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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: pant

This Swedish false friend means something quite different from the English, and it's a crucial word for living in Sweden.

Published: 19 October 2021 08:05 CEST
Swedish word of the day: pant
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Pant refers to money paid as security for something; in English it could be translated as “refundable deposit”, “security” or “pawn”.

For example, if you buy property in Sweden, you will probably be told the property is currently pantsatt, which means a mortgage has been taken out against it (this should be resolved on the day the property changes hands). You could also pay money in pant as security against other kinds of debts.

But in everyday life, the more common usage is the pant fee you pay when you buy recyclable bottles and cans. This is listed as a separate amount on your receipt, so a drink in a plastic bottle may cost you 23 kronor and an extra 2 kronor in pant. You get the pant back by recycling the bottles at pantmaskiner/pantstationer (bottle and can recycling stations) which can be found in most Swedish supermarkets. Similar schemes exist in Germany, Denmark and Norway among others, with the aim of encouraging recycling.

In Sweden, the scheme was introduced in 1984, and today Pantamera, the company operating the pantsystem, says 99 percent of Swedes participate in it, with more than 200 bottles recycled per person in 2020. The company’s goal is for 90 percent of all cans and PET bottles to be recycled in Sweden, and in 2020 they weren’t far off at 88 percent.

The verb panta means to hand something in and get money in return, but usually it refers simply to the act of recycling bottles. You can also use pant to talk about other similar recycling schemes, for example at restaurants which charge a pant fee for their packaging which is returned if you bring the box back for recycling.

Examples

Miljarder burkar har återvunnits sedan Sverige införde pant 

Millions of cans have been recycled since Sweden introduced refundable deposits

Jag lämnar den här i pant

I’ll hand this over as security

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.

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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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