Swedish word of the day: rötmånaden

Rötmånaden comes from the Old Swedish word röta, "to make something rot", and the word månad, the Swedish word for month. It can therefore be translated into English as "the rot month".

The month gets its name from the weather at this time of year. Simply put, high humidity along with warm temperatures means that food rots or spoils more easily. 

The Swedes weren't the first to notice this connection. The ancient Romans also realised that food spoils more quickly at the height of summer, calling this period dies caniculares or "the dog days" after Canis Major or the Great Dog, the constellation which first appeared in the sky around this time.

This constellation and its brightest star, Sirius, were considered in Greek astrology to be connected to heat, drought, thunderstorms, fever, mad dogs and general bad luck.

The term hunddagarna (literally: the dog days) can also be used instead of rötmånaden in Swedish, although rötmånaden is more common. 

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In Sweden, rötmånaden was historically seen as a bad time for births, whether that be the births of people or animals. According to the Institute for Language and Folklore, calves during this time were believed to be deformed, foals were wild, sick and untameable, and piglets simply died.

People born at this time were believed to be smaller than usual, clumsy or "depraved", according to interviews collected by the institute, and in modern Swedish the term rötmånadshistoria ("rot month story") is still used to describe a story which sounds unlikely or unbelievable.

The weather during this period was expected to be very changeable, and if the weather was too stable, it was believed that this would cause issues such as "frost, misgrowth and pestilence of all kinds" lasting until the next rot month.

Due to the higher likelihood of food spoiling, some tasks, such as the slaughter of animals, were left until after the rot month ended, and people often avoided bathing, which can't have been particularly pleasant during the hottest and muggiest part of the year.

We wouldn't recommend that you avoid bathing this month, but paying extra attention to how you handle and store your food over the next few weeks might be a good idea.

The Swedish Food Agency has guidelines for what you should keep in mind during rötmånaden with regard to food hygiene, such as ensuring food is kept cold from the supermarket to your home, keeping the temperature of your fridge around 4 degrees, and taking a freezer bag with ice packs with you if there's a danger of your food becoming warm before you get home.

Swedish vocabulary:

"Har ni hört? De har tydligen hittat spår av utomjordingar i Malmö!" "Det där är bara en rötmånadshistoria."

"Have you heard? Apparently they've found traces of aliens in Malmö!" "That's just a rot month story."

"Usch, den här osten jag köpte förra veckan är redan möglig..." "Vad förväntade du? Det är ju rötmånaden."

"Ugh, this cheese I bought last week is already mouldy..." "What did you expect? It's rot month."