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You are here: Experts > Cultures > Europe for Visitors > Swedish > PORRIDGE
Expert: karinafp
Date: 2/6/2003
Subject: PORRIDGE
Question
Hi Karin!
I'm told that det bytter ikke noget = it doesn't matter in Danish.
It seems that the Icelanders have borrowed this word (i.e. bytta) into their language.
Is a word for word translation of DET BYTTER IKKE NOGET into Swedish a possibity, here please? Just so I can get a proper idea of the meaning, and how the sentence works.
BYTTER must be CHANGES, and NOG surely means ENOUGH, doesn't it? Not "anything".
But noget?
Cheers,
Simon
Answer
Hi Simon!
Yes, we also have the word BYTA, which means CHANGE.
DET BYTTER IKKE NOGET means, strictly speaking,
IT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING. A word by word translation to Swedish would be:
DET ÄNDRAR INTE NÅGOT.
NOGET in Swedish is NÅGOT, and it's not the same as NOG = ENOUGH.
In Swedish, I could say "Det ändrar inget", but the usual way of saying "It doesn't matter" is "Det spelar ingen roll".
"Inte något" = "inte någonting" = "inget" = "ingenting". Four ways of expressing the same thing.
NE says about the word BYTA: "HIST.: sedan äldre fornsvensk tid; fornsvenska. byta; av lågtyskans. büten med samma betydelse". I.e. it's a German word, originally, but so old that it was used already during the Viking era, which explains why it exists in Icelandic.
Lots and lots of snow here, but finally it's stopped snowing. It's a beautiful, sunny day, but 18 degrees Centigrade BELOW zero... I prefer to stay indoors and look at it...
Regards,
Karin
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