ÅÅTABAKS POLSKA

a dance

Background:

• Pronunciation:
• Other names:
• Region: Sweden
• Translation:

Documents:

The summer I was at Foellinge (1993??) and this dance was taught (AAtabaks polska) they spelled it like the village is spelled with a single A-circle as the first letter. A couple of years later they began to spell it with a double A-circle (Aaaatabaks polska) in an effort to get the Swedes from Stockhom and where-ever-else to pronounce it with a long aa sound instead of with a short aa sound. At least that's the explanation they gave us.

This made me a bit confused. As far as I know aatabak is not a village. The village where aatabak comes from is Foellinge. My explanation for the word aatabak is: it's a word consisting of three words: 'aa', 'ta' and 'bak'. 'aa' (å) is the way the word 'och' (=and) is pronounced in swedish. 'ta' = take. 'bak' = back. In english it would be 'and take back' or 'andtakeback'. Maybe this should be understood as 'and take a step backwards' or how you would express it in english.

(A couple of years … At least that's the explanation they gave us.)

This could be correct. 'aata' pronounced with short 'aa' sounds like 'aatta' which means 'eight'. 'Eight back' would be another dance.

Last updated September 20 2009 22:05:14.