What does "lösa quinnan" mean in the Swedish Church records?

Question

I came across the phrase "lösa quinnan" in one of the Swedish Church Books prefixed to a woman's name.  Just looking up the individual words gives some potential meanings, but often phrases like this have a colloquial meaning. So, what does it mean in this context?  Thanks.

Comments

Hello Daniel.

Could the second word be spelled "qvinnan" = "the woman" according to Google Translator?

Answer 1

Should be about the same as a loose woman.

Comments

You also get "lösdrivare" for vagrants and "lösa pigan" / "lösa drängen" for female / male farm workers without an employer.

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You are saying then that lösa means unattached as in unemployed?

A loose woman, in US English, would be understood as sexually promiscuous.  

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The two things often went together, Bev.

It was a society where "loose" people were not appreciated and didn't have an easy life of it. However, since "piga" and "dräng" mostly refers to their occupation (but, well also to their state as unmarried), the connotation of promiscuity isn't as strong there as it is with a "loose woman".

I was looking for illegitimate children in a birth book the other day, following them a bit on the way to see what they would have as LNAB. Many of the mothers already were "lösdrivare" and if they didn't have kin to live with, they were often transferred to the last pages in the book, labelled "lösdrivare". Which basically means they didn't have a place to live or an employer taking responsibility for  them and so were considered vagrants.

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Thank you for clarifying.

Two questions more:

How did these people support themselves and where did they live?

What is LNAB?

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How did these people support themselves and where did they live?

I just don't know.
Would have to study the particular cases in depth.

LNAB is WikiTree lingo for Last Name at Birth.