spegel

From Old Norse spegill, from Middle Low German spēgel, from Latin speculum (“mirror”). Cognate with Faroese spegil, Icelandic spegill, Swedish spegel and Danish spejl (> Norwegian Bokmål speil)

• IPA^(key): /²spɛɪːəl/, /²spɛ(ː)ɡəl/

spegel m (definite singular spegelen, indefinite plural speglar, definite plural speglane)

1. mirror

   Synonym: (rare) skuggsjå

   Det hang speglar på veggene.

   Mirrors were hanging on the walls.

• “spegel” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Old Swedish speghil, from Old Norse spegill, from Middle Low German spēgel, from Medieval Latin speglum, from Latin speculum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈspeːˌɡɛl/, [ˈs̪peə̯ˌɡɛl̪]

• Audio

  (file)

spegel c

1. a mirror; a smooth reflecting surface

   Spegel, spegel på väggen där, säg vem som fagrast i landet är

   Mirror, mirror on the wall [there], tell me who the fairest in the country is (standard translation)

   • 1990, Niklas Strömstedt (lyrics and music), “Om [If]”, in Om! [If!]:

     Leende spegel med brister och fel, ser att barnet har blivit en man. Och gudarna gav mig en underlig själ, som har svårt att ta för sig ibland.

     Smiling mirror with faults and errors, sees that the child has become a man. And the gods gave me a strange soul, that sometimes has a hard time helping itself to things [awkward translation that matches the meaning – "att ta för sig" (to take for oneself) means "to help oneself (to something)"].

2. something flat and smooth, resembling a mirror (e.g. the surface of a lake)
3. (figuratively) a mirror (something that reflects something)

   Filmer är en spegel av samhället

   Movies are a mirror of society

4. (archaic) a (moral) guideline, used for correcting errors, similar to a mirror

• apglas (slang, obsolete)

• spegla

• → Estonian: peegel
• → Finnish: peili
  • → Ingrian: speili (from an early form)

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