SKÁLKR

(-s, -ar), m.

1) servant;

2) rogue (ljúga sem skálkr).

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m. [Ulf. skalks = δουλος, skalkinon = δουλεύειν, skalkinassus = δουλεία; A. S. scealc; Germ. schalk; the word remains in siniscalc, seneschal; mariscalc, mar-shall = a horse-groom]:—prop. a ‘slave,’ ‘servant;’ skálka þeirra er skjöld bera, Fas. i. (in a verse); but that sense is else lost.

2. a rogue, yet with some notion of a ‘mocker,’ cp. skelkja and skálkheið, Dan. skalk-agtig; leiðr s., Clar.; ljúga sem skálkr, Rétt. 61, and so in mod. usage, Pass. 8. 19; skálka mark, a brand, 7. 13; skálka-pör, roguery. It is freq. in Germ. pr. names, as, Godi-scalk, whence mod. Icel. Gott-skalk, which appears in Icel. in the 15th century.