borgfred

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German borchvrede or German Burgfrieden; equivalent to borg (“castle”) +‎ fred (“peace”).

Compare Danish borgfred and Swedish borgfred.

Noun

borgfred m (definite singular borgfreden, indefinite plural borgfreder, definite plural borgfredene)

1. (historical) a state of truce within the jurisdiction of a castle under which conflicts between private individuals were forbidden under threat of sever punishment.
2. (politics) a voluntary cessation of strife between political parties in a country due to a crisis or an emergency
   • 2026 September 10 (last accessed), NRK, “Nye runder om politisk borgfred”, in nrk.no‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 October 2026:

     Det er enighet blant partiene på Stortinget om å gjennomføre nye samtaler om den politiske borgfreden som partiene har pålagt seg selv etter kong Haralds død.

     There is agreement between the parties of parliament to carry out further discussion concerning the political truce which the parties have imposed on themselves following the death of King Harald

References

• “borgfred” in Norwegian Academy Dictionary (NAOB).

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German borchvrede or German Burgfrieden, equivalent to borg +‎ fred.

Noun

borgfred c

1. (historical) ceasefire, truce

   Synonyms: vapenvila, vapenstillestånd

2. voluntary cessation of strife between political parties in a country due to crisis or emergency

Declension

Declension of borgfred

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	borgfred	borgfreds
	definite	borgfreden	borgfredens
plural	indefinite	borgfreder	borgfreders
	definite	borgfrederna	borgfredernas

References

• “borgfred”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “borgfred”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “borgfred”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)