{"id":7206,"date":"2016-01-25T17:32:40","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T17:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=7206"},"modified":"2016-01-25T17:32:40","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T17:32:40","slug":"swedish-lego-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/swedish-lego-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish Lego Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lego was founded in 1932 in Billund, Denmark. The name of the company is a portmanteau combining the Danish words leg<\/em> (play) and godt<\/em> (well). Play well. Lego. Cute, right? But the word lego<\/em> has existed in Swedish for quite some time, albeit in a much more sinister context. Legosoldat<\/em> is the Swedish word for mercenary.<\/p>\n

This is one of those words that I associate with tiny\u00a0little Lego people\u00a0that I played with as a child. They were easy to buy at the store, just like a mercenary\u2014a legosoldat<\/em>\u2014would be easy to buy, if that was a thing you were into. That\u2019s a false etymology and has nothing to do with the word at all. Not even close.<\/p>\n

\"USDF<\/a>

<\/p>\n

I have stepped on so many of these poor little Lego soldiers in my life. \u201cUSDF soldiers<\/a>\u201d by Brian Rinker<\/a> \u2013 Own work. Licensed under CC BY 2.0<\/a> via Flickr<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

After a little digging and an incredible (and short) article by Institutet f\u00f6r spr\u00e5k och folkminnen<\/em>, which has some super interesting Swedish articles about language and folklore, it turns out that the word legosoldat<\/em> has been around since the 1800s and that legoknekt<\/em> (knekt<\/em> being another word for solider) has been around since the 1600s. The word lego<\/em> has been around in Swedish since the 1500s. At least. So for those of you scoring at home, the Swedes were using the word lego<\/em> about 400 years before those colorful building blocks were getting stuck to your feet.<\/p>\n

This is where the historical linguists come in. Lego comes from the noun lega<\/em> in Old Swedish. Essentially it means something that could be rented out. So legosoldat<\/em> = soldier that can be rented out = mercenary. There are a few other words that you might see in Swedish that use lego<\/em> as a prefix, for example:<\/p>\n

Legoarbete<\/em> = contract work
\nLegoavtal<\/em> = rental contract (a judicial term)
\nLegok\u00f6rning<\/em> = contract delivery
\nLegostadga<\/em> = historical term about the law regulating the relationship between employers (usually landowning farmers) and their employees
\nLegotillverkning<\/em> = contract manufacturing
\nLegotrupp<\/em> = mercenary. Again. There are quite a few words for mercenary in Swedish.<\/p>\n

So there you go. When you see the word lego<\/em> tacked on to the beginning of a word in Swedish, chances are it has nothing to do with the toys.<\/p>\n

Interested in practicing your Swedish by learning more about the etymology of legosoldat<\/em>? Check it out Vad \u00e4r det f\u00f6r lego i legosoldat<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Lego was founded in 1932 in Billund, Denmark. The name of the company is a portmanteau combining the Danish words leg (play) and godt (well). Play well. Lego. Cute, right? But the word lego has existed in Swedish for quite some time, albeit in a much more sinister context. Legosoldat is the Swedish word for…<\/p>\n

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