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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: lussekatt

Will you have a lussekatt today? Or two?

Published: 13 December 2021 14:41 CET
Updated: 13 December 2023 05:48 CET
the word lussekatt on a black background beside a swedish flag
Why do Swedes eat cats on Lucia day, anyway? Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Our word of the day today is lussekatt, the bright yellow S-shaped saffron buns on offer on every street corner in Sweden during the Christmas season.

The first half of the word, lusse, is a shortened version of Lucia, and the second half, katt, is the Swedish word for “cat”.

Lucia is easy to explain – lussekatter are traditionally eaten on December 13th to celebrate Luciadagen – or Lucia Day. They are also sometimes referred to as lussebullar.

The prefix lusse- is also seen in lussebrud – the girl leading the Luciatåg or Lucia procession, often wearing lit candles in her hair.

But what does a cat has to do with saffron buns?

The original name for lussekatter was djävulskatter or “Devil’s cats”. This can be traced back to the 19th century, when a German tradition of baking buns shaped like sleeping cats started to become popular in Sweden. Cats were associated with the devil, who baked the buns and gave them to naughty children at Christmas.

Saffron – which was starting to become widespread as a Christmas spice in Sweden at that time – was mixed in to the buns, as the spice was traditionally seen as having magic powers which could help ward off the devil.

At some point, “Devil’s cats” became “Lucia cats”, probably due to the fact that they were eaten on Lucia Day.

  • Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local’s new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button

But that’s not the only link with Satan: Lucia, along with Lucifer (another name for the devil) both share a common root: lux, the Latin word for light.

So, there’s some food for thought next time you’re tucking into a Lucia bun.

Example sentences:

Vi åt lussekatter till fikat i dag.

We had lussekatter with our fika today.

Vill du baka lussekatter på söndag?

Do you want to bake lussekatter on Sunday?

Need a good Christmas gift idea?

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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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: själv

Today's Swedish word can help you talk about independence, solitude... and swearwords.

Published: 11 April 2024 09:31 CEST
Swedish word of the day: själv

The word själv means “self”, as in han gjorde det själv (he did it himself), jag tycker själv bäst om våren (I personally prefer spring), vad tycker du själv (what do you yourself think?) or as parents of Swedish-speaking two-year-olds will know too well, kan själv (“can self!” or “I can do it myself!”).

Själv can also mean “alone” – not necessarily implying that the speaker is feeling lonely – such as jag var hemma själv (“I was home alone”) or jag gick på bio själv (“I went to the cinema on my own”). If you’re feeling lonely, you should instead say jag känner mig ensam.

It appears in several compound words, such as självisk (selfish) or osjälvisk (unselfish/selfless), självbehärskad (restrained, or more literally in control of oneself) or självförtroende (confidence).

  • Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button

A trickier word to explain is självaste.

Självaste can also mean him or herself, but think of it as a more extreme version, implying that the speaker has some sort of reaction to the person in question, perhaps they’re impressed or shocked. Other translations can be “in the flesh” or “none other than”.

For example: jag vände mig om och då stod självaste drottningen där (“I turned around and the Queen herself was standing there”) or de vann mot självaste Barcelona (“They won against none other than Barcelona”).

You also often hear it when Swedes swear. Det var då självaste fan (“It was the devil… in the flesh”) may be said by someone who is annoyed that something went wrong or isn’t working, although more often than not they’ll leave the last word unspoken: det var då självaste… (similarly to how an English-speaker may say “what the…” leaving out the cruder word “hell”).

Examples:

Själv är bästa dräng

If you want to get something done you’d best do it yourself

I själva verket

In actual fact (in fact, actually)

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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