Advertisement

Danish word of the day: Blækspruttearm

Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett - [email protected]
Danish word of the day: Blækspruttearm

Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash and Nicolas Raymond/FlickR

If you're about to head off on holiday, you might be needing one of these.

Advertisement

What is blækspruttearm?

blækspruttearm is the bungee cable with metal hooks on each end, often used to lash suitcases to car roof racks.

That's not their only use, of course.

A bungee cord, a strong elastic core surrounded by material, forms the cable, with two metal hooks fastened securely at each end. They are used to secure objects without the need of a knot and to absorb shock -- most famously, of course, in bungee jumping.

Advertisement

The Danish word blækspruttearm is formed from blæksprutte (octopus or squid) and arm -- arm. So, an "octopus arm". This doesn't really conjure up images of the taut, secure cable you need when doing daredevil sports or fixing luggage to your car, but there we have it.

Why do I need to know blækspruttearm?

It's a word that has, on first glance, no relation to its English translation.

However, Australian English uses the term "occy", from "octopus strap", to refer to bungee cords. This term purportedly comes from the resemblance of the cord to an octopus tentacle, as tenuous as this appears to be. This would nevertheless suggest a similar explanation is likely for the Danish word.

Other words exist in Danish in which animal names form part of a noun that means something unrelated to the animal: gravko (literally: "digging cow"), meaning "digger" or "excavator" (as in the construction machinery) is a good example of this. Koben ("cow leg") also uses an animal name but a different one to its English translation: crowbar.

The common Danish word for polystyrene packaging is flamingo. This is no relation to the large pink bird, though: it's the name of the company which originally made the material widespread in Denmark.

There are other nouns with animal names in them, like tanketorskbut this is traceable to the animal, or at least to a characteristic of it. Flueben ("fly leg"), meaning tick (the symbol), probably also falls into this category.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also