Óláfr

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• Ǫ́láfr, Óleifr, Áleifr, Ǫ́leifr

Etymology

From Proto-Norse *ᚨᚾᚢᛚᚨᛁᛒᚨᛉ (*anulaibaʀ /⁠Anulaibaz⁠/) (whence also variants Óleifr, Áleifr), from Proto-Germanic *Anulaibaz (whence Old English Ānlāf), consisting of *anô (“ancestor”) and *laibō (“remainder”).

The first part of the name is cognate to German Ahn (“ancestor”) and Latin anus (“old woman”).

Pronunciation

• (9th century West Norse) IPA^(key): /ˈɒ̃ːlɑːβɹ̝/, [ˈɒ̃ː.lɑːβ̥ɹ̻̊˔]
• (13th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈoːlɒːvr/

Proper noun

Óláfr m

1. a male given name

Descendants

• ⇒ Old Norse: Óli (nickname)
  • Icelandic: Óli
  • Faroese: Óli
  • Norwegian: Ole
  • Swedish: Olle
  • Danish: Ole
  • → Finnish: Olli
• Icelandic: Áleifur, Ólafur
• Faroese: Ólavur
• Norwegian: Olav, Ola, → Olaf
• Old Swedish: Olawær
  • Swedish: Olof, Olov
• Danish: Olaf, Olav, Oluf
• → English: Olaf
• → Estonian: Olev
• → Finnish: Olavi, Uolevi
• → Latin: Olaus
  • → Faroese: Lávus
• → Old Irish: Amlaíb (< Ǫ́lęifr, with nasal ǫ́-)
  • → Irish: Amhlaoibh
  • → Scottish Gaelic: Amhlaidh, Amhlaigh
• → Polish: Olaf
• → Portuguese: Olavo
• → Skolt Sami: Åʹll, Åållaž
• → Spanish: Olavo

Further reading

• “Olaf” in: J. van der Schaar, “Woordenboek van voornamen”, 8. druk, Utrecht 1994, Prisma Woordenboeken, Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, →ISBN
• Olav; in: Eivind Vågslid, Norderlendske fyrenamn, 1988, →ISBN
• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “Óláfr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press