skald

• scald

From Old Norse skald. Doublet of scold.

• IPA^(key): /skɔːld/, /skæld/
• Rhymes: -ɔːld, -æld
• Homophone: scald

skald (plural skalds)

1. (historical) A Nordic poet of the Viking Age.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter I, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 28:

     The fire was spreading rapidly through all parts of the castle, when Ulrica, who had first kindled it, appeared on a turret, in the guise of one of the ancient furies, yelling forth a war-song, such as was of yore chaunted on the field of battle by the scalds of the yet heathen Saxons.

   • 1913, Henry Bedford-Jones, Flamehair the Skald: A Tale of the Days of Hardrede: passim:
   • 2010, Myra Gross, Archie Gunn, The Star of Valhalla, Wildside Press, →ISBN, page 335:

     Command Egil the Skald to stand forth and stir our viking blood with his songs of thee.

• skaldic

• dalks

From Old Norse skald.

• IPA^(key): /skalt/

skald n (genitive singular skalds, plural skald or skøld)

1. poet, composer

• tónaskald

• skaldanavn, skaldaverk, skaldkona, skaldskapur, skaldsøga

• "skald" at Sprotin.fo

Learned borrowing from Old Norse skald, skáld.

• IPA^(key): /skɑld/

skald m (definite singular skalden, indefinite plural skaldar, definite plural skaldane)

1. (historical) a skald

• “skald” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “skald”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

• skáld

Uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *skeldaną,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *skeldʰ-.^[1] Compare German schelten and Dutch schelden.

skald n

1. poet, skald

• hǫfuðskald (“chief skalds”)
• Skaldatal (“traditional list of skalds and the kings they served”)
• skaldmær (“skald-maiden, poetess”)
• skaldskapr (“skaldship; poetry”)
• skaldstǫng (“a “skald-pole”; pagan ritual object”)

• skeldinn (“versed in poetry”)

Learned borrowing from Old Norse skald.

• IPA^(key): /ˈskalt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alt
• Syllabification: skald

skald m pers

1. (historical, poetry) skald (Nordic poet)

   Hypernyms: poeta, śpiewak

• skald in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• skȁlda m or f

From Old Norse skald.

• IPA^(key): /skâld/, /skâːld/

skȁld or skȃld m anim (Cyrillic spelling ска̏лд or ска̑лд)

1. skald (poet in Old Norse)

Derived from Old Norse skald.

• IPA^(key): /skaɫt/

skald m pers

1. skald

• skaldský
• skaldický

• “skald”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Learned borrowing from Old Norse skald. The inherited form would be *skåll.

• IPA^(key): /skald/
• Rhymes: -ald

skald c

1. (historical) skald
2. (higher register) poet

   Synonym: poet

   • 1897 December 7, August Strindberg, edited by Torsten Eklund, August Strindbergs brev. 12. December 1896–augusti 1898 (letter), Till Emil Kléen, page 231:

     Skalden, hvilken har journalismen som näringsfång borde medan han är jemförelsevis ung göra en studieresa till Europens hufvudstad, Paris; t.ex. under pretext studera journalism och telegrambyråkratism.

     The poet, who has journalism as a livelihood, while he is comparatively young, should make a study trip to the capital of Europe, Paris; for example under the pretext of studying journalism and telegram bureaucracy.

• nationalskald (“national poet”)

• skald in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• skald in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• skald in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)