Säkulär

Säkulär is an infrequently used spelling variant of the Swedish adjective sekulär. It denotes relations to the secular or to worldly, non-religious spheres, as opposed to ecclesiastical matters. In standard Swedish, the form sekulär is overwhelmingly preferred; säkulär appears mainly as an archaic or dialectal variant and is rarely encountered in contemporary texts.

The term derives from Latin saeculum, meaning the age or the secular world, via European forms such as French séculaire and German säkular, with the Swedish adaptation sekulär. The variant with ä reflects historical orthographic practices prior to the modernization of Swedish spelling in the 20th century; such spellings can surface in old manuscripts or in attempts to reproduce earlier typography.

Säkulär is typically not used in formal writing today. When discussing secularism, secularization, or secular institutions, the standard sekulär is used. In linguistic or philological studies of Swedish spelling history, säkulär may be cited as an example of an older orthographic form. The term may also appear in translations or period texts to preserve historical flavor.

Related terms include sekulär, secularism, secularization, and secular state. In modern Swedish, discussions of church-state relations or non-religious public life usually employ sekulär rather than säkulär.