# Icelandic: sprotakál



## cayuse

Does the first element of the Icelandic word _sprotakál _(= broccoli) mean "seed" (sprota), or does it come from the word _sprotar_, which means "shoot"? Is there an Icelandic etymological dictionary on the Internet? Thanks for your help.


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## sindridah

Ok, Just want to let you know that i didn't have a clue that *spergilkál* was also called *sprotakál*

But 99.9% of the Icelandic native speakers call it *spergil*kál and that name *"spergil"* comes from just because the taste is similar as *spergill* English = asparagus


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## cayuse

Thanks for your speedy reply! I found _sprotakál_ in a recipe in Icelandic that explains that broccoli is called _spergilkál _, _brokkoli_ and _sprotakál_. Do you know of any etymological dictionary of Icelandic on the Internet? I'm curious about the first part of this word (_sprota_).


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## sindridah

Here is what i get from my dictionary. *"Sproti"*


NAFNORÐ (KARLKYN)
1.  veldissproti   wand;
2.  bendiprik   wand;
3.  tónsproti   baton;
4.  ný trjágrein o.þ.h.   twig; shoot; runner; outshoot; offshoot; sprig; (einkum til eftirlíkingar) spray

Ég vil kalla þetta kál sprotakál sem er bein þýðing á ítalska orðinu broccolo sem þýðir kálsproti, segir Kristín Gestsdóttir , sem bjó til þetta skemmtilega orð fyrir mörgum árum, en það hefur þó ekki náð fótfestu.

I want to call it sprotakál wich is direct translation from the italian word broccolo wich means cabbage (suggestion maybe from my result?) said Kristín Gestsdóttir, wich made this fun word many years ago, But that hasn't had foodhold in Iceland.


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## cayuse

Thanks for this information, which is very helpful. So, it would seem that _sprota_ is a modified form of _sproti_ (shoot or sprig). That makes more sense than thinking that _sprota_ here means "seed". In Icelandic word formation (compound words), does the ending of the first word sometimes change, i.e., _sproti _ becomes _sprota_ in _sprotakál_? Would you know? Are you in Iceland?


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## sindridah

Yes i live in Iceland 

But no it doesn't change, Only the second one

Single                                            plural

nominative: Sprotakál              Sprotakál
accusative: Sprotakál              sprotakál
dative: Sprotakáli                    sprotakálum
genitive: Sprotakáls                 sprotakála


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## Alxmrphi

> Would you know? Are you in Iceland?


He's a native speaker of Icelandic that lives in Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland).
I'm sure he would know 

As for your questions:

a) no etymological dictionary (at least not in English).
b) yes the word forms change, they can appear in either the accusative or genitive of the first compound (usually the accusative).

So *sproti *is the original word (masculine), and when it joins with *kál* (neuter) the last "*i*" (nominative ending) changes to "*a*" because this is the accusative ending of masculine singular nouns (it happens to be the same for other cases because it's a weak noun).

So it goes:

*sproti* ->* sprota*
*sprotakál* 

*sprotikál 
*


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## cayuse

Thanks for the information. Who is Kristín Gestsdóttir? An author, perhaps? The word _sprotakál_ certainly does not appear to be as common as _spergilkál_, but there are 20 or so hits on this word on Google (including at least one dictionary). How would you explain the _a_ at the end of _sprota_ in _sprotakál_? Any ideas?


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## Alxmrphi

cayuse said:


> How would you explain the _a_ at the end of _sprota_ in _sprotakál_? Any ideas?



Did you see my post?


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## sindridah

You're welcome. And i have no idea who she is. I'm not suprised by that, It's just some word that some women wanted to use, Similar as i would go to Canada and suggest that you say eppla instead of apple alltough mine example is a littlebit exaggerated but still it's similar.

And i don't quite understand your last question :/


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## cayuse

Yes, I did. Sorry, I must have missed something. What did I overlook? As for etymological dictionaries of Icelandic, are there any in other languages? I speak French and Finnish.


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## Alxmrphi

cayuse said:


> Yes, I did. Sorry, I must have missed something. What did I overlook? As for etymological dictionaries of Icelandic, are there any in other languages? I speak French and Finnish.



About the "a" at the end of _sprota_, I explained it.
But 10 mins after you asked a question about it, so I thought you missed my explanation (sometimes I write a post and then forget to click it, so thought maybe you didn't read it and the question appeared below my post).

As for etymology, which in Icelandic is _orðsifjafræði_.
Try looking for _íslensk orðsifjabók_ (Icelandic etymological dictionary), I imagine it'll only exist in Icelandic though.

It seems there is one here, but no "readable" copy available, pretty strange for something that calls itself the "open" library.


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## cayuse

Alxmrphi: I just noticed your explanation concerning the _a_ and _i_. I didn't see it before. The replies to my posts are not appearing in their entirety immediately. Best regards, Mark


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## cayuse

Alxmrphi and Sindridah: Thanks for all your help! Nice chatting with you! Bye for now. Ciao. Mark


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## sindridah

Hope was some help, But i think i know why you didn't see his replies entirety immediately was because of editing and i apologise if you knew that before


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## cayuse

No problem. Take care! Best regards, Mark


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## Alxmrphi

sindridah said:


> Hope was some help, But i think i know why you didn't see his replies entirety immediately was because of editing and i apologise if you knew that before



Yeah, that's why!
I edited in the last part, that's how it was missed.

@ Mark: no prob, any time


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