Vintergatan

Swedish

A photo of the "winter road".

Etymology

Compound of vinter (“winter”) +‎ gata (“street”) +‎ -n (“the”). Origin unknown. Possibly from that weather predictors tried to foretell the winter based on its shape. Attested since 1579. Cognate with Icelandic vetrarbraut.

Proper noun

Vintergatan ? (genitive Vintergatans)

1. (astronomy) The Milky Way

   Holonyms: galax (“galaxy”), stjärnsystem (“star system”), vintergata (“galaxy”)

   • 1766, Torbern Bergman, Physisk beskrifning öfver jord-klotet‎^[1], "2017", quoted in SAOB:

     Sjelfva vintergatan är idel verldar, hvilkas sken som knappast räcker til oss.

     The Milky Way itself is wholly worlds, the glow of which hardly reaches us.

References

• Vintergatan in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• Vintergatan in Nationalencyklopedin