Hmmm. Now you see I have no grasp of any language. I
have a hard time speaking correct english. I'm
something of a hick to be entirely honest. I didn't
actually assume any of these. Now you see I can barely
say my first name and that is after 2 years of being
called by it. What I am wondering is what a
translation of Swift-axe would be in Old Norse as that
is not my byname but a dubbing recieved by my Jarl. My
full name is Snaebjornr Haakonsson called Swiftaxe.
I'm trying to find the correct way to say this in Old
Norse so as I may present it to the College of
Heralds. As for using the o to represent the other
character. I don't have a font that reproduces those
characters otherwise I would have the character
itself. O was just the one that looks most like it at
this point and time. I do appreciate all of the help
rest assured and I don't mean to make assumptions. As
for the asking it to be spelled as its pronounced;
that is to insure i say it correctly even though its
not spelt that way. Thank you again.
Snaebjornr
--- Haukur Thorgeirsson <haukurth@...> wrote:

> S�ll, Sn�bj�rn.
>
> You are somewhat fundamentally heading the wrong way
> with this. :)
> It is very difficult to enter a particular language,
> grab one tiny
> bit, get it right and then get out. In the process
> you're almost
> certain to make unwarranted assumptions.
>
> For example you have been told, quite correctly,
> that an Old Norse
> word for 'axe' is "�x" and that an Old Norse word
> for 'swift' is "skj�tr"
> Out of this you've assumed that an acceptable Old
> Norse compound word
> for 'swift-axe' is "skjotrox".
>
> You've made some assumptions here:
>
> 1. It is appropriate to describe an "�x" with the
> adjective "skj�tr".
>
> 2. It is acceptable to represent both '�' and '�'
> with 'o' (in an
> ASCII context?).
>
> 3. Compound words formed with an adjective and a
> noun are acceptable
> in Old Norse.
>
> 3.1. In this case the dictionary forms of each word
> should be used.
>
> 3.2. The adjective should precede the noun in the
> compound.
>
> Further you seem to have assumed:
>
> 4. A compound meaning "swift axe" is an appropriate
> byname in Old Norse
> culture/language.
>
> 5. The English alphabet is adequate to describe the
> pronunciation of Old
> Norse by "writing out" the words "as they would be
> pronounced".
>
> Of these 2 is defensible, 3 and 3.2 are correct, I
> am not certain about 1
> and 4 while 3.1 and 5 are definitely incorrect.
>
> - - -
>
> I would suggest 'snar�x' (although I have nothing
> concrete against 'skj�t�x')
> with the qualification that I am not sure if it is
> appropriate (doesn't seem
> to have anything specific against it, but I don't
> remember any good analogy either).
>
> As for approximate pronunciation the sound of '�'
> simply does not exist
> in English. Try French, as Zarco suggested.
> Icelanders tend to feel the
> closest English sound is the 'u' in 'run' or 'burn'.
> Others may perceive
> it differently.
>
> The 'r' should be rolled like in Spanish. The 's',
> 'n' and 'a' are not
> far from what an English speaker would expect in
> this environment.
> The 'x' is made of two sounds; the first does not
> exist in Standard
> English; it is like the 'ch' in Scots "loch" or
> German "hoch".
> The second is an 's'-sound. An acceptable variant
> for the first
> sound (at least in modern Icelandic) is like the 'k'
> in English 'skull'
>
> Clarifying that most people about my age pronounce
> the Icelandic 'x'
> like the English 'x'. Most older people have a
> fricative rather than
> a plosive for the first part.
>
> Kve�ja,
> Haukur
>
>
> Hinn 05. j�n� 2003 l�t Mark Grass �etta fr� s�r
> fara:
> > Ok. Now can I ask one more favor? You seem I'm
> rather
> > bad with languages so could you just write out
> > Skjotrox as it would be pronounced? I've a real
> bad
> > time understanding languages unfortunately. This
> is
> > one of the reasons I joined to the list. To try
> and
> > improve that skill.
> > Snaebjornr
>

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