Tillägna

Tillägna is a Swedish verb with several related meanings centered on devotion, attribution, and acquisition. The core idea is to dedicate or assign something to someone or something, or to devote effort or resources to a purpose. In Swedish, the form tilägnas can appear in passive constructions, and tilägna can also be used with a reflexive or causative nuance.

One core use is dedication or attribution to a person or work. This is common in contexts such as books or artistic works. For example, Boken tillägnades min mor, meaning that the book was dedicated to my mother. The active counterpart is Författaren tillägnade boken sin far, “The author dedicated the book to his father.” This sense is closely tied to the idea of setting apart something for someone.

A second use concerns devoting time, attention, or resources to a task or goal. In this sense, people tilt their efforts toward a purpose, often expressed with phrases like devote or allocate time to something. A third sense involves acquiring knowledge or skills for oneself, typically used with the reflexive form tillägna sig. For instance, Genom studier tillägnade hon sig mycket kunskap means she acquired a great deal of knowledge through study.

Etymology traces to till- (“toward”) and ägna (“to devote”). Tillägna is related to ägna, but the former emphasizes the act of dedicating or attributing, sometimes with a recipient in the dative case in active or passive constructions.