At 3:23:58 AM on Thursday, September 13, 2007, Rick
McCallister wrote:
> Some of the first names among the Ynglinga before Ingjald
> Ill-Rada are also pretty unique as well: Vanlandi, Visbur,
> Hugleik, Domalde, Domar, Agne, Ale, Alf, etc.
In standard normalized ON: Vanlandi, Vísburr, Hugleikr,
Dómaldi, Dómarr, Agni, Áli, Álfr.
<Hugleikr> is a normal dithematic ON name, with historical
attestations starting in the early 13th century; the first
element is as in <Hugo> and ON <hugr> 'mind', and the second
is 'play, combat'.
<Áli> is an l-diminutive going back to an original *Analæ:,
corresponding to OHG <Analo> and OE <Onela>; the root is
*an- (Pokorny's *an-1) 'male or female ancestor' (e.g., OHG
<ano> 'Grossvater, Urgrossvater, Ahn', <ana> 'Grossmutter,
Urgrossmutter, Ahne'). It's attested from both Iceland and
Norway, and OSwed. <Ale> is found as early as 1368 (<Aale i
Aarby>).
<Agni> answers to OHG <Agino>, a short form of names in
<Agin->, an extension of <Ag->; this is either from the same
root as ON <agi> 'awe, terror; uproar' and English <awe>, or
from the same root as ON <egg> 'edge' and English <edge>.
The OSwed. cognate <Agne> occurs in the early 14th century.
<Álfr> is perhaps from *AþawulfaR, with the common 'wolf'
deuterotheme and a prototheme that could be reduced from
the common *aþal- 'noble'; at any rate, it's very well
attested.
<Dómaldi> and <Dómarr> appear to be built on <dómr>
'judgement, court', a theme that so far as I know isn't
attested in historical Scandinavian personal names but is
quite appropriate for legendary kings. In <Dómaldi> the
second element is a reduced form of <-valdi>, a weak
side-form of the common deuterotheme <-valdr> (ON <valdr>
'ruler'); Frankish (<Dom(u)ald>) and OHG (<Tuomwald>)
cognates are in record. The <-arr> of <Dómarr> can have
various origins, notably *-harjaR 'warrior' and *-gaiRaR
'spear'; if it's the former, as seems likely, the name is
cognate with OE <Domhere>. The prototheme also occurs in
Visigothic <Domarius>, and the feminine name <Domilda>,
presumably representing <Dómhilda>, occurs in a Latin
document dated 1325 at Bergen.
<Vísburr> departs further from attested naming practice, but
it doesn't look completely mysterious: <burr> is a poetic
term for 'son' that appears in several variants in some
mythological simplex names, and the first element appears to
be kin to <víss> 'wise' and <vísi> 'leader, chief'.
<Vanlandi> appears to contain <landi> 'countryman'. I can
think of more than one possible source for the first
element, which also appears as <Vand->; I'd not bet on any
of them, but the name doesn't seem completely mysterious.
> Some of the early Sköldungs have some odd names: Ypper,
> Humble [sic], Danp, Hadingus
Saxo's <Humblus> probably represents <Humli>, an original
byname from <humall> 'the hop plant'.
Danpr is associated with Danr, whose name, transparently 'a
Dane', is clearly retrofitted to his assigned role. <Danpr>
may have a similar origin: 'Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks' has
<á Danparstöðum á þeim b, er Árheimar heita> 'on the banks
of the Danpr at the town that is called Árheimar' and <er
stendr á stöðum Danpar> 'that stands on the banks of the
Danpr'. The Danpr is probably the Dnjepr.
Ypper, the father of Danr and a couple other obviously
eponymous characters, is supposed to have been king of
Uppsala; it wouldn't surprise me if the name were related to
<yppa> 'to lift, to raise' (i.e., to 'up').
Brian