# Whence Storkyrkan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573 "2020-06-28T20:02:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573/1 "2020-06-28T20:02:13Z")

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Stockholm’s prominent landmark, the Storkyrkan (church) is featured with a photo in today’s Wikipedia main-page. The entry at Wikipedia for that church has no info about how it received such a name, the first five letters being a bird with mythical symbolism.  
Googling on “storks and church steeples,” I found this partial statement in a Belarus website having to do with the national bird of that country: “White storks build their nests in towers or church steeples…”  
The obvious question, then, is whether there is an etymological connection between storks and the church in Stockholm.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573/2 "2020-06-28T20:25:10Z")

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Apparently the word means “the great church.”

> **[Storkyrkan - Stockholm Cathedral | GuidebookSweden](https://www.guidebook-sweden.com/en/guidebook/destination/storkyrkan-stockholm-cathedral)**
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> The Saint Nikolai Kyrka (English: Church of St. Nicholas) is known as the cathedral of Stockholm and is primarily called Storkyrkan (The Great Church). It is located next to the Royal Castle in Stockholm's old town Gamla Stan and has witnessed...

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**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573/3 "2020-06-28T21:51:56Z")

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Thanks. Your info looks valid, and the confusion I had had apparently derived from coincidence.

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**Author:** ![missing\_link](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@missing\_link](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missing_link)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573/4 "2020-06-30T07:29:36Z")

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@Darren_Garrison is right. Stor means great in the sense of big or large and kyrka means church.  
In Swedish, the definite article is not a separate word before the noun like in english (a church vs the church) but is added as a suffix to the word (en kyrka vs kyrkan). So, storkyrkan = the big / great church

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-storkyrkan/913573/5 "2020-06-30T13:14:10Z")

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> The entry at Wikipedia for that church has no info about how it received such a name

If you look right after the pronunciation of the church, Wikipedia does say "lit. ‘The Great Church’ ").