Heill Konráð!

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "akoddsson" <konrad_oddsson@...>
wrote:

>

> PrN *ragunijaz, I think

Ah yes, I was still half thinking of Gothic there...

> I think English is best when inherited forms are used instead of the
> imported ones, even if they are Germanic (the grey area...), as my
> ear likes it ;) Would not then *Wodens wain be fine Modern English?

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think the regular development of the
stressed vowel, if the name had survived in common use in the spoken
language, would be /U/, as in the adjective 'wooden' (a completely
different word in origin, of course), compare 'other', 'mother',
'brother', Monday < OE mónandæg (the OED cites an old Scottish
uncontracted form 'Munonday'), and the (obsolete?) Scottish
'wuddendream' "delirium", which also appears by a further change
'widdendream'. I gather this shortening goes back to Early Modern
English. The adjective 'wood' "mad" (ON óðr) was also sometimes spelt
'wud'. The contraction of /o:/ > /u:/ > /U/ happens in a few
one-syllable words too, 'blood', 'good', 'hood', but not in a very
systematic way, 'food', mood', etc., and with lots of dialectal
variation. So, unless I'm mistaken, the regular form would probably
have been *Wooden's Wain, confusing though that would be.

LN