stafkarl

Old Norse

Etymology

From stafr (“staff”) +‎ karl (“man”). (Insinuates begging) literally a man that walks around with a staff.

Noun

stafkarl m

1. poor beggar

Declension

Declension of stafkarl (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	stafkarl	stafkarlinn	stafkarlar	stafkarlarnir
accusative	stafkarl	stafkarlinn	stafkarla	stafkarlana
dative	stafkarli	stafkarlinum	stafkǫrlum	stafkǫrlunum
genitive	stafkarls	stafkarlsins	stafkarla	stafkarlanna

Descendants

• Danish: stakkel (“poor soul, poor thing”); stakkels (“pitiful”)
• Norwegian Nynorsk: stakkar m (“poor soul, poor thing”); stakkars (“pitiful”)
• Norwegian Bokmål: stakkar m (“poor soul, poor thing”); stakkars (“pitiful”)
• Swedish: stackare
• Dutch: stakker m (“pitiable person”)

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “stafkarl”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive
• “stafkarl” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.