Selv wrote:

>well, now I'm curious if it's related to the Norwegian-Danish-Swedish
>"ben", which means "leg" or "bone"?

My first association was also "ben"/leg. But it was very difficult
for me for see how a leg can be a wound in a general way.
What you also should remember, is that when a dan/norw word
is written like "ben", then it has a long "e". You can see
this from the rule I quoted last week: that a short "e" in
requires a double "n" in the dan/nor orthography: benn.
Thus, the word ben/leg has a long "e", which is also clear
from the pronounciation: bén. Going to nynorsk also displays
the diphtong: bein/leg. I think the diphtong "ei" is the
original one, but in East Norse (swed/dan) ei -> é (long e).
A diphtong becoming a single vowel, has to become a long vowel,
at least, that is how it intuitively appears to me.

The Icelandic ben/wound is however a short e, and is hence another
word, different from Icel/Nynorsk bein/leg. Also, when you
pronounce "bone" in english, you can hear that the vowel is long.
In the Orkneys they are also supposed to (have had) "been", where
the long vowel is explicit.

I did not recognize "ben" as wound either. That is why I asked.
But later I looked in the nynorsk dictionary I did find "ben"/wound.
In nynorsk it is a big dangerous wound, with same root as "bane".
Banesår, banemann are well known saga words. Haukur can give you
Icelandic examples.

Keth