Danish hygge and Italian il dolce far niente in English-language online discourse

Chaiuk, T., Galitska, E., & Popivniak, O. (2025). Danish hygge and Italian il dolce far niente in English-language Online Discourse. Linguistic and Conceptual Worldviews, (1), 161–176. https://doi.org/10.17721/2520-6397.2025.1.09

The article explores the two borrowings, hygge and il dolce far niente, used in English-language online publications that introduce English speakers to the Danish and the Italian cultures where these lexical items verbalize cultural practices. The research reveals that unlike il dolce far niente, hygge is successfully assimilated in English by expanding its morphological properties. The loans are perceived as concepts, yet the scope of the Italian one is broader: it is interpreted as philosophy inherent in Italian culture, while hygge is a seasonal (winter) lifestyle.
Content analysis shows that the main component of hygge is coziness. Coziness is divisible and sensory by nature: its components are verbalized by lexemes warm, simple, slow and natural. Il dolce far niente, in its turn, rests on the component 'enjoyment' expressed with the words pleasure, to enjoy and their synonyms as well as, like hygge, slow and simple. In addition, the Italian concept has no time limits, is applied to any aspect of human life and influences considerably conceptualization of other fundamental concepts.
Thus, though the borrowings share some components, their application and meaning differ significantly in terms of depth and scope.