dagr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day, name of the D-rune”). Cognate with Old English dæġ (Modern English day), Old Frisian dei, di, Old Saxon dag, Old Dutch dag, Old High German tac, tag, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags).
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑɣr̩/

Noun

dagr m (genitive dags, dative degi, plural dagar)

1. a day
   • Sverris saga 162, in 1834, F. Magnússon, C. C. Rafn, Fornmanna sögur, Volume VIII. Copenhagen, page 398:

     […] fór þá enn aptr til liðsins, var þá ok komit at dægi; […]

     […] but came then back to his people, when the day was nearly come; […]

2. (in the plural) days, times
   • Knýtlinga saga 65, in 1828, Þ. Guðmundsson, R. C. Rask, C. C. Rafn, Fornmanna sögur, Volume XI. Copenhagen, page 286:

     […] munu þeir bræðr hafa góða daga með Baldvina hertoga, […]

     […] the brothers will have happy days with the duke Baldwin, […]

Declension

Declension of dagr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	dagr	dagrinn	dagar	dagarnir
accusative	dag	daginn	daga	dagana
dative	degi	deginum	dǫgum	dǫgunum
genitive	dags	dagsins	daga	daganna

Antonyms

• nátt (“night”)

Derived terms

• daga (“to dawn”)
• dagan (“dawn”)
• dagblik (“day-gleam”)
• dagfar, dagferð, dagfmálr (“day's journey”)
• dagganga (“a day's walk”)
• daggeisli (“ladylove, sweetheart”)
• daglangr (“all day long”)
• dagleið (“day's journey”)
• daglengis (“all day long”)
• dagliga (“daily”)
• dagligr (“daily”)
• daglát (“daydreams”)
• dagmessa (“morning terce”)
• dagmál (“time about 9 o’clock a.m.”)
• dagmálatið (“morning terce”)
• dagmögr (“man”)
• dagráð (“convenient time”)
• dagróðr (“day's rowing”)
• dagsannr (“plain as day”)
• dagsbrún (“daybreak”)
• dagsetr (“nightfall”)
• dagsetrsskeið (“time before nightfall”)
• dagsett (“at nightfall”)
• dagshald (“celebration of a day”)
• dagshelgr (“hallowedness of a day”)
• dagskemtan (“pastime”)
• dagskjarr (“shunning the daylight”)
• dagsljós (“daylight”)
• dagslátta (“day's mowing, three quarters of an acre”)
• dagsmagn (“in full daylight”)
• dagsmunr (“a day's diference”)
• dagstarf (“a day's work”)
• dagstingr (“daybreak”)
• dagstjarna (“the morning star”)
• dagstund (“daytime”)
• dagstœtr (“fixed as to the day”)
• dagsupprás (“daybreak”)
• dagsverk (“a day's work”)
• dagtími (“daytime”)
• dagtíðir (“dayservice”)
• dagverðarborð (“daymeal table”)
• dagverðarmál (“daymeal time”)
• dagverðr (“daymeal”)
• dagvillr (“not knowing what day it is”)
• dagvxr (“growth of a day”)
• dagþing (“appointed meeting”)
• dagþinga (“to negotiate”)
• dagþings (“negotiations”)
• deging (“dawn”)
• dǫgur (“dawn”)
• hvíldardagr m (“day of rest, the Sabbath”)
• verða dagfátr (“to be overtaken by night”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: dagur
• Faroese: dagur
• Norn: dagh
  • → Scots: dag (Orkney, Shetlandic)
• Norwegian Nynorsk: dag; (dialectal) dag’e
• Elfdalian: dag
• Old Swedish: dagher, ᚦᛆᚵᚼᚽᚱ
  • Swedish: dag
• Old Danish: dagh
  • Danish: dag
    • Norwegian Bokmål: dag
  • Scanian: dağ
• Gutnish: dag

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “dagr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 94
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “dagr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 84; also available at the Internet Archive