# Swedish: pronunciation G in ‘fegis’



## Jaybeard

cocuyo said:


> There is of course an exception.
> 
> In any composed word, where the first one ends in n and the second starts with g. If the following letter is a hard vowel (aouå) or any consonant except j the n is pronounced as ŋ, followed by g, while if followed by a soft vowel (eiyäö) or j, the n is pronounced as n and the g takes a j sound.


I know this thread is from a while ago - but I’ll throw this it anyway - 

Any idea why the g in the word ‘fegis’ (coward) is pronounced hard in Swedish and not the usual soft? 

Is it a loan word from another language?


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## Jaybeard

Any idea why the g in the word ‘fegis’ (coward) is pronounced hard in Swedish and not the usual soft?

Is it a loan word from another language?


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## AutumnOwl

"Fegis" comes from the word "feg", an old Swedish word, feg - Wiktionary As the "g" is hard in "feg", so is it hard in "fegis" too, the pronouciation of the "g" doesn't change.


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## Jaybeard

AutumnOwl said:


> "Fegis" comes from the word "feg", an old Swedish word, feg - Wiktionary As the "g" is hard in "feg", so is it hard in "fegis" too, the pronouciation of the "g" doesn't change.


Fascinating. Tack så mycket HöstUggla!


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## Swedish Anna

I love the _-is_ suffix! It's a fun way of creating informal words. In an old slang dictonary I found _Linkis_ for the Swedish town Linköping, and I'm always using it now when I talk about Linköping - but only with my family.  I've never heard anyone else say _Linkis_.
As AutumnOwl explained, the pronunciation depends on the word you add the suffix to.
So _fegis_ and _dagis_ have a hard g, but _bergis_ has a soft g. (_Bergis_ is short for _bergsäker_)
Here are a few more words ending in _-is, _just for the fun of it!
Mellis
Bakis
Stammis
Kändis
Vanlis
Doldis
Nattis 
Föris
//A


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## Segorian

Jaybeard said:


> Any idea why the g in the word ‘fegis’ (coward) is pronounced hard in Swedish and not the usual soft?
> 
> Is it a loan word from another language?


There are in fact a number of words where /g/ is followed by /e/ or /i/ but is still pronounced “hard”. This mainly occurs when the /e/ or /i/ is the first sound of a suffix attached to a word stem. Examples include _fager_ (somewhat formal for ‘beautiful’) and _ljuger_ (present tense of _ljuga_, ‘to lie’).

(On the other hand, the g is soft in _säger_ because it is already soft in the infinitive _säga_.)

As a further example, the g is pronounced the same in:

dag (‘day’)
dager (‘light of day’ (excluding direct sunlight))
dagis (colloquial for _förskola_, previously _daghem_, ‘preschool/nursery school’)
The same goes for _fegis_, which is formed from _feg_ (‘cowardly’) and the same suffix as in _dagis_.

The suffix _-is_ is used to form colloquial nouns and adjectives derived from the regular word. Dozens of such words exist. Some of the most frequently used are _godis_ (‘sweets/candy’), _kompis_ (‘companion/friend’) and _Grattis!_ (‘Congratulations!’). Also, humorously, _Grammis_ (the Swedish version of “The Grammys”).


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## AutumnOwl

Swedish Anna said:


> I love the _-is_ suffix! It's a fun way of creating informal words. In an old slang dictonary I found _Linkis_ for the Swedish town Linköping, and I'm always using it now when I talk about Linköping - but only with my family.  I've never heard anyone else say _Linkis_.
> 
> bergis has a soft g. (_Bergis_ is short for _bergsäker_)


When I lived in Linköping I heard students at the university use "Linkeboda" about Linköping, possibly people from Småland, as there are many placenames ending with -boda in that area.

As for "bergis", for me it's the name of a bread (vallmofranska) used in Stockholm, in Göteborg and on the west coast we called it "barkis". Bergis och barkis - Brödinstitutet


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## Swedish Anna

AutumnOwl said:


> When I lived in Linköping I heard students at the university use "Linkeboda" about Linköping, possibly people from Småland, as there are many placenames ending with -boda in that area.
> 
> As for "bergis", for me it's the name of a bread (vallmofranska) used in Stockholm, in Göteborg and on the west coast we called it "barkis". Bergis och barkis - Brödinstitutet


"Linkeboda"! Haha, I'll remember that.


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## Jaybeard

Segorian said:


> There are in fact a number of words where /g/ is followed by /e/ or /i/ but is still pronounced “hard”. This mainly occurs when the /e/ or /i/ is the first sound of a suffix attached to a word stem. Examples include _fager_ (somewhat formal for ‘beautiful’) and _ljuger_ (present tense of _ljuga_, ‘to lie’).
> 
> (On the other hand, the g is soft in _säger_ because it is already soft in the infinitive _säga_.)
> 
> As a further example, the g is pronounced the same in:
> 
> dag (‘day’)
> dager (‘light of day’ (excluding direct sunlight))
> dagis (colloquial for _förskola_, previously _daghem_, ‘preschool/nursery school’)
> The same goes for _fegis_, which is formed from _feg_ (‘cowardly’) and the same suffix as in _dagis_.
> 
> The suffix _-is_ is used to form colloquial nouns and adjectives derived from the regular word. Dozens of such words exist. Some of the most frequently used are _godis_ (‘sweets/candy’), _kompis_ (‘companion/friend’) and _Grattis!_ (‘Congratulations!’). Also, humorously, _Grammis_ (the Swedish version of “The Grammys”).


Thanks for taking the time to answer my question so thoroughly! 🙏


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