Höstdagjämning is the Swedish term for the autumn equinox, made up of the word höst ("autumn") and dagjämning ("equinox").
In Sweden, the autumn season has a strict meteorological definition.
Höst only arrives once the average daytime temperature has stayed below an average of 10C for five consecutive days, which can happen as late as November (although usually some time in mid-October) in the southernmost parts of the country.
When that threshold is reached, the first day of the five-day period is considered the start of autumn. Autumn then becomes winter when the average temperature is below an average of 0C for five consecutive days. That means höst arrives and lasts for very different times depending on where you are in the country.
Höst originally meant "harvest", with both the Swedish and English words related to the Old Norse word haust. Haust originally referred to gathering, but became used as the general term for the season in which farmers gathered their crops.
In the UK, as populations moved away from rural living, haust was overtaken by "autumn" from the Latin term autumnus in general speech, and from the 1500s onwards "harvest" took on a narrower, specifically agricultural meaning.
But further north, rural farming societies lasted much longer and they and their languages were less influenced by Latin. So Sweden kept the word höst, which is related to German der Herbst and Norwegian haust. Today, the Swedish word for "harvest" is skörd.
On the day of an equinox, daytime and nighttime are of approximately equal duration (this is true at the same time all over the planet, not just in Sweden).
The word used in English, equinox, comes from Latin: aequus ("equal") and nox ("night").
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The Swedish word for equinox, dagjämning, is made up of the word for day, dag, and jämning, which means something like "levelling" or "equilibrium".
The Swedish term jämn is directly related to Old Norse jafn, and is an adjective similar to "even". It can be used to describe a physical quality (en jämn yta is "an even surface"), as well as to mean “equal”, or an even number (ett jämnt tal).
You can also see jämn in the Swedish word for equality, jämställdhet or jämlikhet.
The autumn equinox fell on September 23rd in 2026. From that date onwards, days include fewer light minutes than dark ones. The days will continue to get shorter until the winter solstice, which falls on December 21st this year.
Example sentences:
Det är höstdagjämning i dag, när dag och natt är lika långa.
Today is the autumnal equinox, when day and night are the same length.
När blir det vårdagjämning? Den 20 mars 2027.
When is the spring equinox? March 20th, 2027.
Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it.
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