morginn

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• morgunn, merginn, myrginn, myrgunn

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *murginaz (“morning”). Cognate with Old English morġen, Old Frisian morgen, Old Saxon morgan, Old High German morgan, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍃 (maurgins). See also Finnish murkina. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *merkʷ- (“to blink, twinkle”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

morginn m (genitive morgins, plural morgnar)

1. morning
   • Saga Hákonar, Guttorms ok Inga 9, in 1835, F. Magnússon, C. C. Rafn, Fornmanna sögur, Volume IX. Copenhagen, page 21:

     […] betra þikki mér at hafa í nótt XIV skútur til bæjarins, en hálfu fleiri á myrgun.

     […] better methinks to have fourteen sailboats here at night, but a half more in the morning.

Declension

Declension of morginn (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	morginn	morginninn	morgnar, mornar	morgnarnir, mornarnir
accusative	morgin	morgininn	morgna, morna	morgnana, mornana
dative	morgni, morni	morgninum, morninum	morgnum, mornum	morgnunum, mornunum
genitive	morgins	morginsins	morgna, morna	morgnanna, mornanna

Note the dropping of "g" in the plural and dative singular forms

Derived terms

• morgindǫgg (“morning dew”)
• morgingjǫf (“bridal gift”)
• morginligr (“matutinal”)
• morginmatr (“breakfast”)
• morginmál (“time of morning meal”)
• morginroði (“morning-red”)
• morginskin (“morning light”)
• morginstjarna (“morning star”)
• morginstund (“morning hour”)
• morginsár (“early morning”)
• morginsól (“rising sun”)
• morgintími (“morning-time”)
• morgintíðir (“matins”)
• morginvakr (“early awake”)
• morginveiðr (“morning catch”)
• morginverk (“morning work”)
• morgna, morna (“to become morning, dawn”)
• mornan (“dawn”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: morgunn
• Faroese: morgun
• Norwegian Nynorsk: morgon
• Jamtish: morgę
• Elfdalian: morgun
• Old Swedish: morghin, morghon, morghan
  • Swedish: morgon
• Old Danish: morghæn, morwæn
  • Danish: morgen
    • Norwegian Bokmål: morgen
  • Scanian: marğen
• Gutnish: mårgen, mårren

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “morginn”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 434
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “morginn”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 301; also available at the Internet Archive