Scandinavian false friends
From UniLang Wiki
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Some false friends among the scandinavian languages
The words in the first column are in use with different meanings in Scandinavian languages. The actual meaning in a particular language is given in English.
An example: A Swedish speaker uses the word "le". Find the word in the left column and go to the column with the "Swedish" heading to see the English term for what he is talking about (which is "to smile" or "a smile"). Differences in spelling are shown lightly emphasized.
| the word... | Norwegian | Swedish | Danish | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| biograf | biographer - author of biographies | cinema mostly the shorter bio is used |
|||
| bæsj | poop | bärs - slang for beer | Spelling differs, but pronunciation is almost identical. | ||
| fatte | grasp (comprehend) make (a decision) |
fatta
-grasp (physical grip as well as comprehension)
-make (a decision)
-(in passive form, "fattas") to be missing |
grasp (physically take hold of) | There is a rumor that one of the rejected suggestions for inscription above the main entrance of the swedish parliament building (Riksdagen) was:
Här fattas visa beslut,which is a pun (wise decisions are either made or missing). |
|
| frø | seed | frö seed |
-frog -seed |
||
| grine | weep | grina weep |
laugh | In the Scanian dialect of Swedish, geographically near to Denmark, "grina" means "to laugh". | |
| glass | glass | ice cream | glass | sw."glas"=eng."glass" | |
| is | ice cream | ice | ice cream | ||
| kjør | drive | cows | |||
| klapp | -clap -pat |
-pat -gift |
klap -flap, lid -slap -clap |
||
| kor | choir | cows | not so different 8-) | ||
| kul | bump | fun | coal | Danish "kul" has a short u. No. and Sw. "kul" have a long u | |
| le | laugh | smile | |||
| myr | marsh, swamp | ant | |||
| må | must |
mustfeel att må bra = to feel good |
can/may (is allowed to) | ||
| rar | funny (strange and/or amusing) | -nice, pleasant (about people or people's actions) -rare |
pleasant | ||
| rolig | calm | amusing | calm | "Rolig" once meant "calm" in Swedish too, as the Swedish word for "anxious" is "orolig" (o- being a negative prefix such as the English un-). | |
| sopp | mushroom | soppa, but sopp- in compounds soup |
|||
| spis | eat | stove | |||
| svamp | sponge | mushroom | |||
| svær | huge | svår Difficult |
-difficult -crust of bacon |
||
| tull | nonsense | customs | |||
| var | -was/were -wary |
-where -every |
|||
| vil | want | (take a) rest | want | pronounced with long i in Swedish, short i in the other languages. | |
| vill | wild | want |
