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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: rolig

Learning a new language isn't always a barrel of laughs, but today we've chosen a fun little Swedish word to focus on.

Swedish word of the day: rolig
This is a false friend for Danish speakers. Photo: Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Rolig is used to mean any one of the following: fun, funny, entertaining, interesting. You can use it to describe people, objects, experiences and much more — anything which brings a smile to your face.

You can also use it in the sense of “funny” meaning “odd”, so en rolig liten gubbe might refer to a funny-looking man, rather than one with a humorous personality — you’d have to rely on tone to work out which meaning was intended.

Rolig is an adjective, so it declines in the usual way, meaning you’ll see roligt used with “ett” words and roliga for plurals. And you’ll also hear it in the set phrase att ha (det) roligt (to have fun), using the adverbial form.

The history of the word rolig is packed with linguistic twists and turns. It’s been used by Swedish speakers since at least 1655, when it appeared in the Swedish translation of the bible.

But back then, rolig meant “calm” or “quiet”, almost the opposite of today’s meaning. And it is used in present-day Danish and Norwegian to mean calm too, so that a Dane and a Swede might end up confused and disappointed if one invites the other for en rolig helg (a fun/quiet weekend, depending on who’s speaking).

Allow us to explain. Words often change their meaning over time, sometimes to reflect changes in society and how people live, sometimes to fill an obvious gap in the lexicon, and sometimes for no obvious reason at all.

This process tends to happen most often and most quickly with adjectives. Sometimes an adjective is used so much that its meaning is weakened, or it is used so often in a certain context that it takes on a narrower connotation than it earlier had.

In the case of rolig, the original usage in the sense of calm/quiet tended to have a positive connotation, and so over time it came to be used to mean “pleasant” more generally. Over recent decades, its meaning has grown stronger, so that it is closer to meaning “fun” or kul than “nice” or trevlig

This helps explain why rolig’s apparent opposite, orolig, actually means “anxious/worried” rather than “not fun” — in contrast to roligorolig is almost always used to describe people. And there are other traces in Swedish of the older meaning. The word ro, the root of rolig, still means “peace/tranquility” and is used in the phrase lugn och ro (peace and quiet).

Examples

Ha det så roligt!

Have fun/have a nice time! (This is a very typical Swedish construction, so should win you some language brownie points with native speakers)

Jag vill se en rolig film ikväll

I want to see a funny film tonight

Han är inte så rolig att leva med

He isn’t that easy to live with

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is now available to order in English or German. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it.

It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: påskris

Here's a seasonal Swedish word that probably doesn't mean what you think it does.

Swedish word of the day: påskris
Image: nito103/Depositphotos

Påskris is a term that many initially mistranslate as “Easter rice”, but it actually means “Easter branches/twigs”. 

The first part of the word is the easiest to trace through history: påsk means “Easter”. It is etymologically linked to Jewish Passover, both sharing roots in the Hebrew word pesaḥ which meant “to pass over”, which became pascha in Latin and páskar in Old Norse before transforming into påsk in modern Swedish.

You can use it on its own in expressions like glad påsk (Happy Easter) and vid påsk (at Easter time), but just like the word jul (Christmas), it is also used in plenty of festive compound words, and påskris is one of the most important.

If you’ve learned Swedish food vocabulary, you’ll probably know that ris often means “rice”, but it can also be used to mean “rod”. In this sense, it can literally refer to a stick used as a rod, or be used figuratively: similar to the English phrase “carrot and stick” referring to encouragement through both rewards and punishment, the Swedish phrase ris och ros (literally “rod and rose”) means “criticism and praise”. In the word påskris, ris means “rod” in the literal sense. 

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Back in the 1600s, Swedes used to beat each other with sticks and rods on Good Friday, as a way of remembering Jesus’ suffering and experiencing suffering themselves. If you’re from an eastern European country such as the Czech Republic, you might recognize this tradition. The rods were called fastlagsris (literally “Lent rods”).

Luckily for those of us in Sweden, this is no longer the typical way of marking Easter, and these days sticks are used as pretty decorations rather than whips. This tradition started around the Stockholm area in the late 1800s, and became common across the whole country by the 1930s.

So påskris are twigs, often from birch, which are used to decorate inside and outside the home during the Easter celebrations, almost like a springtime variant on the Christmas tree.

In the religious context, it might symbolize the palm leaves said to have been scattered in front of Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on the Sunday before Easter. But in secular Sweden, they’re also just a way of adding colour and greenery to homes around March and April. 

You’ll see the twigs, topped with colourful feathers, on sale at markets and other shops in the lead-up to Easter, although in recent years, the use of real feathers has declined, partly due to concerns for animal welfare.

You can also add extra decorations to your twigs, such as hanging eggs or animal-themed ornaments.

However you display them, påskris are an important and beautiful part of the Easter festivities in Sweden. 

Examples

Jag vill skapa ett påskris utan fjädrar

I want to make Easter branches without feathers

Påskriset ser underbart ut!

The Easter branches look wonderful!

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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