mál

• IPA^(key): /mɔɑːl/
• Rhymes: -ɔaːl

From Old Norse mál, from Proto-Germanic *maþlą.

mál n (genitive singular máls, plural mál)

1. language
2. speech
3. talk
4. matter
5. (law) cause

• endamál
• vandamál
• loyndarmál
• fiskivinnumál
• fíggjarmál
• skattamál
• rættarmál
• bergmál
• tungumál
• talumál
• skriftmál
• bundið mál
• óbundið mál
• málsgrein
• mállæra
• málnevnd

From Old Norse mál, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, whence also English meal. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European root *meh₁- (“to measure”).

mál n (genitive singular máls, plural mál)

1. measurement, size

• ummál

• IPA^(key): /mauːl/

  Rhymes: -auːl

Inherited from Old Norse mál, from Proto-Germanic *maþlą.

mál n (genitive singular máls, nominative plural mál)

1. language

   Synonyms: tunga, tungumál, (chiefly archaic) sprok

2. speech

   Synonyms: málfar, tungutak, mæli

3. matter, affair
4. (law) cause
5. (informal) a big deal

• barnamál
• ekkert mál

  ekkert mál fyrir Jón Pál

• gælumál
• áhugamál
• forritunarmál
• ritmál
• smalamál
• tungumál
• fara ekki á milli mála

• mæla

Inherited from Old Norse mál, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, whence also English meal. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European root *meh₁- (“to measure”).

mál n (genitive singular máls, nominative plural mál)

1. measurements, size, dimensions

   Synonym: mæling

2. a system of measurement

   Synonym: mælikerfi

3. the appropriate time for something

   Er ekki mál að fara?

   Isn't it time to go?

4. a meal, mealtime

   Synonym: máltíð

• taka mál, taka mál af
• mál til komið
• vera mál
• milli mála
• flatarmál

• mæla

From Proto-Germanic *maþlą, whence also Old Saxon mahal, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌸𐌻 (maþl).

mál n

1. language
2. speech
3. matter, affair
4. (poetry) syntactic unit, sentence
5. (law) cause

• bragarmál (“contraction of unstressed words”, literally “poetic speech”)

• Icelandic: mál
• Faroese: mál
• Norwegian Bokmål: mål
• Old Swedish: māl
  • Swedish: mål
• Danish: mål
• → Old English: māl (“speech, contract, agreement”)
  • Middle English: mal, male
    • English: mail
    • Scots: mail

From Proto-Germanic *mēlą (“measure, time, occasion”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European root *meh₁- (“to measure”). Cognate with Old English mǣl, Old Frisian mēl, Old Saxon māl, Old High German māl, Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌻 (mēl, “time, hour”).

mál n (genitive máls, plural mál)

1. measurement, size
2. season; a quarter of a year
   • c. 1180, Rímbegla:

     í misseri eru mál tvau, í máli eru mánuðr þrír

     in a half-year there are two seasons, in a seasons there are three months

3. time

   mál es at eta

   it is time to eat

4. (Low German influence) meal, mealtime

From the same Germanic source as Old Saxon māl and Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌻 (mēl), probably Proto-Germanic *mēlijaną, used by Ulfilas to translate Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) and γράμμα (grámma). Related to Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (mēljan) (translating Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “draw, write”)) and German malen (“to paint”).

mál n

1. a work of art inlaid in metal, especially on weapons