Language Lounge: Talking is Silver, Silence is Golden

VINCENT TEETSOV

“Rääkimine hõbe, vaikimine kuld.” Of all vanasõnad (proverbs or sayings) out there in the Estonian language, this one is very common.

It’s found itself on the cover of a book by Ivo Juurvee, about the protection of state secrets in the first era of independent Estonia. In an English language context, “Silence is Golden” is also common. It was a B-Side for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and became a knockout pop hit in 1967 for The Tremeloes. A bit funny considering the title.

The most direct English translation of the phrase is said to be first displayed in the 1830s by Scottish writer and philosopher Thomas Carlyle in his novel Sartor Resartus. Carlyle said “As the Swiss Inscription says: Sprecfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden (Speech is silver, Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity.”

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Photo: settleinestonia.ee