Forår og Efterår

[Snommelp]

So, unless I'm mistaken, the literal translation of these Danish words (meaning "spring" and "autumn") would be "before year" and "after year"? I'm curious how these came to be the words for those seasons; I'm sure there's a fascinating reason behind it!

[paradis_eva]

here you go :)
Sommer = derived from the old nordic word sumar, and means "half year"
Vinter = an old nordic word which stems from the old gothic word Wintrus, and means wet season
Vår = the word used in the past for forår, it stems form the old nordic word "vár" which meant "the good season"
høst (harvest) = the word used in the past for efterår, an old nordic word which meant "to pick", since autumn was the season of harvest

forår = derived form the medieval german word "vorjar", "vorjar" means "first part of the year"
efterår = was simply formed in opposition to "forår"

[Snommelp]

Fantastic! Tack så mycket! Oh, wait... wrong language. Umm... tak så meget! :-P

[paradis_eva]

Velbekomme! learned a bit myself :)

[glossboss]

Den Danske Ordbog giver en kort forklaring på oprindelsen af "forår":

http://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=for%C3%A5r
Forår efter middelnedertysk vorjar, første led vor i betydningen 'første del af'

[Snommelp]

I've got some studying ahead of me before I can read that without help :-P but tak!

[Gwendolynva]

In dutch we use both lente (=spring) and voorjaar (before year) for spring. And we use herfst (autumn) and najaar (after year) for autumn.
So Forår and efterår were quite easy to remember for me.

[andreas.im]

For me the other way around as well!