góðr

From Proto-Germanic *gōdaz, whence also Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old English gōd, Old High German and Old Dutch guot, Gothic 𐌲𐍉𐌸𐍃 (gōþs). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ-. The comparative and superlative forms are from Proto-Germanic *batizô and *batistaz respectively, both degrees of Proto-Germanic *bataz, being ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed- (“good”).

góðr (comparative betri, superlative beztr)

1. good, righteous, morally commendable
2. good, honest, true

   góðir vinir — good friends

3. kind, friendly

   góð orð — good, kind words

4. good, gifted

   gott skáld — a good poet

5. goodly, fine

• That the neuter form in early times was gótt and not later gott is seen from rhymes (hendings) with words like dróttinn (“lord”).

This word has a suppletive inflection, using another root in the comparative and superlative forms, than in the positive form.

• Icelandic: góður
• Faroese: góður
• Norwegian: god
• Elfdalian: guoð
• Old Swedish: gōþer
  • Swedish: god, goder (dialectal, in set phrases)
• Old Danish: gōth, (Old Scanian) gōþær
  • Danish: god
  • Scanian: góðer
• Old Gutnish: gōþr
  • Gutnish: godar

• vel (“well”)

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “góðr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “góðr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 315; also available at the Internet Archive
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “betri”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “beztr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive