r/norsk • u/dwchandler • Sep 20 '20

Søndagsspørsmål #350 - Sunday Question Thread

This is a weekly post to ask any question that you may not have felt deserved its own post, or have been hesitating to ask for whatever reason. No question too small or silly!

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '20

What is the etymology of "i fjor"? Ever since I came across this I can't wrap my head around it. Every time I am asked to translate "last year" I think of "siste år", and I wonder if that would be a correct translation as well?

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u/knoberation Native speaker Sep 20 '20

"Siste år" is unnatural except in some specific cases, and is closer in usage to something like "in the last year". You should generally use "i fjor" for "last year".

I guess "fjor" is kind of a word which means "forrige år", and "i fjor" is just the way it's said. As for why we use "i" when talking about time frames like this, I don't actually know - but it's the same usage as "i går", "i morgen", "i år" etc.

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u/roarmartin Native speaker Sep 21 '20

It is from old norse "fjǫrð": https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/fj%C7%ABr%C3%B0#