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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: trevligt

Today’s Swedish word has an IKEA-hob named after it, which promises a nice hob, or so one might assume from the word. 

Published: 8 July 2022 15:51 CEST
Swedish word of the day: trevligt
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Swedes love to have it trevligt or even jättetrevligt. Trevlig simply means ‘pleasant’, ‘pleasurable’, ‘nice’ or ‘jolly’, and can be used to describe a person or an experience. 

The origin of the word is in the Old Swedish þriflika (that first letter is a th-sound), and it is related to trivas, which means to ‘feel a lasting sense of comfort and satisfaction’ or just ‘to feel at home somewhere or with something’. Old Swedish, by the way, is the Swedish spoken from 1225 to 1525 AD.

So where can you have it trevligt? Well, the quintessentially Swedish experience of the fika is perhaps the first thing that comes to mind. Trevligt you see is very Swedish in the sense that it is sort of implied that it isn’t too much. It is a nice time, like the one you have sitting with some friends or coworkers having a coffee and a bun.

But then there is the superlative. Oh yes. You did not just have a nice time, it was great (but perhaps not a party, mind you)! It was super nice – Det var jättetrevligt! 

Likewise, a person is trevlig or jättetrevlig, if they are not rude. It is quite neutral to be trevlig, meaning simply that someone is ‘nice’, but if you really liked the person, jättetrevlig is the way to go. 

In short, trevlig is a nice word, useful in your everyday life. But trevlig is not all that it once was.

Trevlig used to also mean ‘industrious’, ‘diligent’, ‘hard-working’, ‘busy’ or ‘worksome’, meanings now more associated with the word flitig. We speculate, but perhaps this might be a linguistic development that has mirrored the increasing comfort of Swedes? Once upon a time, hard work was just a fact of life for the common Swede, today Swedish society is one of the most affluent in the world. One could say Swedes have it quite trevligt.

Practice makes perfect, they say. So on your next outing, be sure to let your Swedish friends and colleagues know that you had it trevligt, hopefully even jättetrevligt.

Example sentences:

Nämen, vad trevligt!

Oh my, how nice!

Asså, jag hade såååå trevligt!

You know, I had such a nice time!

Hur gick det med Annika då? Hon var jättetrevlig!

So, how did it go with Annika? She was so nice!

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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