> More than
> anything else, I hape that my little talk on ON names helps to put the
> situation as we see it in the mideaval ON Christian sources into a more
> historical perspective, showing some cultural background for the many,
> and varied, survivals found there in the form of ON personal names. I
> thank my reader for his or her patience. Verid er heil. -Konrad

Heill Konráð!

It's we who should be thanking you! This a fascinating topic. I've
really enjoyed your posts over this week. It's an inspired approach:
evocative and informative both. Especially interesting to see what a
rich source of names themes like "noise" were, or "light", besides the
more specific references to the natural and human world. About
Haddingr and Haddr and the Vandal cognate Astingi (*Hazdingos), Hilda
Ellis Davidson draws some interesting connections with Tacitus's
mention of the worship of twin gods by the Naharvali, in particular
the detail that their priests were dressed as women (mulieribus
ornatus), and presumably adopted female hair-styles. I don't know if
the root occurs in any Old English names, but it appears in the
compound adjective `bunden-heorde' "with hair bound up" (according to
the usual interpretation) once in Beowulf. Among the descriptive
names, Þrasi recalls the name one of the Vandal kings, Thrasamund
(*Þrasamundus) and the Gothic noun `þrasabalþei' which only occurs
once, apparently meaning something like "quarrelsomeness" (which fits
well with the ON verb `þrasa'). Among the colour names, Erpr,
appropriately enough given its legendary associations in Old Norse,
appears in a tantalising list given by Jordanes of heroes the Goths
sung about. It's often printed as Eterpamara, but the initial et- is
likely just the Latin conjunction garbled up into the name by scribes
who knew no better, the true name being Erpamara (*Airpamarha), the
second element apparently a weak masculine derivative of the root
found in Old Norse `marr' "horse".

> **Maer presents semantic problems, as this is another word with a

wholy unrelated meaning, an already a personal name.

By this, do you mean a potential feminine name "mew/seagull" from the
same root Maevir and Mor(long hooked-o), impossible to distinguish
from Maer "maid(en), girl"?

> Still, I hope that
> it gives our readers a better idea about how the ON naming-tradition
> worked, and what it's fundamentals were. For students of ON, it should
> be interesting, especially for those only familiar with the later, ON
> Christian naming tradition, in which the situation is radically changed
> from heathen times.

It is indeed. I suppose one of the most striking differences is the
transparency of the native names. I suppose most folk would have known
what their own names meant - the literal meaning - without having to
think about it or scurry in search of etymological dictionaries, or
even in the case of ancient names that had grown obscure, they would
stand a good chance of having some inkling at least or associations
from related words to go on.

> I have not
> gone into compound-names at all, or only very slightly. That is another
> topic, and as the roots of the tradition lay elsewhere, I have tried to
> go elsewhere and say some words about what I have seen there.

Another tradition, maybe, but also one with ancient roots and
parallels with the naming practices of the other Indo-European
peoples. One for another day perhaps? Many thanks, once again, for
this excellent series of posts!

LN