mikill

From Old Norse mikill, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *méga-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪːcɪtl/

  Rhymes: -ɪːcɪtl

mikill (comparative meiri, superlative mestur)

1. large in quantity or number
2. much
3. great

   Alexander mikli.

   Alexander the Great.

• mikilmenni
• víðáttumikill

• mykill

From Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵa-, *meǵh₂- (“big, great”). Cognate with Old English miċel, Old Saxon mikil, Old Dutch mikil, Old High German mihhil, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils).

mikill (comparative meiri, superlative mestr)

1. great, tall of stature
2. great, large, in bulk or size
   • áin var mikil

     the river was swollen

3. (of quantity) much
4. prominent

This word seems to have a suppletive inflection, using another root in the comparative and superlative forms, than in the positive form (albeit one inherited from earlier Proto-Germanic). Note also the otherwise irregular nn-ending in the accusative singular masculine form (mikinn), as well as the t-ending in the nominative and accusative singular neuter forms (mikit).

• Icelandic: mikill
• Faroese: mikil
• Norn: mikkel, mukkel
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: meget n, mye

  Norwegian Nynorsk: mykje, mykjen

• Westrobothnian: mykjen
• Old Swedish: mykil, mykin
  • Swedish: mycken (archaic), mycket n
• Old Danish: mikit
  • Danish: meget n, megen

• mikill in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• meiri in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• mestr in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press