Re: [norse _course] *namnu dagô wikôn - nöfn vikudaganna

Sæll Hauksi!

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Haukur Thorgeirsson"
<haukurth@...> wrote:

> Sæll, Konni!
>
> I think we should be careful in drawing conclusions
> from the Faroese form 'fríggjadagur'. The 'gg' need
> not be original but may be an example of the Faroese
> 'sharpening'.

I see your point. Perhaps frjádagr is both safer and more correct.

> I see Þorsteinn Vilhjálmsson, a physics professor here
> at the university, insists it must have been 'Freyjudagr'.
> His evidence, however, seems insufficient. It may not have
> been as 'obvious' in the time the names were adapted that
> Venus should correspond to Freyja rather than Frigg.
>
> http://visindavefur.hi.is/svar.asp?id=4452

I doubt if germanic folk, especially the more isolated nordic ones,
understood the supposed relationship between Venus and Freyja. There
was a Proto-Norse verb *frijôn (ON frjá 'to love') and there could
have been a corresponding noun from which the dayname was formed. In
ON we also see frjá-aptann, frjá-kveld, frjánótt, which would indeed
seem to support a formation in frjá-....so, I grant that frjádagr is
likely correct, even for the 10th century, especially in view of the
Faroese sharpening. frjádagr could simply be understood by us today
as fertility-day/love-day or the like, being for the pair Freyr and
Freyja. However, Frigg literally means the 'beloved' (from PN *friju
compare PN verb *frijôn and ON frjá cited above) - thus, the day of
love would seem most correct, being the day of Frigg. Ironically, it
would make *friggjardagr appropriate, though historically incorrect.
The question then would be from what noun was frjádagr formed? If it
were an n-stem we might have ended up with **frjúdagr (compare, for
instance, sunnudagr from *sunnôn dagaz), rendering **frijô frijôn an
unlikely declension. Could it have been a stem-formation? Or perhaps
a neuter n-stem (compare auga auga from *augô *augô *augan *augan)
with compensatory lengthening? Hmmmm, regardless, it seems safe to
assume that germanics had their own understanding of these names and
that they may not even have been the same even throughout Germania.
But at least the PN folk probably understood the day as the day of
love and the day of *friju. We should keep in mind that the dayname
need not have been formed literally from the name *friju to have had
such a connection. Language is a complicated animal ;) In Sanskrit,
we see prîyâ in the meaning 'love', rendering changes in the basic
meaning of *frijôn-frjá very unlikely. If frjádagr is correct, as it
appears to be, then at least we know the basic meaning and with whom
to associate the day in mythic terms: Frigg - the safest bet ;)

Kveðja,
Konni

> Kveðja,
> Haukur
>
>
> > Heilir góðir nemendr!
> > Greetings good students!
> >
> > I ma not sure when Germanic folk first picked up the habit of

naming

> > the days of the 7-day week as they do, nor for that matter

whether

> > there were 7 days or not in earlier editions of the Germanic

week,

> > but the custom is generally considered to be quite old. In view

of

> > this, some early norse versions could prove interesting to some

of

> > you. The asteriks mean that the forms can be reconstructed, but

are

> > not actually found written or heard spoken as such. These

following

> > are all standard for Proto-Norse (here shown from +/- 300-

400AD), an

> > era during which the language is thought to have been quite

stable

> > and conservative. The Old Norse forms are also shown for

comparison

> > and a few issues pointed out.
> >
> > *sunnôn dagaz - sunnudagr (sunnu + dagr)
> > *mânôn dagaz - mánadagr (mána + dagr)
> > *tîwas dagaz - týsdagr (týs + dagr)
> > *wôdanas dagaz - óðinsdagr (óðins + dagr)
> > *þunras dagaz - þórsdagr (þórs + dagr)
> > *frijôz dagaz - friggjardagr (friggjar + dagr)
> > *laugôz dagaz - laugardagr (laugar + dagr)
> >
> > The first 4 are considered unproblematic, except for the dating

of

> > the generalization of -an over -ôn for all masculine n-stems,

which

> > effects only *manôn dagaz. *þunras dagaz could also be *þonras

dagaz

> > - it depends on whether the a-mutation of u (making it o)

occurred

> > before or after loss of the nasal (n). Old English has þunres

dæg,

> > for comparison, and Old English almost always matches Old Norse

when

> > it comes to a-mutation, whereas other Germanic languages differ

very

> > widely in this respect. I chose friggjardagr over frjádagr

because I

> > think it is more original. Faroese has friggjardagr, which is

quite

> > specific, whereas frjádagr is more generic (and problematic). The
> > last one, *laugôz dagaz, could be specific to Old Norse, which

also

> > has laugar-aptann, laugar-kveld, and laugar-nátt, showing that

the

> > use is probably quite old. I thought some of you might enjoy

seeing

> > something on this topic.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Konrad
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
> >