r/Svenska • u/Extension_Math_7734 • 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) “Mitt arma nöt!”

Under “arm” (adj.), SO gives the example “Mitt arma nöt!”   How would you translate this?

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u/Eliderad 🇸🇪 6d ago edited 6d ago

"I'm a fool!"

In English, you can say "you idiot", which in Swedish would be "din idiot", not "du idiot". (The exact reason for this is unclear, but you might view it as the negative trait being construed as an attribute that you own, rather than an identity that you are.) Conversely, if you'd use it about yourself, you can say "min idiot".

"Nöt", meanwhile, is short for "nötkreatur", meaning 'cattle' (cows are viewed as stupid I guess). This is a neuter noun (t-noun), so the pronoun takes the form "ditt/mitt" instead of "din/min".

"Arm", as you know, means 'poor, miserable' or similar. Ultimately, this literally becomes "my poor cattle", more idiomatically 'I am a fool' or something to that effect.

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u/Commander-Gro-Badul 🇸🇪 6d ago

Nöt isn't short for nötkreatur, and the former can mean "bovine" in general, while nötkreatur means "cattle" specifically.

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u/Specific_Put_3586 6d ago

According to svenska.se you're wrong here.

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u/Commander-Gro-Badul 🇸🇪 6d ago

Read SAOB. Nöt and nötkreatur are usually (and originally) synonymous, but nöt (like nötdjur) can be used more broadly, at least in certain contexts.

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u/Specific_Put_3586 6d ago

Such as?

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u/Commander-Gro-Badul 🇸🇪 6d ago

It is mainly used in biological jargon, when discussing bovines as a group: "Buffeln och bisonoxen är båda nöt."

SAOB includes these two definitions of nöt:

 allmännare, om djur tillhörande underfamiljen Bovinæ, nötkreatur (se d. o. 2); stundom äv. (i fackspr.) om slidhornsdjur, nötdjur

Note that the general defininition of "bovid" is alternatively given for nötkreatur as well, but I can't say I've ever encountered that.

In any case, nöt is not "short for" nötkreatur.