refr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *rebaz, borrowed from an Indo-Iranian descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian *HlawpaHćás (“fox, jackal”).[1] Compare also Finnish repo, Northern Sami rieban, borrowed from the same source.

Noun

refr m (genitive refs, plural refar)

  1. a fox

Declension

Declension of refr (strong a-stem)
masculine singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative refr refrinn refar refarnir
accusative ref refinn refa refana
dative refi refinum refum refunum
genitive refs refsins refa refanna

Descendants

  • Icelandic: refur m
  • Faroese: revur m
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: rev m
  • Norwegian Bokmål: rev m
  • Elfdalian: röv m
  • Old Swedish: ræver
    • Swedish: räv c, räf (pre-1906 spelling)
  • Old Danish: ræf

References

  1. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*fuhsa-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 157-8: “Note that the Nordic word for 'fox', ON refr... was borrowed from Iranian, cf. Oss. ruvas / robas (Skt. lopāśá-)”

Further reading

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