The word was invented in the capital,
Stockholm, during the 18th century since many people from Dalarna, especially from the northern parts of the region, worked in Stockholm at the time. At the time the name
Mats was a common name for males from Dalarna, but differences between accents made the name hard to interpret for the people of Stockholm, leading to the misheard name
Mas. The term became commonly used in Dalarna during the end of the 20th century, completely or at least partially replacing the old terms
dalkarl (masculine) and
kulla (feminine), although the term was traditionally perceived as somewhat humiliating since it was the urban people's way of describing the people of Dalarna as odd and rural.
Rumpmas A related term is
rumpmas, which is the term for a man coming from either the southern parts of Dalarna, including
Avesta and
Hedemora, or the northwestern part of
Västmanland which used to be a part of Dalarna, mainly including
Norberg. The feminine counterpart is
rumpkulla.
Etymology The origin of
rombo and
rumbo is the
Old Swedish word
rumber, which can be translated as open, wide or free, in this case referring to the lowland in the areas around Avesta, Hedemora and Norberg. == See also ==