# on the one hand...on the other (hand)



## Encolpius

Hello, it seems English is unique again with its _hand_. What do you say in your language???? Please indicate in less common languages if you use part, side or something else. Thanks a lot. 

*Hungarian:* egyrészt... másrészt... (part)
*Czech: *na jedné straně... na druhé straně... (side)
*German: *einerseits... andererseits... (side)


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## DearPrudence

In French:*
"d'un côté... de l'autre"* (side)


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## parisian girl

in Hebrew we use side
מצד אחד... מצד שני


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## Outsider

In Portuguese:

*"por um lado... por outro (lado)"* -- side


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## Encolpius

DearPrudence said:


> In French:*
> "d'un côté... de l'autre"* (side)




Thank you. And don't you use: d'une part... d'autre part... ????


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## sokol

In German you may also say:

Auf der einen Seite ... auf der anderen Seite ...

It is of course longer than "einerseits - andrerseits" but nevertheless used; there is no difference of meaning but only of style. You too can mix both versions, i. e.:

Auf der einen Seite ... andererseits ...


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## kusurija

Lithuanian:
Iš vienos pusės... iš kitos pusės (half/ [1/2] or *side* [homonymous])
_or_ Vienaip ar kitaip.


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## DearPrudence

Encolpius said:


> Thank you. And don't you use: d'une part... d'autre part... ????


Yes, you can, sorry


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## Wordsmyth

Encolpius said:


> Hello, it seems English is unique again with its _hand_. [...]


 
Not quite unique. *Welsh*: ar y naill llaw [llaw = hand]

I don't know how far back this expression goes; there's a chance it could be by imitation of English.

W


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## Encolpius

Wordsmyth said:


> Not quite unique. *Welsh*: ar y naill llaw [llaw = hand]
> 
> I don't know how far back this expression goes; there's a chance _it could be by imitation of English_.
> 
> W



I think so.


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## Wordsmyth

But then I suppose that could be true of other 'neighbouring' languages (linguistically or geographically). Maybe a dozen languages share the same expression (translated), springing from a single source ... but that doesn't make it any less fascinating a subject .

I'd be interested to know how it's said in Basque, that wondrous 'unrelated-to-anything-else' language (even more so than Hungarian?!  ).

W


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## Encolpius

Wordsmyth said:


> I'd be interested to know how it's said in Basque, that wondrous 'unrelated-to-anything-else' language (even more so than Hungarian?!  ). W


 
Yes, it would be very interesting. Too bad, there are not so many members here speaking less common tongues.

I don't speak a word in Basque, but find a good on-line dictionary, so it could be: alde batetik... beste aldetik...

and alde might mean side.


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## yujuju

You are right, in Basque we use "side" = alde, in the second part you can also use "bestalde".


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## Mahaodeh

In Arabic we use :
ناحية = naHiya = side (geographic)
جهة = jiha = side (generic, as in "the other side of the paper"...etc.) 
وجهة= wojha = direction


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## Revontuli

In Turkish we use ''side'':

bir taraftan...(ama) bir taraftan da
''ama'' means ''but''.

_Bir taraftan bu şehri seviyorum,ama bir taraftan da burada yaşamak çok zor(a long sentence!): On the one hand I like this city, but on the other hand it is so difficult to live here._


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## Ptak

*Russian*: _с одной стороны... с другой стороны_.


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## loth372

In Spanish we use:


> Por un lado ... por otro lado ...


'Lado' means 'side'.
And also we use:


> Por una parte ... por otra parte ...


Of course, 'parte' is the equivalent of English 'part'.

There is no preference in usage over any of either forms.


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## Setwale_Charm

*Estonian:* ühelt poolt...teiselt poolt


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## Encolpius

Setwale_Charm said:


> *Estonian:* ühelt poolt...teiselt poolt


 
Nice but what does Estonian use? Side, Part, Hand?


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## sayah

Hi,

In valenciano we use "part": "Per una part... per l'altra..." and in catalonian is, more or less, the same: "per una banda... per l'altra..." 

Sayah


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## Kanes

In Bulgarian we use both:

Na ena raka, a na druga - On one hand, but on other

Ot ena strana, a ot druga - From one side, and from another


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## Wordsmyth

Kanes said:


> In Bulgarian we use both:
> 
> Na ena raka, a na druga - On one hand, but on other
> 
> Ot ena strana, a ot druga - From one side, and from another


 
Yippeee! The "hand" group is growing : English, Welsh *AND* Bulgarian  

W


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## Hakro

> Originally posted by *Encolpius*
> Nice but what does Estonian use? Side, Part, Hand?


Estonian uses "side".

In *Finnish* we say _yhtäältä - toisaalta_ which refers to direction, without any noun.

Or in fact, most often we say _toisaalta - toisaalta_, using the same word for both 'sides'.


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## Frank06

Hoi,

In *Dutch*:
- aan de ene _kant_, aan de ander _kant_
- ener_zijd_s, ander_zijd_s

Both _kant_ and _zijde_ means basically side.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Piotr_WRF

In Polish we say:

Z jednej strony... z drugiej strony.

We use _side_ in this expression.


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## Encolpius

Wordsmyth said:


> Yippeee! The "hand" group is growing : English, Welsh *AND* Bulgarian
> 
> W




 Yes, and I'm a little bit taken aback by the fact Bulgarians use it too.


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## david_carmen

Formally: “Pe de o parte, ... ... ..., pe de altă parte, ... ... ...”

Informally, using “mână” (which means “hand”): “Una la mână” (firstly) to mark the first element of an enumeration, and so on: “a doua la mână” (secondly), “a treia la mână” (thirdly) etc.


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## Wordsmyth

English, Welsh, Bulgarian, Romanian ...

... the 'hands' list is growing 

W


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## Encolpius

Wordsmyth said:


> English, Welsh, Bulgarian, Romanian ...
> 
> ... the 'hands' list is growing
> 
> W




I can't believe it.


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## apmoy70

Greek (by decreasing order of frequency):

(1) *«Απ'τη μια...απ'την άλλη»* [ˌaptiˈmɲa ˌaptiˈna.li] --> _on the one (side)...on the other (side)_.
Both adjectives («μια...άλλη») are feminine because they modify the feminine noun *«πλευρά»* [pleˈvra] --> _side_ < Classical fem. *«πλευρά» pleu̯rā́* which is omitted.

(2) *«μεν...δε»* [men ðe] --> _on the one (side/hand)...on the other (side/hand)_ < Classical emphatic particle *«μέν» mén* --> _honestly, certainly, truly_ (PIE *sme- _truly, really_ cf Skt. स्म (sma), _verily, always_) correlative to another word or clause that is to follow, being introduced by the Classical postpositive adversative particle *«δέ» dé* --> _but_ (PIE *de- _deictic particle_ cf Lat. dē, Proto-Germanic *tō > Eng. to/too, Ger. zu).


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## Sardokan1.0

*Italian :* _Da una parte all'altra = from one part to the other._

*Sardinian :* _Dae un'ala a s'àtera = from one wing/side to the other_.

(in Latin the word "ala" it's also synonymous of "side" ; the "alae" were the side formations of the Roman army, usually composed by cavalry units)


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