Re: Finnish loans [norse

The Finnish word is <joulu> (<joulukuu> 'Yule-moon' = December). The Latin origin hypothesis looks to me like a learned variety of the old game of folk etymology. The connection with "wheel" (PIE *kWekWlo-) is popular but completely unacceptable (I suppose it's the superficial similarity of Modern English Yule to Norwegian hjul that attracts amateur etymologists). If Proto-Germanic or older, the term should be reconstructed as *jeu-l-. Perhaps it has something to do with PIE *h2jeu- 'vital force, youthful vigour' -- but this is just another guess.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Pavel Iosad

To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 9:39 PM

Subject: RE: Finnish loans [norse_course]

> "jól" (=yule) was indeed part of the list I quoted. > Also note that words like geohol, gehhol, geol, geola > are documented in Anglo-Saxon. Also in the Gotic language > there is "fruma-jiuleis" = the month of November. > All this shows that the word "jól" is an old one. > But when the Icelandic Annals say that this name > was introduced in honour of Julius Caesar, how seriously > are we to take this? It is of course relevant to consider > that it was Julius Caesar who *was* responsible for an > important calendar reform. But the question is whether > the Icelandic annalists are merely speculating, or - > what would be more interesting - are passing on a genuine > tradition. Looks like speculation to me - the chronists were good at ascribing Roman origin to everything they saw (take Geoffrey of Monmouth). It seems to be a trait of the Germanic historians. In a sense, they were passing on a genuine tradition of Romanizing everything ;-) Pavel

Re: Finnish loans [norse_course]