Old Norse

Pronunciation

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

Noun

valr m (genitive vals)

1. (uncountable, in the singular) the dead, slain in battle
   • Sögubrot af Fornkonungum 8, in 1829, C. C. Rafn, Fornaldar sögur Nordrlanda, Volume I. Copenhagen, page 380:

     […] ok allan þann val, sem fellr á þeima velli, gef ek Óðni.

     […] and all those slain, who fell at that field, I give unto Odin.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

Etymology 2

Probably a contracted form of *valhaukr ‎(“carrion-hawk”), from valr ‎(“the slain”) + haukr ‎(“hawk”).

Noun

valr m (genitive vals, plural valir)

1. falcon, hawk
   • Grágás, in 1829, J. F. W. Schlegel, Hin forna lögbok islendinga sem nefnist Gragas, Volume II. Copenhagen, page 346:

     Vali scal eigi veiþa oc alptir oc gæs oc andir; […]

     It is forbidden to hunt neither falcons nor swans nor geese nor ducks; […]

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Icelandic: valur m

References

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