Swedish word of the day
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Swedish word of the day: ålahue
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 9 Jan, 2019 CET.
Updated: Tue 25 Jul 2023 14:57 CET
Scanians don't take fools gladly, and that's reflected in the local language. The inhabitants of Sweden's southernmost county have as many ways of calling someone stupid as the indigenous peoples of the Arctic have for snow (almost).
Chief among these is ålahue.
A compound noun composed of the word ål, meaning 'eel', and hue, the Scanian (skånska) dialect form of the Swedish huvud or 'head', ålahue means, literally, 'eel head'.
It requires the correct pronunciation to achieve full effect, beginning with a vowel like the beginning of "elephant" in English and dipping almost immediately into the start of "oops" before hitting the "l" sound.
See it performed by a true Scanian (who did not wish to be named) below:
Mathias Strandberg, an expert in Scanian dialect at Sweden's Institute for Language and Folklore, told The Local the word probably had its roots in the local eel fisheries.
"I suppose it must have to do with eel fishing being an important enterprise in Scania, at least in some parts of it," he said. "The eel is widely recognized as a typically Scanian product."
Strandberg believes the word is new in its current form, as Scanian only developed hue as a common word for head relatively recently, with it replacing ho in the far south.
Hue, he adds, was for some time the 'normal' form of the word huvud over large parts of southern Sweden.
The phrase can be used as a pejorative whenever someone is performing a task poorly or displays ignorance.
Listen to Mathias Strandberg explaining Scanian pronunciation in the video below:
Examples
Så kan du ju inte göra, ditt ålahue!
You can't do it that way, you idiot!
Skåne tillhörde Danmark på den tiden, ditt ålahue!
Scania belonged to Denmark in those days, you fool!
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Chief among these is ålahue.
A compound noun composed of the word ål, meaning 'eel', and hue, the Scanian (skånska) dialect form of the Swedish huvud or 'head', ålahue means, literally, 'eel head'.
It requires the correct pronunciation to achieve full effect, beginning with a vowel like the beginning of "elephant" in English and dipping almost immediately into the start of "oops" before hitting the "l" sound.
See it performed by a true Scanian (who did not wish to be named) below:
Mathias Strandberg, an expert in Scanian dialect at Sweden's Institute for Language and Folklore, told The Local the word probably had its roots in the local eel fisheries.
"I suppose it must have to do with eel fishing being an important enterprise in Scania, at least in some parts of it," he said. "The eel is widely recognized as a typically Scanian product."
Strandberg believes the word is new in its current form, as Scanian only developed hue as a common word for head relatively recently, with it replacing ho in the far south.
Hue, he adds, was for some time the 'normal' form of the word huvud over large parts of southern Sweden.
The phrase can be used as a pejorative whenever someone is performing a task poorly or displays ignorance.
Listen to Mathias Strandberg explaining Scanian pronunciation in the video below:
Examples
Så kan du ju inte göra, ditt ålahue!
You can't do it that way, you idiot!
Skåne tillhörde Danmark på den tiden, ditt ålahue!
Scania belonged to Denmark in those days, you fool!
Don't miss a Swedish word of the day by downloading our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.
Do you have a favourite Swedish word you would like to nominate for our word of the day series? Get in touch by email or if you are a Member of The Local, log in to comment below.
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