svalr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *swalaz (“cool, [originally: burningly] cold”), from *swelaną (“to burn slowly, create a burningly cold sensation”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to shine, warm up, burn”). Akin to German schwül (“sultry”), Dutch zwoel (“sultry”), and Ancient Greek σέλας (sélas, “luminous”).

Adjective

svalr (comparative svalari, superlative svalastr)

  1. cool, cold
    • Vǫluspá, stanza 3, lines 3–4:
      […] vara sandr né sær
      né svalar unnir […]
      […] there was no sand nor sea
      nor cool waves […]

Declension

Descendants

  • Icelandic: svalur
  • Faroese: svalur
  • Norwegian: sval
  • Old Swedish: sval
  • Old Danish: swal

References

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