--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> On 2007-07-03 22:28, Brian M. Scott wrote:
>
> > ... and <tákn> is a bit of a
> > puzzle (unless borrowed from OE <tâc(e)n>)...
>
> Indeed, what else can it be, especially given its frequent use as 'the
> sign of the cross' (heilög tákn, kross-tákn, cf. OE Godes ta:cen,
> ro:de ta:cen etc.). The influence of Anglo-Saxon Christian writers
> on literary Old Icelandic was considerable.
Dansk Etymologisk Ordbog:
kors n. [cross, when upright] ODa. Nw. Sw. id., probably loaned from
an OE form *cors with metathesis of OE cross, whence ON kross; cf also
OI cross, NFri. ko:rs, all from lat. crux, while the acc. cru:cem
yielded OS cru:ci, OHG kru:zi, Germ. Kreuz
... etc
A good deal of religious terminology in Danish is imported from OE,
the result of the import of English clergy when England was under the
Danish kings Sweyn Forkbeard and Canute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweyn_I_of_Denmark
Torsten