From: Abdullah Konushevci
Message: 34880
Date: 2004-10-28
> At 10:36:00 AM on Thursday, October 28, 2004, Daniel J.************
> Milton wrote:
>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "A." <xthanex@...> wrote:
>
> >> While I am here pondering the roots of various terms, can
> >> anyone provide the etymology of the Norse term "orlog"?
>
> Properly <ørlo,g> 'fate', formally a plural of <ørlag>,
> though I don't know that the latter actually occurs. There
> seems to be an OE cognate <orlæg> 'fate'.
>
> > 'Log' is the Old Norse for "laws" (and indeed source of
> > the English word).
>
> I believe that <ør-> is from *uz- 'from, out of'; I've seen
> the word etymologized as *uzlagjan 'that which is laid out'.
> That would make the second element related to <lo,g>
> 'law(s)', but not identical. (OE <lagu> 'law' would seem to
> be a borrowing of an older singular *lagu rather than of
> <lo,g> itself.)
>
> > I assume 'or' equals the German 'ur' "primitive", but this
> > just my guess pending an authoritative answer.
>
> German <ur-> is indeed also from *uz-, both in this sense
> and in the privative sense seen in OHG <urtriuwi> 'treulos';
> if I'm not mistaken, the verbal prefix <er-> is the weak
> form of the same element.
>
> Brian