Píka

Meaning of Old Norse word "píka"

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

píka

u, f. [Dan. pige; Swed. piga], a girl, lass, virgin; a for. word, of which the origin is uncertain, for it occurs for the first time in Norway about the end of the 14th century, and in Icel. in the 15th; píkan Margreta, the spinster M., D. n. iii. 420 (in a deed of 1378); unga píku, Skáld H. 5. 31; sveinninn nefndist Herrauðr, en píkan Herríðr, Fas. ii. 447 (a romance and ballad of the 15th century); píku-brot, Stef. Ól. (Snót 184); píku-skrækr, Snót 136. In Icel. the word is rare and rather low; it can hardly be used of a gentlewoman.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᛒᛁᚴᛅ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements