This reminds me of the northern part of the current Prästgatan, “Priests Street”, in the Old Town in Stockholm.
Before 1885 that part of Prästgatan was called Helvetesgränd, “Hell’s ally”, which is an amazing street name in Swedish, and a brilliant metal album name in English.
i love this because 1) it sounds so much more mundane in swedish than it does in english (i can’t imagine someone’s address being Nr. 666 Hell’s Alley), and 2) “helvete” has become such a mild curse that having it associated with gallows gives emotional whiplash
I think Helvetesgränd sounds far more dramatic than “hells alley”, mostly due to it containing the letter “r” so you can roll it in your mouth for added effect.
This reminds me of the northern part of the current Prästgatan, “Priests Street”, in the Old Town in Stockholm.
Before 1885 that part of Prästgatan was called Helvetesgränd, “Hell’s ally”, which is an amazing street name in Swedish, and a brilliant metal album name in English.
The entire block was known as Helvetet, “Hell”.
This is the location:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/DGCAT98vZ7e8HwDUA
This is where the gallows were located.
i love this because 1) it sounds so much more mundane in swedish than it does in english (i can’t imagine someone’s address being Nr. 666 Hell’s Alley), and 2) “helvete” has become such a mild curse that having it associated with gallows gives emotional whiplash
I think Helvetesgränd sounds far more dramatic than “hells alley”, mostly due to it containing the letter “r” so you can roll it in your mouth for added effect.