stafkarl

From stafr (“staff”) +‎ karl (“man”). (Insinuates begging) literally a man that walks around with a staff.

stafkarl m

1. poor beggar

• Icelandic: stafkarl
• Danish: stakkel (“poor soul, poor thing”); stakkels (“pitiful”)
• Norwegian Nynorsk: stakkar (“poor soul, poor thing”); stakkars (“pitiful”)
• Norwegian Bokmål: stakkar (“poor soul, poor thing”); stakkars (“pitiful”)
• Old Swedish: stafkarl, stakkarl, stakere
  • Swedish: stackare (“pitiable person”); stackars (“pitiful”)
• → Low German: stacker, stackel (“pitiable person”)
  • → Dutch: stakker
  • → West Frisian: stakker

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