obiecać złote góry

Polish

Etymology

Literally, “to promise gold mines”, with a fossilized meaning of góra;[1][2] however, now more likely to be understood as “to promise golden mountains”.[3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɔˈbjɛ.t͡sat͡ɕ ˈzwɔ.tɛ ˈɡu.rɘ/
  • Syllabification: o‧bie‧cać zło‧te gó‧ry

Verb

obiecać złote góry pf (imperfective obiecywać złote góry)

  1. (intransitive, colloquial, idiomatic) to promise the moon (to promise something impossible; to make a promise which one does not intend to fulfill; to make wildly exaggerated, unrealistic promises)

Conjugation

Conjugation of obiecać złote góry: see obiecać.

References

  1. ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “góra”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
  2. ^ J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “obiecać złote góry”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 887
  3. ^ Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “obiecać złote góry”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN

Further reading

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