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stranger
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OP
stranger
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I need to translate a Czech term involving the common noun 'prosba' - the noun form of 'prosit' - to beg. The closest English noun that I can come up with is 'demand', 'request' but these nouns have a drastically different meaning than 'to beg'.
Is there an appropriate (and not too exotic) English noun? If not, how can I get around it? Do I have to use the verb?
By the way, I think that a 'topic of the week' on common terms from other languages that don't have a common English equivalent would be quite interesting.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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beg [n] - an act of begging
"Agenda and minutes and constituents' grievances, and charitable appeals and ordinary begs." - Punch
ron o.
edit: beggary, mendicity, begging, cadging, mooching, panhandling
Last edited by tsuwm; 08/29/08 04:32 PM. Reason: expand-a-post
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Alms, alms for the poor!
People who want money beg, people who give money to the poor give alms.
people who get money (from the state) are on the dole, or on welfare. (UK/US)
some times beggers, are called "charity cases" (especially if they require services (like hospital services) that they just show up for, and make use , when they can't pay for them.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
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prosba
Depending on the context: request, entreaty, demand, desire, appeal, plea, pleading, supplication, or prayer. Czech (and other Slavic languages) prosit is cognate with German fragen 'to ask' and Latin precor 'to entreat, pray for, wish for'; the latter is also the origin of English pray via French.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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member
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member
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I'll throw in imploration, although I don't recall an instance of its being used.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
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alms, a donation, a gift, or charity
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stranger
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OP
stranger
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I think I may not have been quite clear. I am looking for a noun corresponding to the verb 'to beg', as in 'to beg for mercy' or 'to beg for an alm'. As 'request' is the noun form of 'to request', etc. You can say 'request for exemption' so how do you say '(beg nonun) for mercy'?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't think you have paid attention to some answers then; you can say 'his beg for mercy' (or appeal, plea, supplication, entreaty, etc.). seriously.
-ron o.
Last edited by tsuwm; 08/30/08 04:20 PM.
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stranger
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stranger
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You can use the noun 'plea', which can be taken as "begging with desperation."
You can also turn a noun into a verb by doubling the 'g' and adding the suffix '-ing' and using an article like 'a' or 'the' before the word. But that isn't used much with beg. Previous posts have a variety of noun alternates that will work for you.
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addict
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addict
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I think we could be more helpful if you could give an example of the sentence you're trying to write with a ______ to fill in.
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