Meanings
- nonce worduncountableDuplicity by or involving Scandinavians.
For to sod the brave son of Scandiknavery.
1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC3 more examples
Mrs. Christiani twice […] guesses that Kierkegaard may be behind this bit of Scandiknavery.
1966, A Wake Newslitter, volume 3, page 114In other words, had the [Viking] site in Maine been “salted?” Was this simply a new and audacious case of “Scandiknavery?”
1990, Neil Rolde, Maine: A Narrative History, →ISBN, page 6However, some myth elements that a few other Norwegian-American promoters tried to make part of the Norwegian-American homemaking argument may more readily be dismissed as what Michael Musmanno in an angry moment has called “Scandiknavery.” One such myth was […] that George Washington was of Norwegian descent.
2000, Orm Øverland, Immigrant Minds, American Identities: Making the United States Home, 1870–1930, →ISBN, page 166
Origin
Blend of Scandinavian + knavery. Coined by Irish novelist and poet James Joyce in his 1939 novel Finnegans Wake (see quotation below).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Scandiknavery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scandiknavery
“Scandiknavery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scandiknavery. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Scandiknavery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scandiknavery.
Source: Scandiknavery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.