laukr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Norse ᛚᚨᚢᚲᚨᛉ (laukaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *laukaz (“leek”). Cognate with Old English lēac, Old Saxon lōk, Old High German louh. Cognate with Proto-Slavic *lukъ and Finnish laukka, which are borrowings from the Proto-Germanic word. Possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑukr̩/

Noun

laukr m (genitive lauks, plural laukar)

1. leek, garlic
   • Völsunga saga 32, in 1829, C. C. Rafn, Fornaldar sögur Nordrlanda, Volume I. Copenhagen, page 205:

     […] sem gull af járni, eða laukr af öðrum grösum, eða hjörtr af öðrum dýrum, […]

     […] as gold from iron, or leek from other herbs or deer from other beasts, […]

Declension

  Declension of laukr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	laukr	laukrinn	laukar	laukarnir
accusative	lauk	laukinn	lauka	laukana
dative	lauki	laukinum	laukum	laukunum
genitive	lauks	lauksins	lauka	laukanna

Derived terms

• blóðlaukr (“sword”)
• graslaukr (“garlic”)
• kofnalaukr (“skin of a puffin”)
• laukagarðr (“leek-garden”)
• laukjafn (“straight, just”)
• laukshǫfuð (“leek-head”)
• ættarlaukr (“best man of a family”)

 

Descendants

• Icelandic: laukur
• Faroese: leykur
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: løk

  Nynorsk: lauk

• Old Swedish: lø̄ker
  • Swedish: lök
• Old Danish: løk, lø̄k
  • Danish: løg
• Elfdalian: lok
• Gutnish: lauk
• Scanian: løg

References

• “laukr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• laukr in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• laukr in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.