mǫgr

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• ᛘᛅᚴᚢᛦ (makuʀ)

Etymology

From Proto-Norse *ᛗᚨᚷᚢᛉ (*maguʀ, “boy, son”) (attested in the accusative and genitive singular), from Proto-Germanic *maguz (“boy”). Cognate with Old English magu, Old Saxon magu, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌿𐍃 (magus). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mogʰus (“boy”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

mǫgr m (genitive magar, plural megir)

1. son, boy, youth
   • Vǫluspá, verse 1, lines 3-4, in 1867, S. Bugge, Norrœn fornkvæði: Sæmundar Edda hins fróða. Christiania, page 1:

     […] meiri ok minni / mǫgu Heimdallar; […]

     […] greater and smaller / sons of Heimdall; […]

Declension

  Declension of mǫgr (strong u-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	mǫgr	mǫgrinn	megir	megirnir
accusative	mǫg	mǫginn	mǫgu	mǫguna
dative	megi	meginum	mǫgum	mǫgunum
genitive	magar	magarins	maga	maganna

Derived terms

• dróttmegir (“sons of men”)
• hermegir (“warriors”)
• ljóðmegir (“the people”)
• magararfi (“son's heir”)
• Mǫgþrasir (“name of a giant”)
• sessmegir (“benchmates”)
• Ásmegir (“the Aesir”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: mögur

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “mǫgr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 443
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “mögr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 307; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

1. page/307 Internet Archive]