Yesterday eclipse fever hit Europe, as the moon blocked up to a hundred percent of the sun in some countries. In Sweden, the solar eclipse was only partial, but at just over 80 percent coverage, it still got people talking.
So if you want to join the conversation in Swedish, the word you want is solförmörkelse, which means "solar eclipse." But, as with plenty of Swedish words, its literal translation is more fun.
Like many Swedish words, solförmörkelse is a compound:
- sol = sun
- förmörkelse = darkening (from the verb förmörka, meaning “to darken” and the adjective mörk – “dark”).
This gives en solförmörkelsen a literal English translation of "a sun-darkening," which, in addition to being a handily straightforward description of the thing, has a nice poetic ring to it.
Said poetic ring, to an English ear, may have something to do with the ancient pedigree of the root words in solförmörkelse, both of which come from Old Norse (sól and myrkr).
People in the Nordics have been recording solar eclipses for over a thousand years – astronomical records and historical texts note a significant total solförmörkelse over Scandinavia back in 810 AD.
Some historians think that ancient people witnessing these sudden "sun darkenings" believed they were warnings that the end of the world was near – a perception which, if you've ever had the experience of a total or near-total eclipse, is easy to understand.
In Scandinavia, this shows up in Norse mythology: Ragnarok, the apocalypse starts when the wolves Skoll and Hati devour the Sun.
With Wednesday’s solar eclipse, the word solförmörkelse has been making regular appearances in Swedish media and conversation; now you may even be able to deploy it yourself.
Examples
Såg du solförmörkelsen igår?
Did you see the solar eclipse yesterday?
Man ska ha solförmörkelseglasögon för att skydda ögonen mot de farliga strålarna.
Solar eclipse glasses are needed to protect the eyes against dangerous solar rays.
Totala solförmörkelser förekommer i genomsnitt 66 gånger på 100 år.
Total solar eclipses occur, on average, 66 times every 100 years.
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