From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 62045
Date: 2008-12-14
> The obvious thought is that reindeer is a compound word from rein +If OE hra:n had not been replaced by its Norse cognate, it would have
> deer, since they are ridden and used for sleighs, etc. But Spanish has
> reno instead of "venado de riendas", etc., so it must be a folk
> etymology in English.
> So I looked up reindeer on the and got the following:
> Online Etymological Dictionary
> reindeer
> c.1400, from O.N. hreindyri "reindeer," from dyr "animal" (see deer) +
> hreinn, the usual name for the animal, from P.Gmc. *khrainaz (cf. O.E.
> hran "reindeer," Ger. Renn). Probably cognate with Gk. krios "ram," but
> folk-etymology associates it with rennen "to run."