askr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *askaz, whence also Old English æsc, Old High German ask.

For the semantic shift from "tree" to "container" compare Latin buxus, buxis (whence English box, boxwood).

Noun

askr m (genitive asks, plural askar)

1. ash (tree)
   • Vǫluspá, verse 19, lines 1-4, in 1867, S. Bugge, Norrœn fornkvæði: Sæmundar Edda hins fróða. Christiania, page 4:

     Ask veit ek standa / heitir Yggdrasill / hár baðmr, ausinn / hvíta auri; […]

     I know an ash stands / named Yggdrasill / a high tree, washed / with white mud; […]

2. wooden vessel or dish

Declension

Declension of askr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	askr	askrinn	askar	askarnir
accusative	ask	askinn	aska	askana
dative	aski	askinum	ǫskum	ǫskunum
genitive	asks	asksins	aska	askanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: askur
• Faroese: askur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: ask
• Old Swedish: asker, ᛆᛋᚴᚽᚱ (Runic)
  • Swedish: ask
    • → Finnish: aski
• Old Danish: ask
  • Danish: ask
    • Norwegian Bokmål: ask
• Gutnish: ask, äsk
• → Old East Slavic: а́скъ (áskŭ), ꙗ́скъ (jáskŭ)
  • Old Ruthenian: ꙗ́щъ (jášč)
    • ⇒ Old Ruthenian: ꙗ́щикъ (jáščik)
      • Belarusian: я́шчык (jáščyk) (dialectal)
      • Ukrainian: я́щик (jáščyk)
  • ⇒ Middle Russian: ꙗ́щїк (jáščik)
    • Russian: я́щик (jáščik)

Further reading

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