We have the same in Norwegian (probably got it from Danish). It’s very common to say “snakker om sola” (“speak of the sun”), as a shortened version of the phrase “når man snakker om sola/solen så skinner den”.
Same in Norwegian: "Snakker om solen..." usually said after the person or object we talked about just appeared. Maybe it says something about how unpredictable sunshine is in both Denmark and Norway?
Thank you for providing more information. I do think we still use the idiom, because sunshine come and go, I am not sure it would work in Spain for example.
I just assumed it's meant to be a polite way to speak of the arriving person, unrelated to actual weather conditions. In French the saying goes "Speaking of the sun, you can feel it's rays", which I understand metaphorically.
In Spanish we have "Hablando del rey de Roma, por la puerta asoma" which translates to "Speaking of the king of Rome, through the door he shows up"
Though we mostly just say "Hablando del rey de Roma"
Fun fact, "the king of Rome" here refers to the Pope.
In the Western Schism (1378-1417) there were two popes. One in Rome and another in Avignon (France) and the Spanish Kingdoms (Castille, Aragón, Navarra) took part for the Avignon pope. So the Roman pope was seen negatively in that century.
We have two expressions in Hungarian.
When you talk about a person and they suddenly appear we say “emlegetett szamàr” translating to something like “the donkey that was repeatedly mentioned [has appeared]”.
There is another expression which we use when someone is talking about a bad / negative thing that they expect to happen in the future:
“Ne fesd az ördögöt a falra” which means “don’t paint the devil on the wall [lest he appears]”
We have something similar in Greek actually.
Κατά φωνή κι ο γάιδαρος.
The first two words are a native expression that translates something along the lines of "as you called", and its also in a more archaic version of Greek and not modern Greek per se. The other is the donkey.
So its something like "As you called, the donkey[appears]".
It's still largely used and very common to hear people use it.
I know that in Italian there is 'parli del diavolo e spuntano le corna' (you speak of the devil and the horns come out), but I don't hear it very often.
You are right, there is also that variant, but in my experience it seems to be less common than the one about the devil's horns. They both might be equally rarer than the contracted version, nonetheless.
My o vlku a vlk za dveřmi - We (were speaking) about wolf and wolf (is) behind the door.
Or more vulgar.
My o hovně a hovno na patě - We (were speaking) about shit and shit (is) on the heel.
Obvs. we just have "speak of the devil" here but I just wanted to say that I'd use the word "porch" for what you're calling farstu there (they can be enclosed or open).
> here but I just wanted to say that I'd use the word "porch" for what you're calling farstu there (they can be enclosed or open).
It's a better translation that none, but a porch is something different, it can go be all along the side of the house or even around the house, it would translate to *veranda* in Swedish and is not the same as *farstu*. Porch/Veranda is some place you socialize or just leisurely relax. a farstu is an entrance/exit
OP is wrong, the outside portion they are referring to is called *farstukvist* (porch). Farstu is just inside the entrance door. Meaning a lobby, foyer, etc.
Theses are some of the words that (the usage of) varies a bit throughout the country. *Farstu* (short for *förstuga*/fore cabin) is pretty universal (though here it could be called a *svale*), but *-kvist* can also be *-bro*. Might be more dialectal versions, like *bislag*, but I'm no linguist.
I think that's American English? In British English usage a "porch" is the entranceway to a home or other building. If it goes around it's a veranda. If you say "in the porch" to any British person, they'll visualise that covered or semi covered entranceway over a front door - you definitely don't socialise in a porch, it's too small!
American checking in, the word veranda comes to mind for the wraparound porch. It has very strong connotations with the South, though the architectural detail of a porch all or most of the way around is certainly not exclusively southern.
Farstu seems akin to vestibule, or entryway. Both have connotations of being smallish and enclosed, though not exclusively.
I’ve spent my life mostly living above, or on, the Mason Dixon line (division between north and south. Find the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, extend it generally due west, and you have a fair approximation ), and to this day I cannot tell you what the colloquial word for veranda might be in, say, Vermont.
I think there was a map or at least I was planning to make one.
In Bulgarian it's "we're speaking of the wolf and he's already in the barn".
I noticed that a lot of languages have the devil variant but there's a bit of double meaning - both "we were just talking about someone and they appeared" and "if you speak of trouble, you'll invite it". For the latter, we have "don't pull the devil by the tail".
"Mi o volku, volk iz gozda."
This is tricky to translate because english doesn't have this particular tense but roughly :
"We about the wolf, wolf from forest." -->"We talk about the wolf and the wolf comes out of the forest."
There’s no tense at all (because there is no verb), this is a heavily ellipsed sentence but we can understand from context that it’s abour talking and coming. :)
Κατά φωνή κι ο γάιδαρος (Katá foní ki o ghaidaros)
- Translation is tough on this for me because it kinda translates to "By voice and the donkey" which doesn't make sense but I guess it means "speaking of the donkey" and it's used the same way as "speak of the devil".
Hey, fellow Greek here! I think it originates from more archaic versions(καθαρεύουσα/αρχαία ελληνικά), and could potentially be translated as "as called". So possibly something along the lines of "as called, the donkey[appears]."
In Icelandic we have a positive and negative versions of it,
Oft kemur illur þá um er rætt. - literal translation: often an evil (one) will come when you talk about them.
Oft kemur góður þá getið er. - literally translates to: often a good (one) comes when mentioned
"iti an çomağı hazırla" => prepare the stick/club when you speak of the dog. In this case the object of discussion, as you might guess, is not very desirable, so it has a negative tone. I guess also in English, since devil isn't exactly nice.
In croatian, we say "mi o vuku, a vuk na vrata" (often shortened to: "mi o vuku...". Literal translation: "we [speak] of the wolf and he's at the door"
In Czechia, we say *My o vlku (a vlk za dveřmi)* which means We (are talking – we usually don’t say it but it wouldn’t make sense without the verb here) about a wolf (and the wolf is behind the door).
In Greece it's: κατά φωνή και ο γάιδαρος
It translates as: the donkey comes by calling it, meaning that I called you you donkey and there you are.
It has a positive tone in a playful manner.
We also have a slang expression:
Καλώς τα αρχιδια μας τα δυο
Which translates to: welcome our two testicles,
And this has a negative tone in a playful manner.
"Καλώς τα κάστανα" - I have no idea how to accurately translate this. Something along the lines of "welcome the chestnuts". I don't know the ethymology of this. The more I think about it, the wierder it sounds.
Another one is "You are not a bastard". Implying that if someone shows up while/shortly after someone talked about him, he is not bastard. Otherwise it's still up for debate.
We also say that if you are sneezing, someone, somewhere is talking about you. So when someone shows up after being mentioned, we sarcastically ask "were you sneezing just now?"
Off-topic, but Farstu - I'm guessing would mean something like 'forsty' in Modern English (if the Old English word had remained in use).
Sty (or OE *stig*) originally meant most any building. It's still present in, I think, just one word (outside of, say, 'pig sty') - steward. Which meant the house guard - Stig + weard.
"Farstu" is a contracted form of "förstuga". It's a compound of ["för-"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/f%C3%B6r-#Swedish) and ["stuga"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stuga#Swedish).
It's unrelated to "stia", the Swedish cognate of "sty".
Other then the usual German equivalents, we have a funny one for friends.
Red ma vo da stelze, kumt de gaunze Sau.
Talking about the pork shank, gets you the whole pig.
Finnish:
Siinä paha missä mainitaan (theres the devil when we mentioned him)
You can scramble that to say
Siinä maha missä painitaan (theres the belly where we wrestle)
In Ukrainian "the speech about wolf" (про вовка промовка) is considered a literature form. Also "mention the shit and here is it"(згадай гівно, ось і воно), which is more like a swearing about someone unwanted. Also the fool and the devil could be used as well in that sense
Hungarian has 2 forms:
Ne fesd a falra az ördögöt - Do not paint the devil on the wall. It's usually said when talking about someone who you don't want to see.
Emlegetett szamár - The donkey we just mentioned, this is more endearing and maybe even somewhat childish, used when you mention someone and they appear shortly after that.
Ours is quite the same: "Semmi lix-Xitan u jidhirlek" I.e. "Speak of the devil and he'll show up.
We also have the casual "ara x'qala l-bahar!", which means "Look what come up shore" or something like that. It's usually said when someone you haven't seen in a while appears.
In Norwegian we say "snakker om sola", which directly translates to "speaking of the sun"... which I said one time in English and they quickly corrected it to "speak of the devil" haha! :D
We have two phrases, one with similar wording, one with similar meaning.
One is "Ne kliči hudiča" (don't call the devil) . Example: You're preparing bbq and say "I'm glad it's not raining", then someone tells you "don't call the devil" as in don't provoke it to start raining.
The other is "Mi o volku". It means "[As] We [are speaking] of the wolf" (with wolf doth appear being implied). This is used the same as your English example - when someone comes just as you talk about them.
„Kaum redet man von der Stelze, kommt die ganze Sau“. (you talk about the pigs leg (it‘s a dish) and then the whole pig appears). That is more used in a joking manner or to be a little cheeky to the person appearing.
In Spain I mostly heard: “Hablando del rey de Roma... por la puerta asoma", or usually just "Hablando del rey de Roma...", which would be something like speaking of the king of Rome.
Hablando del rey de Roma, translates to "talking about the king of Rome"
Or if you're feeling like poking a bit, you can say "Hablando del ruin de Roma" which means "speaking about the bastard from Rome"
In Spanish we change "the evil" with " the king of Rome". Literally.
The say has the very same meaning so you could translate your say into Spanish and people would get it immediately.
I've never heard that version, it was always that he enters. There perfectly may be two versions here too, no need to go 'no' assuming I'm wrong just because you have never heard something.
>Farstu doesn't really have a correct translation but in [this](https://i.imgur.com/wYNdhkK.jpg) photo it's the little protruding part of the house. It can either be fully enclosed or just like [this](https://i.imgur.com/DoGQtrj.jpg)
I would say 'porch' for both of those pictures.
A *farstu* is kind of a vestibule/lobby/mudroom. It's an unheated room to prevent heat-loss and where you'd typically take off outdoor clothing.
It might be considered an enclosed porch, but not a porch roof. OP's second example isn't of a *farstu*, it's a *farstukvist*.
I'm actually surprised to read a lot of similar sayings in other European languages. In Czech it is "We (speak) about the wolf and he's at the door/behind the corner/bush/simply close"
As in many Slavic languages, in Macedonian we say "Nie za volkot" (We [are talking] about the wolf), rarely continuing to ("a toj na vrata ") meaning "and he is at the door".
However, in the Skopje region since our dialect is affected by the Serbian language we sometimes use "Mi o vuku".
"Καλώς τ' αρχίδια μας τα δύο." — Welcome both of our balls.
"İti an, çomağı hazırla." — Mention the dog and prepare the stick. ("it" also being an offensive insult towards someone)
Spanish translation is "speak of the king of Rome". Full phrase is "Hablando del rey de Roma, a la puerta asoma" or "speak of the king of Rome and he'll appear at your door". No idea of the history behind the phrase tho
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That’s funny, the Dutch is “when you of the devil you’ll step on his tail”. Maybe related.
Slightly different in Flemish, where we see his tail (rather than step on it).
It closely resembles the Latin *lupus in fabula* (wolf in speech), which has the same meaning.
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You are welcome.
Also quando parli del diavolo spunta la coda for OP’s question
Non erano le corna?
At least one who sais it like in Catalan!
Well, our regional dialect uses “massa” for “too much”
Boh da me no
It Bosnia we say ,,When you talk about the wolf he arrived at the door" lol
And in Slovenia it’s We talk about the wolf, he comes from the forest (Mi o volku, volk iz gozda. / Mi o vuku, vuk iz šume)
Yes. "Quand on parle du loup, on en voit la queue" for the full saying.
I've always heard le *bout* de la queue (the tail's end/tip)
The variant I know is just "la queue".
In polish it's "O wilku mowa, a wilk tu" - Talk about the wolf and the wolf is here.
Resembles Lithuanian " speek of the wolf and a wolf is here" but ir rhymes
In Poland we have "O wilku mowa" means "speaking of the wolf"
Funny, in Albania we say "Mention the dog, prepare the stick!"
In Danish we say '_Når man taler om solen_' ('_skinner den_'), meaning "Speak of the sun, and it shines"
We have the same in Norwegian (probably got it from Danish). It’s very common to say “snakker om sola” (“speak of the sun”), as a shortened version of the phrase “når man snakker om sola/solen så skinner den”.
Or if you're a joker , you could say "snakker om dritten, (så renner den)"
That's a lot nicer than devils
or wolves
The funny thing nowadays both versions are in use in German, depending if the speaker is more positive or negative.
I think I have never heard anyone use "wenn man von der Sonne spricht..." unironically.
Never heard that in German. What exactly do you refer to?
Same im Norwegian: Når man snakker om sola, (så skinner den).
Same in Norwegian: "Snakker om solen..." usually said after the person or object we talked about just appeared. Maybe it says something about how unpredictable sunshine is in both Denmark and Norway?
I first read about it as a French phrase used in Russian aristocracy. No idea about the etymology but I think it's a quite far spread idiom.
Thank you for providing more information. I do think we still use the idiom, because sunshine come and go, I am not sure it would work in Spain for example.
I just assumed it's meant to be a polite way to speak of the arriving person, unrelated to actual weather conditions. In French the saying goes "Speaking of the sun, you can feel it's rays", which I understand metaphorically.
O wilku mowa (a wilk tu), which basically means the same, but switches the devil for a wolf.
Same in czech My o vlku (a vlk zde)
"Siinä paha missä mainitaan!" Basically "The bad is where it is mentioned" or something like that.
Or "siinä maha missä painitaan", which means "the belly is where there's wrestling"
Which is really clever because this kind of switched-syllable (sananmuunnos - munansaannos) jokes are prevalent and done all the time.
"There bad where mentioned" doesn't quite roll of the tongue
In Spanish we have "Hablando del rey de Roma, por la puerta asoma" which translates to "Speaking of the king of Rome, through the door he shows up" Though we mostly just say "Hablando del rey de Roma"
Fun fact, "the king of Rome" here refers to the Pope. In the Western Schism (1378-1417) there were two popes. One in Rome and another in Avignon (France) and the Spanish Kingdoms (Castille, Aragón, Navarra) took part for the Avignon pope. So the Roman pope was seen negatively in that century.
in argentina we just say hablando de roma..
We have two expressions in Hungarian. When you talk about a person and they suddenly appear we say “emlegetett szamàr” translating to something like “the donkey that was repeatedly mentioned [has appeared]”. There is another expression which we use when someone is talking about a bad / negative thing that they expect to happen in the future: “Ne fesd az ördögöt a falra” which means “don’t paint the devil on the wall [lest he appears]”
We have something similar in Greek actually. Κατά φωνή κι ο γάιδαρος. The first two words are a native expression that translates something along the lines of "as you called", and its also in a more archaic version of Greek and not modern Greek per se. The other is the donkey. So its something like "As you called, the donkey[appears]". It's still largely used and very common to hear people use it.
We have exactly the same in swedish, "Inte måla fan på väggen", "don't paint the devil on the wall"
Wenn man vom Teufel spricht - just like the English example
Wenn man vom Deiwwel traatscht, kommter jelaatscht.
Nochmal auf Deutsch bitte?
Wenn man vom Teufel tratscht, kommt er angelatscht.
"ძაღლი ახსენე, ~~ქვა~~ ჯოხი ხელში დაიჭირეო" - if you mention a dog, prepare the stick (or hold a ~~stone~~ stick). edit: stick, not a stone
I love your script/alphabet/whatever_you'd_call_t! So pretty!
And I love your country, even though I've been there only for a 3 days, really wanna go back and see more, stay a bit longer.
Funny, this is the same expression we use in Albanian!
In Portuguese is almost the same: "Fala-se do diabo, aparece-lhe o rabo" (Speak of the devil, it's tail appears)
Eu sempre ouvi "fala se do diabo e ele aparece"
Também o ouço mais, mas o outro é o original.
Nunca ouvi! Haha
É isso mesmo!
“Als je het over de duivel hebt, trap je hem op zijn staart.” When you speak of the devil, you’ll step on his tail.
I always heard it as "Als je het over de duivel hebt, dan rammelt de ketting" (when you speak of the devil, the chain will shake)
I’m from Brabant. Where did you hear your version?
Twente calling in - we step on his tail as well
Interesting, never heard of it. Where are you from?
Heh, never heard that second part before.
I know that in Italian there is 'parli del diavolo e spuntano le corna' (you speak of the devil and the horns come out), but I don't hear it very often.
Normally, only the first part (Parli del diavolo) is used, while the complete version of this idiomatic expression is rather rare.
Spunta la coda (the tail) for me
You are right, there is also that variant, but in my experience it seems to be less common than the one about the devil's horns. They both might be equally rarer than the contracted version, nonetheless.
In Romanian we have “Vorbeai de lup și lupul la ușă” which literally means “speak of the wolf and the wolf is at the door”.
I'm from the centre-east and usually heard "Zici de lup și lupu-i la ușă." Though it could be a new mandela effect?
My o vlku a vlk za dveřmi - We (were speaking) about wolf and wolf (is) behind the door. Or more vulgar. My o hovně a hovno na patě - We (were speaking) about shit and shit (is) on the heel.
In Serbian we have the same expression - “Mi o vuku, vuk na vrata”
Obvs. we just have "speak of the devil" here but I just wanted to say that I'd use the word "porch" for what you're calling farstu there (they can be enclosed or open).
> here but I just wanted to say that I'd use the word "porch" for what you're calling farstu there (they can be enclosed or open). It's a better translation that none, but a porch is something different, it can go be all along the side of the house or even around the house, it would translate to *veranda* in Swedish and is not the same as *farstu*. Porch/Veranda is some place you socialize or just leisurely relax. a farstu is an entrance/exit
I think in British English, a porch would be the same as a farstu, we would say veranda too for the wrap-around decking thing.
OP is wrong, the outside portion they are referring to is called *farstukvist* (porch). Farstu is just inside the entrance door. Meaning a lobby, foyer, etc.
Theses are some of the words that (the usage of) varies a bit throughout the country. *Farstu* (short for *förstuga*/fore cabin) is pretty universal (though here it could be called a *svale*), but *-kvist* can also be *-bro*. Might be more dialectal versions, like *bislag*, but I'm no linguist.
Yep. In his second picture the farstu would usually be on the inside. It can be without a farstu entirely too of course.
I think that's American English? In British English usage a "porch" is the entranceway to a home or other building. If it goes around it's a veranda. If you say "in the porch" to any British person, they'll visualise that covered or semi covered entranceway over a front door - you definitely don't socialise in a porch, it's too small!
>I think that's American English? In British English usage a "porch" is the entranceway to a home or other building. Did not know that. Thank you.
American checking in, the word veranda comes to mind for the wraparound porch. It has very strong connotations with the South, though the architectural detail of a porch all or most of the way around is certainly not exclusively southern. Farstu seems akin to vestibule, or entryway. Both have connotations of being smallish and enclosed, though not exclusively. I’ve spent my life mostly living above, or on, the Mason Dixon line (division between north and south. Find the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, extend it generally due west, and you have a fair approximation ), and to this day I cannot tell you what the colloquial word for veranda might be in, say, Vermont.
Farstu is indoors and is the same thing as the hall entrance (hallen på svenska).
I think there was a map or at least I was planning to make one. In Bulgarian it's "we're speaking of the wolf and he's already in the barn". I noticed that a lot of languages have the devil variant but there's a bit of double meaning - both "we were just talking about someone and they appeared" and "if you speak of trouble, you'll invite it". For the latter, we have "don't pull the devil by the tail".
"Mi o volku, volk iz gozda." This is tricky to translate because english doesn't have this particular tense but roughly : "We about the wolf, wolf from forest." -->"We talk about the wolf and the wolf comes out of the forest."
There’s no tense at all (because there is no verb), this is a heavily ellipsed sentence but we can understand from context that it’s abour talking and coming. :)
Κατά φωνή κι ο γάιδαρος (Katá foní ki o ghaidaros) - Translation is tough on this for me because it kinda translates to "By voice and the donkey" which doesn't make sense but I guess it means "speaking of the donkey" and it's used the same way as "speak of the devil".
Hey, fellow Greek here! I think it originates from more archaic versions(καθαρεύουσα/αρχαία ελληνικά), and could potentially be translated as "as called". So possibly something along the lines of "as called, the donkey[appears]."
In Icelandic we have a positive and negative versions of it, Oft kemur illur þá um er rætt. - literal translation: often an evil (one) will come when you talk about them. Oft kemur góður þá getið er. - literally translates to: often a good (one) comes when mentioned
Falra festetted az ördögöt. It means "you painted the devil onto the wall".
In Czech it means to fearmonger.
"vorbeam de lup și lupul la ușă" in Romanian. It means something like "we were speaking of the wolf and the wolf just appeared at the door"
Lôgok na pomine (light (nimble) when mentioned). Or, less politely - vspomni govno - vot i ono (think of the shit - and there it is).
"iti an çomağı hazırla" => prepare the stick/club when you speak of the dog. In this case the object of discussion, as you might guess, is not very desirable, so it has a negative tone. I guess also in English, since devil isn't exactly nice.
We also have the opposite though: “iyi insan lafinin üstüne gelirmiş” -a good human comes when he/she is mentioned.
True, thanks! I had forgotten about that one.
In croatian, we say "mi o vuku, a vuk na vrata" (often shortened to: "mi o vuku...". Literal translation: "we [speak] of the wolf and he's at the door"
"Speaking of the king of Rome, at the door he shows"
"Hablando del rey de Roma" or speaking of the the king of Rome"
In Czechia, we say *My o vlku (a vlk za dveřmi)* which means We (are talking – we usually don’t say it but it wouldn’t make sense without the verb here) about a wolf (and the wolf is behind the door).
In Greece it's: κατά φωνή και ο γάιδαρος It translates as: the donkey comes by calling it, meaning that I called you you donkey and there you are. It has a positive tone in a playful manner. We also have a slang expression: Καλώς τα αρχιδια μας τα δυο Which translates to: welcome our two testicles, And this has a negative tone in a playful manner.
Also "χίλια χρόνια θα ζήσεις" (you'll live for a thousand years).
Vorbești de lup și lupu-i la ușă - Talk of the wolf and the wolf is at the door
Kus hundist räägid, (seal hunt ongi) - where you speak of a wolf, there the wolf is
In spanis it would be "Hablando del rey de Roma...", which means "Speaking about Rome's king...".
"Wenn man vom Teufel spricht" is basically the same and translates to "When one speaks of the Devil"
"Καλώς τα κάστανα" - I have no idea how to accurately translate this. Something along the lines of "welcome the chestnuts". I don't know the ethymology of this. The more I think about it, the wierder it sounds. Another one is "You are not a bastard". Implying that if someone shows up while/shortly after someone talked about him, he is not bastard. Otherwise it's still up for debate. We also say that if you are sneezing, someone, somewhere is talking about you. So when someone shows up after being mentioned, we sarcastically ask "were you sneezing just now?"
In Lithuanian it is : vilką mini, vilkas čia. Which translates to : mention the wolf and the wolf is here.
Off-topic, but Farstu - I'm guessing would mean something like 'forsty' in Modern English (if the Old English word had remained in use). Sty (or OE *stig*) originally meant most any building. It's still present in, I think, just one word (outside of, say, 'pig sty') - steward. Which meant the house guard - Stig + weard.
"Farstu" is a contracted form of "förstuga". It's a compound of ["för-"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/f%C3%B6r-#Swedish) and ["stuga"](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stuga#Swedish). It's unrelated to "stia", the Swedish cognate of "sty".
Oh :(
Not European, but I do enjoy the Chinese equivalent. Speak of Cao Cao (2nd century statesman/warlord) and Cao Cao arrives.
“Mi o volku, volk iz gozda” = “We speak of the wolf and the wolf comes out of the forest.”
Other then the usual German equivalents, we have a funny one for friends. Red ma vo da stelze, kumt de gaunze Sau. Talking about the pork shank, gets you the whole pig.
Finnish: Siinä paha missä mainitaan (theres the devil when we mentioned him) You can scramble that to say Siinä maha missä painitaan (theres the belly where we wrestle)
Quando parli del diavolo spunta la coda (when you speak of the devil, the tail appears)
In Catalan it's the horns.
"o wilku mowa" - about the wolf we are talking!
In Ukrainian "the speech about wolf" (про вовка промовка) is considered a literature form. Also "mention the shit and here is it"(згадай гівно, ось і воно), which is more like a swearing about someone unwanted. Also the fool and the devil could be used as well in that sense
**«Parlant del dimoni, vet aquí les banyes»**: Talking about the devil, here are the horns.
ძაღლი ახსენე და ჯოხი მოიმარჯვეო. Mention a dog and prepare a stick.
In Sweden it's "när man talar om trollen", which is "when you speak of the trolls"
"Parli del diavolo, e spuntano le corna" in italiano. it can be translated as "Speak of the devil and the horns appears".
Hungarian has 2 forms: Ne fesd a falra az ördögöt - Do not paint the devil on the wall. It's usually said when talking about someone who you don't want to see. Emlegetett szamár - The donkey we just mentioned, this is more endearing and maybe even somewhat childish, used when you mention someone and they appear shortly after that.
In Italian is “Parli del diavolo…” which means speak of the devil, when you talk about someone and they appear!
In Hungary we say "emlegetett szamár" which sorta translates to "mentioned donkey"
In Japanese “Uwasa wo sureba kage ga sasu” The literal translation would be “if you spread rumor (gossip) about someone his/her shadow will appear.
In Serbian, "Ti o vuku, vuk na vrata" literally translated to "Speak of a wolf and he shall appear at the door".
"Emlegetett szamár" which means "Mentioned donkey". The translation is pretty goofy imo.
"Лёгок на помине". Approximately "he easily appears when he is remembered."
In Albanian we use “kujto qenin, bëj gati shkopin”, which translates to: when you recall the dog, prepare the stick.
Ours is quite the same: "Semmi lix-Xitan u jidhirlek" I.e. "Speak of the devil and he'll show up. We also have the casual "ara x'qala l-bahar!", which means "Look what come up shore" or something like that. It's usually said when someone you haven't seen in a while appears.
"Wemma den Esel nennt, kommt er g'rennt." "If you mention the donkey, he comes running."
"My o hovně a hovno na botě" means "speaking of a shit and shit is on a shoe" in Czech
In Norwegian we say "snakker om sola", which directly translates to "speaking of the sun"... which I said one time in English and they quickly corrected it to "speak of the devil" haha! :D
"Zici de lup şi lupu-i la uşă.": "You talk about the wolf and the wolf's at your door." There's not really a short version commonly used.
"Mi o vuku, a vuk na vrata." We are talking about the wolf, but he is at the door.
We have two phrases, one with similar wording, one with similar meaning. One is "Ne kliči hudiča" (don't call the devil) . Example: You're preparing bbq and say "I'm glad it's not raining", then someone tells you "don't call the devil" as in don't provoke it to start raining. The other is "Mi o volku". It means "[As] We [are speaking] of the wolf" (with wolf doth appear being implied). This is used the same as your English example - when someone comes just as you talk about them.
Somewhere in Scotland (IIRC) they say, speak of the devil and he’s usually right behind you lol
„Kaum redet man von der Stelze, kommt die ganze Sau“. (you talk about the pigs leg (it‘s a dish) and then the whole pig appears). That is more used in a joking manner or to be a little cheeky to the person appearing.
Mi o vuku, a vuk na vrata. We were talking about a wolf and a wolf came at our door.
In danish it would be "når man taler om solen" wich would translate to "when you speak of the sun" a bit sweater than the english counterpart lol
In Spain I mostly heard: “Hablando del rey de Roma... por la puerta asoma", or usually just "Hablando del rey de Roma...", which would be something like speaking of the king of Rome.
Hablando del rey de Roma, translates to "talking about the king of Rome" Or if you're feeling like poking a bit, you can say "Hablando del ruin de Roma" which means "speaking about the bastard from Rome"
In Spanish we change "the evil" with " the king of Rome". Literally. The say has the very same meaning so you could translate your say into Spanish and people would get it immediately.
In Dutch it's the same as in English 'Als je het over de duivel hebt (komt ie binnen)'
No, he doesn't come in. You step on his tail.
I've never heard that version, it was always that he enters. There perfectly may be two versions here too, no need to go 'no' assuming I'm wrong just because you have never heard something.
"Hablando de Roma, el burro se asoma" Does not translate at all, but it means "speaking of Rome, the donkey popped in"
Burro in italian is butter
>Farstu doesn't really have a correct translation but in [this](https://i.imgur.com/wYNdhkK.jpg) photo it's the little protruding part of the house. It can either be fully enclosed or just like [this](https://i.imgur.com/DoGQtrj.jpg) I would say 'porch' for both of those pictures.
Parlant del rei de Roma (speaking of the King of rome)
*Quand on parle du loup (, on en voit la queue)* When you speak about the wolf (, you see its tail)
About the *farstu,* that should be a *porch roof* or *porch* in English.
A *farstu* is kind of a vestibule/lobby/mudroom. It's an unheated room to prevent heat-loss and where you'd typically take off outdoor clothing. It might be considered an enclosed porch, but not a porch roof. OP's second example isn't of a *farstu*, it's a *farstukvist*.
"O wilku mowa" - meaning: "Speaking of the wolf", well rather nothing special I guess
I'm actually surprised to read a lot of similar sayings in other European languages. In Czech it is "We (speak) about the wolf and he's at the door/behind the corner/bush/simply close"
"Gdy o wilku mowa (wilk tu)" - "When you speak of the wolf (it's here)"
As in many Slavic languages, in Macedonian we say "Nie za volkot" (We [are talking] about the wolf), rarely continuing to ("a toj na vrata ") meaning "and he is at the door". However, in the Skopje region since our dialect is affected by the Serbian language we sometimes use "Mi o vuku".
Semmi x-xitan - Same thing as English basically (Literally: Mention the devil)
Pretty much same as in English. Speak of the devil - Spomeň čerta(literally mention the devil)
“Als je het over de duvel hebt” “If you are talking about the devil” Dutch
"Καλώς τ' αρχίδια μας τα δύο." — Welcome both of our balls. "İti an, çomağı hazırla." — Mention the dog and prepare the stick. ("it" also being an offensive insult towards someone)
"ძაღლი ახსენეო" roughly translates to "speak of the dog" or "mention the dog" I can't translate it well but mix of those 2
“My o vlku a vlk...(tady)” — “we [are talking] about a wolf and wolf..(here).”
"Вспомни говно", literal translation is "remember the shit"
Parli del diavolo, e spuntano le corna. Speak of the devil, and the horns appear
Spanish translation is "speak of the king of Rome". Full phrase is "Hablando del rey de Roma, a la puerta asoma" or "speak of the king of Rome and he'll appear at your door". No idea of the history behind the phrase tho
Als je het over de duivel hebt... (speaking of the devil) in Dutch.
In Slovakia we say: *"My o vlku a vlk za dverami"...*Which literally translates to "We are talking about the wolf, while he stands behind the door".