þrítíu

þrítíu is the Old Norse word for the number thirty. It is a masculine noun and is declined according to standard Old Norse grammar. The etymology of þrítíu can be traced back to Proto-Germanic, where it was reconstructed as *þrīz tiguz. This form is composed of *þrīz, meaning "three," and *tiguz, related to the word for "ten." Thus, the literal meaning is "three tens."

In Old Norse literature, þrítíu appears in various contexts, often referring to quantities of people, objects, or time. For example, a king might have thirty warriors, or a journey might take thirty days. The number thirty itself held no particular symbolic significance beyond its numerical value, unlike some other numbers in Norse mythology such as three or nine.

The modern Icelandic word for thirty is þrjátíu, which shows a clear phonetic evolution from the Old Norse þrítíu. Similarly, other North Germanic languages have cognates, such as Faroese trítug, Norwegian tretti, Swedish trettio, and Danish tredive. These words all share the same Proto-Germanic root and demonstrate the linguistic continuity of the concept of thirty in the Scandinavian languages. The use of þrítíu in Old Norse texts is straightforward and consistent with its numerical meaning.