How do you say peace in Norwegian?

July 20, 2009 2:11 PM

Is there another word for peace in Norwegian (besides Fred)? How does the word Roen (sp?) translate?

I spent years thinking that a word my Norwegian grandmother taught me meant 'peace'. Recently have been considering getting a tattoo that incorporates that word and can't find anything on the internet that supports this translation. I once met a girl from outside Oslo who told me that the word sounded like a greeting that her and her friends used.
Roen is the only way I can think to spell it, but could be another way. I can't find the word on any translation sites.

posted by jddizzle to Writing & Language (9 answers total)

I searched the Norse version of Wiktionary for "roen" and got redirected to "ro". It lists "fred" as one of the synonyms and links to the English page for "peace", so it's probably an acceptable synonym.

I'll leave it to a Norwegian speaker to explain how "roen" is grammatically different from "ro", if there is a difference. A bit of cursory googling suggests "-en" is a standard singular ending, though.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:36 PM on July 20, 2009

Best answer: Danish speaker here, so caveat emptor.

Fred is the literal tranlation of peace. Ro means quiet (i.e., fred og ro = peace and quiet). Roen would be "the quiet." (with the definite article).

But please get validation from bonafide Norwegians before getting inked!
posted by AwkwardPause at 2:44 PM on July 20, 2009

"Ro" is, IIRC, the nominative singular. It means "peace" but, IIRC, more in the sense of "tranquillity" than "freedom from conflict". (For instance, Tolstoy's masterwork is Krig og fred in Norway.)
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:47 PM on July 20, 2009

AwkwardPause has it. The word roen is used for things like "På vidda finner jeg roen" = "I find peace in the mountains." (And yes, I´m Norwegian.)
posted by the_unutterable at 2:49 PM on July 20, 2009

To back up what Sidhedevil said, the Wiktionary page links to "peace", "rest", and "quietude" as acceptable English translations. So it is probably "peace" in the placid/calm/tranquil sense.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:50 PM on July 20, 2009

Swede here (so the_unutterable's suggestions obviously outweighs mine, but there's a lot of overlap in the Swedish/Norwegian/Danish Venn diagram. But! The spellings vary quite a bit.).

We have also have "ro", and "lugn" (esp. in the common phrase "lugn och ro" -- peace and quiet). And "fred" ("krig och fred" -- war and peace).

"Frid" (~ peace/tranquility). "Frid vare med er," (Peace be with you), "Jag önskar dig en fridfull jul," (I wish you a peaceful christmas).

"Stillhet" (~peacefulness, stillness): "En känsla av stillhet sköljde över henne." (A sense of stillness washed over her.), "Stilla havet" (Pacific Ocean).
posted by Glee at 4:19 PM on July 20, 2009

We have also have ...
2 min. edit pony
posted by Glee at 4:22 PM on July 20, 2009

Everyone else hit it, so I will just add that "rolig" in Swedish means funny, while "rolig" in norwegian means calmer or more peaceful, always good for a confused laugh.
posted by Iteki at 11:38 AM on July 21, 2009

Also:

"Har du roen?" (Do you have roen?)

Slang, translates to:

Do you know what you're doing?

And, on the street:

Do you have / know where to get drug of choice...
posted by SurrenderMonkey at 12:19 PM on July 22, 2009