Berserking and Poetic connection
óðr adj. 'mad, frantic'
Is stated by H.R. Ellis Davidson that it can be used to describe going berserk. It can also be used to describe the inspiration of poetry. (Citation pending -- book's at home and I'm not)
óðr m. (gen. óðs and óðar) 1. 'mind, wit, soul, sense,' 2. song, poetry
Óðinn's name is etymology linked to these words. Under his functions, he seems to serve as god of war, god of poetry (though, as I recall, Snorri lists Bragi as the god of poetry. Bragr is another term for poetry and Ellis Davidson believes that it might just be another name for Óðinn), as well as a sort of death god and possibly a bit shamistic. Óðinn, even if he's not technically the god of poetry, is responsible for bringing poetry to humans, so the connection is there too.
The name Óðr too, who is listed by Snorri to be the husband of Freyja, is etymologically linked to these words. [Edit2: as pointed out by
liadan_m, Óðinn is the husband of Frigg, not Freyja. These are two separate goddesses. (I state this because there is mass confusion on this topic) Frigg is the goddess of marriage and Freyja is usually linked to her twin brother Freyr, who is believed to be a fertility god. The couples are then Óðr-Freyja and Óðinn-Frigg. Very little is known about the Norse gods in general and very little is known about the goddesses. Freyja's actually the most mentioned of the goddesses in our sources.]
[Edit: bragr apparently has a few meanings, poetry being one. 1. best, foremost (only used in poetry), and braga(r)full "a toasting cup" for funerals, 2. a fashion, habit of life, 3. poetry.]
In the sagas, it is not unusual to find characters who have a combination of incredible strength or prowess at war, even berserkers, and poetic skill. Skallagrímr Kveldúlfsson, Egill Skallagrímsson, Grettir the Strong, Gísli of Gísla saga, the half-giant Starkaðr to name a few.
Is stated by H.R. Ellis Davidson that it can be used to describe going berserk. It can also be used to describe the inspiration of poetry. (Citation pending -- book's at home and I'm not)
óðr m. (gen. óðs and óðar) 1. 'mind, wit, soul, sense,' 2. song, poetry
Óðinn's name is etymology linked to these words. Under his functions, he seems to serve as god of war, god of poetry (though, as I recall, Snorri lists Bragi as the god of poetry. Bragr is another term for poetry and Ellis Davidson believes that it might just be another name for Óðinn), as well as a sort of death god and possibly a bit shamistic. Óðinn, even if he's not technically the god of poetry, is responsible for bringing poetry to humans, so the connection is there too.
The name Óðr too, who is listed by Snorri to be the husband of Freyja, is etymologically linked to these words. [Edit2: as pointed out by
liadan_m, Óðinn is the husband of Frigg, not Freyja. These are two separate goddesses. (I state this because there is mass confusion on this topic) Frigg is the goddess of marriage and Freyja is usually linked to her twin brother Freyr, who is believed to be a fertility god. The couples are then Óðr-Freyja and Óðinn-Frigg. Very little is known about the Norse gods in general and very little is known about the goddesses. Freyja's actually the most mentioned of the goddesses in our sources.][Edit: bragr apparently has a few meanings, poetry being one. 1. best, foremost (only used in poetry), and braga(r)full "a toasting cup" for funerals, 2. a fashion, habit of life, 3. poetry.]
In the sagas, it is not unusual to find characters who have a combination of incredible strength or prowess at war, even berserkers, and poetic skill. Skallagrímr Kveldúlfsson, Egill Skallagrímsson, Grettir the Strong, Gísli of Gísla saga, the half-giant Starkaðr to name a few.
On Northshield
I was in the last couple months corrected about the etymology of Northshield by two people. (Now if only I would have found this out earlier...)
The origin of the -shield part of Northshield is the geologic feature of North America called the Canadian or Precambrian Shield. As it was a feature that tied in all of the area that would become Northshield (and then some), it was suggested and was not hated most of all the suggestions. So that's how we got our name. It was found out later that there was a precedence in England for the -shields as a contraction for 'shieling' as a place name. In England there is a place named South Shields. This is a contraction of South Shielings. If the plural is attested, obviously you can get a singular; hence North-shield. However, this is not the true etymology of the name, but a cool side-note.
So, from the true etymology, since the English 'shield' from the Precambrian Shield is a translation of the cognate of German Schild 'shield' and I doubt the Norse would have a term for this, the proper translation for Northshield in Norse should be Norðskjöldr 'north-shield' (skjöldr being the cognate for both 'shield' and 'schild') and not, as originally posited, Norðsætr 'north-shieling'.
There is also a tradition in Northshield to go to Beowulf. In there the Danes are called Scyldinga(s) (sorry, not sure how the plurals work in Anglo-Saxon and there are several forms of this word in my transliteration of the poem), after the mythical founding father Scyld Scelding. He's also mentioned in Snorri's Edda as the son of Odin, Skjöldr (what do you know, the word for 'shield') and the Danes are thus called the Skjöldungar. Anyways, there is a bardic tradtion to take Scyldinga(s) and applied to to Northshielders (hm, I wonder why). This only adds to the reasons to translate Northshield into Norse as Norðskjöldr.
So, that's my correction and my new translation. Norðskjöldr for Northshield and Skjöldungar for Northshielders.
Oh, and just because it's semi-related, the Swedes in Beowulf are likewise named after their mythic founder Ing and the royal dynasty in Sweden is called the Ynglingas (ON Ynglingar). Ellis-Davidson in her book God and Myths of Northern Europe makes some interesting connections between Ing and Freyr, and Scyld and Ull. Her book has some neat ideas -- I wouldn't say all her arguments are all founded, but it's definitely an interesting read.
The origin of the -shield part of Northshield is the geologic feature of North America called the Canadian or Precambrian Shield. As it was a feature that tied in all of the area that would become Northshield (and then some), it was suggested and was not hated most of all the suggestions. So that's how we got our name. It was found out later that there was a precedence in England for the -shields as a contraction for 'shieling' as a place name. In England there is a place named South Shields. This is a contraction of South Shielings. If the plural is attested, obviously you can get a singular; hence North-shield. However, this is not the true etymology of the name, but a cool side-note.
So, from the true etymology, since the English 'shield' from the Precambrian Shield is a translation of the cognate of German Schild 'shield' and I doubt the Norse would have a term for this, the proper translation for Northshield in Norse should be Norðskjöldr 'north-shield' (skjöldr being the cognate for both 'shield' and 'schild') and not, as originally posited, Norðsætr 'north-shieling'.
There is also a tradition in Northshield to go to Beowulf. In there the Danes are called Scyldinga(s) (sorry, not sure how the plurals work in Anglo-Saxon and there are several forms of this word in my transliteration of the poem), after the mythical founding father Scyld Scelding. He's also mentioned in Snorri's Edda as the son of Odin, Skjöldr (what do you know, the word for 'shield') and the Danes are thus called the Skjöldungar. Anyways, there is a bardic tradtion to take Scyldinga(s) and applied to to Northshielders (hm, I wonder why). This only adds to the reasons to translate Northshield into Norse as Norðskjöldr.
So, that's my correction and my new translation. Norðskjöldr for Northshield and Skjöldungar for Northshielders.
Oh, and just because it's semi-related, the Swedes in Beowulf are likewise named after their mythic founder Ing and the royal dynasty in Sweden is called the Ynglingas (ON Ynglingar). Ellis-Davidson in her book God and Myths of Northern Europe makes some interesting connections between Ing and Freyr, and Scyld and Ull. Her book has some neat ideas -- I wouldn't say all her arguments are all founded, but it's definitely an interesting read.
What happens when you don't know etymologies for things...
So, Northshield is not North + shield.
Northshield = North + shieling
( Definition of shieling from the OEDCollapse )
gxdm came up with this translation:
Norðsætr
sætr n. (pl of setr) "mountain pastures, dairy lands (or a hut on such lands -- more technically, it seems sætrbúð = the hut, though there is sætrgata "street to huts" not "street to dairylands" so sætr might have a hut association, at least in sætrgata if in nothing else)"
[Edit: I looked through the glossary in The Sagas of Icelanders (1997) and they are pretty good at referencing what the Icelandic word is for what they translate. For shieling they list the Icelandic word sel n. (gen. pl. selja, dat. seljum). If you follow the link to the Cleasby-Vigfusson entry, it actually states, however, that this was the word in Iceland and in Norway it was called setr/sætr.)]
Northshield = North + shieling
( Definition of shieling from the OEDCollapse )
gxdm came up with this translation:Norðsætr
sætr n. (pl of setr) "mountain pastures, dairy lands (or a hut on such lands -- more technically, it seems sætrbúð = the hut, though there is sætrgata "street to huts" not "street to dairylands" so sætr might have a hut association, at least in sætrgata if in nothing else)"
[Edit: I looked through the glossary in The Sagas of Icelanders (1997) and they are pretty good at referencing what the Icelandic word is for what they translate. For shieling they list the Icelandic word sel n. (gen. pl. selja, dat. seljum). If you follow the link to the Cleasby-Vigfusson entry, it actually states, however, that this was the word in Iceland and in Norway it was called setr/sætr.)]
Mergle
So, there's this vowel: æ. In Anglo-Saxon it's pronounced like the vowel in 'cat'. This is also the value of it in IPA. In Modern Icelandic it's pronounced like the vowel1 in 'high'. Problem with taking the Icelandic pronuncation at face value is that there has been a vowel shift in the long vowels and the more unusual ones like ö and y. Well, since I learned Icelandic I've been trying to discover the pronounciations of Old Norse and this vowel...has escaped me. I've never been trained in the linguistic reconstruction of Old Norse, so I've relied on a few people, my own orthographic intuitions, and research.
Research from general webpages tells me that this vowel has one of two pronunciations. Either it is pronounced like in Anglo-Saxon. Or it is pronounced like the vowel in 'hay'.2 This latter one goest against my orthographic intuition. This is the vowel quality of the letter e in Old Norse. You don't have a distinct spelling for the same sound (hence why the y in Old Norse must be different from i, even though they share the same sound in Modern Icelandic). So I doubt that it had this quality. This leaves the 'cat' quality. However, I don't believe this to be the value of it either. Why? It is because of the Norse borrowings of the English Kings' names. What was in Anglo-Saxon Æþelred, is taken into Norse as Aðalráðr. If æ had the same quality in both the languages, the Norse wouldn't have changed Æþelred to Aðalráðr. So, this cannot be the vowel quality.
So, what does that leave me? My research seems to be false, but I am the first to admit that it's false only if my intuition is right. The Modern Icelandic is not necessarily accurate, but is probably my best default for the moment.3 I need to get my hands on a linguistic paper on the reconstructed sounds. And of course, I can't access as many papers about it through Google Scholar from my current location. *sigh*
[Edit: I think I'm going to go with the default given in the U of Iceland site. There's mp3s there, so I might actually know what the sound is in a few minutes.]
1actually it's a diphthong (i.e. two vowels spoken together)
2it may also be the case that they mean e has the vowel in 'were' and æ has the pure vowel quality as in 'hair'. This is what the University of Iceland site claims. It's a little confusting 'cause they don't give it in IPA and I'm not familiar with SAMPA.
3I could also take the claim of the U of Iceland's as my default.
Research from general webpages tells me that this vowel has one of two pronunciations. Either it is pronounced like in Anglo-Saxon. Or it is pronounced like the vowel in 'hay'.2 This latter one goest against my orthographic intuition. This is the vowel quality of the letter e in Old Norse. You don't have a distinct spelling for the same sound (hence why the y in Old Norse must be different from i, even though they share the same sound in Modern Icelandic). So I doubt that it had this quality. This leaves the 'cat' quality. However, I don't believe this to be the value of it either. Why? It is because of the Norse borrowings of the English Kings' names. What was in Anglo-Saxon Æþelred, is taken into Norse as Aðalráðr. If æ had the same quality in both the languages, the Norse wouldn't have changed Æþelred to Aðalráðr. So, this cannot be the vowel quality.
So, what does that leave me? My research seems to be false, but I am the first to admit that it's false only if my intuition is right. The Modern Icelandic is not necessarily accurate, but is probably my best default for the moment.3 I need to get my hands on a linguistic paper on the reconstructed sounds. And of course, I can't access as many papers about it through Google Scholar from my current location. *sigh*
[Edit: I think I'm going to go with the default given in the U of Iceland site. There's mp3s there, so I might actually know what the sound is in a few minutes.]
1actually it's a diphthong (i.e. two vowels spoken together)
2it may also be the case that they mean e has the vowel in 'were' and æ has the pure vowel quality as in 'hair'. This is what the University of Iceland site claims. It's a little confusting 'cause they don't give it in IPA and I'm not familiar with SAMPA.
3I could also take the claim of the U of Iceland's as my default.
Interesting...
The adjective "mournful, sad" in Old Norse is actually kind of a fun word to say: hryggiligr (masc.), hryggilig (fem.), hryggiligt (nueter).
The noun is hrygð (f.), but there is another word hryggr (m.) which means "the back, spine" and produces a lot of compounds dealing with a bowed back or hunch-back, and the root for these compounds has the same appearance as the root compound for the sorrow compounds.
For instance:
hrygg-dreginn "bowed, bent"
hrygg-leikr m. "affliction, grief, sorrow"
I'm sure there was some word associations that developed. It could certainly lend itself to word plays.
You can find the words I'm talking about here.
[Edit: upon scrolling down, I found there is an adjective hryggr which means "afflicted, grieved, distressed". It's an adjective instead of the noun hryggr "back" but...that lends itself to hryggr hryggr "grieved back".
The noun is hrygð (f.), but there is another word hryggr (m.) which means "the back, spine" and produces a lot of compounds dealing with a bowed back or hunch-back, and the root for these compounds has the same appearance as the root compound for the sorrow compounds.
For instance:
hrygg-dreginn "bowed, bent"
hrygg-leikr m. "affliction, grief, sorrow"
I'm sure there was some word associations that developed. It could certainly lend itself to word plays.
You can find the words I'm talking about here.
[Edit: upon scrolling down, I found there is an adjective hryggr which means "afflicted, grieved, distressed". It's an adjective instead of the noun hryggr "back" but...that lends itself to hryggr hryggr "grieved back".
On those close...
In Old Norse there is a word kærr which means 'dear, close, beloved'. [Edit 4: Cleasby states that this word was probably introduced with the French and was not used by heathen poets] Which actually seems to be the root for the modern Icelandic words for boyfriend and girlfriend: kærasti and kærasta, which appear to be gendered superlative in form. So essentially boyfriend is dear-est-(male) and girlfriend is dear-est-(female) [Edit 5: that is, in form but not modern usage]. I just thought that was cool.
[Edit: and there's what I was originally looking for! During one of our lectures, my Icelandic teacher noted that the modern use of elska for the verb "to love" was more of a modern thing and that in Old Norse they had another verb that they used: unna (takes dative). Unna also apparently can mean "not to grudge, to grant, allow". Elska is also in the Gordon Old Norse dictionary, so it was used as well. Elska (að) "to love, be fond of" and elska f. "love, affection" (which is different from the modern meaning of "dear, love, sweetie" -- usually found as elskan mín "my love" and used for children as well as for partners).]
[Edit 2: huh, Cleasby does not have an entry for unna but it does for elska -- reflexive + at (dat.) means "to grow fond of". Ooo...there's some interesting discussion of the etymology on the noun. Might be related to storm >> passion. "Elska never appears as a verb or a noun in old heathen poets; Arnor is the first poet on record who uses it; old writers prefer using ást; with Christianity, and esp. since the Reformation, it gained ground[...]" (pg. 127) -- link my own. ást f. "love, affection" -- with possessive can be used for "my dear, darling, love" (like modern elska). In pl. it means the love or affection between a man and a woman. So, elska would be post-Christianity while unna and ást would definately be around to use.]
[Edit 3: angan f. "joy; beloved one" in Gordon. In Cleasby it says under angan f. "sweet odour" (angan Friggjar = love of Friggja)]
[Edit: and there's what I was originally looking for! During one of our lectures, my Icelandic teacher noted that the modern use of elska for the verb "to love" was more of a modern thing and that in Old Norse they had another verb that they used: unna (takes dative). Unna also apparently can mean "not to grudge, to grant, allow". Elska is also in the Gordon Old Norse dictionary, so it was used as well. Elska (að) "to love, be fond of" and elska f. "love, affection" (which is different from the modern meaning of "dear, love, sweetie" -- usually found as elskan mín "my love" and used for children as well as for partners).]
[Edit 2: huh, Cleasby does not have an entry for unna but it does for elska -- reflexive + at (dat.) means "to grow fond of". Ooo...there's some interesting discussion of the etymology on the noun. Might be related to storm >> passion. "Elska never appears as a verb or a noun in old heathen poets; Arnor is the first poet on record who uses it; old writers prefer using ást; with Christianity, and esp. since the Reformation, it gained ground[...]" (pg. 127) -- link my own. ást f. "love, affection" -- with possessive can be used for "my dear, darling, love" (like modern elska). In pl. it means the love or affection between a man and a woman. So, elska would be post-Christianity while unna and ást would definately be around to use.]
[Edit 3: angan f. "joy; beloved one" in Gordon. In Cleasby it says under angan f. "sweet odour" (angan Friggjar = love of Friggja)]
