# Swedish: Styro-etern



## jasminasul

Hello,
I have this sentence in a 1929 film:




It has been translated as *Styro-ether*, which in turn has been translated into Spanish as Stiro-éter. So:
1. Does _styro _mean _steering_?
2. Does _etern _mean _ether _(the air)?


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## AutumnOwl

1. Yes, the Swedish word for steer is (att) styra.
2. No, I don't think so, the word styro-eter doesn't exist, it's a made-up word for the film. My guess is that it might be from (-m)eter, to imply an apparatus of some kind, an object to steer the plane.


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## Abbe

It seems to be some kind of remote control to steer a plane from the ground . It's likely that the word for the invention (styro-eter) means air steering like you thought 

Dessutom och lite oväntat är Konstgjorda Svensson en science fiction-film. Fridolf Rhudins rollgestalt har uppfunnit en styro-eter, en apparat med vilken man kan styra flygplan (dubbelvingade, naturligtvis) nedifrån marken, något som kanske inte oväntat kommer väl till pass i filmens dramatiska upplösning. 

KONSTGJORDA SVENSSON – Kinematografi


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## jasminasul

That's what I thought, I was trying to find words like thermometer, scalimeter, etc. I can't think of any machines or gadgets ending in -ether. 
I don't think the English translation is very good, and in Spanish it would not be understood at all.
Thank you AutumnOwl and Abbe.


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## MattiasNYC

I agree with Abbe that "eter" will refer to "ether", i.e. wireless remote control which by definition uses some sort of radio waves carried through the air.


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## jasminasul

But in that case I still I think it would be better something like Steer-o-ether, perhaps.
If -eter is ambiguos, at least the first part should be clearer.
Thank you Mattias.


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## MattiasNYC

Well, I agree with Abbe of course.

- It's a made up word.
- It's a made up word - almost a century ago.
- It's a made up word - almost a century ago - for a science fiction 'purpose'

So, trying to auto-translate that today is going to be difficult. I can see why "styro" in Swedish turns into "styro" in English, because the translation software probably didn't figure out that "styro" came from "(att) styra". If you type the word into a simple translation in your web browser without the "o" you get "styr" = "control". But the software probably couldn't get to that conclusion.

So, you're right, "styro" in English seems both wrong and inconvenient. "Steer" is probably better, and so is "control" I bet. Since I don't translate professionally and I don't know why you need to do this I don't really know what the best translation would be. But if you're just trying to understand the actual film the I would think just saying "remote control" would be fine. I think that's what we call those devices today, no? And if you wanted to keep it closer to the older and more peculiar language of the film then I agree that maybe "ether" can be used. I'd probably not make it "steer-o" because it's close to "stereo". So I'd either make it "steer-ether" or "control-ether".

But that's just me. If the word doesn't really exist then whatever conveys the meaning and sounds good works I suppose.

Abbe?


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## jasminasul

I don't really have to worry about the English version, but: "kiss o meter" - Google Search
I am proofreading the Spanish translation of this film for an OTT platform. The original of course is in Swedish and a professional translator creates a pivot template, that in turn is used to create subtitles into different languages.
I'm going to call it a day. Thank you all for your insights, it's very helpful.


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## Abbe

I just remembered that the word "eter" is often used as a synonym for "radio". The swedish word for remote control is radiostyrning so it makes sense to say styro-eter when you intend remote control

*Etern* är ett numera övergivet begrepp inom fysiken. Det lever dock kvar inom radioterminologi, där man än idag säger att *det som sänds ut via radio sänds ut ”över etern”*. Etern troddes vara en osynlig, flyktig substans som uppfyllde varje hörn av universum.


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