skjöldur

From Old Norse skjǫldr, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keit-, *(s)keid-, *kheit- (“shield, cover”). Compare Faroese skjøldur, Danish and Norwegian skjold, Swedish sköld.

• IPA^(key): /ˈscœltʏr/
• Rhymes: -œltʏr

skjöldur m (genitive singular skjaldar, nominative plural skildir)

1. shield (handheld piece of armor)
2. shield (anything which protects or defends)

• In certain phrases such as koma í opna skjöldu, ganga fram fyrir skjöldu, and stíga fram fyrir skjöldu, an archaic plural accusative form skjöldu still survives.

• hlífiskjöldur
• koma í opna skjöldu (“to catch someone off guard, to take by surprise”)
• leika tveim skjöldum, leika tveimur sköldum (“to trim one's sails to the wind, to swim with the tide”)
• skjöldóttur
• skjaldarmerki

• Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
• Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “skjöldur”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
• Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
• “skjöldur” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)