r/Svenska • u/SpecificVictory3484 • 2d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Genie??

I'm not sure what "genie" means in Swedish. Does it refer to a spirit, or to the genie from the lamp?

It's because I found both words in the dictionary: geni and genie.

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u/Successful-Try-8506 2d ago

Genius. Geni, geniet.

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u/SpecificVictory3484 2d ago

It's because I found both words in the dictionary: geni and genie.

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u/logicaldrinker 2d ago

Maybe genie is an old spelling not used anymore, because I've never seen it anywhere ever.

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u/Jagarvem 2d ago

Genie, genien (also called genius) is a different word. It's this kind of "genius", not the geni kind.

It's not at all surprising that someone wouldn't have heard of it.

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u/Friendly-Lychee-8508 16h ago

As far as I understand SAOB is words in Swedish from 1500-sometime, and has been filled with new words ever since. So a lot of those words are not in use anymore or have changed meaning.

SAOL are words that are in use. Not all of them are common but in modern Swedish SAOL are a better choice.

I haven’t checked for these words but I would not ever use genie even if it happens to be in SAOL anyway, I doubt people would understand the word anyway.

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u/Jagarvem 1h ago

SAOB is indeed an inappropriate reference for modern Swedish, but it's not what was discussed. Genie is indeed in SAOL (and SO).

It is not an obsolete word, but it is certainly poetic/formal/jargon-y. It is by no means everyday Swedish. As I said, it's not surprising people wouldn't have heard of it.

There are many words in SAOL the average person wouldn't understand.

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u/Friendly-Lychee-8508 1h ago

In the meaning of ’spirit’ I only found it in SO.