''Lagom'' (pronounced , ) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

word meaning "just the right amount" or "not too much, not too little". The word can be variously translated as "in

moderation Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes. It is used to ensure normality throughout the medium on which it is being conducted. Common uses of moderation include: *Ensuring consistency and accuracy in the marking of stud ...

", "in balance", "perfect-simple", "just enough", "ideal" and "suitable" (in matter of amounts). Whereas words like ''sufficient'' and ''average'' suggest some degree of abstinence, scarcity, or failure, ''lagom'' carries the connotation of appropriateness, although not necessarily perfection. The archetypical Swedish

proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...

"''Lagom är bäst''", literally "The right amount is best", is also translated as "Enough is as good as a feast", or as "There is virtue in moderation".

Etymology

The origin of the term is an archaic dative plural form of ''lag'' ("law"), in this case referring not necessarily to judicial law but common sense law. Literally meaning "according to law", a more close translation would be "according to custom" or "according to common sense". The earliest attestations of the word are from 17th century texts. A common

false etymology A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word. It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a ...

claims that it is a contraction of "''laget om''" ("around the team"); according to this myth, the phrase was used in

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

times to specify how much

mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...

one should drink from the horn as it was passed around in order for everyone to receive a fair share.

Use

''Lagom'' is most often used as an adverb, as in the sentence "''Han är lagom lång''" (literally "He is just the right height"). ''Lagom'' can also be used as an adjective: "''Klänningen var lagom för henne''" (literally "The dress was just right for her"), which would be equivalent to "The dress fits her". The adjective form is never

inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defi ...

Cultural significance

The value of "just enough" can be compared to the idiom "less is more", or contrasted to the value of "more is better". It is viewed favorably as a

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

alternative to the

hoarding Hoarding is a behavior where people or animals accumulate food or other items. Animal behavior ''Hoarding'' and ''caching'' are common in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will a ...

extremes of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...

: "Why do I need more than two? ''Det är''

t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...

''lagom''" It can also be viewed as repressive: "You're not supposed to be too good, or too rich". In a single word, ''lagom'' is said to describe the basis of the Swedish national psyche, one of consensus and equality. "My aunt used to hold out her closed fist and say, "How much can you get in this hand? It's much easier to get something in ''this''

pen A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

hand".

Comparable terms in other languages

The word "''lagom''" also exists in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, in both

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

and

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

. The connotations in Norwegian, however, are somewhat different from Swedish. In Norwegian the word has synonyms as "fitting, suitable, comfortable, nice, decent, well built/proportioned". While some synonyms are somewhat similar in meaning (e.g. "suitable" and "reasonable", "fitting" and "in balance"), many present in Swedish do not exist in Norwegian and vice versa. The Norwegian words "''passelig''" and the more common "''passe''" are very similar, translating roughly as "fitting, adequate, suitable" in English. "''Passe''" can be used in every context where the Swedish "''lagom''" is used, e.g. "''passe varm''" (right temperature/adequately warm), "''passe stor''" (right size), etc.

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

has the word "Sopivasti", which carries similar connotations of "just right". The concept of ''lagom'' is similar to Russian expression ''normal'no'' (''нормально'', literally normally), which indicates a sufficient and sustainable state, for example of one's livelihood. In Russian, the word is often used as answer to the question "how are you". Comparable terms are found in some south Slavic languages, for example Serbo-Croatian ''umereno'' or ''umjereno''. Ιn ancient Greek, there was the famous phrase of

Cleobulus Cleobulus (; el, Κλεόβουλος ὁ Λίνδιος, ''Kleoboulos ho Lindios''; fl. 6th century BC) was a Greek poet and a native of Lindos. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Life Cleobulus was the son of Evagoras and a citizen of Li ...

, ''metron ariston'' (), meaning "moderation iterally: measureis best". In Albanian there is the same use of word "taman". The word "taman" derives from Ottoman Turkish "tamam" meaning "precisely", borrowed from Arabic where it means "complete", "perfect". In Albanian is used pretty much the same as "lagom", as in "a ''taman'' amount", "not a ''taman'' person" (not a normal person), "taman!" (agreed, OK), etc. This word ("taman") is also used in some Slavic languages (South Slavic) and it almost perfectly translates "lagom" to those languages. In

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

, the word พอเพียง (phor phiang) portrays similar meaning. In Indonesia, both

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

and Javanese, there is a common word for that, ''pas,'' which means right amount (countable measurement), match, enough. In Swiss German dialects exists, similar to lagom, the word "gäbig", which in German means something like "comfortable", "suitable", "handy", in the case of objects or in relation to people and conditions "affable", "pleasant", "sympathetic".

References

{{reflist

External links

* The Swedish Academy's dictionary
''Svenska Akademiens ordbok''.
Swedish words and phrases Swedish culture