holme

From Middle English holm (“island”), from Old Norse holmr, from Proto-Germanic *hulmaz.

holme (plural holmes)

1. Alternative form of holm.

• Homel, Mohel, mohel

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦolmɛ]

holme

1. first-person plural imperative of holit

holme c

1. indefinite plural of holm

holme

1. alternative form of halm

From Old Norse holmi, holmr.

holme m (definite singular holmen, indefinite plural holmer, definite plural holmene)

1. an islet, or holm (UK)

• “holme” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• holm

From Old Norse holmi, holmr.

holme m (definite singular holmen, indefinite plural holmar, definite plural holmane)

1. an islet, or holm (UK)

• “holme” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• holm (obsolete)

From Old Swedish holmber, Old Norse holmr, from Proto-Germanic *hulmaz. Cognate with Icelandic hólmur (dative hólmi), German Holm. (sense 3) is a semantic loan from Icelandic hólmur.

holme c

2. a small island, an islet, a holm (normally uninhabited and typically more or less covered with trees)
3. (now perceived as figurative) a small (forested) hill, a mound, a knoll (surrounded by relatively flat terrain)
5. (historical) a designated place for a duel in early medieval Scandinavia, especially in Norway and Iceland (originally and often a holme in (sense 1) (small island))

• The archetypical holme is a small island covered with trees on the coast (or in a large lake, etc.), often in a waterway. The intuition tends towards ö the larger it gets.
• Sometimes reflects conditions with less post-glacial rebound in place names, leading to "holm(e)" appearing in names of peninsulas, for example. Compare vik.

• Holm
• Holmberg
• Lindholm
• Stockholm
• holmgång

• klippa
• kobbe
• skär
• ö

• holme in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• holme in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• Nya Åland, "Därför heter våra holmar som de gör"