kvæn

kvæn m (definite singular kvænen, indefinite plural kvæner, definite plural kvænene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 1959; superseded by kven

• kven

From Old Norse kvænir pl, possibly from Sámi kuöinu, after Finnish kainulaiset.[1] Cognate with Icelandic kvænir, kvenir pl, Old English Cwēnas pl and Kven kvääni.

• IPA^(key): /kveːn/

kvæn m (definite singular kvænen, indefinite plural kvæner or kvænar, definite plural kvænene or kvænane)

1. (historical) a Finnish person from the innermost part of the Gulf of Bothnia
2. (rare today) a Finn, a Finnish speaking person

   Synonym: finne (from Swedish)

   1. a Kven, person of a Finnish-descended people in Northern Norway

      Synonym: norskfinne

The term kvæn has traditionally been used for Finns in general, but has in later years been limited to the Finnish-descended group living in Northern Norway. For Finn and Finnish, the common terms today are finne m (from Swedish) and finsk.

The form kvæn was removed from the official standard used in education with the reform of 2012, superseded by kven. It remains the preferred form in the spelling norm Høgnorsk.

• “kvæn” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring
• “kvæn”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

From Proto-Germanic *kwēniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”).

kvæn f (genitive kvænar, plural kvænir)

1. Alternative form of kván

• kvæn in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.