Wiktionary:Requested entries (Norwegian Nynorsk)

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• abraksleg - unusually big or problematic. Found only in some dialects. IPA: abˈrakʂlɛ. Probably same as abrikjeleg.

• barblåst
• balduska (“halibut”) - Northern Norwegian dialectal word from Russenorsk, along with several other words from Russenorsk mentioned in the Wikipedia article about the language: kartanka, råbbåte, klæba, prennek, krale, sabbusa, and kvase.
  • Also spelled as ballduska, and looks like it is not only used in the far north, but also close to Middle Norway if not even further south. Here is very important to find out the native northern pronunciation, cuz the L-sound is probably palatal, but am not sure, as I ain’t never heard this word IRL. The Russian original word has no palatal L tho.
• bob-bob. Same as meir eller mindre. Not sure about spelling of this one, but this variant is at least used on internet. Did it got any proper etymology or is it may be onomatopoeic? Is it dialectal?

"Bob, bob, bob" er måske dét citat fra en julekalender, der har vundet størst indpas i danskernes ordforråd. Det blev lynhurtigt populært i december 1991, og udtrykket bruges stadig af mange den dag i dag. Supevan (talk) 10:14, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

• Blakstad - a surname and place name in Norway, has a "Norwegian" entry which is lacking a lot of information

I’ve added the information I could find. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 12:02, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

• bise (“to gossip, tattle”) - dialectal, where the verb bisle (“to tattle”) is derived from, according to Naob.no
• Borsheim - a surname
• båtkalesje - same as Swedish båtkapell?
• bygsel - also written before as Bøxel
• burk - heard it used in Trøndelag (pronounced as "busjk", "bursk"), probably a loan from Swedish, but may be from Old Norse or from Månsing? Means the same as the Swedish (cylindrical can, beer can). Can’t find much attested examples on Internet. On Swedish Wiktionary you find Bokmål "ølburk", but where it came from?

  Naob.no lists Norwegian Bokmål burkete, as dialectal burk + -ete, with burk stemming from Old Norse buðkr (“can, tin”), equivalent to Swedish burk. No entry for burk itself though. Supevan (talk) 10:37, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

• birhånå - used in Lom, Vågå and Dovre. A beer tap. Probably related to English beer. The last part is probably same as hane (“rooster”).
• bruglut or brugglot, probably standard spelling as bruglete. Meaning: Hard, not easy. See Dovremål Dictionary by Alf Eriksen.
• bråtul, alternatively brutul and brotull. A careless worker. By Alf Eriksen, a tireless hard working man. Probably related to brutul-lugumt on the same page (the last part is luggum).
• Byrkjedal - a surname
• Bratland - a surname
• Bigset - a surname

• drombegang
• drøvkakk - Trøndelag dialect, equivalent to draug + kakk (“knock”). A sound of knocking in the wall of a house from the outside. A death omen. See Innset bygdebok, vol. 1, page 384. Can not find attestations outside this source, but it sounds similar to southern Sami belief about the "Frozen Boot", which walks around in winter and warns death.

  Added in the form draugkakk found in multiple works. Drøvkakk might be a mishearing, but I added it in usage notes. However, it probably does not deserve a separate entry. Eiliv (talk) 21:09, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

  In Lule Sami, "the Frozen Boot" is a pun (ordspel), because "frozen" sounds similar to "corpse". Those sources you have on this word, are they anywhere close to Lule Sami area or do you have any attestations from Sørenfjellsk Norway? May this superstition be of Sami origin? Can’t find anything similar in Swedish or Russian folklore. Tollef Salemann (talk) 20:32, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

• Eggen - a surname

• fukka - in a second sense, which is mentioned in Proto-Germanic *fukkōną (“to blow, gust”)
• fevvel, fevel - a supposed Trøndelag dialect form of fivel, not much attested on the internets as far I can see. I ain't never heard it being used IRL, and never have used it neither. I reckon, it is probably a northern form.
• frøspinn - probably dialectal. A person who freezes easily?
• fløgtid - Rollag dialect, same as laupetid. Standard spelling unknown.
• Fastvold - a surname
• Flotmyr - a place name in Haugesund
• Fjærtoft - a surname

• gorm, gurm - see Icelandic gormur
• grautmål
• gøyr - see Norwegian Nynorsk gjø
• goro - children food similar to British bisquit?
• gita - mentioned by Ivar Aasen. Related to the Faroese gita. Not quite the same as gjetta.

• heilimodi - mentioned in Glossarium Norvagicum (1749) as a greeting phrase. Also attested as heli Mote in "Tvo løglege Rødur" (1730). Also heel j Moht (1677).
• heppa - see Proto-Germanic *hampijaną
• huia, huiande
• hakkmette - Gudbrandsdal dialect, probably same as w:nn:alunskifer. Ivar Aasen gives neutrum gender, while Alf Eriksen gives feminine.
• horva etter - see Alf Eriksen's Dovre dialect dictionary: hår(v)e ette(r) - to come true, to be fulfilled.

• isbild

• Josvanger - a surname
• joke f (plural: joko) - see Alf Eriksen’s Dovre dialect glossary. A natural ditch or a wet hole in forest. Can’t find anything on this word, even if spelled as gjoke og ljoke.

• kolka, kulka - to cheat?
• kramsekjerring
• kufta - to run?
• krepp (“proud, haughty”) - dialectal word of unknown origin: https://naob.no/ordbok/krepp_2
• kneiv - supposed form of kniv in Ytre Sogn. Should be probably added to pronunciation information of kniv, rarher than spelling, but in any case should be confirmed.
• krikle - traditional name for April, see Hans Jacob Wille (1786). Not sure about its gender. Corresponds with gjøa, terrin and kvina.
• Kydland - a surname
• krøbbe - an weird kind of sled (similar to gylte) used by children in Bergen back in the day; masculine gender; if it was used outside of Bergen, then I suppose it could be called krybbe and may have had feminine gender. Not sure how to describe it in English if such sleds were used in England. Look like big boxes, they were heavy and could be used by many children at once, what was dangerous for other people in the way, therefore they were forbidden, but were still used when no police was around.
• kaffitår, same as kaffiskvett
• Kong Vinter - see English King Winter
• krotobrød - bread made of bread rests, poor man’s bread
• kladais m - colloquial; "a big lump".

• lunge-blaut (“soaked”) - mentioned in a derivation of Proto-Germanic *lingwą (“heather, ling”), unclear what the Old-Norse/Proto-Norse terms are.
• Leira - "Leira in Valdres is named after the river Leira. The name of the river is derived from leire which means "clay". Leira is a common name of rivers many places in Norway."
• Løvland - a surname
• leverkje n - see Alf Eriksen’s dictionary of Dovremål. By first look, seems like a form of ledverk, but Eriksen says that it is synonym of leverhogg.
• Lerche - a surname
• Lundervold - a surname

• Manæta - probably should be today spelled as mannete. Mentioned by Erik Pontoppidan in Glossarium Norvagicum as a big fish, which eats herring and humans (whence the name, mann+æta), and that's why fishers are throwing mice and rats to the ocean to distract this fish. Is he trying to describe some kinda fishing ritual (like on Håkkå)? Is this fish known in any legends? Or is it a real fish?

Spelled as Manæte by Christen Jensøn in 1646, who also describes it as a dangerous sea monster, but description is different from Pontoppidan’s (that menas that Pontoppidan didn’t just copy pasted it into his dictionary, although being familiar with Jensøn’s dictionary).

But in Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige historie the same Pontoppidan also describes a Manæte, but as a common jellyfish (see Norwegian Nynorsk manet), also called Søe-Trold and Søe-Nelde ("sea nettle", see etymology of manet). Meanwhile Jensøn uses "a sea troll" as a name for a shark (?). The only harm Pontoppidan gives the Manæte in this book, is to be poisonous for animals (mice, rats and even wolfs) and able to harm skin and loungs, but no mention of it as a sea monster, which he describes in his own Glossarium.

In other words, the Manæte is present in dictionaries of Christen Jensøn (1646) and Erik Pontoppidan (1749), who both describe it as a dangerous sea monster, probably as result of folk etymology of its name (mann (“man”) + eta (“eat”)), but in the second volume of Norges naturlige historie (1753), pages 294-296, Pontoppidan describes it as a common jellyfish, and compares its name and appearance to nettle (see etymology of manet). The sense of Manæte as a giant sea monster/fish is, AFAIK, is mentioned only in the two dictionaries of Ch.J. and E.P., but if it is known in other sources, please add this sense as folklore based on folk etymology. Tollef Salemann (talk) 20:56, 3 June 2025 (UTC)

• mandelgåve = almond present for someone who finds the almond in the rice pudding that's served at Christmas.
• Mehamn - a coast town in Finnmark. According to Norsk stadnamnleksikon, the name means Middle Harbour. Danicized as Mehavn. On old French and German maps is (probably) lebelled as Ommegang and Omega. The Russian name of it may be Шестопалиха (meaning six fingers, as the peninsulas around the bay), but no reliable sources for this Russian word are to find, although Bokmål Wikipedia mentions it. Northern Sami name is Donjevuotna.

• nigla - dialectal word mentioned in the etymology of English niggard
• næringskjede
• Nestvold - a surname

  Probably not related to Nesttun at least.

• Othilie - a female given name, also part of place names such as Othilienborg in Trondheim.

• puttehøl, or puttehól. See høl. Bokmål is gonna be puttehull i guess. A hole in a wall for hiding nails and hairs from devil. Was a real thing in many countries, as well in Northern Norway, but I've not finded nor mentions on the Internets, nor in the Norwegian ethnography books.

@Tollef Salemann: This sounds way too obscure. It’s not mentioned in any literature on nb.no, nor do I find any mention of the phenomena. Where did you even find the word, and is it actually appropriate for a dictionary? If I could get some more context, maybe I can find more information about it. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 18:50, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

Heard it from two independent oral sources from some Finnmark Norwegians who don't know each other. Have no contact with them now and can't find this word in any book, but it was sure a real thing in Finnmark, as it is also reported by Sami sources. May be, the word had just never got popularity and never was used in books. Tollef Salemann (talk) 21:20, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

I’ve removed the link to the word on høl for the time being, as I can’t find any evidence of its existence. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk)

• pappe - dialectal word with the same meaning as patte, mentioned in Naob.no for the word "pupp".
• potet - about a hole in a sock. May it be from English potato? See also English spud.
  • I thought the "potato" in this case is the toe, not the hole. The toe peeking out looks like a potato falling out of a sack.
• pintol (“penis”) - see Etymology of English pintle

• ræpe - verb and noun, see Icelandic ræpa
• Rodal - a surname
• ratt - Toten and Hamar dialects, kinda the same as plutseleg, but am not sure. Also, hard to find usage examples on the Internet. Seems to be not exactly the same as radt. Or is it? Never heard it in any other dialect.
• reks and lings, sjå 1919 kommentar i "Norsk ordbog" av J. N. Wilse, side 79. A "reks" lock is a lock which opens by turning key clockwise, while a "lings" lock is counterclockwise. From German rechts and links. Needs to be checked. Can't find usage examples on internet.
• risl - a small creek?
• rugga (“coarse coverlet”) - see English rug
• Rui - a surname
  • From place name, mostly common in Telemark. From Old Norse ruð, same as -rud, see Oluf Rygh. May also spelled as Rude in old maps and documents. The one in Eidsborg, mostly known today for the two girls who were bearing the stones to the cemetery, is called Rue in local dialect, but spelled Rui, but families from this places have both Rui and Rue as surname. Tollef Salemann (talk) 05:49, 11 May 2025 (UTC)

• svånå. See deld. Word used in Oppdalsboka. Can't find any further information on it, such as gender. Describing a real thing (a hole in stones with torevatn), common in folk medicine across the whole world. I ain't never heard it used in everyday speech (as far I can remember). Also, this word may be a variant of svånnå, a dialectal term for svane (“swane”), but they both are very rare (if used at all).

@Tollef Salemann The quote is “svånå skålforma utholingar t.d. i stein”. It doesn’t seem like a noun. The verb svånå (normalised Nynorsk svòna) apparently means to overflow in Dovre, so could it be the same in Oppdal? Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 17:05, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

ah, ofcourse!! haha i've never heard the verb "svona", so i tought it was a noun, due to the cursive.

sjølsagt! eg hev aldri haurt verbet "svona", so eg tenkte det var eit substantiv, sidan det var skreve i kursiv. Tollef Salemann (talk) 17:16, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

I’ve created an entry for the verb svòna now. Seems like the river Svone comes from the same word. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 22:00, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

There is also Svånåvatn lake. As far i know, there are no swans. Can't find etymology on this one yet. Tollef Salemann (talk) 22:04, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

It seems very likely that it’s derived from the river name. I’ve added it (and other names) to the entry for Svone. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 22:39, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

I’m beginning to wonder if svòna is an actual word at all. It seems like it was invented by Norsk Ordbok 2014, solely based on the standardised spelling Svone of the river name Svånå.

From what I can find, it might possibly be svana (“to dwindle, decrease”) (this word) that has gotten a new, less specific meaning of any change in the water level. It appears that svana is always accompanied by ned; in which case, someone could easily get the idea that “svana opp” would mean the opposite, i.e. referring to an increase in the water level. Since both svòna and svana are pronounced svånå, I can’t find any signs of them being different words. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 00:27, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Eg skynar framleis ikkje den derre "andre ... bilete ... kunne vera svånå ... utholingar". Den setjinga der gjev jo inga meining! Dessutan, i Oppdal skal det vel heller vera forventa ei form som "svånnå"? Tollef Salemann (talk) 00:55, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Det verkar som at Alf Eriksen hev valt å skriva alle slike jamvektsord med éin konsonant. Tidlegare i boki skriv han elles fuglen mèd som svånå. Det er ikkje heilt uvanlegt å gjera det slik, sjølv for målføre der konsonanten heilt tydeleg er lang.

Fonemiskt er det vel /svo̞no̞/, realisert i Dovre som , men lenger nord. Ein stavemåte som ⟨svånå⟩ kann soleis hava fleire uttalor basert på kva system målføret fylgjer, og i Uppdal er det altso med lang konsonant. Sjå elles på namnet Harald, som er uttala både Hārald og Harrald, alt etter målføre. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 01:09, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

• silje - dialectal term mentioned in Proto-Germanic *silô

Added. Also “dialectal” was a mislabel by Victar, as this is a standardised word in Nynorsk. --Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 18:41, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

Hev er riktig skjønt at silje er det same som sållå? I sume dialekter er det skilnad millom seletøy (sållå) og sele og eit slags reiskap som er ein del tå seletøyet. Eg hev null peiling på slikt sjølv då, ettersom eg hev ingen hest. Trur det ska stå i "Trøndersk språkhistorie", men den bokja er no utlånt. Tollef Salemann (talk) 18:46, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

Nei, silje er ikkje det same som sållå. Det siste er ei form av sele, medan silje er ei gamal avleiding av germansk *silô (“sele”). Tydingi er ikkje den same, og helder ikkje språkleg kunne sållå ha kome frå gn. *silja. Eiliv / ᛅᛁᛚᛁᚠᛦ (talk) 20:40, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

• skråen (“half-dried, withered, hard”) - see Old Norse skrá (“dried skin, parchment”)
• sorgmilde (“sadness, melancholy”) - According to Nynorskordboka
• svirvla (“to swing, twirl”) - see English swirl
• svukku - Trøndelag dialect. A twig of some kind?
• Sleppen - a surname
• slor f - some kind of bog
• søtekåte - apparently same as Danish fukssvans. Is it a plant or a bird or a tool? Spelled as Søtekoto in 1780 (showing Norwegian jamvekt rules).
• Slarkie (slarkje?) - Erik Pontoppidan: a person having "weird" clothes (not used in the rural areas).
• Spœnæ - Erik Pontoppidan: a spoon. Not sure what this "œ" is, because it is not "ø" (he uses "ö") and not "au" (he uses "ou"), and not "æ" (which he uses without problems).
• Same problem: Slœned - Erik Pontoppidan: ugly. Same problem as above with "œ". Normalized spelling should be "slænete" or "sleinete" something like it. This word is in fact attested in both versions (and dialectal "slænut") in some blog, indeed meaning "ugly", but I can't find it anywhere else.
• Slôngin-Nabn - Erik Pontoppidan: same as Danish Øge-Navn. Not sure what this "ô" should represent, because he did not use it often. "Nabn" instead of "namn" is normal in some Norwegian dialects (like in Agder), but what is "slongin"? Probably "slengjenamn" or, rather, "slengjande namn"?
• Same problem: Sôde - Gentiana, søterot. Same weird letter. According to him, in "Guledal" (Gauldal?) this plant is called "Skiær-Söde", which is also attested by Swedish SAOB (as "skjæresøte"). Ivar Aasen gives "Skarsøta" and "Skjærsøta" for Sogn and Northern Hordaland, but not for Gauldal.
• Sjå sitt ram(m) - "Dæ betyr ette gammalt, den som sille sjaa hoss dæ sille pasere utfalli" whatever this means. May it be connected to Swedish "söka sitt ram" ("söka eller avvakta ett gott tillfälle eller en möjlighet (ofta att skada eller angripa någon; gå på rov")?
• sipa, sippa
• skrott - same as Norwegian Bokmål skrott, missing etymology which would be interesting to see
  • skrunt - dialectal version of above term; in Haugesund "epleskrunt" = "epleskrott"

• trebonius - Called "boksen går" other places, dialectal term from Haugesund/Stavanger for the children's game. Unsure about gender or whether or not the T is capitalized. Both a noun as the name of the game, and an interjection said during the game.

Interesting etymology: "Gjemmeleken i Stavanger fikk dette navnet etter Daniel Trebonius som var lærer ved byens katedralskole omkring 1670. 10 år seinere hjalp han elevene ved denne skolen å skrive et smedevers på latin om den forhatte kapellanen, Henrik Rosenkilde, som også underviste ved katedralskolen. En elev røpet hvem som hadde hjulpet dem å skrive versene, Rosenkilde anmeldte saken til biskopen som i sin tur sa opp Trebonius. Trebonius forsvant så stilt og raskt fra byen etter dette, at mange mente han hadde gjemt seg. Dette er forklaringen på at gjemmeleken ble kalt «å lega trebonius» i Stavanger helt fram til 1950-tallet."

English: Trebonius, Stavanger name of the "Kick the Can"-game, called boksen går other places, got its name of a Latin language teacher in Stavanger cathedral school ca. 1670 (also, 1671) Daniel Trebonius (born 1652 in Ystad, Scania). (Ten years later) he helped the pupils to write a Latin mocking poem about capellan Henrik Rosenkilde. When it became known, Trebonius lost his job and disappeared so quickly out of the city, that many said he hide himself, whence the game name came from (lega trebonius = to play trebonius).

• tikken (definite form of tikk?), balltikken (same game but a ball is thrown instead of using your finger) - Western Norwegian dialectal word for the game called sisten (Tag! You're it). Also the interjection shouted when "tagging" someone. See Wikipedia w:nn:tikken.
• Tallerås - common place name in Norway (in Smøla and Svorkmo; also a place at the Nyplassen/Grutsetra church, not mentioned in modern maps; a big farm on mouth of Ilka creek in Dovre; also was probably a farm with this name long time ago somewhere in Sunnmøre). The last part is ås. Where the first part taller is from?
• Tveit - a surname

  See tveit. Same origin as Danicized Tvedt. Tollef Salemann (talk) 19:51, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

• Undsæt - surname, as in the composer Rolf Undsæt Løvland
• Undset - surname, as in the writer Sigrid Undset. Same name as above?

• vokstrév - Alf Eriksen mentions it in Dovre dialect. Same as vaksesmerter (“growing pains”). The standard spelling is probably vekstriv (riv = smerte, see Ivar Aasen).
• vomrév - Alf Eriksen too, same as Riv i Magen mentioned by Ivar Aasen.

• Ålavika - place name in Utsira, Norway
• Aarböxe - "to be responsible for something at a certain time", in Glossarium Norvagicum of E. Pontoppidan, 1749

• Æder-Tak m - "any poisonous animal", in Glossarium Norvagicum of E. Pontoppidan, 1749
• Ætt m - "a corner of sky", in Glossarium Norvagicum of E. Pontoppidan, 1749. "Vinden paa sin rette Ætt" = "the wind is blowing from its normal (common) direction".