Talk:Sointula, British Columbia

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"Place of Harmony"
As a native Finnish speaker I do not find the translation to be clear. The word "sointu" means literally Chord which does have much to do with musical Harmony but nothing with any other type of harmony. With the ending "la" the name could be thus directly translated to "Place of Chords" (and less directly to "Place of Musical Harmony"). Of course, it is likely that the intention of this playing with words is the analogy with musical harmony and harmony of life etc. Thus translating this as "Place of Harmony" may have be the intention of the founders of the village.

However, the name "Sointula" could also be based on a verb "sointua" which can be used more generally when multiple things match together (or are in harmony). However this word is usually used to describe (any kind of) synchronization in music informally. -89.212.27.14 (talk) 09:31, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
 * "Harmony" is the usual translation given by the Finnish community there and elsewhere in BC; perhaps it had to do with the place having a good choir (I'm not kidding)....I'm certainly not saying you're wrong, only that the conventional translation as used in local histories and in ethnic histories of the Finns in BC is always "Place of Harmony" Mabye someone at Talk:Finnish Canadians (or is it Talk:Canadians of Finnish ancestry?) knows more about this in terms of why "Harmony" is the usual translation, if it's only musical harmony that's meant (or rather, only one aspect of musical harmony, "chord")....perhaps the concept is that all the different individuals/households "made up a chord"...??  And just checking, though I haven't written an article on it yet Sampo Hall is the old Finnish community centre (Finnish Communists, actually) in Webster's Corners, a neighbourhood of Maple Ridge, British Columbia - "Sampo" was the world-mill, yes?  The forge of creation? Or is it just a grinding-stone or ??Skookum1 (talk) 15:11, 21 December 2008 (UTC)