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“Quisling” is a Norwegian-originated term for a traitor who collaborates with the enemy to suppress native people. It emerged during WWII when Vidkun Quisling advocated for a German occupation of Norway. Quisling’s plan backfired, and he was captured and executed after the war. The term has come to refer to any form of treason and is considered an insult.
A quisling is a traitor, more specifically a traitor who works with the enemy to promote the occupation and suppression of a native people. This word is of Norwegian origin, making it one of the few Norwegian terms to enter the English language, and the history of “quisling” is actually quite fascinating. Needless to say, Norwegians aren’t particularly proud of this particular word of Norwegian origin and would rather see people remembering linguistic contributions like ‘ski’, ‘fjord’ and ‘slalom’.
This slang term emerged during World War II when a Norwegian politician named Vidkun Quisling advocated a German occupation of Norway and actively worked to expedite the German occupation. On 1 February 1942 he took power in Norway as minister president and set about encouraging Nazi values and promoting the German cause in Norway.
Ultimately, Quisling’s plan backfired, and actually spurred some local resistance as angry Norwegians fought off the German occupation. Under Quisling, Norway expelled Jews to certain death in Nazi camps, and the country also had a branch of the Nazi party and its own branch of the SS. As in other occupied nations during the war, resistance to the government had to be conducted covertly, as it could be deadly to captured people. Loyal Norwegians considered Quisling the latest traitor after he sold Norway to the Germans in exchange for supreme power.
Quisling himself was captured and executed after the war, in one of the last executions allowed in Norway. Even during the war, political cartoons began using “quisling” as shorthand for a traitor, as in jokes like “‘I am Hitler, who are you?’ “I’m Quisling!” ‘Yes, but what’s your name?’” By the end of the war, the slang term had spread to other parts of Europe and entered the English lexicon, notably appearing in a wide range of novels and film noirs published after war.
Collaboration can be a particularly insidious form of betrayal, so it is perhaps not surprising that “quisling” has become a slang term, since Quisling was one of the most outspoken and prominent collaborators of World War II. Over time, the term has come to refer to any form of treason, unnecessary cooperation on a government scale. As a general rule, being called a quisling is an insult, as it implies that people consider someone not just a traitor, but an active collaborator with an enemy.
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