sjæl
Danish
Etymology
From Old Danish sial, siæl, Old Norse sál (“soul”), related to Norwegian Bokmål sjel and Swedish själ. The West Norse form is borrowed from Old English sāwol, the East Norse form, with -j-, from Old Saxon sēola, siola, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈɕɛˀl]
Noun
sjæl c (singular definite sjælen, plural indefinite sjæle)
Inflection
| common gender |
singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | sjæl | sjælen | sjæle | sjælene |
| genitive | sjæls | sjælens | sjæles | sjælenes |
Derived terms
References
- “sjæl” in Den Danske Ordbog
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Noun
sjæl f (definite singular sjæli, indefinite plural sjæler or sjælir, definite plural sjælerne or sjælene or sjæline)
- (pre-1917) alternative form of sjel
Usage notes
- The forms sjælir and sjæline were only allowed under Midlandsnormalen.
- Definite plural sjælene was only ever allowed for schoolchildren as of 1910.
Alternative forms
- sjelv (alternative spelling)
Pronoun
sjæl
- (dialectal, Mid Eastern Norway) alternative form of sjølv (“self”)
Interjection
sjæl
- (dialectal, Oslo) ditto
Usage notes
Derived from the dialectal form (of the pronoun) traditionally used in the capital area, sjæl. Even though the Danish form (selv) has entered the spoken language through the written language Bokmål, the interjection is exclusively pronounced (and written) sjæl and cannot be replaced by selv.
Synonyms
- same her, (dialectal) sama her
- i like måte (formal)