Icelandic

Noun

spjall n

1. talk, gossip

Derived terms

• spjalla
• spjallþráður

Synonyms

• (talk): samræða f
• (gossip): slúður n

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *spellą ‎(“news, message, tale”). Cognate with Old English spel, spell, Old Saxon spel, Old High German spel, Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌻𐌻 ‎(spill). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spel- ‎(“to tell”).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈspjɑlː/

Noun

spjall n (genitive spjalls, plural spjǫll)

1. saying, tale
   • Skáld-Helga Rímur: fjorda rima, verse 10, line 2, in 1838, Grønlands Historiske Mindesmærker, Volume II. Copenhagen, page 147:

     […] ok hefr svá margt í spjalli; […]

     […] and has so many things to tell; […]

2. (poetic, especially in the plural) words, tales, tidings
   • Vǫluspá, verse 1, lines 7-8, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 1:

     […] forn spjöll fíra, / þau er fremst um man.

     […] old tales of men / the first I remember.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Icelandic: spjall n

References

• spjall in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• spjall in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• spjall in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.