Etymologically
Log in

kikna

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Old Norse word kikna

Confidence
Probable
First attested
1391 Flateyjarbók More words from the 14th century
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old Norse kikna
English kick
From the same root
English kicker ← kick
English sidekick ← kick

Forms

kikna (weak verb, past kiknaði)[1][2]

Etymology

It belongs with keikr (“bent backwards”), as de Vries, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Köbler agree;[3][4][5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also compares Icelandic kiki.[4] Jóhannesson sets the group under the root Proto-Indo-European *gei- (“to bend, turn”), with Norwegian dialect words for a bend or twist,[6] and the UT lexicon and EIEOL file it under the same Pokorny root.[7][8] No Proto-Germanic form is given.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's earliest dated citation is from a manuscript of 1391, where Ormr is attacked: rekr klærnar framan j fangit sua at Ormr kiknar vit “[she] drives her claws into his chest so that Ormr bends back under it”.[2] Cleasby–Vigfússon quote the same passage from Flateyjarbók.[9]

Semantic evolution

ONP separates two senses: falling to one's knees or collapsing, and toppling or reeling backwards, with the phrase kikna á bak aptr “to fall over backwards”.[2] Cleasby–Vigfússon stress the sinking at the knees under a heavy load, as in kikna í knésbótum, while Fritzner and de Vries give bending backwards.[9][10][3] ONP's citations are mostly from romances, family sagas and legendary sagas.[2]

Modern Icelandic kikna means to bend or give way under pressure or a load,[11] Faroese kikna to bend too far, and Norwegian kikna to bend backwards.[3]

Timeline

  • 1391 – Ormr kiknar vit “Ormr bends back under it”.[2]
  • 1462 – kiknadi vndir honum hesturinn “the horse sank under him”, the sense “sink, collapse”.[2]
  • 1500 – the sense “fall over backwards”.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to sink at the knees, collapse, fall over.[2][1][9]
  2. to bend over backwards, give way, reel back.[2][1][12]

Descendants

  • Icelandic kikna[11]
  • Faroese kikna[3]
  • Norwegian Nynorsk kikna[3]
  • keikr
  • keikja

References

  1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. kikna
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. kikna
  3. ^ a b c d e de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 308
  4. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. kikna
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. kikna
  6. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 297
  7. ^ Slocum, Jonathan, ed., Indo-European Lexicon (after Pokorny), Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, p. s.v. kikna
  8. ^ Krause, Todd B.; Slocum, Jonathan, Old Norse Online, Early Indo-European OnLine, Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, p. s.v. kikna
  9. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 338
  10. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. kikna
  11. ^ a b Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 426
  12. ^ Faulkes, Anthony, ed., Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars þáttr, Orms þáttr, Viking Society Text Series 4, London (glossary), p. 130
Cite this entry

“Kikna.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/non/kikna. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·