sjór

• sjár
• sær

From Old Norse sær, from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz.

• IPA^(key): /sjouːr/
• Rhymes: -ouːr

sjór m (genitive singular sjávar or (especially with the preposition til) sjós or (rare) sjóar, nominative plural sjóir)

1. sea

• The genitive singular form sjávar is the most common and is suppleted from the alternate form sjár.
• Compounds may differ on the forms of the word used:
  • The initial element of compounds may be based on any of the alternative forms and their genitives (eg. sjómaður (“seaman”) or sjóarkræða (“carrageenan moss”), sæbjúga (“sea cucumber”) or sævarbotn (“bottom of the sea”), sjávarhæð (“sea level”) or sjámeiður (“ship”, literally “sea skid”)).
  • The secondary element of compounds may be based off of any of the alternative forms and may differ on the genitive singular form(s) used (eg. fræðasjór (“sea of knowledge”), útsær or útsjár (“high seas”)).

• (a sea): haf n, úthaf n, ægir (poetic), viddi m (rare), frónband n (obsolete), kaf (rare)

• Norðursjór

• Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
• Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “sjór”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
• Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
• “sjór” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

See sær.

sjór m (genitive sjóvar, plural sjóvar)

1. alternative form of sær (“sea”)

Irregular. It generally declines as an i-stem in the singular and wa-stem in the plural, but the wa-stem dative singular sjóvi also exists.

• Icelandic: sjór
• Faroese: sjógvur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: sjo, sjø