Thank you! That helps a lot. I had found the M.Icelandic word just
after I had sent my question. I am glad that I was on the right
track. Thank you very much. I had seen the Old English 'brocc' but
couldn't find a cognate in Norse. Again, thank you very much.

-Arnurdth

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...> wrote:
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "arnurdth" <telario@> wrote:
> >
> > I was wondering if anyone knows the word for badger (the animal,
not
> > the verb). I am thinking that it would be close to the modern
> > word "Grevling" in Norweign. The closest that I found in Zoëga
was
> > gröf but that refers more to ditches and graves. Thinking of the
modern
> > term, I am thinking that the animal is called a 'little digger'.
Has
> > anyone come across the word? We're wanting to use it as a
nickname for
> > one of my friends daughters because she likes badgers and is so
very
> > tenatious.
>
> Hi,
>
> There's a Modern Icelandic word 'greifingi' (pl. 'greifinjar')
> "badger". It's not in the big Cleasby-Vigfússon dictionary of Old
> Icelandic, but goes back at least as far as the 16th century. A
quote
> from the 18th century identifies it as synonymous with 'brokkur'
which
> would match Old Icelandic/Norse 'brokkr'. CV does have an entry for
> this word, but can't say for sure whether it was used with this
> meaning in early times: "a badger? (cf. German, Scottish, English);
> name of a dwarf; trotter, of a horse." The latter sense is
presumably
> related to the verb 'brokka' "to trot". The English word 'brock' <
OE
> 'broc' is thought to be one of the few early loanwords from Welsh.
> Modern Welsh, Cornish 'broch', Breton 'broc'h, Old Irish 'brocc'
> (could this be the source of Old Norse 'brokkr'?), Irish and Scots
> Gaelic 'broc' < Celtic *broccos, cognate with Greek FORKOS "grey,
> white", related to English 'grey'.
>
> LN
>