svala

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aːla

Etymology 1

From Old Norse svala.

Noun

svala f (genitive singular svölu, nominative plural svölur)

1. swallow

Declension

Declension of svala (feminine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	svala	svalan	svölur	svölurnar
accusative	svölu	svöluna	svölur	svölurnar
dative	svölu	svölunni	svölum	svölunum
genitive	svölu	svölunnar	svalna, svala	svalnanna, svalanna

Etymology 2

Verb

svala (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative svalaði, supine svalað)

1. to satisfy
2. to quench

Conjugation

svala – active voice (germynd)

infinitive nafnháttur		að svala
supine sagnbót		svalað
present participle lýsingarháttur nútíðar		svalandi
		indicative framsöguháttur			subjunctive viðtengingarháttur
		present nútíð	past þátíð		present nútíð	past þátíð
singular	ég	svala	svalaði		svali	svalaði
	þú	svalar	svalaðir		svalir	svalaðir
	hann, hún, það	svalar	svalaði		svali	svalaði
plural	við	svölum	svöluðum		svölum	svöluðum
	þið	svalið	svöluðuð		svalið	svöluðuð
	þeir, þær, þau	svala	svöluðu		svali	svöluðu
		imperative boðháttur
singular	þú	svala (þú), svalaðu
plural	þið	svalið (þið), svaliði1

¹ Spoken form, usually not written; in writing, the unappended plural form (optionally followed by the full pronoun) is preferred.

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• svalen (of noun)
• (of verb) svalet, svalte (simple past), svalt (past participle)

Noun

svala m or f

1. definite feminine singular of svale

Verb

svala

1. inflection of svale:
   1. simple past
   2. past participle

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

svala f (definite singular svala, indefinite plural svaler or svalor, definite plural svalene or svalone)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of svale
2. definite singular of svale

Verb

svala (present tense svalar, past tense svala, past participle svala, passive infinitive svalast, present participle svalande, imperative svala/sval)

1. Alternative form of svale

Anagrams

• avlas, las av, lavas, salva, savla, slava, svala, valsa, vasla

Old Norse

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *swalwǭ.

The expected form is *svǫlva, which is reflected in some of the descendants; nominative singular svala is due to analogy with the oblique singular svǫlu, caused by the loss of v before a rounded vowel. Compare vǫlva, from Proto-Germanic *swalwǭ, with oblique singular vǫlu.

Noun

svala f (genitive svǫlu, plural svǫlur)

1. a swallow

Declension

Declension of svala (weak ōn-stem)

feminine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	svala	svalan	svǫlur	svǫlurnar
accusative	svǫlu	svǫluna	svǫlur	svǫlurnar
dative	svǫlu	svǫlunni	svǫlum	svǫlunum
genitive	svǫlu	svǫlunnar	svalna	svalnanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: svala
• Faroese: svala
• Norwegian Nynorsk: svale (svala, svole, svòlu, sulu (dialectal or obsolete))
• Norwegian Bokmål: svale
• Old Swedish: svala
  • Swedish: svala
• Old Danish: swalæ, swolæ
  • Danish: svale

Etymology 2

From the adjective svalr.

Verb

svala

1. to chill, cool

Conjugation

Conjugation of svala — active (weak class 2)

infinitive	svala
present participle	svalandi
past participle	svalaðr
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	svala	svalaða		svala	svalaða
2nd person singular	svalar	svalaðir		svalir	svalaðir
3rd person singular	svalar	svalaði		svali	svalaði
1st person plural	svǫlum	svǫluðum		svalim	svalaðim
2nd person plural	svalið	svǫluðuð		svalið	svalaðið
3rd person plural	svala	svǫluðu		svali	svalaði
imperative	present
2nd person singular	svala
1st person plural	svǫlum
2nd person plural	svalið

Conjugation of svala — mediopassive (weak class 2)

infinitive	svalask
present participle	svalandisk
past participle	svalazk
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	svǫlumk	svǫluðumk		svǫlumk	svǫluðumk
2nd person singular	svalask	svalaðisk		svalisk	svalaðisk
3rd person singular	svalask	svalaðisk		svalisk	svalaðisk
1st person plural	svǫlumsk	svǫluðumsk		svalimsk	svalaðimsk
2nd person plural	svalizk	svǫluðuzk		svalizk	svalaðizk
3rd person plural	svalask	svǫluðusk		svalisk	svalaðisk
imperative	present
2nd person singular	svalask
1st person plural	svǫlumsk
2nd person plural	svalizk

Descendants

• Norwegian Nynorsk: svala, svale

Adjective

svala

1. strong feminine accusative singular of svalr
2. strong masculine accusative plural of svalr
3. weak masculine oblique singular of svalr
4. weak feminine nominative singular of svalr
5. weak neuter singular of svalr

Further reading

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

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²svɑːla/

• Audio; “en svala”:

  (file)

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

svala

1. inflection of sval:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Etymology 2

svala

From Old Norse svala, from Proto-Germanic *swalwǭ.

Noun

svala c

1. swallow (bird)

Declension

Declension of svala

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	svala	svalas
	definite	svalan	svalans
plural	indefinite	svalor	svalors
	definite	svalorna	svalornas

Anagrams

• salva, slava