dilkur

Icelandic

A suckling lamb. ^def.^syn.

A dilkur in a fold. ^def.

Etymology

From Old Norse dilkr, from Proto-Germanic *dilkaz, related to *dajjaną, *dēaną, *dijōną (“suckle”) and *delō (“nipple”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”). Originally referred to the young of any livestock (sheep, goats, horses, pigs or cattle) that are being suckled by its mother. The sense “section of a larger sheepfold” is derived metaphorically from the sense “suckling lamb”, as the smaller enclosures cling to the larger like lambs to the ewe.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtɪl̥kʏr/
Rhymes: -ɪl̥kʏr

Noun

dilkur m (genitive singular dilks, nominative plural dilkar)

a suckling lamb, a lamb at springtime ^fig.^syn.
(archaic) the young of other livestock, such as a foal or calf, suckled by its mother
an enclosed part of a fold; one of the smaller folds surrounding the main sheepfold ^fig.
Hver bær hefur sinn dilk.
Each town has its own enclosure.

Usage notes

In the old agricultural society, lambs were færð frá (“separated from”) the mother soon after the springbearings in June and driven to the mountains while the ewes were kept and milked at home over summer (this time was called fráfærur and separated lambs were called fráfærulömb or fráfærnalömb). Younglings would occasionally follow their mothers throughout the summer and suckle the milk; the lamb would then be called dilkur and the ewe dilksuga (“suckled by a dilkur”)—folaldssuga (“suckled by a foal”) would be used if the same happened to a foal. When the meat of sheep and lamb became a commodity farmers stopped separating the lambs from the ewes and let them suckle their mothers throughout the summer, making them heftier than before come fall.[1]

Declension

declension of dilkur

	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
m-s1	singular		plural
nominative	dilkur	dilkurinn	dilkar	dilkarnir
accusative	dilk	dilkinn	dilka	dilkana
dative	dilki / dilk	dilkinum / dilknum	dilkum	dilkunum
genitive	dilks	dilksins	dilka	dilkanna

Synonyms

(suckling lamb):^def.^fig. dilklamb

Derived terms

dilkakjöt
draga dilk á eftir sér, draga illan dilk á eftir sér (to be going to have unpleasant consequences, to be a harbinger of no good, to bring trouble on its train)
draga í dilka (to categorize people by attributes such as race or opinions)

References

Orðapistill — dilkur

“dilkr” in: Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon — An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874)
“dilkur” in: Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon — Íslensk orðsifjabók, 1st edition, 2nd printing (1989). Reykjavík, Orðabók Háskólans.