Opkalde

Opkalde is a verb used in Danish and Norwegian that means to call up, summon, or convene. In administrative and legal contexts it denotes summoning individuals for duty or for a formal meeting, or recalling someone to service. It can also be used in a broader sense to retrieve information from records or registries.

Etymology and form: The term combines the prefix op- (up, forth) with kalde (to call). This yields a sense of bringing someone forward for a purpose. The word appears in historical and modern legal and clerical texts and has cognates across North Germanic languages. In Norwegian, related forms include oppkalde and oppkalte, with oppkaller as the present tense; in Danish, the form is typically opkalde, with present tense opkalder and past tense opkaldte.

Usage and register: Opkalde is primarily a formal or official term. In Danish, it is common in administrative, governmental, and legal writing but less frequent in everyday speech, where kalde or indkalde would be more common. In Norwegian, opkalde/oppkalde serves a similar formal niche, though you may encounter regional or historical texts that use related variants.

Examples: Danish: Politiet opkaldte vidner til afhøring. Norwegian: Myndighetene oppkalte vitner til avhøring. These illustrate the core sense of summoning individuals to participate in an inquiry or proceeding.

See also: kalde, innkalle, opkald, opkalling.