birna

See also: Birna, bírna, and bírná

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse birna, from Proto-Germanic *bernijǭ, from *berô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪrtna/

  Rhymes: -ɪrtna

  Homophone: Birna

Noun

birna f (genitive singular birnu, nominative plural birnur)

1. female bear, she-bear
   • 2(Can we date this quote?) Kings 2:23-24 (English and Icelandic)

     Þaðan hélt hann til Betel. Og er hann gekk upp veginn, gengu smásveinar út úr borginni, hæddu hann og kölluðu til hans: „Kom hingað, skalli! Kom hingað, skalli!“ Sneri hann sér þá við, og er hann sá þá, formælti hann þeim í nafni Drottins. Þá komu tvær birnur út úr skóginum og rifu í sundur fjörutíu og tvo af drengjunum.

     From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

Kashubian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Birne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbir.na/
• Rhymes: -irna
• Syllabification: bir‧na

Noun

birna f

1. Synonym of żarówka (“light bulb”)

Further reading

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “żarówka”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[1]

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bernijǭ, from *berô (“bear”).

Noun

birna f (genitive birnu)

1. she-bear, female bear

Declension

  Declension of birna (weak ōn-stem)

feminine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	birna	birnan	birnur	birnurnar
accusative	birnu	birnuna	birnur	birnurnar
dative	birnu	birnunni	birnum	birnunum
genitive	birnu	birnunnar	birna	birnanna

Related terms

• bjǫrn

Descendants

• Icelandic: birna
• Norwegian Nynorsk: binne
• Norwegian Bokmål: binne

References

• “birna”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press