Gammel

Gammel is an adjective used in Danish and Norwegian to mean old or aged. It describes people, animals, objects, times, and ideas that are no longer new. In everyday speech it appears in phrases such as en gammel bil (an old car), en gammel mand (an old man), or gammel historie (an old story or traditional history).

Etymology and cognates: Gammel derives from Old Norse gamall, meaning old, and is cognate with the Swedish form gammal and the Icelandic gamall. The word reflects a common Germanic heritage and shows regular development across North Germanic languages.

Variants across languages: In Swedish, the cognate form is gammal, which inflects with gender and number in typical Swedish adjective fashion (for example, gammal, gammalt, gamla). In Danish and Norwegian, the basic form used for indefinite singular is gammel, with standard adjective inflection in other grammatical contexts.

Usage notes: The term is generally neutral when describing age, but it can carry stylistic or nostalgic nuance depending on context, such as when discussing traditions, long-standing establishments, or old-fashioned objects. It is common in everyday language as well as in literature, and its precise connotations are shaped by tone and phrasing.