translation question

[Sn0bunni24]

I've been translating poems of Helena Anhava's new book, "Kukaan Ei Tiedä." The translation has gone quite well, but I stumbled upon a small piece today in which one line has me completely stumped. I've googled the word, asked on Facebook as my status, what have you. Anyway, I was wondering if someone might be able to tell me what "nuojuntaa" means in this context:

Anteeksi että istun tässä jouten,
laiskana,
istun ja ihailen,
kuuntelen tuulta,
katselen heinän nuojuntaa,
annan mielen lekotella.

So:

I'm sorry that I sit here idle,
lazy,
I sit and admire,
I listen to the wind,
I watch the grass nuojuntaa,
I let my mind bask.

Someone on Facebook suggested it may be "huojuntaa," but I really wonder if there could be such a glaring typo in that short of a poem.

[Jukka Aho]

Someone on Facebook suggested it may be "huojuntaa," but I really wonder if there could be such a glaring typo in that short of a poem.

I’m pretty sure huojuntaa is the intended word. I’ve never heard of the word nuojuntaa before. The letters “n” and “h” may look pretty similar at least in some fonts and handwriting styles. Maybe there has been some mix-up due to this when the book was typeset?

[EP]

Or is it just poetic freedom? Finnish is an easy language to twist and turn after your own mind, and yet the word is still understandable.

You just have to do the same in English and get the same picture. That is why translating poetry is so demanding. For me nuojuntaa would be somehow more slow and lazy than huojuntaa.

[Jukka Aho]

If we’re going to invent never-before-heard words on the spot, for me, nuojuntaa conjures up images of something rubbing or scrubbing over something else with some force (compare to nuohous, nuohota.)

[Keravalainen]

Hi!
I think here it's a question of "kontaminaatio" or "sekamuodoste" - contamination of words, which is quite usual in Finnish.
- The basic verb "nuojua" is obviously a contamination of word "huojua" and "nuokkua".

A classical example of "kontaminaatio" is the nowadays established word "kaveri", which is basically a contamination of words "kamraatti" and "toveri".

[AldenG]

A classical example of "kontaminaatio" is the nowadays established word "kaveri", which is basically a contamination of words "kamraatti" and "toveri".

Fantabulous explanation.

[Vellamo]

Nice explanation, Keravalainen! I wouldn't have known what to call it, but nuojunta reminded me of nuokunta and huojunta, instinctively.

[kalmisto]

Unen kaivo ( a poem by Kaarlo Sarkia ) :

Piirittää mun unen levät
kaislain urut hymisevät,
keltaviidat kummat huojuu
mustat unimarjat NUOJUU,
köynnöstäjät punoo paulaa,
vääntää unen noitavanteet,
sitoo nilkat, vyöttää ranteet,
kietoo uumat, kiertää kaulaa,
kalat kummalliset kuiskii,
silmiäni hipoilevat,
ruokohuilut sorisevat,
laine liikahtaa ja laulaa,
hiljaa, unelias, velloin
soittaa raakunkuorikelloin
[- - -]

Sarkia käyttää riimeinä runossaan liikettä kuvaavia sanoja huojuu, NUOJUU, hipoilevat, velloin, jotka luovat vaikutelman veden ja kaislojen liikkeestä.
( text taken from here : http://www.parkkinen.org/runo_opas.html )

I grew up in Kuusamo. If I remember correctly ( it was a long time ago ! ) we used to say "jää nuojuu" when we skated on thin ice and the ice bended under our weight. It would not be possible to say "jää huojuu".

[AldenG]

In any case, how many verbs in English do you have for grass, regardless of the Finnish verb.

If it isn't rustling, i.e. you can't hear it, isn't it going to be swaying?