{"id":2028,"date":"2021-05-31T20:58:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T20:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2021-05-31T20:58:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T20:58:11","slug":"a-danish-lesson-from-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2021\/05\/31\/a-danish-lesson-from-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Danish Lesson from Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Picture by Robert Karkowski<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a>; no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>\n

M\u00e5neskin!<\/strong> [mawneh-sken] This month, millions of music fans learnt a rare Danish word straight from the poetry box. The unlikely incident happened when the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest<\/a> was won by the band \u2026 M\u00e5neskin from Italien <\/strong>(Italy)!<\/p>\n

M\u00e5neskin<\/strong> is the perfect example of a Danish sammensat ord<\/strong> (compound<\/a>, literally \u201dput-together word\u201d). M\u00e5ne<\/strong> [mawneh], of course, is \u201dmoon\u201d. Can you guess skin<\/strong>? No, it isn\u2019t the skin you\u2019re in, but the bright shine<\/em> from something emitting (or in this case reflecting) lys <\/strong>(light). \ud83d\ude42 If Danish and English were true twins, M\u00e5neskin<\/strong> would be \u201dMoonshine\u201d in English. But alas! things aren\u2019t that straightforward, and the correct English translation of the name is \u2013 Moonlight<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now to det store sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5l<\/strong> (the big question): Why would an Italian band pick a Danish name for itself? One Danish friend exclaimed: But Italian is much more beautiful than Danish! Another friend thought the name was chosen because of the exotic letter \u00c5<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 many rockers just love <\/em>Scandinavian letters, apparently.1<\/a><\/sup>The heavy metal band Mot\u00f6rhead is a classic example of this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surprise, surprise! Turns out one of the band members, Victoria de Angelis, has en dansk mor<\/strong> (a Danish mother).2<\/a><\/sup>and an Italian father<\/span> Danish TV quickly discovered that hun taler flydende dansk<\/strong> (she speaks fluently Danish). The Danish journalists were literally over the moon when they found out she misses rugbr\u00f8d <\/strong>(Danish rye bread<\/a>), sometimes visits family members in Denmark, and has taught her bandmates how to say tusind tak<\/strong> (thanks a lot, literally \u201da thousand thanks\u201d). Now, it didn\u2019t matter that much that Denmark lost this year\u2019s show. In typical Danish fashion, everybody was quick to claim Victoria\u2019s victory as their own. Yes, officially <\/em>Italy won, but she does speak Danish, you know\u2026 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

According to Victoria<\/a>, her bandmates once asked her to come up with a list of Danish words. One of them was m\u00e5neskin<\/strong>, which they liked and eventually picked as their name (despite the confusion created by the letter \u00c5<\/strong>!)<\/p>\n

Fun fact: The word already has a strong Italian connection in Danish pop. In her 1978 hit Se Venedig og d\u00f8<\/strong> (See Venice and Die3<\/a><\/sup>The song was famously written by the Danish pop star Kim Larsen<\/strong> and gifted to Kellerman. It\u2019s also very well known for using the word gajoler<\/strong> \u2013 small liquorice lozenges \u2013 as a slang reference to the breasts of the song\u2019s heroine.<\/span>), Lone Kellerman sings these immortal lines to her Italian lover:<\/p>\n

Ka’ du huske da du sagde jeg er din<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Og du sang sonater i det klare m\u00e5neskin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c5h, Luigi, m\u00e5neskiiiiiiiin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e5h, Luigi, se Venedig og d\u00f8.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you remember when you said I\u2019m yours<\/em><\/p>\n

And you were singing sonatas in the bright moonlight<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, Luigi, moooooonlight<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, Luigi, see Venice and die.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to the song here:<\/p>\n