die dummen Schweden
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Swedish
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pseudo-Germanism, derived from die (“the”) + dummen (“dumb, stupid”) + Schweden (“Swedes”).
Debated origin:
- Possibly from the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) when Swedish soldiers from the countryside where accommodated in German cities, and were there easy targets for local tricksters, fraudsters and swindlers.[1]
- Possibly derived from Hungarian buta svábok (“dumb Swabian”), in German die dummen Schwaben (“the dumb Swabians”), about a German-speaking minority living in southern Hungary from the 18th century to 20th century, who allegedly had limited proficiency in the local language. Later distorted in Swedish to die dummen Schweden.[2]
Cognate with Danish die Dummen Dänen (literally “the dumb Danes”).
Phrase
- An alleged German idiom that portray Swedes as gullible or naive.
- 1865 June 19, “Lotterihumbug [Lottery Humbug]”, in Dagens Nyheter, number 140, page 2:
- Kroken är grof; men "die dummen Schweden" nappa villigt.
- The hook is crude, but the foolish Swedes take the bait eagerly.
- 2019 May 23, Tina Gustafsson, “En rak "lönekarriär" frigör polisresurser! [A straightforward "salary career" frees up police resources!]”, in Blåljus:
- Den tyska polisen kommenterar vårt svenska i-lönesystem med det klassiska citatet " die dummen Schweden" – "de dumma svenskarna".
- The German police comment on our Swedish individual salary system with the classic quote "die dummen Schweden" – "the stupid Swedes".
- 2024 August 2, Tove Lifvendahl, “Transportstyrelsen har varit naiv igen [The Transport Agency has been naive again.]”, in Svenska Dagbladet (editorial):
- Det råder skilda meningar huruvida uttrycket ”Die dummen Schweden” är en faktoid eller inte. Klart är i alla fall att vi gör vad vi kan för att ge fog för tillmälet.
- There are differing opinions on whether the expression "Die dummen Schweden" is a factoid or not. What is clear, however, is that we are doing our best to justify the label.
See also
- German: alter Schwede (“old chap”, literally “old Swede”)