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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: medlidande

Our word of the day can be used to express the painful sadness you feel when a loved one – or a complete stranger – is hurting.

Swedish word of the day: medlidande
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Our Swedish word of the day – medlidande – was suggested by The Local’s Member Chris Parrish a few years ago, who wrote in an e-mail: “I spent time working with adults from all walks of life in Sweden and was warmed by the natural ability of many to feel compassion for others, regardless of nationality, religion or skin colour. I’m sure this is still present even though the far-right winds are blowing stronger.”

Medlidande consists of two parts, med which means ‘co-‘ or ‘with’ and lidande which means ‘the state of suffering’. Its closest English equivalent is ‘compassion’, the act of feeling kind-hearted sympathetic concern or sadness for another person who is suffering or has been affected by some kind of misfortune.

Today its meaning is figurative, but in old Swedish it could also literally mean that a person shared an affliction with someone else, or for example that a body part was affected by pain elsewhere in the body.

It can also be expressed as a verb form: jag lider med dig, I’m suffering with you, and indicates that you feel the other person’s pain, so strongly that you are even prepared to carry some of it in a philosophical sense.

Similarly, the word compassion (which is used in various forms in languages such as English, French and Italian) comes from the Latin com (‘with’, ‘together’) and pati (‘to suffer’, compare to for example ‘The Passion’ which in Christianity refers to the crucifixion and final period of the life of Jesus).

But because lidande is a modern word that – unlike ‘passion’ – is used to talk about suffering in everyday speech, medlidande perhaps comes across as more blunt and literal than its English equivalent.

As The Local has previously noted, the Swedish language is wonderfully literal.

“For me compassion doesn’t come close to the Swedish ‘suffering with’, but I suppose that is part of the joy of learning another language, examining and bringing the words to life,” Parrish told The Local.

Example sentences:

Jag känner stort medlidande med dig.

I feel great compassion for you.

Jag vill inte ha deras medlidande.

I don’t want their compassion.

Hon är väldigt medlidsam.

She is very compassionate.

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

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For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: jordgubbe

If there's one thing Swedes can't get enough of in summer, it's these.

Swedish word of the day: jordgubbe

Jordgubbe is made up of two words: jord and gubbe.

Jord means earth or soil, and it’s also used in Swedish for Planet Earth.

It’s easy to assume that jordgubbe means “earth man”, gubbe on its own being a common word for referring to a male person (usually gubbe refers to someone either very young or very old, and it can be either affectionate or derogatory, depending on the context).

But this is wrong.

  • Don’t miss any of The Local’s 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

Gubbe is also a Swedish dialect word used to refer to a small lump, so jordgubbe literally means “a small lump that grows in the earth” – more accurate, but less romantic than picturing strawberries as tiny little men who live in our garden and are to be picked and eaten with whipped cream… now that we think about it, “small lump” is probably better.

Strawberries were introduced to Sweden in the second half of the 18th century and were originally called ananassmultron due to their Latin name (Fragaria x ananassa).

The word jordgubbe has existed in the Swedish language since at least 1638, but was then the main name for musk strawberries, later known as parksmultron in Swedish.

Jordgubbar are one of the staple foods on Midsummer’s Eve and Swedes are convinced that they grow the best strawberries in the world.

Example sentences:

Polisen misstänker att gängkriminella har infiltrerat jordgubbsindustrin

Police suspect that gang criminals have infiltrated the strawberry industry

Goda jordgubbar! Är de svenska eller belgiska?

Yummy strawberries! Are they Swedish or Belgian?

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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