August 18, 2010
Summer
The writer Henry James said:
“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
Who of us could disagree?
But I also love summer morning and midday, evening and night. Every part of a summer day has its own charms and delights. And every language has a beautiful word for this enchanting season.
Here is a sampling:
- English – summer
- Estonian – suvi
- Filipino – tag-init
- French – été
- German – sommer
- Hungarian – nyár
- Icelandic – sumar
- Indonesian – musim panas
- Irish – samhradh
- Italian- estate
- Latvian – vasara
- Romanian- vară
- Serbian – leto
- Swahili – majira
- Turkish – yaz
- Vietnamese – mùa hè
- Welsh – haf