frøken
Danish edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Low German vrouweken, vrouken, a diminutive of vrouwe, vruwe, from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ (“lady”), cognate with German Frau (“woman”), Dutch vrouwe (“lady”), vrouw (“woman”) (Danish frue, fru and Swedish fru are borrowed from Low German). For the semantic development of the diminutive, compare German Fräulein (“Ms.”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
frøken c (singular definite frøkenen or (unofficial) frøknen, plural indefinite frøkener or frøkner)
Inflection edit
common gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | frøken | frøkenen (unofficial) frøknen |
frøkener frøkner |
frøkenerne frøknerne |
genitive | frøkens | frøkenens (unofficial) frøknens |
frøkeners frøkners |
frøkenernes frøknernes |
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Low German vroiken, vrouken.
Noun edit
frøken m or f (definite singular frøkenen or frøkna, indefinite plural frøkner, definite plural frøknene)
Usage notes edit
Historically only used for unmarried daughters of the nobility, later also daughters of civil servants and the higher bourgeoisie (compare with jomfru which was generally used for daughters of the bourgeoisie in the early modern period), commonly adopted for all unmarried women in the 20th century. Rarely used in daily conversations since around 1970. Common English words like mister, miss etc. have become very archaic in ordinary Norwegian speech during the last decades of the 20th century.
References edit
- “frøken” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Low German vroiken, vrouken.
Noun edit
frøken f (definite singular frøkna, indefinite plural frøkner, definite plural frøknene)
Usage notes edit
As for Bokmål above.
References edit
- “frøken” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.