Sveticism

A Sveticism (English: /ˈsvɛtɪsɪzəm/) is a grammatical construction, loanword or calque originating from the Swedish language.

Sveticisms are particularly found in the Finnish language, because Finland's governing bureaucracy was mostly Swedish-speaking until the 20th century. The use of Swedish grammatical constructions in official speech is a particularly persistent habit. The Swedish kommer att future tense is an example, being translated to tulla + third infinitive in illative case,^[1] e.g. talo tullaan rakentamaan < Swedish huset kommer att byggas 'the house will be built'. The language regulator^[who?] recommends against such usage in official speech.

Sveticisms are also common in Norwegian.^[2] Swedish loanwords in Norwegian include words such as kjendis ('celebrity'), kompis ('friend') and the prefix el- ('electric') as well as phrases such as saken er biff ('everything has been taken care of') and på sikt ('in the long run').^[2]

Sveticisms in English are loanwords, such as smörgåsbord, ombudsman, tungsten, orienteering, moped and running the gauntlet (reinterpretation of Swedish gatlopp).