lifa

See also: lǐfà and lǐfǎ

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse lifa, from Proto-Germanic *libjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, cling, linger”) (cognate with Faroese liva, Swedish leva, Danish and Norwegian leve, Dutch leven, German leben, English live).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪːva/

  Rhymes: -ɪːva

Verb

lifa (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative lifði, supine lifað)

1. (intransitive) to live
   • Genesis 5:3 (Icelandic, English)

     Adam lifði hundrað og þrjátíu ár. Þá gat hann son í líking sinni, eftir sinni mynd, og nefndi hann Set.

     When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

2. to experience something [with accusative]

   Synonym: reyna

3. to survive, to endure, to come through [intransitive or with accusative]

   Synonyms: endast, þrauka

   Ég lifi.

   I'll come through.

4. (intransitive, of fire) to burn

   Synonyms: loga, brenna

   Eldurinn lifir.

   The fire is burning.

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• lengi lifa
• lifa af
• lifa á
• lifa sig inn í
• mega lengi lifa

Anagrams

• afli

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliː.fɑ/, [ˈliː.vɑ]

Noun

līfa

1. genitive plural of līf

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *libjaną (“to live, to be alive”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to leave, cling, linger”). Cognate with Old English libban, Old Frisian leva, Old Saxon libbian, Old Dutch libben, Old High German lebēn, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (liban).

Verb

lifa (singular past indicative lifði, plural past indicative lifðu, past participle lifaðr)

1. to live
2. to be alive

Conjugation

Conjugation of lifa — active (weak class 3)

infinitive	lifa
present participle	lifandi
past participle	lifaðr
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	lifi	lifða		lifa	lifða
2nd person singular	lifir	lifðir		lifir	lifðir
3rd person singular	lifir	lifði		lifi	lifði
1st person plural	lifum	lifðum		lifim	lifðim
2nd person plural	lifið	lifðuð		lifið	lifðið
3rd person plural	lifa	lifðu		lifi	lifði
imperative	present
2nd person singular	lif
1st person plural	lifum
2nd person plural	lifið

Conjugation of lifa — mediopassive (weak class 3)

infinitive	lifask
present participle	lifandisk
past participle	lifazk
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	lifumk	lifðumk		lifumk	lifðumk
2nd person singular	lifisk	lifðisk		lifisk	lifðisk
3rd person singular	lifisk	lifðisk		lifisk	lifðisk
1st person plural	lifumsk	lifðumsk		lifimsk	lifðimsk
2nd person plural	lifizk	lifðuzk		lifizk	lifðizk
3rd person plural	lifask	lifðusk		lifisk	lifðisk
imperative	present
2nd person singular	lifsk
1st person plural	lifumsk
2nd person plural	lifizk

Descendants

• Icelandic: lifa
• Faroese: liva
• Norwegian Nynorsk: leva, liva (pre-1917 spelling)
• Old Swedish: liva, leffua
  • Swedish: leva, lefva (pre-1906 spelling)
• Danish: leve
  • Norwegian Bokmål: leve

Further reading

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

Swazi

Etymology

From li- +‎ -fa.

Noun

lîfá class 5 (plural émâfá class 6)

1. inheritance
2. growth under the skin

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Volapük

Noun

lifa

1. genitive singular of lif