straumr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *straumaz, from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos, from *srew- (“to flow”). Compare Old English strēam (English stream), Old Frisian strām (West Frisian stream), Old Saxon strōm (Low German Stroom), Dutch stroom, Old High German stroum, strōm (German Strom (“a stream, a current”)).

Noun

straumr m

1. a stream, a current, a race, a river
2. (nautical, of the sea) the tide

Derived terms

• brjóta straum fyrir (to break the stream for one, to bear the brunt)
• stórstraumr (a spring-tide)
• smástraumr (a neap-tide)

Descendants

• Danish: strøm
• Faroese: streymur
• Icelandic: straumur
• Norwegian:
  • Bokmål: strøm
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: straum
• Old Swedish: strömber
  • Swedish: ström

References

• “straumr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press