vallmo

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish *valmoghe, from Old Norse *valmogi, comprised of:

• First part vall- is of uncertain origin; Kroonen interprets the compound to mean "lily of the valley," thus connecting Latin vallis.^[1] Pokorny instead suggests Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang down loosely”) (compare the Nordic name Valbjørn).^[2] Or, possibly instead from the root of English welk, German welken (“to wither, decay”) (compare Proto-Germanic *wulkną).

• The second part is from *mogi, from Proto-Germanic *mōhô (“poppy”).

Cognate with Danish valmue; also German Mohn, Ancient Greek μήκων (mḗkōn) (Doric μάκων (mákōn)) and Church Slavonic макъ (makŭ) (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian мак).

Noun

vallmo c

1. poppy

Declension

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	vallmo	vallmos
	definite	vallmon	vallmons
plural	indefinite	vallmor	vallmors
	definite	vallmorna	vallmornas

Declension of vallmo

References

• vallmo in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• vallmo in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• vallmo in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

1. Guus Kroonen (2013) “mohan-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 371
2. Pokorny, Julius (1959) “655-57”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 655-57