vitleysa

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse vitleysa.

Noun

vitleysa f (genitive singular vitleysu, nominative plural vitleysur)

1. nonsense, rubbish, twaddle

   Synonyms: rugl, rövl, þvaður

2. folly, silliness

   Synonyms: fásinna, glópska

3. error, mistake

   Synonyms: skekkja, villa

Declension

Declension of vitleysa (feminine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	vitleysa	vitleysan	vitleysur	vitleysurnar
accusative	vitleysu	vitleysuna	vitleysur	vitleysurnar
dative	vitleysu	vitleysunni	vitleysum	vitleysunum
genitive	vitleysu	vitleysunnar	vitleysa	vitleysanna

Related terms

• vit
• vitlaus
• vitleysingi

Old Norse

Etymology

From vit (“wit, understanding”) +‎ -leysa (“lacking, devoid of”), the latter related to Proto-Germanic *-lausaz (“-less, lacking”). Close cognate with English witless.

Noun

vitleysa f (genitive vitleysu)

1. madness
2. nonsense

Declension

Declension of vitleysa (weak ōn-stem)

feminine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	vitleysa	vitleysan	vitleysur	vitleysurnar
accusative	vitleysu	vitleysuna	vitleysur	vitleysurnar
dative	vitleysu	vitleysunni	vitleysum	vitleysunum
genitive	vitleysu	vitleysunnar	vitleysna	vitleysnanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: vitleysa
• Norwegian Nynorsk: vettløyse, vitløyse

Further reading

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