See -u in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"lang_code": "is",
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-unz"
],
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"lit": "",
"nocat": "",
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"sc": "",
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"tr": "",
"ts": ""
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"pos2": "accusative plural suffix"
},
"expansion": "*-us (u-stem suffix) + *-ms (accusative plural suffix)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Inherited from Proto-Germanic *-unz (u-stem accusative plural), from Proto-Indo-European *-ums (u-stem accusative plural), from *-us (u-stem suffix) + *-ms (accusative plural suffix).",
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{
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"type": "example"
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],
"id": "en--u-non-suffix-ix7UTcrw",
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],
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{
"descendants": [
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{
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"word": "-u"
},
{
"lang": "Middle Norwegian",
"lang_code": "gmq-mno",
"word": "-o"
},
{
"lang": "Old Swedish",
"lang_code": "gmq-osw",
"word": "-o"
}
],
"etymology_links": [
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"*-ōi",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ōi"
],
[
"*-eh₂ey",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eh₂ey"
],
[
"*-eh₂",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eh₂"
],
[
"*-ey",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-ey"
],
[
"*-eh₂",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eh₂"
],
[
"*-mi",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-mi"
],
[
"*-ōmiz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ōmiz"
],
[
"*-ō",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ō"
]
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},
{
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"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
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"3": "*-ey",
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"pos2": "dative singular suffix"
},
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"name": "af"
},
{
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"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "",
"4": "*-eh₂mi"
},
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"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
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},
"expansion": "*-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) + *-mi (instrumental singular suffix)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Unclear; there are multiple possibilities:\n* From Proto-Germanic *-ōi (ō-stem dative singular), from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ey, from *-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) + *-ey (dative singular suffix), either directly or by analogical restitution of the long vowel into the diphthong from other case forms as it was shortened; parallels to the proposed sound change are lacking, but there are no clear counterexamples either.\n* From a supposed Proto-Germanic ō-stem instrumental singular *-ōmi, from late Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂mi, from *-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) + *-mi (instrumental singular suffix), but the posited form has no parallels within Germanic and few elsewhere; furthermore, it could be expected to become *-um, not *-u (compare the Proto-Germanic ō-stem dative plural *-ōmiz).\n* From the generally reconstructed Proto-Germanic u-stem instrumental singular *-ō; two explanations have been developed for the failure of this ending to undergo expected apocope:\n** After it had been shortened to -u, it was relengthened by analogy with the other oblique cases, thus rendering it ineligible for apocope.\n** When apocope occured in heavy-stemmed nouns, it was analogically restored on the basis of light-stemmed nouns; in turn, it was restored on the basis of the heavy-stemmed nouns when it was lost in light-stemmed nouns, though the failure of such analogical restoration to operate in other noun paradigms is suspicious.\n* From a late analogical extension from the ōn-stem oblique singular, but the ō-stem and ōn-stem paradigms do not particularly resemble each other.\nIf the ending is inherited, the endingless indefinite dative singular usual to ō-stems would be by analogy with the i-stems.",
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"cat2": "inflectional suffixes"
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"name": "head"
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],
"lang": "Old Norse",
"lang_code": "non",
"pos": "suffix",
"senses": [
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "laug (“bath”) + -u → laugu (“to the bath”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Forms the indefinite dative singular of some ō-stem nouns and a few feminine consonant-stem and i-stem nouns, sometimes optionally."
],
"id": "en--u-non-suffix-mmotfnjE",
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],
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],
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]
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"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "24 23 53",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Old Norse entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
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"Forms the indefinite accusative singular of a few ō-stem nouns, mainly personal names"
],
"id": "en--u-non-suffix-7THvQG-F",
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"indefinite",
"Appendix:Glossary#indefinite"
],
[
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],
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]
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
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}
],
"wikipedia": [
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],
"word": "-u"
}
{
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"Old Norse terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
"Old Norse terms inherited from Proto-Germanic",
"Old Norse terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European",
"Old Norse terms with unknown etymologies",
"Pages with 30 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"descendants": [
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}
],
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],
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],
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-us"
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},
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"g3": "",
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"lit": "",
"nocat": "",
"pos": "u-stem accusative plural",
"sc": "",
"sort": "",
"tr": "",
"ts": ""
},
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"name": "inh"
},
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"pos2": "accusative plural suffix"
},
"expansion": "*-us (u-stem suffix) + *-ms (accusative plural suffix)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Inherited from Proto-Germanic *-unz (u-stem accusative plural), from Proto-Indo-European *-ums (u-stem accusative plural), from *-us (u-stem suffix) + *-ms (accusative plural suffix).",
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],
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"lang_code": "non",
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{
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"text": "sunr (“son”) + -u → sunu (“sons”)",
"type": "example"
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],
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}
{
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],
"descendants": [
{
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"lang_code": "is",
"word": "-u"
},
{
"lang": "Middle Norwegian",
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"word": "-u"
},
{
"lang": "Middle Norwegian",
"lang_code": "gmq-mno",
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},
{
"lang": "Old Swedish",
"lang_code": "gmq-osw",
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}
],
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ōi"
],
[
"*-eh₂ey",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eh₂ey"
],
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"*-eh₂",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eh₂"
],
[
"*-ey",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-ey"
],
[
"*-eh₂",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-eh₂"
],
[
"*-mi",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-mi"
],
[
"*-ōmiz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ōmiz"
],
[
"*-ō",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ō"
]
],
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},
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"4": "*-eh₂mi"
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},
"expansion": "*-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) + *-mi (instrumental singular suffix)",
"name": "af"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Unclear; there are multiple possibilities:\n* From Proto-Germanic *-ōi (ō-stem dative singular), from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ey, from *-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) + *-ey (dative singular suffix), either directly or by analogical restitution of the long vowel into the diphthong from other case forms as it was shortened; parallels to the proposed sound change are lacking, but there are no clear counterexamples either.\n* From a supposed Proto-Germanic ō-stem instrumental singular *-ōmi, from late Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂mi, from *-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) + *-mi (instrumental singular suffix), but the posited form has no parallels within Germanic and few elsewhere; furthermore, it could be expected to become *-um, not *-u (compare the Proto-Germanic ō-stem dative plural *-ōmiz).\n* From the generally reconstructed Proto-Germanic u-stem instrumental singular *-ō; two explanations have been developed for the failure of this ending to undergo expected apocope:\n** After it had been shortened to -u, it was relengthened by analogy with the other oblique cases, thus rendering it ineligible for apocope.\n** When apocope occured in heavy-stemmed nouns, it was analogically restored on the basis of light-stemmed nouns; in turn, it was restored on the basis of the heavy-stemmed nouns when it was lost in light-stemmed nouns, though the failure of such analogical restoration to operate in other noun paradigms is suspicious.\n* From a late analogical extension from the ōn-stem oblique singular, but the ō-stem and ōn-stem paradigms do not particularly resemble each other.\nIf the ending is inherited, the endingless indefinite dative singular usual to ō-stems would be by analogy with the i-stems.",
"head_templates": [
{
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"2": "suffix form",
"cat2": "inflectional suffixes"
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"expansion": "-u",
"name": "head"
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],
"lang": "Old Norse",
"lang_code": "non",
"pos": "suffix",
"senses": [
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "laug (“bath”) + -u → laugu (“to the bath”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
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],
"links": [
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"Appendix:Glossary#indefinite"
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],
"tags": [
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{
"glosses": [
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],
"links": [
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"Appendix:Glossary#indefinite"
],
[
"accusative",
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],
[
"singular",
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]
],
"tags": [
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]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Proto-Germanic"
],
"word": "-u"
}
Download raw JSONL data for -u meaning in Old Norse (7.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Old Norse dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.