See also: matte, Matte, matté, and mätte

Danish

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /ˈmɔtə/, [ˈmʌd̥ə]

Etymology 1

edit

Borrowed via Middle Low German matte from Medieval Latin matta, of Semitic origin. Also borrowed to English mat and German Matte.

Noun

edit

måtte c (singular definite måtten, plural indefinite måtter)

  1. mat
Declension
edit
Descendants
edit
  • Faroese: motta
  • Icelandic: motta
References
edit

Etymology 2

edit

From Old Norse mega (must, may), from Proto-Germanic *maganą, cognate with English may, German mögen. The original infinitive was lost and replaced by the past tense (in analogy with the verbs kunne (could), skulle (should), and ville (would), in which the infinitive and the past tense have become homophonous).

Verb

edit

måtte (present , past måtte, past participle måttet)

  1. must, have to, got to (duty or certainty)
  2. can, may (allowance)
  3. may (wish)
  4. may (possibility)
Conjugation
edit
References
edit

Norwegian Bokmål

edit

Etymology

edit

From Old Norse mátta, Old Norse mega.

Verb

edit

måtte (present tense , simple past måtte, past participle måttet)

  1. must
  2. may (subjunctive present defective)

References

edit

Norwegian Nynorsk

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

måtte (present tense , past tense måtte, past participle mått or måtta)

  1. Alternative form of måtta

Swedish

edit

Verb

edit

måtte

  1. past indicative of