----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 7:48
PM
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Re: Olav vs
Onlaf
Thank you Lama for the very thorough
explanation. One of the things you stated went right to the heart of my
questions about the name. You said, "I
couldn't find any forms with 'n' in the Rundata database, but runic spelling
has a convention of missing out 'n'
before a dental consonant, so even if
it was still there is might not show up." Our family name appears in
Scotland in 1498 as "McOnleif" and in 1502 without the "n" as McOlleif".
So it appears that the "n" is dropping out because of nasalisation of the
"o".
Something very parallel to this is happening to a
placename very close to where my ancestors lived in Aryll, Scotland. And
I'm thinking that the placename may relate to the personal name "Olav", even
though the placename appears in Scotland before the arrival of the Vikings in
794 AD. The place is present-day "Dunollie", a castle fortess now
occupied by the MacDougalls. According to the Irish Annals of Ulster, in
686 AD, "Duin Ollaig" was burned. In 698, it was burned again, but this
time it is spelled "Duin Onlaig", with the "n". In 701, "Duin
Onlaig" was destroyed by Selbach (again, with the "n"), then in he
rebuilt it again in 714 (without the "n). The place is mentioned once
again in 734 as "Arcem Ollaig". You'll notice that there is no final "b"
or "v" sound in this placename, I speculate because the name is presented in
the genitive case and the "b" is voiceless. The final "v" sound does
make an appearace on a 16th century map of the region where the place
is spelled "Doun Oldyf".
This place also appears in the 12th century Irish
Tale of "The Cattle Raid of Cooly", where it is described as "Duin Ollaig meic
Briuin", giving us a reassurance that the place is named for a person.
But the question arises, what is a Scandinavian name doing in Argyll in the
late 7th century when the Vikings were not supposed to have arrived until the
latter part of the 8th century? Was there a much earlier Scandinavian
presence there? Or am I reading too much into this?
Thanks for all your time Lama!
Rob
I
couldn't find any forms with 'n' in the Rundata
database, but runic
spelling has a convention of missing out 'n'
before a dental consonant,
so even if it was still there is might
not show up. I wonder if
it's attested in continental sources from
the Viking
period.
Pronunciation changed over time. To avoid (and
increase!) confusion
I'll use the X-Sampa system to show the sounds [
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xsampa
]. This might seem complicated,
but there are non-English sounds
involved here, and English spelling
is very irregular, and people have
different accents. The simple
answer is Old Norse <leif>
would be most like English <lave>.
Brackets and other
symbols:
// = phonemic spelling. Just represents the
differences that are
significant to native speakers, without specifying
exactly how
sounds are realised in a particular environment. E.g.
English /spit/ and /pit/ have the same phoneme /p/, but on the
latter word it sounds a little different with a puff of airt after
it [p_hit], as against [spit].
[] phonetic transcription.
The exact sound.
<> how something is spelt in native
orthography.
* in etymology, used before a hypothetical form that has
been
reconstructed my modern scholars, but isn't actually recorded in
this form in the historical language.
" main stress
%
secondary stress. E.g. the English word <gas-leak>,
["gas%li:k].
: previous symbol to be pronounced long
_~
previous vowel nasalised, as in French <on>
Back in the 4th
century or so, this name would have had the form:
*Anulaibaz (as it
might have been spelt by a clever runemaster on a
good day). Main
stress on the first syllable, secondary stress
on /laib/, with /ai/
probably like the vowel in English 'eye',
the /b/ probably pronunced [B]
as in Spanish (with the lips not
quite touching). The /z/ was
probably somewhere between a rolled
[r] and the <s> in English
'measure'. Some people in Scotland make
this sound when saying the
combination <rs> at the end of a word.
Some people in
southern England make a similar noise when they say
the <r> in
<drink>. Unfortunatley I'm not so familar with accents
in
different parts of America. Here's a possible X-sampa
transcription of what I mean ["anu%laiBaZ_r].
As far as I know,
the name isn't recorded anywhere this early, but
we can tell it had this
form, or something very similar, by later
sound changes. Of
course, no one can be exactly sure of the
pronuciation at any given
time. The situation is complicated by the
fact that two different
versions of the name appeared. The one I'll
describe first became
the normal form in Icelandic prose in the
middle ages, while the other
survived is recorded in poetry. Or at
least that's where I've met
it.
(1) Spelt Óláfr in standardised Old Norse. The first vowel
of
*Anulaibaz was raised and rounded by the /u/ in the next syllable,
then nasalised by the /n/ (like in French <on> but in this case
with
the tongue slightly higher). /u/ and /n/ and the final /a/
were
dropped causing the initial vowel to be lengthened to a nasal
[o:_~]. [ai] under secondary stress was reduced to [a:]. The
final
consonant became a rolled [r], at different times in different
parts
of Scandinavia, but I think the change was complete by the time
manuscripts were being written after Christianity was
introduced/imposed. Nasalisation had probably disappeared in
Iceland by 1200. Around this time, [a:] was raised and rounded to
[O:_~], as in (British) English <saw>. A possible Viking Age
pronunciation ["o:_%~la:BZ_r]. 13th c. Iceland (when a lot of the
famous sagas were written) Óláfr ["o:%lO:vr]. Modern Icelandic has
a slightly different form again, from a version with even more
reduced stress on the second element: Ólafur ["ou:la.vYr_0], the
second vowel being half-long, the final <r> voiceless, the first
vowel quite like <o> in English <Olaf>. The spelling
Olav comes
from the modern languages of mainland Scandinavia and matches
the
Modern Icelandic form.
(2) Spelt Áleifr in medieval
Iceland. As above, except that the
second element of the compound
was originally given a stronger
stress, which allowed the diphthong /ei/
to survive as it would
normally in a stressed syllable. This also
caused the /u/ to be
lost earlier, before it had a chance to mutate the
initial [a:] to
[o:]. A possible Viking Age pronunciation
["a:_~%lEiBZ_r], with the
first vowel like <a> in English
<car>, but nasalised like a long
version of French <en>, and
the second vowel like <a> in English
<lave>. 12th c.
Icelandic ["a:_~%lEiBr]. 13th c. Icelandic ["O:%
lEivr].
At
some point in 12th or 13th century Iceland (I'd be interested to
know
when), [B] is supposed to have become [v], as in English
<hive>.
> My understanding is that it is from
"Áleifr",
> derived from Old Norse "anu + leifr" = "ancestor
descendant".
Maybe with a suggestion of "inheritor" in the second
element. Think
of the English verb "leave", in the sense of
leaving something to
someone in a will. I don't know any English
cognate for the first
part, but German has Ahn "ancestor".
Lama
Nom
--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Rob
Livingston"
<rlivingston1488@...> wrote:
>
>
Hello,
> I have some question about the name Olaf - its
historical use and
> pronunciation. My curiosity arises because
my family's old
surname
> in Scotland was "MacOnlea" (pronounced
"mak-ohn-lay", possibly
> derived from "son of Onlaf".
>
> First, does anybody know the earliest documented Scandinavian
> reference to the name? My understanding is that it is
from "Áleifr",
> derived from Old Norse "anu + leifr" = "ancestor
descendant". The
> earliest reference I can find is from the
Irish Annals of Ulster,
> when in 853 AD, "Amlaíb, the son of the
king of Laithlinn" came to
> Ireland to demand tribute.
"Amlaíb" is the Irish equivalent of
> Olaf. Are there any
earlier Scandinavian citations for this name?
>
> Later
references to the name are found in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles
>
beginning in 911 AD with "Anlaf the Swarthy". There was a stone
> cross erected in memory of "Cuni Onlaf" (King Olaf) at the
Cathedral
> of Leeds, England sometime about 937. Then
there are coins from
the
> early to late 10th century bearing the
names "Onlaf Rex Nor"
> and "Anlaf Rex Tod", the first presumed to
have been minted in
> Norway. Again, what is the earliest
documented citation for the
name
> Olaf in Scandinavia? Is
it referenced in any of the Norse Sagas?
>
> My second question
has to do with the pronunciation of "Áleifr",
> which I presume is
the proper way of spelling it, even in Modern
> Norse? Or is it
now spelled Olav or Olaf? If it did change, when
did
> it
change? Is the "leifr" part of it "layfr" or "leefr"? And is
> the "f" pronounced like the "f" in "leaf", or the "v" in
"leave"?
>
> I very much appreciate anybody's input.
>
> Rob Livingston
> Placerville,
California
>