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krafla

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Etymology and origin of the Old Norse word krafla

Confidence
Probable
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old Norse krafla
English crawl

Forms

krafla v (weak, past kraflaði)[1][2]

Etymology

No Proto-Germanic form is given for it.[3] It has cognates in Middle Low German krabbeln (“to crawl about”) and Dutch krabbelen (“to scratch”),[4][5] and goes with krabba (“to crawl”), krabbi (“crab”) and krafsa (“to scratch”).[4][6] Jóhannesson puts the group under Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”).[6]

It was borrowed as Middle English craulen, the English word crawl.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is known in the old language only from Vatnsdæla saga.[4] There an exposed infant is found with something spread over its face, ok kraflaði fyrir nösunum “and it was pawing at its nostrils”, near death.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The old record shows feeble pawing with the hands, and Baetke gives “stir, move weakly”.[1][8] In modern Icelandic, recorded from the 17th century, Icelandic krafla means “rummage, scratch” and “crawl”, and krafla fram úr e-u is “to crawl out of a difficulty”.[5][7] The mainland languages have Norwegian Nynorsk kravla, Swedish kravla and Danish kravle.[4]

Timeline

  • 1350 – Þorkell krafla, the byname taken from the verb, in Hallfr.[9][10]
  • 17th century – the modern Icelandic verb krafla “rummage, crawl”.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to make slight pawing movements with the hands; to stir weakly.[1][8]
  2. to scrabble or scratch (something) away.[7][9]

Descendants

  • krabba
  • krabbi
  • krafsa

Usage notes

As a noun, krafla is the byname of Þorkell krafla of Vatnsdalr, given to him because as an exposed infant he pawed at his face.[7][10] Krafla is also the name of a volcano in Iceland.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. krafla
  2. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. krafla
  3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. krafla
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 328
  5. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. krafla
  6. ^ a b c Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 362
  7. ^ a b c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 354
  8. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 341
  9. ^ a b Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. krafla
  10. ^ a b Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 239
Cite this entry

“Krafla.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/non/krafla. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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