adv. [cp. Goth. auk, freq. used by Ulf. as translation of Gr. γάρ; jah auk = και γάρ; A. S. eâc; Engl. eke; Germ. auch].

I. it originally was a noun = augmentum, but this form only remains in the adverbial phrase, at auk, to boot, besides, Bs. i. 317 (freq.): adverbially and without ‘at’ besides; hundrað manna ok auk kappar hans, a hundred men and eke his champions, Fas. i. 77; þriggja marka fé, en konungr þat er auk er, the surplus, N. G. L. i. 350: cp. also such phrases as, auk þess at, besides that; auk heldr, v. heldr.

II. as a conj. also, Lat. etiam, occurs in very old prose, and in poetry; svá mun ek auk bletza þá konu es þú baðsk fyr, 655 ix. B. 2 (MS. of the 12th century), Hkr. ii. 370 (in a poem of Sighvat); this form, however, is very rare, as the word soon passed into ok, q. v.

III. used to head a sentence, nearly as Lat. deinde, deinceps, the Hebrew ף, or the like; the Ormulum uses ac in the same way; in MSS. it is usually spelt ok; but it may be seen from poetic assonances that it was pronounced auk, e. g. auk und jöfri fræknum; hitt var auk at eykir, Vellekla, Hkr. i. 216: auk at járna leiki, Lex. Poët.; it is sometimes even spelt so, e. g. auk nær aptni skaltu Óðinn koma, Hm. 97, Hkr. i. 29, v. 1.; it is also freq. in the Cod. Fris. of the Hkr. This use of auk’ or ‘ok’ is esp. freq. in old narrative poems such as the Ynglingatal (where it occurs about thirty-five times), in the Háleygjatal (about six times), and the Vellekla (about ten times): vide ok.

IV. simply for ok, and, as spelt on some Runic stones, but seldom, if ever, in written documents.