Comment by simonask

“Mål” literally just means language, there’s nothing special or particular to Swedish regional dialects about it. You have the word “språk” from German “Sprach”, likely via Low German.

The term “dialect” is very fluid, and intelligibility is not a requirement. It is often a negotiated term that has more to do with culture or politics.

In China, they even call Cantonese and Hakka “dialects”, which is linguistically absurd, but serves a political purpose.