# Swedish speakers: Name my farm **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989 "2014-01-06T00:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IzzFlrRN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@IzzFlrRN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzFlrRN)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/1 "2014-01-06T00:52:29Z")
My husband and I are in the process of buying a small farm in New England. He is devoutly Swedish-American and I read that most farms in Sweden have their own names. We’d love to hear suggestions for this farm, especially something that emphasizes fishing from the ponds on the farm grounds! Thank you in advance, exited to hear what you all come up with! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/2 "2014-01-06T02:17:52Z")
Well, in Swedish “fishpond” is “fiskdamm” Maybe you can do something with that? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/3 "2014-01-06T02:56:49Z")
_Carpe Diem._ ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/4 "2014-01-06T05:02:44Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > _Carpe Diem._ Gotta work the Swedish angle here. What’s Swedish for “We catch carp daily from our own ponds!” ? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/5 "2014-01-06T10:56:26Z")
I used a couple of online translators and they both came up with the same thing: \*Vi fånga karp dagligen från våra egna dammar \* ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/6 "2014-01-06T13:41:47Z")
Karpkroken, perhaps? Krok is both the word for a fishing hook and a curved road or stream, so it can work on both levels. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/7 "2014-01-06T13:58:16Z")
Hut-Sut Rawlson? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/8 "2014-01-06T18:11:39Z")
forellengård ---
**Author:** ![Toffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@Toffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toffe)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/9 "2014-01-06T18:59:20Z")
I’m low on imagination today, but I know a farm in Sweden called Himmelsända. I love the name because it could mean “sky’s end”, “heaven’s end”, or possibly “heaven-sent”. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/10 "2014-01-06T19:03:37Z")
Der Fishen Laken Furm. Bork, Bork, Bork! ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/11 "2014-01-06T22:32:21Z")
Fleurgenhogen PS. I do not actually speak Swedish ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/12 "2014-01-06T22:49:56Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Well, in Swedish “fishpond” is “fiskdamm” > > Maybe you can do something with that? Presumably Swedish also has common suffixes for place names that mean “home” or “farm” or even “manor”? I know from reading about the history of Greenland that many if not most of the farms in the medieval Norse period had names ending in in “-nes”, which I therefore assumed means “farm” in the late Old West Norse / Proto-Danish language used in that time and place. I know, modern Swedish != late Old Norse, but you’d think a similar pattern might be evident. Therefore, Fiskdammnes? Why don’t you try walking around the store for a bit and see how it feels? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/13 "2014-01-06T23:23:31Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I know from reading about the history of Greenland that many if not most of the farms in the medieval Norse period had names ending in in “-nes”, which I therefore assumed means “farm” in the late Old West Norse / Proto-Danish language used in that time and place. Nice theory, but utterly wrong. “Nes” in Scandinavian means small cape, or headland. ETA: > [@Telperion](#): > > Karpkroken, perhaps? Krok is both the word for a fishing hook and a curved road or stream, so it can work on both levels. “Krok” can also mean something like “corner” ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/14 "2014-01-06T23:24:26Z")
“-nes” means a bit of land poking out into the water. Quite a lot of them in Scandinavia. Suffixes with farm connotations include “-rud” (clearing), “-gaard” (farm), “-mark” (field) “-stad” (homestead), “-bu” (grazing field), or “-torp” (village). So, Dammgaard or Dammstad would be something like “Pond Farm”. Dammnes is a bit more stylish though. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/15 "2014-01-06T23:35:30Z")
“-torp” is also a very Swedish word. Found in a lot of names of small places in Swedish, but never in Norwegian or Danish. I’ve always thought it meant “small farm” (“torpet” is often used meaning “the farm” in Swedish), but I’m not Swedish and there are some words which are unique to each of the three Scandinavian languages. What about “Karptorpet” (“The carp farm”)? ETA: I was right about the meaning of “torp”: [Torp - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torp) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/16 "2014-01-06T23:42:56Z")
Come on, admit it…this whole thread is just a thinly veiled ad for Ikea, right? I hope you enjoy your new farm! Do you plan to work it, or just enjoy the scenery? ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/17 "2014-01-06T23:42:58Z")
BTW, Wikipedia isn’t precise in its definition of “torp”. A “torp” was the home of a [tenant farmer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenant_farmer) (a “[torpare](http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpare)”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/18 "2014-01-06T23:49:52Z")
_ **Sjö‎** _ (pronounced roughly like “shoe” or “show”) is Swedish for “lake.” _ **Sjö‎landet** _ would be “Lakeland.” _ **Sjö‎skogen** _ would be “Forest of the Lake.” Stress on the first syllable in both cases. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/19 "2014-01-06T23:51:24Z")
Yeah, I was using a badly laid out norwegian source for “-torp”, and messed up my reading. I’m not swedish either, I’m danish/norwegian I agree it is very swedish-sounding, but it does come up in Norwegian place-names. There is a small norwegian airport called Torp. But it is not common as a suffix except in sweden. Another vote for “Karptorp” or “Karptorpet”, that is really cool-sounding. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989/20 "2014-01-07T00:08:34Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > “-torp” is also a very Swedish word. Found in a lot of names of small places in Swedish, but never in Norwegian or Danish. I’ve always thought it meant “small farm” (“torpet” is often used meaning “the farm” in Swedish), but I’m not Swedish and there are some words which are unique to each of the three Scandinavian languages. “Torp” isn’t completely unique to Swedish, you can see it used in Norwegian once in a blue moon (it was more common in the past). There are several places in Norway called simply Torp, including an airport, and it’s also used as a surname. In Danish, you can see lots of place names and surnames ending in “-trup” or “-rup”, which is the Danish version of the word. It’s cognate with the German “dorf”, as well as (obviously) the English “thorp/thorpe”. Edit: What \*\*Septima \*\*said. :smack: And yeah, I agree that it’s particularly evocative of Swedish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-speakers-name-my-farm/677989.md?page=2)