Meaning of slag

[Linnea Shaw]

What does slag mean when given as the cause of death? According to my dictionary it means what we call in English a stroke. I have seen it now and then as causing the death of an infant or small child who would have been unlikely to have a stroke. Is there another meaning? Thanks, Linnea

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Look in the Medical glossary on the SweGGate site.
 
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Fact/Med/facdic_med.htm
 
 
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slag O (among > 60 different meanings, a common one = a blow) medical diagnosis with several uses but always in connection with a sudden and severe medical crisis. Usually specified like hjärtslag (heart stop), slaganfall ((cerebral) stroke). When used as cause of death as slag it probably referred to a cerebral stroke, easily recognizable through paralysis.
When used in the meaning a blow it was often specified, e.g. slagen af åskan (hit by lightning), sparkad af häst (kicked by a horse), ihjälslagen af svärsonen (killed by the son-in-law).  
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Judy

[Ingela Martenius]

In the old days slag (which is correctly translated as stroke - exactly the same as in older usage of English, you are stricken by something) was any sort of sudden, inexplicable death. It could be heart failure, our modern meaning of stroke, but also things like SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
 
Tiny babies dying of stroke would probably sometimes be SIDS, but could also be any sort of congenital or birth defect which was not too apparent - e.g. a weak heart or imperfectly developed lungs.
 
(If SIDS occurred in the night it was tragically often ascribed to the mother smothering the child in her sleep by accidentally rolling over it (modern legat ihjäl barnet) - something we today know is virtually impossible for a mother to do unless she is drugged or ill - and thereby of course deepening the mother's grief quite unbearably.)
 
Ingela