# Swedish: hundvakt åt hundarna



## Språkliga Möten

I listened to the radio where a listener says her mother has become "hundvakt åt hundarna". 

I looked up the word but couldn't find the right answer, since hundvakt apparently means a guard who is taking care of a ship at night. What does "hundvakt åt hundarna" mean exactly?


----------



## LilianaB

Dog walker I think. Somebody who takes care of dogs.


----------



## Åvävvla

LilianaB said:


> Dog walker I think. Somebody who takes care of dogs.



Yup, pretty much, but not specifically one who walks (other people's) dogs. An example would be to get a _hundvakt_ if you are travelling or otherwise cannot look after your dogs for a short period of time. The _hundvakt_ (a neighbor, friend, relative) will make sure the dogs are fed et.c.

_Att ha hundvakten_ means to be on (guard-) duty aboard a ship after midnight.


----------



## hanne

So a "dog sitter", I guess (cf. barnvakt).

So it isn't really necessary to add "åt hundarna" at the end, is it? It sounds like it's just the kind of redundancy you sometimes get in spoken language.


----------



## Åvävvla

hanne said:


> So a "dog sitter", I guess (cf. barnvakt).
> 
> So it isn't really necessary to add "åt hundarna" at the end, is it? It sounds like it's just the kind of redundancy you sometimes get in spoken language.



No, you don't have to add "åt hundarna".


----------



## LilianaB

Wouldn't the word hundvakt come from the times when there were special people in charge of dogs, for example hunting dogs? Just out of curiosity.


----------



## AutumnOwl

LilianaB said:


> Wouldn't the word hundvakt come from the times when there were special people in charge of dogs, for example hunting dogs? Just out of curiosity.


It would probably have been hundskötare (a title which still is used for people taking care of dogs).


----------



## LilianaB

Thank you.


----------



## Sepia

Paa dansk er "hundevagten" ogsaa et udtryk fra soefarten (maaske ogsaa paa svensk). Det er vagten i de mest ubehagelige timer af natten/morgenen - saa vidt jeg husker mellem 0200 og 0600. Der er vel ogsaa en vis doppeltydighed i brugen af ordet, gaar jeg ud fra.


----


I see that somebody already mentioned this - so just take this as a confirmation that the expression also is used in Scandinavia in the same sense.


----------



## LilianaB

It is an English expression as well, and in other languages. It is just a naval or marine expression - dog watch. I just was not familiar with it in any language.


----------



## Den falska sköldpaddan

Språkliga Möten said:


> I listened to the radio where a listener says her mother has become "hundvakt åt hundarna".
> 
> I looked up the word but couldn't find the right answer, since hundvakt apparently means a guard who is taking care of a ship at night. What does "hundvakt åt hundarna" mean exactly?


It simply sounds like bad spoken Swedish—a redundant construction like "dogsitter for the dogs". Words like _hundvakt_ and _kattvakt_ are like _barnvakt_.


----------

