allså

Allså is a historical and dialectal adverb found in Swedish, known primarily from older texts and regional speech. In those contexts it functioned as a marker of addition or emphasis, roughly comparable to the modern words också or även, though its exact sense varied with region and period. In contemporary standard Swedish, allså is rarely used outside of linguistic or literary contexts.

Origins and forms are uncertain and vary by source, but the word appears in a number of older spellings such as alsså or allsaa. Linguists generally regard it as a compound variant involving a form related to all- (“all” or “also”) and så (“thus” or “so”), yielding a sense akin to “as well” or “in addition.” The orthography reflects historical Swedish practices, where spellings were less standardized than today.

Usage and register: allså tends to surface in historical prose, poetry, ballads, or translated texts where the author sought an archaic or regional flavor. Its function is typically additive, signaling that another point or item follows, rather than serving as a general synonym for modern everyday connectors. Because it sounds marked or antiquated, modern writers generally avoid it in neutral or formal Swedish.

Modern equivalents and decline: Today, if an author intends to express addition, används the words också or även; for emphasis or continuation, more common choices are used, and for any sense of consequence or conclusion, andra forms such as därför or alltså are preferred. Allså is thus primarily of philological interest, illustrating historical variation in Swedish connective usage.

See also: också, även, likaså, alltså, dialektal svenska.