ägna

From Old Norse eigna, related to eiginn. Related to äga (“to own”) and egen (“(one's) own”). Also compare German eignen, English own.

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ägna (present ägnar, preterite ägnade, supine ägnat, imperative ägna)

2. (reflexive, with åt (“towards”)) to engage oneself (in some activity), to spend time (doing something)
   • 1974, Lasse Tennander, “Ska vi gå hem till dig [Shall We Go to Your Place ["home to you" – idiomatic]]”, in Allting som ni gör kan jag göra bättre [Anything You Do, I Can Do Better [a cover album]]‎^[1], performed by Magnus Uggla:

     Ska vi gå hem till dig eller hem till mig, eller var och en hem till sitt? Ska vi göra som dom andra och ägna oss åt varandra, eller ska var och en sköta sitt?

     Shall we go to your place ["home to you" – idiomatic] or to my place [home to me], or each one ["each and one" – idiomatic] home to theirs [nominalized – neuter gender is used when there is no concrete referent, like in impersonal constructions and here, as a rule of thumb]? Shall we do like the others and spend time on [towards] each other [engage in each other as an activity – "devote" gives the wrong idea here – see the usage notes below], or shall each one mind [take care of] theirs [nominalized]?

   I somras ägnade vi oss mycket åt fiske

   This summer we spent a lot of time fishing

   (literally, “This summer we engaged ourselves a lot in fishing [spent a lot of time engaged in the activity of fishing, as in fished a lot]”)

   ägna sig åt småbrott

   engage in petty crime

   1. to devote oneself
3. (reflexive) synonym of lämpa sig

   Den här kroken ägnar sig för gäddor

   This hook is suited for pikes

4. (usually with åt (“towards”)) to spend (something towards something)

   I somras ägnade vi många timmar åt fiske

   This summer we spent many hours fishing [spent many hours towards fishing]

   Vi ägnade vår tid åt fiske

   We spent our time fishing [spent our time towards fishing]

   1. to devote

      Författaren ägnar ett utförligt kapitel åt modernismen i Frankrike

      The author devotes a comprehensive chapter to [towards] modernism in France

   2. to spare

      ägna någon en tanke / ägna en tanke åt någon

      spare someone a thought

   3. to pay

      De ägnade henne ingen uppmärksamhet

      They paid her no attention

5. (obsolete) to make own (make have possession) (All other senses ultimately derive from this one.)

• Ägna does not imply dedication in the way devote sometimes does. Spend is a match for tone. See the song quotation above for an example of a case where devote gives the wrong idea.
• Can intuitively be understood as "spend oneself towards something" in (sense 1), though the native intuition is closer to "do something."

• tillägna

• syssla
• ämna

• ägna in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ägna sig in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ägna in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ägna in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• ägan