snjór

Icelandic

Alternative forms

• snjár, snær

Etymology

From Old Norse snjór, snjár, snær.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stnjouːr/
• Rhymes: -ouːr

Noun

snjór m (genitive singular snjós or (dated) snjóvar or snjóar, nominative plural snjóar or (dated) snjóvar)

1. snow

   Snjórinn leysir. ― The snow is thawing.

Usage notes

• The dative singular form snævi is suppleted from the alternate form snær.

Declension

Declension of snjór (masculine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	snjór	snjórinn	snjóar, snjóvar1	snjóarnir, snjóvarnir1
accusative	snjó	snjóinn	snjóa, snjóva1	snjóana, snjóvana1
dative	snjó, snævi2	snjónum	snjóum	snjóunum
genitive	snjós, snjóvar1, snjóar	snjósins, snjóvarins1, snjóarins	snjóa	snjóanna

¹Dated.
²For effect.

Derived terms

• snjóa

See also

• hjarn (“crust of snow”)

References

• 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), “snjór”, 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
• “snjór” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• snjár, snær

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos; cognates include the Old English snāw and the Old High German snēo.

Noun

snjór m (genitive snjóvar)

1. snow

Declension

Declension of snjór (strong wa-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	snjór	snjórinn	snjóvar	snjóvarnir
accusative	snjó	snjóinn	snjóva	snjóvana
dative	snjóvi	snjóvinum	snjóvum	snjóvunum
genitive	snjóvar	snjóvar	snjóva	snjóvanna

Note -ar in the genitive singular.

Descendants

• Icelandic: snjór, snjár, snær
• Faroese: snjógvur
• Norn: snju, snaa
• Norwegian Nynorsk: snjo, snø; (dialectal) snjór'e, sny
• Norwegian Bokmål: snø
• Jamtish: snǿ
• Elfdalian: sniųo
• Old Swedish: sniōr
  • Swedish: snö
• Old Danish: sniō, snø̄, snē
  • Danish: sne
    • Norwegian Bokmål: sne
  • Scanian: sný
• Gutnish: snåi

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “snjór”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 393; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

1. page/393 Internet Archive]