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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Sweden to get its first dialect dictionary in 150 years

A new dictionary of Swedish dialects is being published for the first time in over 150 years. The Local spoke to the linguist overseeing the project about how she's choosing which expressions to include, and learned some of her favourite Swedish dialect words.

Published: 18 March 2019 15:00 CET
Updated: 18 March 2019 17:04 CET
Sweden to get its first dialect dictionary in 150 years
Archives at the Institute for Language and Folklore. Photo: Institutet för språk och folkminnen

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“When working with the dictionary, we avoid difficult grammatical terms and professional language. We want to try to explain the words in an understandable way,” Annika Karlholm, an archivist at the Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, told The Local.

The last dialect dictionary was published in 1867 by the priest and linguistics researcher J.E. Rietz, Karlholm said. The new work will include explanations of each word's meaning “in a clear way” as well as example sentences showing how it is used.

The target audience is ordinary people who are interested in language, such as students or those engaged in researching the history of their family or local area.

“The hope is that the dictionary can contribute to people taking note of dialects and, perhaps most of all, traditional dialects,” Karlholm said. “We are choosing almost exclusively special dialectal words, ie. words that are only in the dialects and which are usually not included in standard language dictionaries.”

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These 33 words entered the Swedish language in 2018
Photo: Cecilia Larsson Lantz/Imagebank.sweden.se

Some subject areas have more dialect words than others, such as the plant and animal kingdom.

“There are many special dialect words for certain types of plants, birds and insects, for example blåklint (cornflower) which has names like blågubbe, duvustol and åkersilke, and odon (bog bilberry), with names like blåbuk, fyllebär, utterbär and ödbär,” said Karlholm.

“Then there are birds, for example spillkråka (black woodpecker) with names like blåkråka, dryp, hålkråka and tillekorp, and the tofsvipa (Northern lapwing) with names like bläcka, hornvipa and tivipa, and insects such as nyckelpiga (ladybird) with  names like bobba, fårpiga and åkerhöna,” Karlholm listed.

Another rich area for anyone studying Swedish dialects is food and drink, as well as weather. Karlholm highlights different ways of referring to light snow, such as flira and fnyka, or light rain which can be described using the verbs durra, hy, fjuska, and puska in different parts of the country.

So, which region has the richest dialect? It's Småland, best known outside Sweden as the home of both Ikea and children's author Astrid Lindgren, that has by far the most unique dialect words in the dictionary, according to Annika. 

However, she stresses that this has more to do with regional differences in how dialectal words have been recorded, rather than any innate difference in the dialects.


A traditional farm house in Småland. Photo: Alexander Hall/imagebank.sweden.se

When asked her favourite word in the collection so far, Annika picked out treakel which means liquorice.

“In ancient Swedish, treakilse meant 'antidote' but has, over time, come to refer to sweet liquorice in dialect. The reason for the development of the word is probably that liquorice has previously been used as a medicine,” she explained.

“Another word with an interesting etmology is tabberas, today best known from Astrid Lindgren's depiction of Emil i Lönneberga in the chapter Stora tabberaset i Katthult,” the archivist said.

“Tabberas comes from the older Swedish word tabelras, which is linked to the French expression table rase, which in its turn comes from the Latin tabula rasa (wax painting with deleted writing). In older Swedish, tabelras was a term for card games with the meaning 'everything is taken away, nothing is left, clear house'. This meaning has then been further developed in the dialects.”

Because of the meaning 'clean table', tabberas is used in dialectal Swedish today to refer to a party, restaurant or event where all the food provided is eaten. In the Astrid Lindgren story, the character Emil puts on a party for poorer neighbours and serves all the Christmas food in the house.

Work on the dictionary began ten years ago, using the institute's language archives, and is expected to be complete by around 2027. But even before that date, parts of the dialect dictionary will be published on the institute's website. 

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SWEDISH LANGUAGE

Seven Swedish expressions which will make you sound like a local

Looking for ways to improve your Swedish? Learning some of these phrases and using them in your speech will definitely impress the Swedes in your life.

Published: 18 September 2024 09:51 CEST
Seven Swedish expressions which will make you sound like a local

Finns det hjärterum finns det stjärterum

This phrase literally translates as “if there’s room in your heart, there’s room for a bum”, and it essentially means that you can always make room for one more if you really want to.

If there were three of you sitting on a sofa and another guest arrives but there’s nowhere for them to sit, you might say this phrase while you all scooch up to make space for them to join you.

Kasta ett getöga (på något)

You would be forgiven for thinking this phrase has something to do with goat eyes – a goat in Swedish is en get, and an eye is ett öga.

However, this phrase doesn’t mean “to throw a goat’s eye (at something)”. Rather the word get here comes from the Old Norse verb geta, which means to watch, care for or guard something.

So rather than throwing bits of goats at someone, the phrase can be better translated as “to keep a watchful eye” on something.

Mycket snack och lite verkstad

This phrase directly translates to “a lot of talk and not much workshop”, and you might be able to figure out what it means.

It’s similar to the phrase “all talk and no action” or “all talk and no trousers” which you would use when someone or a group of people spend a lot of time discussing something but never actually do it.

It’s often used in a sports context if players talk a lot about strategy and beating the other team, but never quite manage to pull it out of the bag.

Små grytor har också öron

This expression can be confusing at first, as it contains a play on the word öron, which means both pot handle and ear in Swedish. It literally translates to “small pots also have ears”, and it essentially means that you should be careful of what you say around children.

It can be used in a couple of different ways. You could use it to remind someone that children are present if they’re about to tell you something that isn’t family-friendly, like the juicy details of their sex life.

It can also be used as a reminder to whoever you’re talking to that if they say anything in front of a child, it’s likely to be repeated somewhere else. So maybe save the discussion about how much you can’t stand one of the parents or teachers at preschool for somewhere your child can’t hear it.

Träsmak i röven

The word röv in Swedish is a vulgar term for the backside, roughly similar in strength to English “arse” or American “ass”.

It originally comes from the Old Norse word rauf meaning gap, rift or hole, used in words like raufarsteinn (a stone with a hole drilled through it) and raufartrefjur (cloth filled with holes).

The word in its modern meaning exists in Swedish as röv, in Danish as røv and in Norwegian as ræv or rauv.

Träsmak i röven (literally: “the taste of wood on your arse”) is a great phrase which describes the feeling you get when your bottom starts hurting from sitting down for too long.

Less offensive alternatives to the word röv which you can use in this phrase include rumpa, bakdel, ända, stjärt and gump. 

Kratta manegen

The Swedish phrase kratta manegen is roughly equivalent to “pave the way” or “set the stage” in English, essentially to make it easier for someone to do something. 

You could, for example, use it about some sort of pioneer: hon krattade manegen för kvinnor i politiken (she paved the way for women in politics). It can also be used about something other than an individual: lagen krattade manegen för landets tillväxt (the law paved the way for the country’s growth).

Literally, a kratta refers to a rake and manegen to a circus ring or riding arena, so imaging someone raking the sand in the ring before it’s used by riders and performers.

I grevens tid

A greve in Swedish is a count – as in the noble title – so this phrase literally translates to “in the count’s time”.

It refers to doing something at the last possible moment, similar to the phrases “in the nick of time” or “not a minute too soon” in English.

It’s believed to refer to a specific count, Per Brahe the Younger, who was Governor-General of Finland in the mid 17th century. During this time he reformed the administration of the country, introduced a new postal system, founded a large number of new towns and promoted education, for example by founding the Royal Academy of Turku.

The Finns were a fan of Count Brahe, which is why the phrase I grevens tid also exists in Finnish as kreivin aikaan, where it refers to arriving at the right time or the best possible time.

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