The Language Council of Sweden has its roots in the attempt to assert control over the official language use among the Nordic countries. The first ideas of a joint Nordic project surfaced in the 1930s and resulted in a Danish organization for Nordic language cultivation being founded in 1941. The idea of an all-Nordic cooperation was thwarted by the fact that all Nordic countries with the exception of Sweden were embroiled in the Second World War. On 3 March 1944 a group of 16 organizations held the first constituent assembly for what was then called Nämnden för svensk språkvård ("The Committee for Swedish Language Cultivation").
To counter difficulties in its finances, the council was reorganized in 1973 and assumed the name Svenska språknämnden ("The Swedish Language Committee"). The government also assured the future of the council by guaranteeing the financing of four permanent staff members; a figure which later grew and was no longer limited to a certain number of members, but by the actual needs of the council. Since the government assumed the responsibility for the financing, it also has the right to appoint the chairman and the head of the secretariat.
The council assumed its current name (Språkrådet; "The Language Council") in 2006, as it became a department of the state agency the Institute for Language and Folklore.
Ogooglebar (from o- prefix (negative prefix) + googlebar (google + -bar suffix (-able))) is a word, in Swedish, that the Language Council of Sweden has been forced to remove from its top 10 list of new words by a claim of brand protection from Google.2 The word is translated as (and also when translated literally means) ungoogleable.3 The council expressed its "displeasure with Google's attempts to control the language".4
"In English – Institutet för språk och folkminnen – Welcome to the Language Council of Sweden". Institutet för språk och folkminnen (Institute for Language and Folklore). Government of the Kingdom of Sweden. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20150211095739/http://www.sprakochfolkminnen.se/om-oss/kontakt/sprakradet/om-sprakradet/in-english.html ↩
"BBC News – Google gets ungoogleable off Sweden's new word list". BBC Online. 26 March 2013. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2013. The language watchdog defines 'ungoogleable', or 'ogooglebar' in Swedish, as something that cannot be found with any search engine. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21944834 ↩
"språkvård, språkrådet – Institutet för språk och folkminnen" (in Swedish). Swedish Language Council]. 26 March 2013. Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013. Företaget Google har uppvaktat Språkrådet om att ändra definitionen av ordet ogooglebar i nyordslistan. I dag tar vi i stället bort ordet och markerar samtidigt vårt missnöje med Googles försök att styra språket. https://web.archive.org/web/20130327114742/http://www.sprakradet.se/15922 ↩
"Google 'controlling' Swedish language". 3news.co.nz. 27 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20170220010846/http://www.newshub.co.nz/technology/google-accused-of-controlling-swedish-language-2013032711 ↩