startijenn

Breton

FWOTD – 2 April 2018

Etymology

start (“firm, tough”) +‎ -ijenn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /starˈtiːʒɛn/

Noun

startijenn

1. (internal) strength, energy, dynamism, drive (to do something positive)
   • 1990 June, Al Liamm, quoted in 2008, Joël Cornette, Histoire de la Bretagne et des Bretons: Des Lumières au XXIe siècle:

     C'est bien un vent nouveau qui souffle sur la Bretagne, ainsi que l'exprime la revue Al Liamm dans son numéro de juin 1990: « Ur startijenn hag urfizians nevez a santer dre ar vro » («On ressent à travers tout le pays une énergie et un espoir nouveaux»).

     A new wind is blowing over Brittany, as the magazine Al Liamm puts it in its June 1990 issue: [...] ("There is a new energy and hope across the country").

   • 2000, Y. Doelan, Temi e variazioni: Danevellou brezoneg, page 58:

     Genidig eo a Vreiz-Uhel, euz kostez Sant-Brieg. Eur hoz den eo hag a zo, war a lavar din, klañv braz. Tristig eo, abaf eun tamm. Dond a ra startijenn ennañ avad pa zeu ar haoz war or henlabourerien. Barna a ra diouto en eur mod krenn a-walh.

     He was born in Lower Brittany, near Saint-Brieuc. He's an old person, and, according to what he tells me, very sick. He's sad and a bit shy. But strength comes to him when the conversation comes to our collaborators. He criticizes them rather categorically.

   • 2003, Carn, page 75:

     Ur stummadur huel tre, savet er skolveur Dulenn. war dachenn an arc'hant hag ar yezhoù. Evit echuiñ, dav eo lavar eo ar yezh skoazellet gant al lezennoù. Memestra dav eo evezhiañ ha krouiñ nerzh ha startijenn evit harpañ ouzh an american...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Breton startijenn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /staʁ.ti.ʒɛn/

Noun

startijenn

1. (Brittany) strength or energy
   • 1998, Georges Cadiou, “La grande histoire du football en Bretagne”, in The great history of football in Brittany, page 124:

     Heureusement pour les Rennais, à la fin du mois de décembre 1966, arrivait celui qui allait donner un bon coup de startijenn au club breton, le Yougoslave Sylvester Takac. Rennais et Nantais brillaient en championnat et en Coupe, pourtant en équipe de France on leur faisait chichement de la place. Certes, on pouvait difficilement les écarter complètement, mais leur réussite en équipe tricolore était contrariée par le système de jeu imposé, ...

     Fortunately for the Rennais, at the end of December 1966, the one arrived who was going to give a good shot of startijenn to the Breton club, the Yugoslavian Sylvester Takac. Rennais and Nantais shone in the league and in the Cup, yet in the French team they were sparingly out of place. Admittedly, it was difficult to dismiss them completely, but their success in the tricolor team was thwarted by the imposed game system, ...