befolke

Befolke is a Danish verb meaning to populate a place with people or to provide inhabitants for a region, town, or area. It is used to describe the process by which a place gains residents, whether through immigration, settlement, or natural population growth. The term can be applied to historical contexts, urban development, and demographic planning, as well as to colonization or resettlement efforts.

Etymology and cognates: befólke derives from be- plus folk, meaning people. It is part of a family of North Germanic verbs with similar meanings in other languages, such as Norwegian befolke and Swedish befolka. The prefix be- conveys the action of filling or making into a population, while folk or folke denotes the people themselves.

Grammatical notes and usage: the infinitive is befolke; present tense befolker; past tense befolkede; and the supine (past participle) befolket. The perfect form is built with have, as in "området er befolket af nyankomne" or "myndighederne befolkede området." The verb is commonly used in demographic, historical, and urban- planning contexts, and it often occurs with direct objects referring to the area being populated.

See also: befolkning (population), bebyggelse (settlement/building), immigration, colonization. Befolke contrasts with verbs like bebo (to inhabit) and bosætte (to settle), which focus more on residence or settlement rather than the broader process of filling a place with people.