Re: [tied] Re: Tolkien and Germanic astronomy

At 8:36:33 PM on Tuesday, February 18, 2003, CG
<sonno3@...> wrote:

>>The second element would then be *wand-ila-/-ala-
>>'something that changes or wanders about' (cf. Ger.
>>Wandel), hence, hypothetically, *'wandering star, planet'.

> Puhvel (Comparative Mythology, 1987) suggested that the
> second element in Aurvandill might mean
> "stick/twig/staff", and that Aurvandill's toe may be a
> late Christian cleansing of an original story regarding
> his penis, with vandill being a euphemism for the male
> member. Puhvel has Aurvandill meaning "Bog-Wand", and
> suggests that he was some sort of "wetland fertility
> figure".

Evidently on the basis of ON <aurr> 'moist earth, clay, mud'
and <vöndr> 'a wand, a twig; a stripe' (which I believe also
goes back to */wendh-/). Another suggestion combines these
two suggestions to render the name as 'Lichtstreif,
Lichtstrahl'.

Brian