Where does “var och varannan” come from?
var och varannan (Swedish) comes from Swedish varannan, from Swedish vår, from Old Swedish var, from Old Norse vár, from Old Norse vás, from Proto-Norse ᚹᚨᛋ, from Proto-Germanic was, from Proto-Indo-European h₂wes- — to dwell, live, reside; to stay, spend the night.
var och varannan (Swedish): every other (a large proportion of)
Definitions
- every other (a large proportion of)
Ancestry of “var och varannan”, step by step
var och varannan traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Swedish varannan
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swedish | varannan | every other (every second) |
| 2 | Swedish | vår | our; belonging to us; spring; the season between... |
| 3 | Old Swedish | var | — |
| 4 | Old Norse | vár | spring |
| 5 | Old Norse | vás | toil, fatigue, from bad weather |
| 6 | Proto-Norse | ᚹᚨᛋ | was |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | was | first/third-person singular past active... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂wes- | to dwell, live, reside; to stay, spend the night |
via Swedish och
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swedish | och | and; used to connect two homogeneous words or... |
| 2 | Old Swedish | ock | — |
| 3 | Old Norse | ok | and; also, too; yoke |
| 4 | Old Norse | svá | so |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | swa | so, thus, in this manner |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | swē | like, similar to; just like, in the same manner... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | swē | self (reflexive pronoun) |