kvæn

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Noun

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kvæn m (definite singular kvænen, indefinite plural kvæner, definite plural kvænene)

  1. form removed with the spelling reform of 1959; superseded by kven

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Norse kvænir pl, possibly from Sámi kuöinu, after Finnish kainulaiset.[1] Cognate with Icelandic kvænir, kvenir pl, Old English Cwēnas pl and Kven kvääni.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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kvæn m (definite singular kvænen, indefinite plural kvæner or kvænar, definite plural kvænene or kvænane)

  1. (historical) a Finnish person from the innermost part of the Gulf of Bothnia
  2. (rare today) a Finn, a Finnish speaking person
    Synonym: finne (from Swedish)
    1. a Kven, person of a Finnish-descended people in Northern Norway
      Synonym: norskfinne

Usage notes

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The term kvæn has traditionally been used for Finns in general, but has in later years been limited to the Finnish-descended group living in Northern Norway. For Finn and Finnish, the common terms today are finne m (from Swedish) and finsk.

The form kvæn was removed from the official standard used in education with the reform of 2012, superseded by kven. It remains the preferred form in the spelling norm Høgnorsk.

Derived terms

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  • Kvænland (Finland; the old land of the Kvens)
  • kvænsk (Kven, Finnish)

References

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  • “kvæn” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring
  • “kvæn”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016
  1. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN

Old Norse

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Etymology

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From Proto-Germanic *kwēniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (woman).

Noun

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kvæn f (genitive kvænar, plural kvænir)

  1. Alternative form of kván

Declension

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References

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  • kvæn in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.