silfr

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• sylfr

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *silubrą, whence also Old English seolfor, Old Saxon siluvar, Old High German silbar, Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌿𐌱𐍂 (silubr).

Noun

silfr n (genitive silfrs)

1. silver

Descendants

• Icelandic: silfur
• Faroese: silvur
• Norwegian: sylv; (dialectal) silv
• Old Swedish: silver, sylver, sølver
  • Swedish: silver
• Old Danish: silf, sylf, sølf
  • Danish: sølv
    • Norwegian Bokmål: sølv
    • → Greenlandic: sølvi
• Elfdalian: silver
• Gutnish: sylvar
• Scanian: sølver
• → Proto-Samic: *silpë (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

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