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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Marcipangris

Today's word of the day, 'marcipangris' is apt for those who hog the Christmas party prizes.

What is marcipangris? 

marsipangris, or marzipan pig, is just that: a pig figurine made out of marzipan, often covered in chocolate.

This delicious confectionary animal pops up in various sizes in many supermarkets, confectionery, and speciality shops in Denmark during the festive season, and is also commonly referred to as a julegris (“Christmas pig”).

The marcipangris is popularly used as a prize given to the winner of Christmas games at holiday gatherings. The classic Christmas game with which it is associated is the risalamande challenge. 

Risalamande is a hugely popular cold rice sweet mixed with whipped cream, vanilla and chopped almonds and served with warm cherry sauce.

By tradition, one whole almond is left in the mix, which is then spooned into everyone’s bowls when it’s time to have dessert after Christmas dinner.

Whoever finds the whole almond wins a present (the mandelgave or “almond gift”), which is customarily a julegris. The game is often fixed so that a child (or children) wins the prize.

Why do I need to know marcipangris?

According to Videnskab.dk, the “almond gift” custom originated in France, but risalamande – despite its French-sounding name – is very much Danish.

That is because increasingly creative ways to make meals using rice emerged in Denmark after rice became a more inexpensive ingredient in the 1800s.

Meanwhile, it was tradition to slaughter a pig to give fresh (rather than salted) meat for the Christmas meal, despite the popularity of duck as a Danish Christmas dinner staple in later years.

As such, there is some sense in the link between a pig and a sweet-tasting Christmas treat.

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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Kværn

This unassuming little word pops up surprisingly often in Danish, so it's a very good one to have in your vocabulary.

Danish word of the day: Kværn

What is kværn?

Kværn is a noun meaning “mill” or “grinder”, used to refer to any kind of tool or machine that breaks a substance down into smaller pieces.

kværn can be small, for example a peberkværn (pepper mill) or kaffekværn (coffee grinder).

There’s some overlap between kværn and mølle, the Danish word for “mill”. In the past, mølle might have been used to refer to household items like the coffee grinder. It’s now become the reserve of larger pieces of machinery like windmills (vindmølle), but there is stills a bit of interchangeability in Swedish, a sister tongue of Danish.

If you’re in Skåne – the Swedish province closet to Denmark — the word for “mill” in the local dialect is not kvarn but mölla.

Why do I need to know kværn?

The above describes how to use kværn as a noun, but it’s also a verb, at kværne, meaning “to grind” or “to mill”.

Apart from everyday uses like jeg kværner kaffebønnerne (”I’ll grind some coffee beans”), you won’t hear it too often in its literal sense, but it has a lot of figurative meanings too.

For example jeg var så sulten, at jeg kværnede maden uden at sige et ord means ”I was so hungry I gobbled down (literally ’crushed’ or ’ground’) the food without saying a word”.

This can also apply to drinking: han sad og kværnede bajere hele aftenen (“he sat there downing beers all evening”).

It can also be used to describe working very hard, as in jeg skal bare kværne, indtil projektet er færdig (“I have to keep grafting until the project is finished”).

Finally if someone kværner bare løs, it probably means they are talking non-stop.

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