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NORWEGIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Norwegian word of the day: Medlidenhet

Today's Norwegian word of the day can be used to express the sadness you feel when a loved one – or a complete stranger – is having a hard time. 

Pictured is the Norwegian word of the day.
Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash and Nicolas Raymond/FlickR

What is medlidenhet?

Medlidenhet consists of three parts: med, which means ‘co-‘ or ‘with’; lide which is the infinitive form of the verb “to suffer”, and het, a suffix which turns an adjective into a noun (like -ness in English).

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.

Why do I need to know medlidenhet?  

Today, its meaning is figurative, but in the old Norse languages, 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.

The influence of this can be seen in the modern expression jeg føler med deg, “I’m feeling with you”, which 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.

The use of å føle (“to feel”) here is worth noting because it is a component of a similar word, medfølelse, which is a synonym to medlidenhet, but has a milder meaning which is closer to the English’ sympathy’.

You could also say it’s the direct opposite to skadefryd, the sense of joy taken from another’s misfortune, a word which is loaned to many other languages in its German form, Schadenfreude.

Use it like this:

Der var en stor bølge af medlidenhet i den norske befolkning etter at nyheten om naturkatastrofen ble kjent.

There was a wave of compassion throughout the Norwegian public after the news of the natural catastrophe broke.

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NORWEGIAN WORD OF THE DAY

Norwegian word of the day: Middelmådig

Given that Norwegians don’t like to kick up too much of a fuss, they sometimes settle for less.

Norwegian word of the day: Middelmådig

What does it mean?

Middelmådig is the Norwegian word for mediocre. The word is borrowed from Danish, but this should come as no surprise.

Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are considered mutually intelligible, meaning users of the languages should be able to understand one another.

Norwegian, particularly, borrows plenty of words from Swedish and Danish. This was due to the country’s various historical unions with the other two nations.

This led to a large influence of Swedish and Danish on the Norwegian language, as Norway was typically the poorer and less influential country.

Things have changed these days , and the countries stand on a more even footing with one another, mostly thanks to oil. Still, the impact of Swedish and Danish has remained, despite various movements to make the language moreNorwegian

Back to the word middelmådig, Norwegians typically don’t like confrontation. Therefore, some may settle for mediocrity. This is most likely to happen at a restaurant when the food isn’t totally awful (helt dårlig), but it’s not great – or arrived colder than it was meant to. 

The word isn’t used just for mediocrity. It directly translates to the middle level or middle strength. Therefore, you can use the word to describe being adequate at something. In this sense, you would “være middelmådig begavet,” or “be moderately gifted” when translated to English.

Use it like this:

Mine fotballferdigheter er middelmådige.

My football skills are mediocre.

Kunnskapen min om dette emnet er middelmådig.

My knowledge of this subject is mediocre.

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