Dryg has two meanings in Swedish, perhaps three:

1. Something that lasts, like concentrated dish soap.

2. To be cocky or haughty.

3. Just about or a little more than – as in drygt en halvtimma, “just about half an hour”. 

The relation of the two first meanings is actually interesting, and connected to the Swedish for queen. Dryg in the sense “something that lasts” is the oldest. Svensk ordbok, the dictionary of the Swedish Academy, traces it back to the latter half of the 14th century and the Old Swedish parchment hagiography, the Codex Bureanus, one of the oldest manuscripts in Swedish.

You might ask, what in the name of the Lord is a hagiography? Well, the name of the Lord would be proper here, as a hagiography is a text about the lives of saints. You could call it a sort of legend of the saints, which is what it is called in Swedish, a legendarium. The text is called Bureanus simply because it was gifted to a certain Johannes Bureus in 1634. Bureus later donated it to the National Archives, but today it resides at the Royal Library. 

In the Codex Bureanus, dryg appears as drygher ‘durable, who is enough’. This word is itself related to drott, which is even older, dating to at least the 11th century. A drott was an Old Norse lord with his own court. It is not hard to see the reasoning behind linking the meaning ‘durable’ or ‘lasting’ with the title of a lord. 

Drott is found on rune stones in the runic form trutin, it morphs to Old Swedish drotin, and here, the Swedes among you might immediately see where this is going. Have you ever wondered why ‘queen’ is drottning in Swedish, whereas ‘king’ and kung are nearly identical? This is why. 

This could perhaps also be why dryg in the second sense exists. Who better than a queen to think herself better than others?

But there is yet another possibility. Moving backwards in time the word drótt means ‘(the king’s) warrior retinue’. Perhaps the attitude of the king’s warrior retinue was drygt? In the Gothic that predates it the word driugan meant to ‘do military service’. 

Think of that the next time you use your dryga diskmedel – that is concentrated washing-up liquid. And be advised that the primary meaning of dryg is for a person who is acting arrogantly.

Example sentences:

Hur kan man vara så dryg?

How can one be so haughty?

Jag älskar det här diskmedlet, det är sååå drygt!

I love this washing-up liquid, it’s sooo concentrated!

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is now 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.