jörð

See also: jord, jørð, jorð, and jǫrð

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse jǫrð, from Proto-Germanic *erþō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jœrð/

  Rhymes: -œrð

Noun

jörð f (genitive singular jarðar, nominative plural jarðir)

2. earth
   • Revelation 6-11 (English and Icelandic)

     Og ég sá, og sjá: Bleikur hestur, og sá er á honum sat, hann hét Dauði, og Hel var í för með honum. Þeim var gefið vald yfir fjórða hluta jarðarinnar, til þess að deyða með sverði, með hungri og drepsótt og láta menn farast fyrir villidýrum jarðarinnar.

     I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

   Þetta er jörðin okkar.

   This is our earth.

3. soil
4. ground

   Synonym: grund

5. estate, tract of land (as property)

Usage notes

• (Earth): Often used with a definite article jörðin, a little akin to the English "the earth".
• The archaic declensions jörðu (indef. acc. and dat. sg.), jörðunni (def. dat. sg.) are sometimes used. Compare sól, mörk (especially Danmörk) and nótt.

Declension

Declension of jörð (feminine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	jörð	jörðin	jarðir	jarðirnar
accusative	jörð, jörðu1	jörðina	jarðir	jarðirnar
dative	jörð, jörðu1	jörðinni, jörðunni1	jörðum	jörðunum
genitive	jarðar	jarðarinnar	jarða	jarðanna

¹Poetic, formal or in set phrases.

Derived terms

• jarðarber
• jarðarbúi
• jarðarför
• jarðeigandi
• jarðhæð
• jarðskjálfti

See also

Solar System in Icelandic · Sólkerfið (layout · text)
Star	Sólin
IAU planets and notable dwarf planets	Merkúr	Venus	Jörðin	Mars	Seres	Júpíter	Satúrnus	Úranus	Neptúnus	Plútó	Eris
Notable moons	—	—	Tunglið	Fóbos Deimos	—	Íó Evrópa Ganýmedes Kallistó	Mímas Enkeladus Teþis Díóne Rea Títan Japetus	Míranda Aríel Úmbríel Títanía Óberon	Tríton	Karon	Dysnómía

References

• Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
• Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “jörð”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
• Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
• Málfarsbankinn [Idiom bank]‎^[1] (in Icelandic), (Can we date this quote?): “Orðmyndin jörðu (m.gr. jörðunni) í þágufalli eintölu er angi af eldra máli sem lifað hefur í föstum orðasamböndum og skáldamáli en einnig í almennari samböndum. ― The form jörðu (def. jörðunni) in the dative singular sprouts from Old Icelandic, which has survived in set phrases and poetry but also in generic phrases.”
• “jörð” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)