From: squilluncus
Message: 41152
Date: 2005-10-08
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "prallan2000" <prallan2@...> wrote:
Per-Allan:
I think this explanation is strange, because why would there be a
name that is some
kind of cross-breed between old norse and latin? Does anyone have an
alternative explanation?
Dagfinn:
Perhaps what they intended to say was that the -maren part of the
name is
related to the Latin word for "sea", which it is. Old Norse <marr>,
Old High
German <mari, meri>, Gothic <marei> and several other words
for "body of
water" in the various Germanic tongues indicate a Proto-Germanic
form *mari-
(ON marr < Runic *mariR < PGmc. *mariz). This form derives, in turn,
from
Proto-Indo-European *mori-, which appears in Latin <mare> "sea" (and
currently in words like "maritime" and the Latin-derived Swedish
word for
navy, "marin"), as well as in Old Irish <muir>, Old Church Slavonic
<morje>,
Romanian <more>, etc. ... Hope this helps!
******
Lars:
You will find more words in your language containing mar-. Look at
the entry mar- in Hellquist's Etymologiska ordbok which is easily
accessible on the web: http://runeberg.org/svetym/
There you will find for instance marsvin (originally meaning the
small whale, not the rodent), marulk, marvatten. (Curiously
not "mareld", a phenomenon you may have seen when rowing at this
time of the year on your fiord. Hellquist is a bit old and in need
of revision. But it is a great service having it on the web for
free!)
*******
Per-Allan:
I grew up on the swedish westcoast near the only fiord in Sweden,
Gullmaren.
Lars:
********
If you look at the entry "fjord" you will find that this word
corresponds to Latin portus, loaned into English as "port". You will
also find that it corresponds to English "ford", a place where you
can transport (trans + "port") things over a river.
You will also find that it corresponds to "fjärd" in the Baltic Sea
dialects. "Fjord" belongs to the Kattegatt-Skagerack-mål and is
found in Danish and Norwegian as well.
Signifying transport facility over water you will find a lot of
fiords in Denmark and Sweden.
As far as down in Halland: Båtfjorden and Klosterfjorden.
Gullmaren being the only fiord in Sweden is a statement only
compatible with a modern touristic-romantic concept a the word taken
from the magnificent Norwegian fiords.
People living around Ringhals and Bua may not agree with you.
********
Lars