vangr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wangaz (“field, meadow, slope”). Cognate with Old English wang, wong, Old Saxon wang, Old High German wang, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃 (waggs).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

vangr m (genitive vangs, plural vangar)

1. (poetic, especially in compounds) a garden, field, meadow
   • Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, verse 15, lines 5-6, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 104:

     Þá var und hjálmum / á Himinvanga, […]

     Then was under helmets, on the heaven-meadows

Declension

  Declension of vangr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	vangr	vangrinn	vangar	vangarnir
accusative	vang	vanginn	vanga	vangana
dative	vangi	vanginum	vǫngum	vǫngunum
genitive	vangs	vangsins	vanga	vanganna

• ᚢᚭᚴᛁ (uąki) — dative singular, Rök runestone

Derived terms

Terms derived from vangr

• allvangr, allmannavangr (“place of assembly”)
• álvangr (“sea”)
• baugvangr (“shield”)
• fleyvangr (“sea”)
• fólkvangr (“shield”)
• geirvangr (“shield”)
• geðvangr (“breast”)
• himinvangr (“heaven”)
• hlævangr (“heaven”)
• hjǫrvangr (“shield”)
• húnvangr (“sea”)
• ormvangr (“gold”)
• sólvangr (“heaven”)
• vangroð (“bloody fray”)
• Þrúðvangr (“Thor's abode”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: vangur m
• Norwegian Bokmål: vang m
• Norwegian Nynorsk: vang m
• Old Swedish: vanger
  • Swedish: vång
• Old Danish: vang

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “vangr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 678
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “vangr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 470; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

1. page/470 Internet Archive]