birna

See also: Birna, bírna, and bírná

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse birna, from Proto-Germanic *birnijǭ, from *berô.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɪrtna/
    Rhymes: -ɪrtna
    Homophone: Birna

Noun

birna f (genitive singular birnu, nominative plural birnur)

  1. female bear, she-bear
    • 2(Can we date this quote?) Kings 2:23-24 (English and Icelandic)
      Þaðan hélt hann til Betel. Og er hann gekk upp veginn, gengu smásveinar út úr borginni, hæddu hann og kölluðu til hans: „Kom hingað, skalli! Kom hingað, skalli!“ Sneri hann sér þá við, og er hann sá þá, formælti hann þeim í nafni Drottins. Þá komu tvær birnur út úr skóginum og rifu í sundur fjörutíu og tvo af drengjunum.
      From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

Declension

Declension of birna (feminine)
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative birna birnan birnur birnurnar
accusative birnu birnuna birnur birnurnar
dative birnu birnunni birnum birnunum
genitive birnu birnunnar birna birnanna

Kashubian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Birne.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbir.na/
  • Rhymes: -irna
  • Syllabification: bir‧na

Noun

birna f

  1. synonym of żarówka (light bulb)

Further reading

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bernijǭ, from *berô (bear).

Noun

birna f (genitive birnu)

  1. she-bear, female bear

Declension

Declension of birna (weak ōn-stem)
feminine singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative birna birnan birnur birnurnar
accusative birnu birnuna birnur birnurnar
dative birnu birnunni birnum birnunum
genitive birnu birnunnar birna birnanna

Descendants

  • Icelandic: birna
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: binne
  • Norwegian Bokmål: binne

Further reading

  • Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “birna”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive