latr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *lataz, whence also Old English læt (“slow, sluggish, late”), Old High German laz (“slow, lazy”).

Adjective

latr (comparative latari, superlative latastr)

1. lazy, slow

   Latr ok óhlýðinn.

   Lazy and disobedient.

   Ek em latr.

   I'm lazy.

Derived terms

• latr sækir latan heim (compare Icelandic líkur sækir líkan heim (“birds of a feather flock together”) and English like attracts like)
• ólatr (“diligent”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: latur
• Faroese: latur
• Norwegian: lat (Bokmål), lat (Nynorsk)
• Old Swedish: later
  • Swedish: lat
• Danish: lad
• Elfdalian: lat
• Gutnish: latar, latur, lattur
• Scanian: lader

References

• “latr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press