Blogging from A to Z in April - The Letter O - Friday 17th April 2015

 

Thursday 17th April 2015 - The Letter O.

 O is for all of those O-ORD in Swedish (='un'-, 'im'- and 'in-words'; often adjectives) that mean the opposite or the negation of the ground form. Examples? OMÖJLIGT (=impossible) or OTROLIGT (=unbelievable, incredible) OSANT (=untrue, false, not true, a lie) OSKÖNT (=not beautiful, not pretty, ugly) OANTRÄFFBAR (=unavailable) OUPPNÅLIGT (unreachable) OGÖRLIGT (undoable) OSYNLIGT (=invisible) OÖVERTRÄFFAT (=unbeatable).

I think you get the picture.

In English the over-use of these negating prefixes is used for fun , such as wishing someone a happy un-birthday. But you would never say 'happy un-birthday' in Swedish. But certain Swedish writers have actually created new words for their stories by using prefixes and suffixes in new and unexpected ways, or just making new compound words putting old words together.

More examples?

Have an un-bad day today!

Thank you for reading!

Best wishes,
Anna












First Commenter:
Tanya Walton