something is rotten in the state of Denmark

English

Etymology

A line spoken by Marcellus in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act I.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Phrase

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

1. (idiomatic) Something is not right, seriously amiss, especially when leading to suspicion of motive.

   If the authorities knew about the problems and chose not to prevent them, then clearly something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Translations

Hamlet quotation, used in other contexts to mean "something is not right"

• Bulgarian: има нещо гнило в Дания (ima nešto gnilo v Danija)
• Czech: je cosi shnilého ve státě dánském (cs)
• Danish: der er noget råddent i Danmarks rige
• Finnish: on jotain mätää Tanskanmaalla
• French: il y a quelque chose de pourri au royaume du Danemark (fr)
• German: etwas ist faul im Staate Dänemark (de)
• Greek: κάτι σάπιο υπάρχει στο βασίλειο της Δανιμαρκίας (káti sápio ypárchei sto vasíleio tis Danimarkías)
• Hebrew: משהו רקוב בממלכת דנמרק‎
• Hungarian: valami bűzlik Dániában
• Italian: c'è del marcio nel regno di Danimarca, c'è del marcio in Danimarca

• Norwegian: det er noe råttent i kongeriket Danmark
• Polish: źle się dzieje w państwie duńskim (pl)
• Portuguese: há algo de podre no reino da Dinamarca
• Russian: нела́дно что́-то в да́тском короле́встве (neládno štó-to v dátskom korolévstve)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: има нешто труло у држави Данској

  Roman: ima nešto trulo u državi Danskoj

• Spanish: algo está podrido en el estado de Dinamarca, algo huele a podrido en Dinamarca
• Swedish: något är ruttet i konungariket Danmark, något är ruttet, i danska staten någonting är ruttet