kobbe

Dutch

Alternative forms

• koab, koap, kaap

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps referring to an animal with a thick, round body, in which probably from the same source as Old Norse kobbi (“seal”), which see. Compare English cob (“male swan”), dialectal German Koppe (“crow”), and East Frisian kaabe (“seagull”), kobbe.

Pronunciation

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Noun

kobbe f (plural kobben, no diminutive)

1. (Groningen, dialectal) European herring gull (Larus argentatus)

   Synonym: zilvermeeuw

Further reading

• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “kobbe”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001
• Kroonen, Guus (2011), The Proto-Germanic n-Stems: A Study in Diachronic Morphophonology, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 285

Swedish

ejdrar (“eiders”) på en liten kobbe

Etymology

Related to kubbe (“sawed-off tree trunk”) and Old Norse kúfóttr, ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“hilltop, knoll”).

Noun

kobbe c

1. a low, rocky, rounded islet (skerry) (in a coastal archipelago)

   kobbar och skär

   islets and skerries

Usage notes

Rock might also be a sensible translation in some contexts. The typical size of a kobbe might vary regionally. "Kobbe" appears more often in the names of small islands in Åland and Finland, so perhaps they tend to be larger there.

Declension

Declension of kobbe

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	kobbe	kobbes
	definite	kobben	kobbens
plural	indefinite	kobbar	kobbars
	definite	kobbarna	kobbarnas

See also

• fjärd
• holme
• skär
• skärgård

References

• “kobbe”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “kobbe”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “kobbe”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

West Flemish

Etymology

From Middle Dutch coppe, from Old Dutch *kopp, from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, round vessel, head”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve”). Compare Danish edderkop, Norwegian edderkopp, English coppe, Low German kobbe.

Noun

kobbe f

1. spider

Derived terms

• kobbenette