Grasping Charity

I love languages. Sometimes another helps me better understand my own native tongue. Today was one of those instances.

I had an itch to stitch something girlishly fun – a sachet with a heartfelt message for an overseas college friend celebrating her birthday soon. The old-fashioned gift is made from calico, filled with fragrant beads and used in a closet or drawer to scent linens.

To personalize the sachet, I cut a swatch of muslin, grabbed a needle and a bagful of embroidery threads and planned to sew the words "Faith Hope and Love" in coordinating colors.

Rather than using English or even Norwegian – as I sometimes do with Anna – I googled an internet translation site to find her native Swedish: Tro Hoppas and Älska.

While Aaron and Noah fished at the lake, I stitched into the sunset!

Back home, I put away the needlework to finish in the morning. I rose today thinking something about the project seemed off. I knew: the Swedish "tro" = "tro" in Norwegian. But I thought: "hoppas" might be the verb form in Swedish. In Norwegian, the noun form is "håp." And "älska" in Swedish seemed awfully close to the Norwegian "elske." And THAT – I knew – meant "love" in the spousal form.

I wondered: How can I be certain to stitch an appropriate message? I remembered a Bible translation website with not only different English interpretations but also various languages. Online, I typed in 1 Corinthians 13:13 and found the verse where the Apostle Paul writes about Faith Hope and Love. Then I looked up the Swedish translation from 1917 and found: tron, hoppet, kärleken. To be certain, I cross-referenced the modern Living Bible translation which showed the same: tron, hoppet och kärleken.

Kärleken. I wondered: In Norwegian, isn't that "kjærlighet?"

I checked the Norwegian Bible translation from 1930 and found: tro, håp, kjærlighet. The Living Bible cross reference also showed: tro, håp og kjærlighet.

From my teenage language lessons, I remembered "kjærlighet" is the kind of fond love shared by sweethearts, parents and children and even dear friends. I learned to express that kind of love in Norwegian, a person would say: "Jeg er glad i deg" or "I am fond of you" but never "Jeg elsker deg" – the physical act of love-making.

Elske. Älska. Scratch last night's sunset stitching.

Using the Swedish Bible translation, I started anew: tron, hoppet, kärleken.

As I sewed, I pondered "kärleken" or "kjærlighet." Is there an English equivalent? Curiosity made me dust off my Norwegian-English dictionary and page through the entries. Under "kjærlighet" I found this translation: "love, affection; (strong) passion; loving kindness; and "tro, håp og –– faith, hope and charity."

"Charity" as in the King James Version kind? That's the sort we Americans often associate with giving away what we don't want or need to the poor or needy. Hmmm...

Charity. Kjærlighet––roughly pronounced: SHAW...ER-lee-het.

Yeah. I began to hear the similarity.

Kjærlighet. I thought: Love, affection, loving kindness.

I began to understand the "charity" of olden days.

Charity. Kjærlighet. Kärleken.

I stitched the word that through generations of Norwegians and Swedes has remained constant.

As I sewed seams to form the pouch, poured in beads and closed the sachet, I whiffed the fragrance of the old-fashioned gift – Grasping Charity in an old-fashioned way.

Happy Birthday my dear friend. Or rather: Grattis på födelsedagen, min käre vän. Jeg er glad i deg!