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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: Hetebølge

Today's word hasn't always been associated with Norway, but instances have become increasingly common in recent years.

Norwegian word of the day: Hetebølge

What does it mean?

Hetebølge is the Norwegian word for a heatwave, and is a simple compound of the word for heat (hete) and the word for wave (bølge).

This word isn’t the most common for heat. Instead, the word varme is used when referring to heat. You would use varme in other compounds, such as a heat pump (varmepumpe).

Heatwaves, for obvious reasons, haven’t always been associated with Norway. Still, the country can see prolonged periods of 25c or 30c plus days.

In the summer, the warmest part of Norway is usually a village called Nesbyn, which holds the national heat record (varmerekord) as a temperature of 35.6c was recorded in 1970. The area’s unique microclimate means that it has also gotten as cold as -38c in the past.

Heatwaves will, unfortunately, become more common in Norway due to global warming. Even if Norway doesn’t experience super common heatwaves, plenty of Norwegians will feel the heat on the continent as they typically travel to the Mediterranean, or Syden, as Norwegians call it, every summer.

Use it like this

Jeg lurer på om det blir hetebølge i Norge i sommer.

I wonder if there will be a heatwave in Norway this summer.

Det var hetebølge i Hellas i juni med nesten 40 varmegrader.

There was a heatwave in Greece in June, and it was almost 40 degrees.

Det er meldt hetebølge neste uke.

The forecast is predicting a heatwave next week.

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