From: tgpedersen
Message: 59973
Date: 2008-09-11
>But cf. PGmc. *winistra-, Da. venstre "left". That would make north
> 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:The classical ones are pretty bad semantically.
> > 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 isDa. sønder-, adv. sønden. If we assume a connection between Sueui and
> 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.