långa

Länga is a Swedish verb historically meaning to long for or yearn after something or someone. In modern usage, the term is rarely used in everyday speech, where längta is the common verb for this sense. Länga survives primarily in older texts, poetry, and some regional or literary contexts as an archaic or stylistic variant.

In contemporary Swedish grammar and vocabulary, länga is not a standard part of everyday language. When expressing longing, speakers typically use längta and its various inflected forms. The concept of longing can also be conveyed with related nouns such as längtan (a long­ing), which is widely used in modern Swedish.

Etymology and cognates suggest that länga derives from Old Norse langta, with cognates found in other Nordic languages. Related forms include Danish længes and Norwegian lenges or lengte, reflecting a common Germanic root related to longing or yearning. The term’s archaic or literary status in Swedish is consistent with these cognates, which retain their own modernized forms in their respective languages.

See also

längtan, längta, longing (concept). In scholarly or historical discussions, länga may appear in analyses of older Swedish texts or poetry where the language retains older spellings and verb forms.