Gandalfr

Old Norse

Etymology

From gandr (“witch's familiar”) +‎ alfr (“elf”), thus meaning “an elf familiar”. Originally thought to mean “elf with a magic staff”[1] due to misattribution with later Icelandic gandur (“a magic staff”).

Proper noun

Gandalfr m (genitive Gandalfs)

  1. (Norse mythology) name of a dwarf
  2. a male given name

Declension

Declension of Gandalfr (strong a-stem, indefinite singular only)
masculine singular
indefinite
nominative Gandalfr
accusative Gandalf
dative Gandalfi
genitive Gandalfs

Descendants

All descendants are learned.

  • Icelandic: Gandálfur
  • Faroese: Gandálvur
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: Gandalv, Gandålv
  • → English: Gandalf

References

  1. ^ Chester Nathan Gould, "Dwarf-Names: A Study in Old Icelandic Religion", in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol 44 (1929), issue #4
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