All Scandinavian Languages: False friends

A

Andreas_Jensen

Senior Member
Copenhagen, Nørrebro
Danish
Hey!

A funny thing about the scandinavian languages is that there are several words that are essentially the same but mean completely different things in the respective countries. Personally I don't know so many, but here it goes:

Rolig; Danish: Easy, quiet , Swedish: Funny , Norwegian: ???

Rar; Danish: Nice (person) , Swedish: ??? , Norwegian: Strange

Tøs; Danish: Girl (slang) , Swedish: ??? , Norwegian: Whore

Please, correct if I'm wrong. These are the only ones I can think of now. Please contribute with more :D

Andreas
 
    • Andreas_Jensen said:
    Hey!

    A funny thing about the scandinavian languages is that there are several words that are essentially the same but mean completely different things in the respective countries. Personally I don't know so many, but here it goes:

    Rolig; Danish: Easy, quiet , Swedish: Funny , Norwegian: ???

    Rar; Danish: Nice (person) , Swedish: cute (usually gender stereotyped, as in "en rar tjej") and (in some contexts) rare (en rar växt)=sällsynt. Can also mean strange sometimes, Norwegian: Strange

    Tøs; Danish: Girl (slang) , Swedish: tös=flicka=girl (old-fashioned word) , Norwegian: Whore

    Please, correct if I'm wrong. These are the only ones I can think of now. Please contribute with more :D

    Andreas
    Click to expand...

    I'll write again as soon as I can think of some - there are plenty of pearls out there :D
     
    Här är dansk-svenska falska motsvarigheter - men jag vet inte om de danska orden är rätt, har bara sett i en ordbok och då hittat det här! Kanske någon kan bekräfta!

    blommer (plums) - blommor (flowers)
    forlade (leave?) - förlåta (forgive)
    dreng (boy) - dräng ("farmhand"; boy= pojke)
    kvarter (a quarter [time]?) - kvarter (block [of houses])
    erhverv (occupation?) - ärevarv ("turn of honour" - what a runner does in a sports competition after winning - I think!)
    genert (shy?) - generad (embarrassed)
    høst (harvest) - höst (autumn)
    mås (arse?) - mås (seagull)
    nøjagtig (exact?) - nöjaktig ("acceptable")
     
    jonquiliser said:
    blommer (plums) - blommor (flowers)
    forlade (leave?) - förlåta (forgive)
    dreng (boy) - dräng ("farmhand"; boy= pojke)
    kvarter (a quarter [time]?) - kvarter (block [of houses])
    erhverv (occupation?) - ärevarv ("turn of honour" - what a runner does in a sports competition after winning - I think!)
    genert (shy?) - generad (embarrassed)
    høst (harvest) - höst (autumn)
    mås (arse?) - mås (seagull)
    nøjagtig (exact?) - nöjaktig ("acceptable")
    Click to expand...

    De danske ord er alle rigtige. Et kvarter er 15 minutter, som du har skrevet, men bruges også om et mindre område af en by, som på svensk. Mås en sød måde at sige røv (ass) på, og det bruges kun hvis der er tale om en lille og appetitlig en af slagsen ;)... Det er supersjovt (superroligt;)) at det betyder måge på svensk! :D ("Måge" is seagull in Danish, pronounced "måwe").

    Keep 'em coming! :)

    Andreas


    By the way, sällsynt, does it mean seldom?
     
    Hehe, man behöver bara kasta en snabb blick på en lista danska ord för att hitta många roliga olikheter i betydelser :p :D

    Sällsynt=ovanlig= eng. rare, not common (as in "a rare species of plant")

    "Knepig" är ungefär tricky på engelska. "Knäpp" betyder "crazy", "someone who's lost it". Knäppiga är adjektivet (som i mina öron låter väldigt rikssvenskt) och används för strange, crazy (själv skulle jag använda "knasigt" på svenska). (But in the context of that message, I read "knäppig" as a mixture between difficult and crazy, so quite close in meaning to knepig).

    I'm sure there are many more falsies out there, just waiting to be heard :cool: :p
     
    I'm complicating it a bit more and putting in Norwegian as well ;) (Nynorsk/Bokmål in the cases where there are two...)

    jonquiliser said:
    blommer (plums) - blommor (flowers) blomar/blomster (flowers) - plommer (plums)
    forlade (leave?) - förlåta (forgive) forlata/forlate (leave/forgive)
    dreng (boy) - dräng ("farmhand"; boy= pojke) dreng (farmhand)
    kvarter (a quarter [time]?) - kvarter (block [of houses]) kvarter (15min./part of city/"headquarters")
    erhverv (occupation?) - ärevarv ("turn of honour" - what a runner does in a sports competition after winning - I think!) erverv (occupation)
    genert (shy?) - generad (embarrassed) sjenert (shy)
    høst (harvest) - höst (autumn) haust/høst (harvest/autumn)
    mås (arse?) - mås (seagull) måse/måke (seagull)
    nøjagtig (exact?) - nöjaktig ("acceptable") nøyaktig (exact)
    Click to expand...

    From this list it seems to me that when there are differences in meaning, the Norwegian one is usually (though not always) the same as the Danish one. Does anyone have an opinion/exapmles?

    -S-
     
    Andreas_Jensen said:
    By the way. In the post on "mao" jonquiliser wrote "knepiga" and María Madrid wrote "knäppigt". Are those words the same and what does it mean? 'Cause in Danish "at kneppe" means "to fuck" :D

    Andreas
    Click to expand...
    Yes, I wrote ä, but I meant e (and just one p), probably I was just too tired! Unfortunately when I noticed it was wrong it was too late to edit the message. And no, I didn't mean anything related to the f word. :)
     
    Danish: Tjur = (a bird species) (In Swedish: Tjäder)

    Swedish: Tjur = a bull, male moose etc.
     
    danish: grine (to laugh) norwegian: grine (to cry)
    swedish: bolla (to play ball) danish: bolle (to have sex)
    danish: glas (a glass) swedish: glass (an icecream)
     
    Lingvisten said:
    danish: grine (to laugh) norwegian: grine (to cry)
    swedish: bolla (to play ball) danish: bolle (to have sex)
    danish: glas (a glass) swedish: glass (an icecream)
    Click to expand...

    Lingvist, du tager livet af mig!!! :D Jeg anede ikke at "bolla" på svensk betyder "at spille bold".

    "Glass" (svensk) er "is" på dansk... For nylig har jeg hørt folk sige "is-creme". Det finder jeg moderat forstyrrende!
     
    Some notes on a few of the above examples (Swedish):

    Tös for girl is still in frequent use in Skåne, although hardly north of the Hallandsås. Påg for boy likewise.

    Rar for unusual is a word I've mainly seen in the context of rare plants ("en rar orkidé"), but I find it quite old-fashioned and wouldn't use it normally.

    Plural inflection of the adjective knäpp (=crazy, mad) is knäppa, but knepig (=tricky) is knepiga, just to make things perfectly clear.

    I'd love to know the etymology of the Danish verb kneppe, (=fornicate)since the Swedish verb knäppa, as far as I'm aware, has never had any such connotations.

    /Wilma
     
    Gylendals etymologi:
    Kneppe: v. (dial., vulg.) ´brække, knække, fremkalde el. give en knækkende lyd; knipse; have samleje med´; ænyda., no. d.s., sv. knäppa; i aflydsforhold. til holl. knappen ´knække´, da. knap (s.d.).

    I think it has something to do with the sound that might be heard at such an action. ;)
    if it has any relations with knap, as sugested last in the quote, it might mean "pushing something together"
     
    Lingvisten said:
    I think it has something to do with the sound that might be heard at such an action. ;)
    if it has any relations with knap, as sugested last in the quote, it might mean "pushing something together"
    Click to expand...

    Thank you. I'm in favour of the last interpretation, although I've seen suggestions that is has to do with the action of hitting something/someone.
     
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