synsning, often plural, synsninger

20:33 Mar 9, 2015 

I think we can console ourselves with the fact that it was even a new word for Jørn Lund
http://www.dsn.dk/om-os/organisation/repraesentantskabet-1/r...

It is one of those delightfully expressive words that is easy to understand at once - although of course what the listener understands may not be precisely what the speaker actually meant. Or in this case reader and writer.
The meaning does seem to have shifted slightly on its way over from Norway, but perhaps it is not entirely clear yet.

20:06 Mar 9, 2015 

I went so far as contacting a Danish relative (native speaker) who is a professional interpreter and very fluent in English and French (as well as Norwegian and Swedish of course.) She'd never heard of "sysninger." No wonder we were all guessing to some degree!

14:16 Mar 8, 2015 

Thank you for your explanation. It is possible there may be a difference between Norwegian and Danish synes. In Norwegian it can be a viewpoint or opinion: Person 1: Hvor skal vi gå å spise? Person 2: Hva synes du? or Person 1: Jeg vil si opp jobber min Person 2: Nei, det synes jeg ikke du skal gjøre. - Anyway, the main thing is that you found a term that worked in your document.

13:52 Mar 8, 2015 

I am not sure there is so much thought behind ´synsninger´ in this case.
They are vague atmospherics, and not well-thought-out in my context. They are simply vague, hostile disagreement.
Perhaps there is a shade of difference in the meaning between Danish and Norwegian; I would not be able to say, as I had never seen the word before.
In Danish ´at synes´ is sometimes associated with ´syn´ or first appeareances - e.g. ´jeg synes ikke, jeg kan finde den bog...´ meaning ´I´m sure it was there just now.´
There is sometimes, though far from always, a tone of I may be wrong, but...

In this text at least, although there is very little detail, the ´synsninger´ are like hunches and immediate impressions, not worked out or articulated much.
The contrast is an open, reasoned discussion, where everything is openly explained and open to debate. Perhaps I should have said that earlier.

20:48 Mar 7, 2015 

I disagree with the selected answer. Hunch is about gut feeling and intuition. Synsning is related to synes; Jeg synes = I believe, I think...Synsning has more thought behind it than hunch. It has a lot of thought, but is not necessarily based on proven facts.

17:26 Mar 7, 2015 

I wish you could all have points, but sorry, I have to choose one answer.
´Unfounded´ definitely has to be inlcuded, and I certainly thought about all three actual answers in my context.
Thanks again!

18:35 Mar 5, 2015 

Definitely a challenge. Verbally, one can imagine "theories" or "notions" expressed with a certain inflection. To get the sense of it, an adjective may be helpful: "unfounded," "baseless" - something along those lines.

10:50 Mar 2, 2015 

The term I gave is a possibility, yes, but not quite...I feel there must be (or ought to be) an English term that reflects subjective opinion. As for Norwegian synsing, it is related to "synsere", those people who are often contacted by the media when an opinion is needed.