svinna

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

svinna f (genitive svinnu, plural svinnur)

1. sagacity, good sense

Borrowed from German schwinden.

svinna (present svinner, preterite svann, supine svunnit, imperative svinn)

1. to cease, to vanish, to disappear, to diminish, to fade

   medan dagen svann för natten, medan natten svann för dagen.

   as the day gave way to the night, as the night gave way for the day.

   Nu synen svann – på öde torg sken månen ner, / Och jag stod ensam kvar men ej som främling mer.

   Now my vision faded – on the lonely square the moon shone down, / And I was left alone but a stranger no more.

   • Shakespeare: Hamlet, act 1, scene 2, Horatio speaking:

     Men tuppen gol i samma ögonblick, Och vid dess gälla ljud han for sin väg Och svann utur vår syn.

     But even then the morning cock crew loud, / And at the sound it shrunk in haste away / And vanished from our sight.

• Only used in poetic, romantic style. The modern word is försvinna.

• svinn
• svunnen (“bygone”)

• svinna in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• svinna in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• svinna in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

• vinnas