salr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *saliz (“house, hall”). Cognate with Old English sele and Gothic *𐍃𐌰𐌻𐍃 (*sals), first part of Old Frisian selskip, also Old Saxon seli, Old High German sali and first part of selihūs and selihof.
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sol-, *sel- (“human settlement, village, dwelling”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

salr m (genitive salar, plural salir)

1. longhouse of the Viking Period, typically a one room house, 15-75 meters long, 5-7 meters wide, with two rows of columns along the length inside, supporting a wood or turf roof, and bulging wider and taller around the middle. [1]
2. room, hall
   • Vǫluspá, verse 4, lines 5-6, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 1:

     […] sól skein sunnan / á salar steina, […]

     […] sun shone from the south / upon the stones of the hall. […]

Declension

  Declension of salr (strong i-stem, ar-genitive)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salr	salrinn	salir	salirnir
accusative	sal	salinn	sali	salina
dative	sal	salinum	sǫlum	sǫlunum
genitive	salar	salarins	sala	salanna

Derived terms

Terms derived from salr

• auðsalr (“treasure hall”)
• bergsalr (“sky”)
• dísarsalr (“temple”)
• drjúpansalr (“clouded sky”)
• dǫkksalr (“sea”)
• foldsalr (“sky”)
• grundarsal (“earth”)
• fjallasalr (“sky”)
• hásalr (“sky”)
• heiðasalr (“sky”)
• heimssalr (“sky”)
• hreggsalr (“sky”)
• hjartasalr (“breast”)
• mánasalr (“heavens”)
• mergjarsalr (“bone”)
• regnsalr (“sky”)
• rǫðlasalr (“heavens”)
• salakynni (“homestead”)
• saldrótt (“domestics”)
• salgarðr (“wall”)
• salgaukr, salgofnir (“the cock”)
• salhús (“room”)
• salkona (“housemaid”)
• salkynni (“homestead”)
• salþjóð (“domestics”)
• sólarsalr (“heavens”)
• sandasalr (“sea”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: salur
• Faroese: salur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: sal
• Old Swedish: sal
  • Swedish: sal
• Danish: sal
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sal

References

• “salr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• salr in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• salr in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.