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Puppet & puppet show

ThomasK

Senior Member
Belgium, Dutch
I have been wondering about how the word (or concept) "puppet" (as opposed to "doll") and the concept of a "puppet show" are rendered in Scandinavian languages. I'd like to integrate those into the puppet & puppet show at All Languages.
In Swedish we call them dockor (dolls).

Puppet show is dockteater (doll theater).

A puppet that is controlled from above with strings is called marionettdocka or just marionett.

A puppet that is controlled by a hand inside the doll is called handdocka (hand doll).
It's the same in Norwegian as in Swedish. We don't have separate words for "doll" and "puppet".

A puppet is a dukke or dokke (alternative spellings). Puppet show is dukketeater/dokketeater.

We also have hånddukke (glove puppet) and marionett (string puppet). Marionett is also used figuratively, to describe someone who is controlled by somebody else, like "puppet" in English.
Great information. Thanks!

Now I wondered about "dukke", etc. A word I would not have recognized as Germanic, whereas etymonline.org refers to "Old Norse dokka "bundle; girl", Danish dukke "a bundle, bunch, ball of twine, straw, etc.," also "doll". So the dolls had been made of a bundle of straw or dried plants, I guess. Correct? (Why you could not make "mini men" as well, is not clear to me ;-), assuming that dolls used to be mainly girls, I guess)

Can you use puppet show metaphorically, as when referring to politicians apparently manipulated like marionettes: puppets on a string? It is often used in a pejorative way in Dutch, evermore often perhaps...
Docka also means a bundle of linen, and other kinds of yarn. It's possible that some of the first dolls were made out of a bunch of linen/flax, maybe with a simple dress of a piece of cloth. Isn't there a Dutch word dotje?

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This is also the case in Norway: "dokke" can also mean a small bundle of yarn (for embroidery).

According to Bokmålsordboka, dokke is related to a Low German word: "docke".

Marionett can be used metaphorically for a person with no will of their own, manipulated by others. This can include politicians. But I don't think I have seen dokketeater used metaphorically.
Docka also means a bundle of linen, and other kinds of yarn. It's possible that some of the first dolls were made out of a bunch of linen/flax, maybe with a simple dress of a piece of cloth. Isn't there a Dutch word dotje?

View attachment 99570
Dotje: yes, chignon in French, but that is a bundle of hair, which used to be worn by women at the top of their head or at the back. A bun, I suddenly come to realize. Noone, as far as I can see, would use that to refer to a doll or puppet.

Do you have special traditions, like puppet shows? Or is the latter used to refer to manipulation (like with puppets on a string), i.e., metaphorically? (That does not seem so very common in other languages, as far as I can see...)
As for puppet shows, I remember these ones from Swedish tv:

Televinken (can translated as tv + wave):
1734361341924.png


Drutten och Gena:
1734361617350.png
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