laukr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Norse ᛚᚨᚢᚲᚨᛉ (laukaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *laukaz (“leek”).

Cognate with Old English lēac, Old Saxon lōk, Old High German louh. Cognate with Proto-Slavic *lukъ and Finnish laukka, which are borrowings from the Proto-Germanic word.

Pronunciation

(12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑukr̩/

Noun

laukr m (genitive lauks, plural laukar)

leek, garlic
- Völsunga saga 32, in 1829, C. C. Rafn, Fornaldar sögur Nordrlanda, Volume I. Copenhagen, page 205:
  […] sem gull af járni, eða laukr af öðrum grösum, eða hjörtr af öðrum dýrum, […]
  […] as gold from iron, or leek from other herbs or deer from other beasts, […]

Declension

Declension of *laukr* (strong a-stem)
masculine	singular		plural
masculine	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	laukr	laukrinn	laukar	laukarnir
accusative	lauk	laukinn	lauka	laukana
dative	lauki	laukinum	laukum	laukunum
genitive	lauks	lauksins	lauka	laukanna

Derived terms

blóðlaukr (“sword”)
graslaukr (“garlic”)
kofnalaukr (“skin of a puffin”)
laukagarðr (“leek-garden”)
laukjafn (“straight, just”)
laukshǫfuð (“leek-head”)
ættarlaukr (“best man of a family”)

Descendants

Icelandic: laukur
Faroese: leykur
Norwegian Nynorsk: lauk
Elfdalian: lok
Old Swedish: lø̄ker
- Swedish: lök
Old Danish: lø̄k
- Danish: løg
  - Norwegian Bokmål: løk
    - → Norwegian Nynorsk: løk
- Scanian: løg
Gutnish: lauk

Further reading

Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “laukr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 374
Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “laukr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 261; also available at the Internet Archive