North Germanic translation help

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Agricola Avicula
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North Germanic translation help

Post by Agricola Avicula »

On his website (http://www.theiling.de/germanic), Henrik Theiling gives a list of words for which he applied his sound change rules for North Germanic. For most of the words, I could figure out the English translation using the (Old) Icelandic dictionaries available online, except for these:

ahs (ON)
ǫnn (ON), önn (ICE)
blæiŋgr (ON)
falr (ON)
flȳgr (ON), flýgur (ICE) (noun related to 'to fly'?)
heitinn (past participle of 'heita'?)
hamarr/hamrar (sing./pl. of 'hammer'?)
høggr (ON), höggur (ICE) (difference with hǫgg/högg?)
cetti (ON), ketti (ICE) (pl. of 'kǫttr/köttur?)
lætr (ON), lætur (ICE) (noun related to láta?)
lahs (ON)
melr (ON), melur (ICE)
niðjar
slōgum (ON), slógum (ICE) (1PL pres. of slá?)
bjǫrg (ON), björg (ICE) (pl of bjarg?)
bindum (1PL pres. of binda?)
heiti (from heita?)
kømr (ON), kömur (ICE) (from koma?)
stē (ON), sté (ICE) (from stíga?)
sōtt (ON), sótt (ICE) (from sœkja?)
talda- (from tala?)
trjō (ON), trjó (ICE)

Does anyone know the meanings of these words?
Ernie: Nothing.
Bert: What did you say?
Ernie: Nothing.
Bert: I thought you said something.

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Qwynegold
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Re: North Germanic translation help

Post by Qwynegold »

Until someone who knows any of these languages shows up, here's my guesses for whatever it's worth:

flȳgr (ON), flýgur (ICE) (noun related to 'to fly'?) - fly (the insect)
heitinn (past participle of 'heita'?) - to be called
hamarr/hamrar (sing./pl. of 'hammer'?) - that would be my guess too
høggr (ON), höggur (ICE) (difference with hǫgg/högg?) - stab
cetti (ON), ketti (ICE) (pl. of 'kǫttr/köttur?) - meat
lætr (ON), lætur (ICE) (noun related to láta?) - sound
slōgum (ON), slógum (ICE) (1PL pres. of slá?) - hit
bjǫrg (ON), björg (ICE) (pl of bjarg?) - birch
bindum (1PL pres. of binda?) - to tie
heiti (from heita?) - to be called
sōtt (ON), sótt (ICE) (from sœkja?) - soot
trjō (ON), trjó (ICE) - three
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Re: North Germanic translation help

Post by Dewrad »

ahs (ON) - this is more commonly normalised to ax. It means "ear of grain".
ǫnn (ON), önn (ICE) - "working season". Cognate to OE ern "harvest"
blæiŋgr (ON) - no idea.
falr (ON) - "socket of a spear's head in which the handle is put". The reason why the outcome of his soundchanges is the incorrect **fǫlr is because the proto-form is wrong: the Proto-Germanic is *falxaz, an a-stem.
flȳgr (ON) - in this case, the 2sg present active indicative of fljúga "to fly"
heitinn (past participle of 'heita'?) - correct. Nominative masculine singular, to be precise.
hamarr/hamrar (sing./pl. of 'hammer'?) - again, correct.
høggr (ON) - possibly the 2sg present indicative of hǫggva "to strike"?
cetti (ON) - dative singular of kǫttr "cat"
lætr (ON) - 2sg present active indicative of láta "to let"
lahs (ON) - normally lax "salmon"
melr (ON) - "moth", I think.
niðjar - that's just the nominative plural of niðr.
slōgum (ON) - 1pl past active indicative of slá "strike, slay"
bjǫrg (ON) - "aid, rescue, help"
bindum (1PL pres. of binda?) - correct.
heiti (from heita?) - yes, it means "name"
kømr (ON) - 2sg of koma "come"
stē (ON) - 3sg past active indicative of stíga "step"
sōtt (ON) - "illness"
talda- (from tala?) - yes, the past stem.
trjō (ON) - no idea. I doubt it's "three", as that begins with þ-, not t-
Some useful Dravian links: Grammar - Lexicon - Ask a Dravian
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Agricola Avicula
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Re: North Germanic translation help

Post by Agricola Avicula »

Thanks, both of you! That helps.
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Re: North Germanic translation help

Post by Agricola Avicula »

Dewrad wrote:melr (ON) - "moth", I think.
Ah, I just found this page that suggests that it means 'sandbank'.
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Re: North Germanic translation help

Post by Qwynegold »

Dewrad wrote:trjō (ON) - no idea. I doubt it's "three", as that begins with þ-, not t-
This is a longshot, but how about "faith"?
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Agricola Avicula
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Re: North Germanic translation help

Post by Agricola Avicula »

Qwynegold wrote:
Dewrad wrote:trjō (ON) - no idea. I doubt it's "three", as that begins with þ-, not t-
This is a longshot, but how about "faith"?
That would be trú. Could it be the genitive plural of tré 'tree/wood'? I found a sentence in the Cleasby/Vigfusson dictionary that reads "hann tók b.[referring to some kind of fire] millum tveggja trjó" (he took a fire between two(gen.) pieces of wood(gen.)?)
Ernie: Nothing.
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Ernie: Nothing.
Bert: I thought you said something.

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