slavonic?): T'ma, Mrak - those are more poetical (and darker?) darknesses than the one proposed by Thomas1. They f.e. are used in the bible and in the lord of the rings.


Oh yes you reminded me of _mrok_ (PL) _мрак_ (RUS) I think it is fairer than darkness it's rather _murk;_ or is it different in Russian?

Tom


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## linguist786

Josh Adkins said:


> In Arabic:
> 
> ظلام
> thalaam ('th' as in 'that')


Really? I don't think the ظ is pronounced quite like that. Maybe ذ is. ظ is a letter which doesn't really exist in English (or any European language that I can think of). It's quite a different sound..
(Sorry but that's just what I think.. please feel free to comment). Anyway:

*Hindi:*

अंधेरा
(andheraa) 
_dh = aspirated "d"_

*Urdu:*

اندهيرا
(andheraa) 
_dh = aspirated "d"_

*Gujarati:*

અંધારુ
(andhaaru)
_dh = aspirated "d"_


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## elroy

linguist786 said:


> Really? I don't think the ظ is pronounced quite like that. Maybe ذ is. ظ is a letter which doesn't really exist in English (or any European language that I can think of). It's quite a different sound..
> (Sorry but that's just what I think.. please feel free to comment).


 You are right.  It is a hard version of the ذ sound, which sounds the "th" in the English word "*th*is" (not "that").  I am fairly certain that was an unintentional slip (a Denkfehler ) on Josh's part. 

As for the translation, I would spontaneously use a definite article: الظلام (_ath-thalaam_) (which is not to say, of course, that the word can't be used in an indefinite sense in certain contexts). 

Alternatively, you could say الظلمة (_ath-thulma_).


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## judkinsc

Latin:
_Tenebrae_

This means, basically, "shadows."


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## papillon

Thomas1 said:


> Oh yes you reminded me of _mrok_ (PL) _мрак_ (RUS) I think it is fairer than darkness it's rather _murk;_ or is it different in Russian?


If anything, I perceive it as being even darker and more ominous than the more modern words. 
He disapperared into the darkness of night.
On ischez vo _mrake_ nochi...


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## KottaKitta

*Hungarian: *

"sötétség" (shotetshegh)


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## macta123

In Hindi = Andhakar OR Andhera
In Malayalam = IruTu


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## SoyChino

In Chinese:黑暗（hei an)


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## kaverison

Tamil
Darkness as in night
iruL (formal), iruttu (speech)

Kummiruttu, kaar irul - refer to pitch dark

iravu - night

Color
Kaar, karuppu - black
Kariya - blackish


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## Ben Jamin

Vejrudsigt said:


> Because it is cool enough to warrant its own discussion.
> 
> Danish: mørke
> German: Finsternis
> Dutch: duisternis


Do all these words really represent exactly the same meaning?
I would always choose "Dunkelheit" as a default German translation of  'darkness'.


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## ger4

Ben Jamin said:


> I would always choose "Dunkelheit" as a default German translation of 'darkness'.


I agree. _Finsternis _tends to express a more figurative meaning (just like the adjective _finster_).


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## apmoy70

avalon2004 said:


> GREEK:
> το *σκοτάδι *[skotádhi] (another, older form is το *σκότος*)


Besides the MoGr *«σκοτάδι»* [skoˈtaði] (neut.) which is the diminutive of the Classical *«σκότος» skótŏs* (masc. nom. sing.), there's also the substantive (and poetic) feminine *«σκοτίᾱ» skŏtíā*, all from PIE *sk(e)h₃t-or-/*skoto- _shadow, dark_ cf Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (shadow), Proto-Celtic *scātom > Ir. scáth, Scottish Gaelic sgàth)


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## franknagy

Darkness in Hungarian is
*"sötétség"* formed from *"sötét"*=dark.
_These words can use as synonyms of weak-headedness.
Do you have this secondary meaning of the "dark" word in your language?_


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