At 2:16:58 PM on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, tgpedersen
wrote:
> I've seen 'tun' defined in some Sw. dial. as a cattle path
> between houses.
> Here's Hellquist
> http://runeberg.org/svetym/1115.html
> I've looked at de Vries' definition, but I'm not
> impressed by it, so I'll leave it out.
De Vries: 'eingehegter grasplatz vor dem hause; hofplatz;
stadt'
Zoëga: 'a hedged plot, enclosure, court-yard, homestead;
home field, home meadow; town'
Cleasby, Vigfusson, & Craigie note first that it's properly
'a fence', but the only remnant of this sense is in the
compound <túnriða> 'a "hedge-rider", a witch, ghost'. Then:
'a hedged or fenced plot, enclosure', within which a house
is built; then 'the farm-house with its buildings, the
homestead'; and lastly, 'a single house or dwelling'; in
Norse deeds single farm is called <tún>. In Iceland a
specialized sense has prevailed: 'the "enclosed" in-field',
a green manured spot of some score of acres lying around the
dwellings. (This last is Zoëga's home field.)
Fritzner: (1) indheget Jordstykke; (2) Gaardsplads; (3) Brug
i en Gaard paa Landsbygden; (4) By
By the way, no one's yet mentioned OE <ty:nan> 'to hedge in,
fence, enclose', from PGmc. *tu:njan, a *-jan derivative of
*tu:na- 'fence'.
Brian