plöja med andras kalvar

Swedish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Literally, “plow with others' calves”. From Judges 14:18, where the Philistines solve Samson's riddle by threating his wife (heifer), and getting the answer to the riddle from her.

Verb

plöja med andras kalvar (present plöjer med andras kalvar, preterite plöjde med andras kalvar, supine plöjt med andras kalvar, imperative plöj med andras kalvar)

  1. (idiomatic) to plow with other people's heifers, to exploit other people's work (and not give them credit)
    • 1541, “Domarboken 14:18”, in Laurentius Andreæ, Olaus Petri, Laurentius Petri et al., transl., Gustav Vasas bibel‎[1], accessed at Litteraturbanken.se, courtesy of Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek, archived from the original on 27 May 2025:
      Om j icke hadhen plögt medh minom kalff, j hadhen intet råkat på mina gåto.
      [Om ni icke hade plöjt med min kalv, hade ni inte råkat på min gåta.]
      If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.
    • 1978, Sten Lindroth, Svensk lärdomshistoria III. Frihetstiden‎[2], P. A. Norstedt & söners förlag, accessed at Litteraturbanken.se, courtesy of Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek, archived from the original on 27 May 2025, page 621:
      Stiernman prålade med lånta fjädrar; det har visat sig att han långa stycken bara översatt ett otryckt arbete av Schefferus [...]. Också annars kunde han [...] plöja med andras kalvar.
      Stiernman adorned himself with borrowed plumes; it's been shown that he had just translated long passages of an unprinted work by Schefferus. In other cases, too, he would plow with other people's heifers.
    • 2009 August 19, Catharina Grünbaum, “Bondspråk”, in Språktidningen‎[3], archived from the original on 27 May 2025:
      Är man smart ser man [...] till att utnyttja andras arbetskraft eller idéer – man plöjer med andras kalvar.
      If you're smart, you make sure to exploit other people's work or ideas – you plow with other people's heifers.

See also

References

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