# Swedish: (nick) clegg



## Språkliga Möten

I was listening to the local radio and the host was talking about the british election debates and talked about Nick Clegg, adding that clegg might be a bad swedish surname but apparently it's ok for the english.

What would "clegg" mean in Swedish?


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## Lars H

Hej

"Klägg" or "klegg", either way pronounced just as Mr. Cleggs surname, is a dialectal or slang word used to describe filth, particulary if it is sticky, wet or greasy filth. 

Stuff like motor oil mixed with dust, sun melted old cheese or remainders a road kill are some examples of what I would describe as "klägg", and I would use it to underline that it is really discusting.

Dry filth like ashes or dust would not qualify to be seen as "klägg", at least not by me.

So the radio host did not by any means exaggerate


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## DieuEtMonDroit

Is this a Stockholm dialect? I, down in Småland, have never heard it...


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## Lars H

DieuEtMonDroit said:


> Is this a Stockholm dialect? I, down in Småland, have never heard it...



I don't know, but it could be so. I live i the Stockholm area and I do use it, but I usually try to avoid any situation where the word comes in handy.
Neither do i know where the word comes from, perhaps it is a combination of "kladd" and "gegga", in English "smudge" and "goo".

According to this site it could also be a name for some sort of nasty insect, and that was something new to me:
http://www.folkmun.se/definition/Klägg (In Swedish)

Which does not make things better for anyone named Clegg.

Nice thread this is


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## basslop

A littel bit off topic bringing in Norwegian: The Norwegian word *klegg *(prounounced the same way as Clegg) is gadfly/horsefly in English. That's interesting in an electoral campaign.


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## Wilma_Sweden

Lars H said:


> I don't know, but it could be so. I live i the Stockholm area and I do use it, but I usually try to avoid any situation where the word comes in handy.
> Neither do i know where the word comes from, perhaps it is a combination of "kladd" and "gegga", in English "smudge" and "goo".
> 
> According to this site it could also be a name for some sort of nasty insect, and that was something new to me:
> http://www.folkmun.se/definition/Kl%C3%A4gg (In Swedish)
> 
> Which does not make things better for anyone named Clegg.
> 
> Nice thread this is


Scanians use it - at least I do. I've grown up with klägga, noun with the same meaning, and as a verb: klägga ner sig, which we would normally say to, or about, small kids (who are well known masters in the art of messing themselves up): Usch, Putte, vad du har kleggat ner dig! 

... and I, too, think of gunge, goo and other yucky substances when I see the name Clegg. I haven't been able to find any etymology for it. Lars' guess sounds plausible.


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## Silver_Biscuit

The Oxford English Dictionary gives this definition of 'clag':

*1.* The process or product of clagging; a sticky mass adhering to feet or clothes, entangled in hair, or the like; a clot of wool consolidated with dirt about the hinder parts of a sheep, etc. 

It says it's a Northern dialect word, and a lot of Northern dialect is of Scandinavian origin. So I would guess that 'clag' is the English equivalent of klegg.
As regards the insect: in Icelandic kleggi means horsefly. Probably related?
The etymology for the verb *to clag* is given in the OED:

[Not traced beyond the 15th c.: perh. of Norse origin, cf. Da. _klag_, _klagge_, sticky mud, clay, _klæg_, _klæget_ viscous, glutinous, sticky, which point to the same origin as OE. _clæ, _CLAY. There may have been some subseq. association with _clog_; but in localities where _clag_ is indigenous, it is kept quite distinct from _clog_.] 

P.S. Although this is not the etymology of the surname Clegg. Plus, clag is not at all a common word in English.


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## Lars H

Silver_Biscuit said:


> P.S. Although this is not the etymology of the surname Clegg. Plus, clag is not at all a common word in English.



Interesting. But what about "cleg"? In "Svenskt dialektlexikon" (link below) from 1862-67 I found "klägg" as a name for Tabanus, or horse fly/hästfluga. According to this source, it is "klegg" in Norwegian and "cleg" in Scottish.

Might affect the voting in Scotland 

http://runeberg.org/dialektl/0361.html


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## Pteppic

In Norwegian, klegg can also be used about a person who is intrusive and difficult to get rid of (much like the horsefly).


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## Silver_Biscuit

Yep, 'cleg' is a Scottish dialect word for horsefly. I doubt it's used much though nowadays - the examples in the OED are all from the 19th century. You'd have to ask a Scot, I suppose.

The surname Clegg is apparently from the Old Norse word *kleggi* meaning both horsefly and a 'cock of hay', or a small haystack, according to this dictionary.


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## Wilma_Sweden

Great! I didn't know about the horsefly, but I hate gunge and I hate horseflies, so Nick Clegg is now doubly stigmatised!


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## Åvävvla

Lars H said:


> In "Svenskt dialektlexikon" (link below) from 1862-67 I found "klägg" as a name for Tabanus, or horse fly/hästfluga. According to this source, it is "klegg" in Norwegian and "cleg" in Scottish.
> 
> Might affect the voting in Scotland


 
I grew up in Värmland and I used to say klägg. The dictionary locates the word to Västergötland, so I suppose it's mostly used in western Sweden (and not what the host was referring to ) .


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## md7dani

Nope doesn't mean anything in "Göteboska"...


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