Hi Paul,
Nice question: it had think hard for a while for that one.
But I knew I'd read it before, and found it in Snorra Edda
Skáldskaparmál, just before the poem about Fenja and Menja.


That reminds me that they used to say Norðrlönd for Scandinavia
in those days. But I did not find the term Norðrlenzk,
formed in the same way as Íslenzk. (Icelandic)
Dönsk tunga is has never quite been explained
to my satisfaction. How can Swedes have spoken Danish?
Of course the languages were quite similar, but the Danes
appear late on the stage, whereas the Swedes are already mentioned
hundreds of years earlier. (by Tacitus)
Norroen means 'from the North' in opposition to Suðroenn
'from the South'. It is also used of winds, and maybe that
makes it easier to take into English, because it is as if
the north wind come 'running along' from the North, though
I don't think roenn actually comes from "renna".
It might rather be norðr + oenn. Any one?

With respect to the black color, one also has to remember
that the viking ships were black. But whether they said
svart or blar I am not sure. I have noticed that earth is
often called svart, whereas clothes are often called blár.
In the Edda there are svart horses, the Sun becomes svart,
but Odin has a blar cape.

Now I found something in the Snorra Edda, where he says:
"Ljósálfar eru fegri en sól sýnum, en Dökkálfar eru svartari en bik."
So the "black elves" are not blár, but svartr, and he uses
the expression "black as pitch", hence tar would be svartr,
and by transference that would also be the colour of the viking ships.

I also have a note that says svartr was frequently used for
the color of dark hair, usually of foreigners and slaves,
e.g. "Atilla" Atli var grimmr maðr, mikill ok svartr...
And here: 'Sörli, Hamdir, Erpr; þeir váru allir svartir
sem hrafn á hárslít, sem Gunnarr ok Högni ok aðrir Niflungar.'
"their hair was raven black" in other words.

Best regards
Xigung




-- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, pdhanssen@... wrote:

>
> Takk, Haukur.
>
> Which saga is this quote from?
> Hrolfs Saga Kraku?
>
> Takk, Haukur.
> Med vennligste hilsener,
> Paul.
>
>
>
>
> haukurth@... writes:
>
> >
> >
> > > It's not 'dansk tunga', but Norroen(a).
> >
> > You're both right - "dönsk tunga" or "Norroena".
> >
> > The term "dönsk tunga" is also used to mean
> > "the territory where Norse is spoken" as in this text:
> >
> > "En fyrir því at Fróði var allra konunga ríkastr
> > á norðrlöndum, þá var honum kendr friðrinn um
> > alla danska tungu..."
> >
> > My translation: "And because Fróði was the most
> > powerful of all kings in the northern lands the
> > peace was attributed to him in all the Norse
> > speaking world..."
> >