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From Old Norsedilkr, from Proto-Germanic*dilkaz, related to *dajjaną, *dēaną, *dijōną(“suckle”) and *delō(“nipple”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁(y)-(“to suckle, nurse”). Originally referred to the young of any livestock (sheep, goats, horses, pigs or cattle) that are being suckled by its mother. The sense “section of a larger sheepfold” is derived metaphorically from the sense “suckling lamb”, as the smaller enclosures cling to the larger like lambs to the ewe.[1]
an enclosed part of a fold; one of the smaller folds surrounding the main sheepfold
Hver bær hefur sinn dilk.
Each town has its own enclosure.
Usage notes
In the old agricultural society, lambs were færð frá(“separated from”) the mother soon after the springbearings in June and driven to the mountains while the ewes were kept and milked at home over summer (this time was called fráfærur and separated lambs were called fráfærulömb or fráfærnalömb). Younglings would occasionally follow their mothers throughout the summer and suckle the milk; the lamb would then be called dilkur and the ewe dilksuga(“suckled by a dilkur”)—folaldssuga(“suckled by a foal”) would be used if the same happened to a foal. When the meat of sheep and lamb became a commodity farmers stopped separating the lambs from the ewes and let them suckle their mothers throughout the summer, making them heftier than before come fall.[1]