gljúfur

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse gljúfr, possibly from Proto-Germanic *gleubō-, *gleubaz, *glub, *gleub-, from Pre-Germanic *glub (“slit, opening”), from a substrate language. See also Dutch glop (“opening, hole”) and gleuf (“slit”).

However, also compare gleypa (“to gulp”), from *gleupan, *glūpan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkljuːvʏr/
• Rhymes: -uːvʏr

Noun

gljúfur n (genitive singular gljúfurs, nominative plural gljúfur)

1. canyon, gorge

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “gleuf”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
• Kroonen, Guus (2013) “gleupan”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 181