# Important, simply important



## ThomasK

Gavril's question made me wonder about how you translate _important_. Do you have a simple word, or do you use some kind of metaphor, or expressions? 


English/ French *important *seem to refer to bearing, i.e., being significant, so I thought, but at etymonline I read that it refers to Lat. _importare_, bringing in. I do not see a reference to bearing...

German : _*wichtig*_, referring to weight (weighty) - in Dutch: _gewichtig_. 

Dutch: 
- *belangrijk*, _*rijk*_, rich, in *belang*, importance - which seems to refer to reaching, stretching[for] something (verb: _het belangt mij aan _- it reaches me, has an effect on me). You can recognize _*lang*_, long. 
- (expression) _*van tel zijn *_: to be counted in (_tellen_) 


_(I think the word itself has become... important, whereas I wonder whether languages have expressed that concept (?) in a separate word from the beginning. I think it was not used in my dialect, though I can't seem to fnd ways for how we say that then.)_


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## mataripis

In Tagalog,   Important is "Mahalaga" while in Pilipino(whole archipelago), it is Importante(from espanyol). 1.)With significance= May kahalagahan or May saysay,2.)  can be counted= mabibilang/maaring maibilang. If you want to say = It is simply important,  " May saysay " or "May kahalagahan"  can support the meaning of this word.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

1/ Adj. «σημαντικός, -κή, -κό» /simandi'kos simandi'ci simandi'ko/ (masc. fem. neut.) from the Classical adj. «σημαντικός, -κὴ, -κόν» (sēmăntī'kŏs, masc./sēmăntī'kē, fem./sēmăntī'kŏn, neut.)--> _significant_; a derivation from the Classical verb «σημαίνω» (sē'mænō) lit. _to show by sign, signify_ with obscure etymology.
2/ Adj. «σπουδαίος, -α, -ο» /spu'ðeos spu'ðea spu'ðeo/ (masc. fem. neut.) from the Classical adj. «σπουδαῖος, -α, -ον» (spou'dǣŏs, masc./spou'dǣă, fem./spou'dǣŏn, neut.)-> lit. _in haste, quick_, metaph. (for persons) _earnest, serious, excellent_. The adj. derives from the Classical feminine noun «σπουδὴ» (spou'dē), /spu'ði/ in Modern Greek, which lit. means _haste, speed_ but for a person, _esteem, regard_. PIE base *(s)p(h)eud-, _to make haste, be forced to_; cognate with Lith. spudà, _pressure, push_; Alb. punë, _work_


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## 涼宮

Hello!

In Japanese there are several ways to say ''important''.  Nothing to be surprised of, eh? 

1) 重要 _juuyou_ weight + need/essence
2) 大切 _taisetsu_ big + cut
3) 大事 _daiji _big + thing/fact
4) 意義深い _igibukai_ desire/mind/idea + righteousness/meaning + deep (This one mainly means when the important thing has a sort of deep meaning for somebody. A wedding can be described as _igibukai_, to say something like ''important ceremony) 
5) 重い _omoi_ (this mainly means heavy, but sometimes can mean important)
6) 重大 _juudai_ (synonym of 5. Lit: weight + big)
7) 緊要 _kinyou_ tense*/solid/tight + need/essence (this is used when the important thing is urgent or vital)

*tense in the sense of nervousness


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## ThomasK

Quite interesting, especially the link with weight, need/ urgency or size! Big + cut: decisive ?


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## tFighterPilot

The common word for important is חשוב Ḥashuv, which I guess comes from "something that someone thought of" (Ḥashav means "[he] thought"). There's also another adjective which is less common and related to weight which is כבד משקל Kvad Mishkal which literally means "of heavy weight".


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## Perseas

> Gavril's question made me wonder about how you translate _important_. Do you have a simple word, or do you use some kind of metaphor, or expressions?
> ..........
> 
> German : _*wichtig*_, referring to weight (weighty) - in Dutch: _gewichtig_.



Besides apmoy70's excellent and thorough reply, I 'd like to add something in relation to the content of my quote. In Greek we can use the words "(ειδικό) βάρος" /(iði'ko) 'varos/ or "βαρύτητα" /va'ritita/ , lit. meaning "(specific) weight" and "gravity" respectively, to express the concept of importance metaphorically. 

Examples:
a._Είναι ένας πολιτικός με μεγάλο ειδικό βάρος_ --> He's a very important politician.
b.Η γνώμη σου έχει μεγάλη βαρύτητα για μένα. --> Your opinion is very important to me


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## ThomasK

The same 'baros' as in 'barometer', I guess... Weight again !


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## Perseas

ThomasK said:


> The same 'baros' as in 'barometer', I guess... Weight again !


Yes, exactly.
βάρος > βαρόμετρο (barometer)> βαρομετρικό (barometric)


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian it is *вaжнo* /vazhno/. The etymological dictionary says it is a a cognate of the German *Wage* (scale) that came into Russian through Polish *ważny*(sp?).


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## ThomasK

So my hypothesis that 'important' was not a 'separate concept' seems confirmed. If I am right in interpreting the etymological information I get, the Dutch word _belangrijk _turns up in 1785 only, but the word _belang_, interest (e.g. business interest), on which our belangrijk is based, is first found in texts in 1260 already. Or am I jumping to conclusions, do you think?

Perseas's contribution regarding /baros/ reminded me of the fact that we also use *groot*, great, to such people. That seems to refer to tallness (though in some figurative sense). I suppose big can also refer to importance in English, but there it implies weight mainly, I guess...


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## francisgranada

Hungarian

*fontos *(from _font_=pound, a weight unit)


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## AquisM

Chinese: (as always, these are only the most common ones used and probably do not represent all of the words/phrases that can mean _important_)

重要 (Mandarin: zhongyao/Cantonese: zung yiu) - lit. heavy need
要紧/要緊 (Mandarin: yaojin) - order reversed in Cantonese 緊要/紧要 (gan yiu) - lit. pressing/tight need


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## ThomasK

I found some more in English: _*weighty, momentous *_(which is support to refer to time, though...), _*material *_and of course there is also _*great*_. I also bumped into _*chief*_, _*capital *_and _*principal*_. They belong here too, I believe, and refer to 'head' and 'first' of course... Maybe I could add *formal, solemn*, whereas these refer to the form that suggests importance. 

I also looked at Swedish and recognized some words: 
- _*högtidlich*_: high-time
- _*väsentlich*_: essential (Wesen, väsen = essence)


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## porkkanaraaste

Finnish: _tärkeä_, front-vowel variant of dialectal _tarkea_, related to _tarkka _'accurate'. The dialectal _tarkea _has meanings such as important, hard, hurry. _Painava _'heavy' is used metaphorically.


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## ThomasK

The link with 'accurate' seems new to me (when talking about importance), but of course if there is a link with 'urgent' (suggested by to hurry in your explanation), then that would be less new. 'Hard' is not related with 'heavy' is, as 'heavy' is often associated with 'importance'. 

I suddenly thought of how high the number of associations with 'importance' are. I am surprised. I wonder if the concept itself is in some way 'newer' in some way, as it seems more abstract than words like 'heavy', etc. I thought of *'vital'*, Dutch 'levensbelangrijk': what is necessary for/... life.


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## bibax

Czech:

*důležitý*, verbal prefix *do-* = in-, *ležeti* = to lie;

The Latin analogue would be iniacens (injacent, non-existent). The corresponding verb _doležeti_ is not in use. The nearest verb derived from the same stem is _doléhati_ = to fit closely/tightly, _doléhající_ = fitting tightly (e.g. door).

Some adjectives with similar meaning:
vážný (< váha = weight < OHG waga) = serious (cf. Rus.вaжнo, Pol. waźny = important);
významný = significant;
stěžejní (< stěžej = cardo, hinge) = cardinal;
klíčový (< klíč = key) = key-;

Latin:

Interestingly there is no simple word meaning important in Latin. Importans is a mere participle of importare. Important could be translated as gravis (= heavy, weighty) or gravis momenti (gen., of heavy momentum, momentous).

e.g. res gravis momenti = important thing;


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## ThomasK

Is it really? That is quite amazing, but that might explain why languages have so many words (use so many metaphors). Just by the way: we also refer to *zinvol*, meaningful, in Dutch, which is not a perfect equivalent, but... 

 The strange thing is that - or at least that one might be tempted to think - there is no such concept in Latin. It does not seem to be essential as such, whereas we seem to need it that 
much, though on the other hand it is vague as well, I suppose, just like 'relevant', which seems to imply that the relevance is only for this person or for this objective...

Just BTW: the word 'moment' seems to have a very strange origin as well, starting from 'mo[vi]mentum' but having quite some different meanings. In Dutch it only refers to time...


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## bibax

In Czech there is another adjective similarly constructed like *důležitý* (= important):

*náležitý* = due (e.g. "after due consideration", "due diligence");

Derived from the verb *náležeti* (verbal prefix na- = on, ležeti = to lie) = to appertain to sb/sth (cf. German zustehen);
naléhati = to urge sb, to push sb to do sth; naléhavý = urgent, exigent;

There are tens of words derived from the verbs ležeti, léhati, lehnouti, ložiti (variants of 'to lie, to lie down', PIE root *legh-, cf. German liegen, legen), e.g. před*loh*a (= model, pattern, template, cf. German Vorlage), vý*loh*a (=  show window cf. German Auslage, in plur. also expenses, costs cf. German die  Auslagen), ú*loh*a (= task, homework, German (Haus)Aufgabe), etc. Often we do not realize the connection with the verb 'to lie', e.g. pří*lež*itost (= opportunity), spo*leh*livost (= reliability), s*lož*itost (= complexity), etc.


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## irinet

I can think that 'problem' may be translated as "ignorantia" or 'important" might be "maximus" ('maximae divitae'), "optimum" or the expression "sine qua non". I can also see 'need' in "_fortes_ fortuna juvat".


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## Gavril

Welsh *pwysig* "important" (pronounced ['puisıg]) < _pwys_ "weight" < Latin _pensum_


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## OneStroke

AquisM said:


> Chinese: (as always, these are only the most common ones used and probably do not represent all of the words/phrases that can mean _important_)
> 
> 重要 (Mandarin: zhongyao/Cantonese: zung yiu) - lit. heavy need
> 要紧/要緊 (Mandarin: yaojin) - order reversed in Cantonese 緊要/紧要 (gan yiu) - lit. pressing/tight need



I'll add 茲事體大 兹事体大 zī shì tǐ dà (This event's scale is big)
至關重要 至关重要 zhì guān zhòngyào (very important)
重如泰山 重如泰山 zhòng rú Tài Shān (As important as the Tai Shan)
舉足輕重 举足轻重 jǔ zú qīng zhòng (Raising [his] leg is important, used for describing important people/organisations/etc)

重 (lit. heavy) is the morpheme that means 'important'.


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