kalfi

Old Norse

Etymology 1

Unknown; compare dialectal German Kalb (“muscle”), itself from Proto-Germanic *kalbaz.

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑlvɪ/

Noun

kalfi m (genitive kalfa, plural kalfar)

1. calf (part of the leg)

Declension

Declension of kalfi (weak an-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	kalfi	kalfinn	kalfar	kalfarnir
accusative	kalfa	kalfann	kalfa	kalfana
dative	kalfa	kalfanum	kǫlfum	kǫlfunum
genitive	kalfa	kalfans	kalfa	kalfanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: kálfi
• Faroese: kálvi
• Norwegian Nynorsk: kalve; (dialectal) kæłve, kålve, kåvi
• Norwegian Bokmål: kalve
• Old Swedish: kalver
  • Swedish: kalv
• → Middle English: calf, calfe
  • English: calf
  • Scots: cauf, cauve, cawve

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “kalfi”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 334
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “kalfi”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

Etymology 2

Noun

kalfi

1. dative singular of kalfr