oldefar – Norwegian Bokmål noun declension

Noun: oldefar
Gender: Masculine Hyphenation:

Indefinite

Sg.	oldefar
Pl.	oldefedre

Definite

Sg.	oldefaren
Pl.	oldefedrene

Sample Sentences

ej dverg blir mandshøj, skønt han har en Goliath til oldefaer (no dwarf grows to a man's height, though he has a Goliath for a great-grandfather) [1885, Henrik Ibsen, Brand, page 108:]
min oldefader maa ha været en grusom, hjerteløs og vindesyg person (my great-grandfather must have been a cruel, heartless, and avaricious person) [1908, Kristian F. Biller, “Dødningeuhret”, in Lys og Skygge, number 6/7:]
oldefaren din var oldefar til meg også (your great-grandfather was my great-grandfather too) [1969, Berit Brænne, Tørris gror til, page 39:]
så kunne vi reise med toget om sommeren i ferien til oldemor og oldefar i Kragerø (then during the summer holidays we could travel by train to our great-grandmother and great-grandfather in Kragerø) [1997, Arild Linneberg, Far og barn i moderlandet, page 33:]
de ulvene skjøt Giæver, oldefar din, i attentoogåtti (those wolves were shot by Giæver, your great-grandfather, in eighteen eighty-two) [2022, Erlend Loe, Giæver og Iunker, page 17:]

Nouns inflected like oldefar

svigerfar, bonusbestefar, kirkefar, oldefar, bestefar, far, farfar, gudfar, morfar, svigerbestefar, stamfar, stefar,

Etymology

1. Borrowed from Middle Low German oldevater (“father of the parents; grandfather”), alongside oldervater (“father of the parents; grandfather”). The second element was adapted to Norwegian far (“father”), while the first element became the kinship prefix olde-. The Middle Low German term originally denoted a grandfather; in Norwegian, the meaning later shifted one generation further back to “great-grandfather”.
2. Compare Norwegian Nynorsk oldefar and Danish oldefar (“great-grandfather”). See also oldemor (“great-grandmother”). See: Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns 'oldefar', Danish Nouns 'oldefar'.