sveinn

See also: Sveinn

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse sveinn, from Proto-Germanic *swainaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsveitn/
• Rhymes: -eitn

  Homophone: Sveinn

Noun

sveinn m (genitive singular sveins, nominative plural sveinar)

1. boy, lad

Declension

Declension of sveinn (masculine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sveinn	sveinninn	sveinar	sveinarnir
accusative	svein	sveininn	sveina	sveinana
dative	sveini	sveininum	sveinum	sveinunum
genitive	sveins	sveinsins	sveina	sveinanna

Derived terms

• hreinn sveinn
• lærisveinn
• piparsveinn

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *swainaz (“relative, young man, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“oneself; separate; apart”), properly one's own.

Other reflexes of PG *swainaz include Old English swān (modern English swain), Old High German swein.

Noun

sveinn m (genitive sveins, plural sveinar)

1. boy, lad
2. servant, lackey

Declension

Declension of sveinn

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sveinn	sveinninn	sveinar	sveinarnir
accusative	svein	sveininn	sveina	sveinana
dative	sveini	sveininum	sveinum	sveinunum
genitive	sveins	sveinsins	sveina	sveinanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: sveinn
• Faroese: sveinur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: svein; (dialectal) sveidn
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: svein
• Old Swedish: svēn, svæn
  • Swedish: sven
• Old Danish: swen
  • Danish: svend
    • Norwegian Bokmål: svenn
• → Old English: sweġen
  • Middle English: swayn, sweine, sweyn, sueyn, swain, sweyn, swein, swaine, sweyne, swane
    • English: swain
    • Scots: swaine, swane

Further reading

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