aptann

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• aftann, aptunn, eptann

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ēbanþs (“evening”). Cognate with Old English ǣfen, Old Frisian ēvend, Old Saxon āvand, Old Dutch avont, Old High German aband.

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɸtɑ̄nː/

Noun

aptann m (genitive aptans, plural aptnar)

1. an evening
   • Óláfs saga helga 131, in 1829, Þ. Guðmundsson, C. C. Rafn, Þ. Helgason, Fornmanna sögur, Volume IV. Copenhagen, page 308:

     […] þat varð til tíðinda um aptaninn síð, er myrkt var vorðit, […]

     […] it happened in the late evening, when in it was dark, […]

Declension

Declension of aptann (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	aptann	aptanninn	aptnar	aptnarnir
accusative	aptan	aptaninn	aptna	aptnana
dative	aptni	aptninum	ǫptnum	ǫptnunum
genitive	aptans	aptansins	aptna	aptnanna

Derived terms

• aptandrykkja (“evening carouse”)
• aptankveld (“evening”)
• aptanlangt (“all the evening”)
• aptanskæra (“twilight”)
• aptanstjarna (“evening star”)
• aptansǫngr (“evensong”)
• aptansǫngsmál (“time of evensong”)
• aptantími (“eventide”)
• aptna (“to become evening”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: aftann m
• Faroese: aftan m
• Norwegian Nynorsk: aftan m, eftan m; (dialectal) apta f, afta m, efta m
• Old Swedish: afton, aftan, apton, aptan
  • Swedish: afton c
• Old Danish: aftæn
  • Danish: aften c
    • Norwegian Bokmål: aften m

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby; Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874), “aptann”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 23
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “aptann”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 18; also available at the Internet Archive