Old Norse words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away from, off”), the source also of Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af), Old English æf and of, Old Saxon af and Old High German aba. Outside Germanic it matches Latin ab…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, table”), cognate with Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fōtubaúrd, “footstool”), Old English bord, Old Saxon bord and Old High German bort. De Vries, Hellquist…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *gardaz (“enclosure, courtyard”), the source of Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (gards, “house, household”), Old English ġeard (“enclosure, yard”), Old Saxon gard (“field…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *gatwǭ (“road, alley”), with Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐍅𐍉 (gatwō, “street”), Middle Low German gate (“alley, street”) and Old High German gazza (“lane”), the source of German…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw”), a weak verb found only in North Germanic. De Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon connect it with the nouns kǫs (“heap”) and kǫstr (“pile”)…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *lausaz (“loose, free; empty”). The adjective is found across Germanic: Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃 (laus, “empty, devoid”), Old English lēas (“free; void of; false”), Old…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *raftraz (“rafter”), with cognates in Old English ræfter (“rafter, beam”) and Middle Low German rafter (“small beam, lath”). De Vries notes that the spelling with…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *rudjaną (“to clear”), the source also of Old English ryddan (“to strip, rob”). Orel derives it from Proto-Germanic *reudaną, the verb behind rjóða “to clear”; de…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sagǭ (“what is said, account”), a noun formed beside the verb *sagjaną (“to say”), the source of segja. Its cognates are Old English sagu (“statement, story”)…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *samaz (“same”), the source also of Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌼𐌰 (sama), Old High German samo and Old Saxon sama; Old English has only the adverbial phrase swā same (“in the same…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skinþą (“skin, hide”). Within Germanic it has close relatives in Middle Low German schin (“a Russian fur money”) and in German dialect words for fruit peel and…

The strong verb is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sprintaną (“to spring up”), which Orel and Köbler write *sprentan-. Its ⟨tt⟩ is from ⟨nt⟩ by assimilation, as in stuttr (“short”). The weak verb is…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *takaną (“to touch, take”), beside an ablaut variant *tēkaną in Gothic 𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽 (tekan, “to touch”); Middle Dutch taken (“to take, seize”) and Middle Low German…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þauh (“nevertheless, though”), which also gave Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐌷 (þauh), Old English þēah, Old Frisian thāch, Old Saxon thoh and Old High German doh. Ásgeir Blöndal…

It is formed from Old Norse félag (“partnership, joint property”) + -i, a weak masculine meaning the one who shares in the partnership. The noun félag is a compound from Old Norse fé (“property…

1. The word for settling and inhabiting is inherited from Proto-Germanic *būwijaną (“to build, settle”), which Gersum, de Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon give as *ƀewwjan- or *ƀuwwjan-; the ⟨ggv⟩…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”), originally a strong verb with the preterite *dōe, which gave the Norse preterite ⟨dó⟩, and the participle continued by dáinn. Its cognates…

It is a verb from Old Norse egg (“edge”), so that its first sense is “to sharpen, give an edge”. Gersum sets up a Proto-Germanic verb *agjōjan- formed on the noun, with Old English ecgan (“to…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get, seize”), the verb behind Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to find”), Old English bigitan (“to obtain”), Old Saxon bigetan (“to seize”) and Old High…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kalzōną (“to call, shout”), a weak verb of the second class. Its cognates are Old Frisian kella (“to name”), Middle Low German kallen (“to talk, chatter”), Old…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”), the older Norse form being glíkr; the ⟨g⟩ was sounded in alliteration in the old poems, while the manuscripts have both forms, the…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“roof, air”), with cognates in Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (luftus, “air”), Old English lyft (“air, sky”), Old Saxon luft (“air”) and Old High German luft (“air”)…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *rēsō (“a running, course”), a feminine ⟨ō⟩-stem. Its cognates are Old English rǣs (“running, attack”) and Middle Low German rās (“strong current”). Outside…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to draw, pull, carry”), a strong verb of the sixth class. The cognates are Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (dragan), Old English dragan (“to draw, drag”), Old Frisian…

The word for sorrow is inherited from Proto-Germanic *angazaz (“worry, grief”). Kroonen takes the Germanic noun as a thematised form of an older s-stem, Proto-Indo-European *h₂emǵh-os, and Ásgeir…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to make bite”), the causative of Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“to bite”), which gave bíta. The causative has the cognates Old English bǣtan (“to bridle…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *blandaną (“to mix, mingle”), a strong verb shared with Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (blandan), Old English blandan and Old High German blantan. Kroonen explains it as an…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *blōmô (“flower”), a noun made with an *-m-* suffix to the verb *blōaną (“to bloom”). The same noun is Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐌼𐌰 (blōma), recorded only in the accusative…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bruzdaz (“spike”), cognate with Old English brord (“point, blade of grass”) and Old High German brort (“spear, edge”). The Germanic */zd/ became ⟨dd⟩ in Old…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *flutjaną (“to make float”), a causative made on the zero grade of the strong verb fljóta (“to float”), so that it first meant “to let float”, to carry over…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *garwį̄ (“clothing, equipment”), a noun made to the adjective Proto-Germanic *garwaz (“ready, prepared”), the source of Old Norse gǫrr (“ready”), from which gera…

It is inherited from Proto-Norse ᚷᚨᛊᛏᛁᛉ (gastiʀ), known from names on Proto-Norse inscriptions, from Proto-Germanic *gastiz (“guest”). The other Germanic languages have Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (gasts), Old…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), a verb found only in North Germanic; Old English hittan is taken to be a loan from Norse. Its further origin is uncertain, and…

It is a compound from Old Norse hús + bóndi: “house” and “householder”. The second part is the present participle of búa (“to dwell”), older bóa, so the word is a contracted húsbóandi. Old English…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”), which also gave Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐍂 (ƕar), Old English hwǣr, Old Frisian hwār, Old Saxon hwar and Old High German wār. Kroonen explains the adverb as made…

Its origin is uncertain. Hellquist relates it to klýpa (“to pinch”), though the two belong to different ablaut series. Others explain it as a blend: Jóhannesson of that verb with an unrecorded…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“knife”), with the cognates Old Frisian knīf, Middle Low German knīf and Middle Dutch cnijf, and German dialect Kneif (“shoemaker's knife”). Old English…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz (“low”), which Kroonen reconstructs as the u-stem *lēgu- because of the ja-stem forms in West Germanic. Its relatives are Old Frisian lēch (“low”), Middle…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz (“leg, thigh”), for which de Vries and Köbler reconstruct Proto-Norse *lagja. Its closest relative outside Scandinavia is Lombardic lagi (“thigh”). The…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise into the air, lift”), a verb made to Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air”), the source of lopt. Its West Germanic counterparts are Middle Low…

It is formed from Old Norse mis- + taka (“to take”), “to take wrongly”. The prefix mis- has counterparts in Old English mis-, Old Saxon mis- and Old High German missa-; taka goes back to…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *meukaz (“soft”). The adjective is recorded only in North Germanic; an ablaut form *mūka- is in Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌼𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹 (mūkamōdei, “gentleness”) and Dutch muik…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never, not”). De Vries traces it to *ni-aiw, the negative ne with the adverb “ever”; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon likewise thinks it probably the same…

In Wiktionary's and Kroonen's account it is inherited from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz (“plough”), a noun shared with Old English plōh, Old Frisian plōch, Middle Dutch ploech and Old High German pfluog…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“root”), a root noun, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”). The same root gives Latin rādīx (“root”) and Ancient Greek ῥάδιξ (rhádix, “branch”). A…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skallô (“skull”). Köbler lists Old Norse skoltr beside it under the same etymon. Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon, Hellquist and de Vries put it with skel (“shell”)…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skōhaz (“shoe”), a word common to the Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌷𐍃 (skōhs), Old English scōh, Old Frisian skōch, Old Saxon skōh and Old High German scuoh. It…

It is an imitative word, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skrēk- (“to shout, make noise”), beside Proto-Germanic *skrak-. Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compares Nynorsk skræa (“to cough up”) and Latin…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud, cloud cover”), by de Vries's reconstruction from Proto-Norse *skeuja. It has close relatives in Old English scēo (“cloud”) and Old Saxon scio…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *slihtaz (“smooth, level”). The adjective is shared by Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (slaihts), Old Frisian sliucht, Old Saxon slicht and Old High German sleht, while Old…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“noose, loop”), through a Proto-Norse stage, written ⟨*snarhōn⟩ by de Vries and Köbler. Its cognates are Old English sneare (“noose, snare”), Middle Low…

It is formed from Old Norse tíðr (“happening, current”) + -endi, a plural noun made to the adjective. Falk and Torp read the base as “what happens, what is in use, usual, frequent”. The adjective…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *traustą (“shelter, help, confidence”), a neuter noun made from the adjective *traustaz (“firm, reliable”), which also gave traustr. The noun has cognates in…

It is formed from Old Norse uggr (“fear, apprehension”) + -ligr. The noun stands beside the verb ugga (“to fear”) and the variant yggr (“fear”). Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks these words are…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *waraz (“aware, wary”), which gave Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐍃 (wars, “cautious”), Old English wær, Old Saxon war and Old High German giwar. The Germanic adjective belongs to the…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wanduz (“rod, cane”), the source also of Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (wandus, “rod”). It is a u-stem, perhaps derived from Proto-Germanic *windaną (“to wind”), so properly…

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þrahilaz (“runner, servant”), with Old High German drigil (“servant”) as its only certain cognate. It is usually set with Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þragjan, “to run”) and…