hnúka

Likely related to hnakki (“nape of the neck”), of a group of *hn- words ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *hnakkô.

hnúka (singular past indicative hnúkti)

1. to sit cowering

• Icelandic: hnúka

• Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon — Íslensk orðsifjabók, (1989). Reykjavík, Orðabók Háskólans. (Available on Málið.is under the “Eldra mál” tab.)
• “hnúka” in Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (ONP) at University of Copenhagen
• hnúka in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) “558-59”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 558-59