nåk
See also: nak
Westrobothnian
Alternative forms
- nak
Etymology
Uncertain; according to Pokorny, from the same source as Proto-Germanic *hnakkô (“nape of the neck”).
Compare Old Danish nøg (“avaricious”), dialectal Danish nøg (“scant, trifling; weak, fragile”), Helsingian någg (“sickly, poor, weak in work”), Old Norse hnǫggr, hnokinn (“bent down”).
Adjective
nåk (neuter nåkt, comparative nåkänä, superlative nåkäst)
- Niggardly, barren, providing little resources.
- Ja ha nåkt óm tomä ― I'm short on time.
- Ja´ha´sä nocktôm, ja´få int´tome ― I'm in a hurry so I do not get (have) time (for it)
- Nåkt óm mat’n ― short of food
- Bad.
- nåk mat, nåk kniv ― bad food, bad knife
- Hä jär nåkt ä slag ― It's of a bad kind.
- Malicious, disreputable.
- Nåk’n kar ― a bad man
- in nak varels ― a nasty creature
- Weak, nauseous, sickly.
- Jig jär nåk i dag ― I'm feeling ill today.
- Nåk dill förstånnä ― who has weak intelligence
- Nåkt minn ― bad memory
- Nåk dill hels’n ― sickly
References
- Rietz, Johan Ernst, “NÅK”, in Svenskt dialektlexikon: ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket [Swedish dialectal lexicon: a dictionary for the Swedish lects] (in Swedish), 1962 edition, Lund: C. W. K. Gleerups Förlag, published 1862–1867, page 475
- Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 558-59
Further reading
- Anna Westerberg (1 April 2020), “Nåk – vår sämsta tid är nu”, in isof.se (in Swedish), Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, archived from the original on 2020-04-09, retrieved 18 April 2020