At 7:28:45 AM on Thursday, September 11, 2008, tgpedersen
wrote:
[...]
> BTW norsk "Norwegian" is supposedly from ON norðrænn,
> which goes back to ON norð-r "north", which contains the
> root *nr.- "down, below", which doesn't make much sense.
That's a matter of opinion. Beekes s.v. <énertHe(n)> has an
attractive explanation for the association below-left-north:
A good formal agreement to <vérteros> gives Italic in
Umbr. <nertru> 'sinistro', Osc. <nertra-k> 'a sinistra'.
One compares further Germanic words for 'north', e. g.
OWNo. <norðr> n., which requires zero grade: PGm.
*núrþra-, IE *nr.tro-. Basic meaning: 'region where the
sun is below', or 'left side of someone who prays when
turning to the east'.
The directional association (but on the other side) is also
found in OIr <dess> 'right, south' (cognate with Lat.
<dexter>).
> Now consider this proposal:
> Norther- "at the Nori"
> Easter- "at the Aestii"
> Wester- "at the Wends"
> Souther- "at the Sueui"
They're all pretty bad phonologically, but this last one is
especially so: the 'south' word clearly had a nasal: *sunþ-.
This was regularly lost before *þ in OE, OSax, and OFris,
and sure enough, we find <su:ð>, <su:th>, and <su:th>,
respectively. In ON *nþ became /nn/, which in turn became
/ð/ before /r/ (as in <maðr> 'man', gen. sing. <manns>); the
older <sunnr> is actually attested, and of course we have
also the comparative <sunnar> and superlative <sunnarst>, as
well as the adverb <sunnan> 'from the south'. OHG has
<sundan> 'from the south' and a variety of compounds.
Brian