Alphabets of the Human Heart in Languages of the World
Ba-dumm, ba-dumm, bam-bam, bank bank, bum-búm,
bum-búm, daṛak daṛak, deg-deg, dhuk-puk,
doef doef, gup-gup, gup-gup, küt küt, lab-dab,
pal-pal, pēng pēng, pil-pil, pilpiri-palpara,
raṭama-raṭama, sast-sast, ta-tamm, ta-tamm,
tik-tik, tis-tas, trapata, tsʼidog, thình thịch,
tuk-tuk, tuks tuks, tum tum, tun-tum, tunpa,
tunpa, tunpa, tup tup, tup tup, tup tup.
Bun-bun-bun, bar-bar-bar, tāp-o-tūp, boem
boem, boem boem, boem boem, boem boem,
bình bịch, dhad dhad, dhad dhad, dhad dhad,
dhak dhak, dup dap, dup dap, duruduru, duru-
duru, güm güm, güm güm, klop klop, klop klop,
lāb dub, pilpil-pulpul, pir-pir, poch poch,
poch poch, poch poch, poch poch, tapa-tapa,
tapa-tapa, tucutún tucutún, tucutún tucutún.
Boenk boenk, boenk boenk, boh boh, boh boh, boum
boum, boum boum, boum boum, boum boum, bu-
bum, bu-bum, danba-danba, danba-danba, dava dava,
dava dava, dava dava, dhakdhak, dhakdhak, du-dunk,
du-dunk, du-dunk, du-dunk, du-dunk, du-dunk,
güp güp, güp güp, güp güp, güp güp, lappu-tappu,
lub dub, pam-pam, pupa, thump thump, tu tump,
tuek tak, tuek tak, tuek tak, tuek tak, tuek tak.
Buch buch, bum bum, bumm bumm, dag-dig
-dug, doki doki, dub dub, dub dub,
dugeun dugeun, duk-duk, dunk dunk,
durdur, du’rs-du’rs, panp-panp, pu-pum,
pu-pum, punpa, tak tak, taka-taka,
taktak, tanka, tanp-tanp, tanpa-tanpa,
tāp-tāp, taupa-taupa, tibók tibók,
tuk tuk, tu-tum, tu-tum, tu-tum.
ba-dumm – German, bam-bam – Albanian, bank bank – Danish (also meaning knock knock), bum-búm – Hebrew, daṛak – Hindi, deg-deg – Indonesian, dhuk-puk – Bengali, doef doef – Afrikaans (also deaf deaf), gup-gup – Azerbaijani, küt küt – Turkish (also blunt, a bump), lab-dab – Telugu, pal-pal – Basque, pēng pēng – Chinese, Mandarin (also a cannon boom), pil-pil, pilpiri-palpara – Basque (pil also electrical, a battery), raṭama-raṭama – Arabic (also thump thump, also Mizo snow-snow), sast-sast, sast-sast – Basque, ta-tamm – Hungarian (also Estonian of hope), tik-tik – Basque (also Marathi the tick of a clock), tis-tas, trapata – Basque, tsʼidog – Navajo, thình thịch – Vietnamese (also thumping, pounding), tuk-tuk – Latvian (also knock knock), tuks tuks – Estonian, tum tum – Arabic (also Hindi, you you), tun-tum – Portuguese (also Hindi, you and you), tunpa – Basque (also Quechua somewhat, a little), tup tup – Bulgarian and Macedonian (also Gujarati, ghee)
bun-bun-bun – Basque (also good-good-good), bar-bar-bar – Batak (also Indonesian measure-measure-measure), tāp-o-tūp – Persian, boem boem – Dutch (also a cannon boom, also Ukranian and Romanian bohemian), bình bịch – Vietnamese (also bottle bag, bag of sweets), dhad dhad, dhak dhak – Marathi (also Hindi torso torso and push push), dup dap, dup dap – Malay, duruduru – Bengali, güm güm – Turkish (also a series of repeated boomings), klop klop – Dutch (also burp, Afrikaans knock, Ukrainian bench, Croatian horse trotting clop and Estonian a keyboard click), lāb dub – Bengali (also laboratory dive), pilpil-pulpul, pir-pir – Basque (also Kurdish very much), poch poch – German (also throb, pound, thump), tapa-tapa, taup-taup – Basque (also shelter-shelter and y’know-y’know), tucutún tucutún – Spanish, boenk boenk – Dutch, boh boh – Chinese, Cantonese (also a positive expression like Yes! Yes!), boum boum – French (also slang party), bu-bum – Polish (also Turkish this boom), danba-danba – Basque (also a cymbal crash, Mizo meaning dance-dance), dava dava – Kannada (also Turkish lawsuit lawsuit), dhakdhak – Urdu, du-dunk, du-dunk – Swedish (also you thump, you thump), güp güp – Turkish (also gruffly), lappu-tappu – Tamil (also wrong-wrong as in my bad), lub-dub – English (medicine, a regular rhythm of the heart), pam-pam – Albanian (also Malay pump-pump), pupa – Basque (also Yoruba red), tu thump – Italian (also you thump), tuek tak – Thai (also with a bang or loudly)
buch buch – Czech (also German book book), bum bum – Polish, Spanish and Croatian, bumm bumm – German, dag-dig-dug – Indonesian (also Sundanese, a morning greeting, Hello world!), doki doki – Japanese (excited beat of the heart, also Hausa the horse, the horse), dub dub, dub dub – Tagalog, dugeun dugeun – Korean, duk-duk – Greek, dunk dunk – Norwegian (also bump bump), durdur – Bengali (also far, far away), du’rs-du’rs – Kazakh, panp-panp – Basque (the rhythm of a nervous heart), pu-pum pu-pum – Catalan, punpa – Basque (medicine, rhythm of a healthy heart), tak – Basque (also Batak the pop of a balloon, Czech like that or so, Kannada talk, Ukrainian yes), taka-taka – Basque (also Japanese falcons-falcons, hawks-hawks), taktak – Basque (also Sundanese shoulder), tanka – Basque (also Nepali – a Tibetan sacred painting usually on a cotton or silk scroll, Japanese – old name for waka or short poems), tanp-tanp – Basque (also Haitian Creole temple-temple), tanpa-tanpa – Basque (also Malay without-without), tāp-tāp – Persian (also Mizo cry-cry), taupa-taupa – Basque, tibók tibók – Tagalog (also beat beat, Hungarian chicks), tuk tuk – Lithuanian (also Latvian knock knock, Tagalog drip drip of water, Ukrainian here here), tu-tum, tu-tum, tu-tum – Catalan and Finnish.
HARRY MAN is co-author of Utøya Thereafter (Hercules Editions, 2021) with Endre Ruset published as Deretter (Thereafter) by Flamme Forlag. His first pamphlet, Lift was the winner of the UNESCO Bridges of Struga (Tall Lighthouse, 2014). He has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry and was the winner of the Stephen Spender Prize for Translation 2021 and a Northern Writer’s Award for Poetry 2021 which he shares with the poet Suzannah Evans.