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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Swedish word of the day: semester

This word might mean the exact opposite of what you'd expect.

Published: 18 June 2019 11:42 CEST
Updated: 22 June 2019 10:46 CEST
Swedish word of the day: semester
A word you need to know this time of the year. Image: nito103/Depositphotos

Semester means 'holiday/vacation' in Swedish, and is used to refer both to the extended periods of leave from school, university, or work, and to overnight holidays. It's a pretty crucial word in Sweden, where full-time workers are entitled to at least 25 days' holiday by law, and up to four weeks of that can usually be taken consecutively during the summer.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about annual leave in Sweden

Hear how it's pronounced in the clip below:

That means that if someone says jag är på semester (I'm on holiday/leave), they might mean they've simply taken time off work, or that they're away travelling. And a semesterjobb is a temporary job undertaken during the holiday period, usually university summer holidays.

The related verb semestra means 'to go on holiday', for example 'vi ska semestra i Sverige i år' (we're going to go on holiday in Sweden this year). You can also use the phrase åka på semester instead. 

So why is the meaning different from English 'semester', referring to a term of education?

Well, in Latin, semestris meant 'six-month', coming from sex (six) and mensis (month, from the word for 'moon'). It entered English and French through German as a word for a university or school term, as these were split into two units within a year; six months each.

In Swedish, though, semester has been used since the 18th century to refer to holidays, originally linked specifically to army officers, who had the right to a certain amount of vacation.

The Swedish word for a term of education is termin.

You can find the word semester in several compound nouns, such as campingsemester (camping holiday), semesterö (holiday island) or semestertillägg ('holiday supplement', the extra pay workers in Sweden receive when they take annual leave as part of the country's vacation law).

And the recently coined portmanteau hemester (hem or 'home' + semester) is the equivalent of the English term 'staycation' to refer to a holiday within one's country of residence. Less commonly, you'll hear svemester (from Sverige or 'Sweden' + semester), which means the same thing within Sweden.

Examples

Jag behöver en semester!

I need a holiday!

Vi tog en månads semester i Italien

We took a month's holiday in Italy

Do you have a favourite Swedish word you would like to nominate for our word of the day series? Get in touch by email or if you are a Member of The Local, log in to comment below.

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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: nyckelpiga

These little red and black insects are starting to pop up in gardens and fields all across Sweden. But where does their name come from?

Published: 14 May 2024 09:18 CEST
Swedish word of the day: nyckelpiga

Nyckelpiga, or nyckelpigor in the plural, is the Swedish word for the red and black spotted insects known in English as ladybirds or ladybugs.

Their name is made up of two words in Swedish, nyckel, which is the word for key, and piga, meaning a maid or other female servant, so it could be literally translated as a “keymaiden”.

In many European languages, these insects have names which relate to the Virgin Mary. 

In English, legend has it that farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary asking her to protect their crops, and when ladybirds appeared to eat aphids (a common garden pest), they called them “Our Lady’s birds”, which over time was simplified to ladybirds.

They’re known as mariquita in Spanish and marieta in Catalan, while in Danish and Norwegian they’re called mariehøner or marihøner (literally: Mary hens), and in German they’re called Marienkäfer (Mary beetles).

The Swedish term has a less obvious relationship to the Virgin Mary, and dates back to Sweden’s Catholic past.

Mary is believed in Catholicism to have seven sorrows, which are all events in her life often depicted in art by seven swords piercing her heart. The most common ladybird in Sweden has seven spots, which were seen as representing these seven sorrows.

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Seven was also considered to be a holy number in general, and it was believed therefore that ladybirds held the keys to heaven on behalf of Mary. According to an old Swedish folk tale, anyone who releases a captured ladybird would be let through the gates of heaven, and in many countries they are believed to be able to reveal when someone will marry.

In Sweden, it was said that if one landed on your hand and walked along your fingers, it was measuring new gloves for you, which meant that you were either going to attend a wedding or a funeral, and in France, a woman could put a ladybird on her finger and count out loud until it flew away, with the number reached representing how many years would pass before she would marry.

Another word for ladybird in Swedish is gullhöna (yellow hen), which most likely refers to the less common yellow ladybirds with black spots.

These ladybirds were believed to be able to predict the weather in some parts of Sweden. In Bohuslän, ladybirds meant good weather, and if you saw one, you were supposed to say gullhöna, gullhöna, flyg, flyg, flyg, så blir det sommar och gott, gott väder (ladybird, ladybird, fly, fly, fly, then it will be summer and good, good weather). In Värmland, however, seeing a ladybird meant the opposite: bad weather and rain.

Example sentences:

Tycker du inte att det har varit ovanligt många nyckelpigor i år?

Don’t you think there has been an unusually large number of ladybirds this year?

Nyckelpigor är ett bra nyttodjur att ha i trädgården då de äter bladlöss.

Ladybirds are a good beneficial insect to have in the garden, as they eat aphids.

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 US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

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