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DANISH LANGUAGE

TELL US: Which Danish word should the English language adopt?

The number of English loan words in the Danish dictionary is growing, but which Danish word would you like to see borrowed in the other direction?

Published: 5 November 2021 16:59 CET

If you could drop any Danish word into the English language, which one would it be?

If you could drop any Danish word into the English language, which one would it be?Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash

The authoritative dictionary of the Danish language, Den Danske Ordbog, has been updated with 214 new words.

As is usually the case when new words are added to the Danish dictionary, a significant number are popular English loan words.

This year’s additions include cringe, disrupte (‘to disrupt’ with Danish grammar), snooze and gamechanger (contracted into a single word grammatically in Danish).

But what Danish word do you think the English language would benefit from borrowing the other way? Which Danish word just can’t be boiled down to a succinct English equivalent? Which concept is easier to express in the Nordic tongue? Are there any Danish words you’d just like to be able to say more?

We’d love to hear your thoughts — please take a look at the survey below.

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How many places in Denmark have different names in English?

Most people who regularly travel in and out of Denmark probably know that the code for the country’s biggest airport is CPH. This is, of course, a contraction of Copenhagen.

Meanwhile, it’s very common for younger Danes to refer to the city as “Kbh”, especially in writing but also in spoken Danish. This uses a similar contraction using the Danish-language (and original) name of the city, København.

København is generally considered to have made the linguistic change from Danish to English via German, in which it has yet another name, Kopenhagen.

Kopenhagen means “merchant harbour” in an archaic version of German, and from there it only takes a substitution of K for C to get to the English name.

This might not be the only reason that an English version of København – and possibly other Danish place names – has persisted over the centuries.

Difficult pronunciation – something most foreign speakers of Danish will be well acquainted with – is also a likely factor, according to a language professor, Jørn Lund, who spoke to newspaper BT about the topic in 2015.

“All over the world you have place names made easier to pronounce if they’re difficult. And København is hard to say for people other than us Danes,” he said.

“We also don’t say Roma about Rome the way Italians do. And I’d probably feel a bit hoity-toity if I did,” he noted.

READ ALSO: How to decode Denmark’s old-fashioned motorway names

Putting Copenhagen aside, the three largest geographical components of Denmark all have English versions of their names: Jutland (Jylland in Danish), Funen (Fyn) and Zealand (Sjælland).

The latter of these is perhaps the most confusing given its similarity to New Zealand. The country in the southern hemisphere was not given its name because of the Danish island but after the Dutch region of Zeeland.

Funen feels very counterintuitive if you’re already familiar with Fyn – which is very likely if you live in Denmark. Many Danes have never heard of the English ‘Funen’ and might be confused if you say it.

Perhaps the most recognisable of the three is Jutland, because the word itself was made famous by a First World War naval battle, the Battle of Jutland. This historical event is probably better-known to British people than it is to Danes.

The words Jutland, Zealand and Funen sound similar to their Latin versions Jutlandia, Selandia and Fionia, but can also be traced to older German names such as ‘Seeland’ for Zealand/Sjælland.

Another Latin name for a Danish island, Lalandia, gave itself to a chain of holiday centres and water parks, the first of which was built on the island in question – Lolland. Lolland retains its Danish name in English, much to the amusement of some internet users who might read it as LOL-land.

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Some parts of Denmark have had a historical strategic significance for seafaring countries, not least Great Britain. This might explain why the Øresund is sometimes referred to in English simply as “The Sound”. The straits separate Denmark and Sweden and saw a toll enforced on passing ships by Kronborg Castle in the 17th and 18th centuries.

That brings us neatly to Helsingør, the town still dominated by Kronborg’s imposing presence. Famously the setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Helsingør is known as Elsinore to some English speakers, especially those who enjoy the works of the Bard. The name from the centuries-old play might not be commonly used anymore, but is at least referenced by some businesses in Helsingør.

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A post shared by Værftets Madmarked (@vaerftetsmadmarked)

What about Denmark itself? In Danish, it’s written as Danmark, which makes a bit more sense if you think of the people as being called the Danes. Unlike any of the other examples we’ve covered, the two words are pronounced identically.

Are there any other Danish places with English names that aren’t covered here? Are there any facts or stories we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.

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