Etymo

smorgasbord

A varied buffet, or a wide assortment of things.

Played on · Day 54 · word 4 of 5

A sandwich table with a hidden goose

How smorgasbord reached English

oldest first
  • smörgås‘open sandwich’
  • bord‘table’

combined

  1. Swedish

    smörgåsbord

    ‘A buffet meal’

    into English

  2. English

    smorgasbord

    ‘A buffet; a varied assortment’

The story of smorgasbord

Smorgasbord borrows Swedish smörgåsbord, combining smörgås, open sandwich, and bord, table.

The deeper original butter-clump reading is qualified as presumed in Merriam-Webster. Smörgåsbord is also an English spelling variant.

Source

Collins: smorgasbord

The British entry supports the two components; the Webster’s New World and Random House entries explicitly list smörgåsbord as an English variant.

Related

Smörgås itself contains smör, butter, and gås, goose. The source connects that surprising combination with a clump of butter.

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