At 7:59:59 PM on Friday, May 1, 2009, llama_nom wrote:
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Michael"
> <oydman@...> wrote:
>> "Danir" is Danish,
> "Danes". The singular is <Dani>, the adjective <danskr>
> (Modern Icelandic <danskur>).
>> and "Englendingur" is English...
> "an English person"
And for completeness: <enskr> 'English' is the adjective, so
that <enskr maðr> is 'an English man'. E.g., from 'Mírmans
saga':
Ek heiti Justínus, en faðir minn er enskr at ætt ...
I am called Justínus, but my father is of English descent
...
>> If you were referring to a person of Danish
>> language/culture, living in Britain, what term would be
>> used? Danir úr Engeland?
> Good question. I don't know the answer in general, but
> here are a couple of quotes I found from Egils saga. I'm
> sure there must be more out there. It seems from these
> that nationality had a lot to do with who you were
> descended from, and being of one nationality didn't
> exclude having another too.
This is typical of the Middle Ages: the modern notion of the
state (as distinct from a people) developed only very
gradually.
> We could also look at sources that mention people of
> Scandinavian descent who settled in Ireland or Russia.
> Óláfr rauði hét konungr á Skotlandi; hann var skozkr at
> föðurkyni, en danskr at móðurkyni
> "There was a king of Scotland called Olaf the Red. He was
> Scottish on his father's side, and Danish on his mother's
> side."
> því at á Norðimbralandi váru þeir einir menn, ef nokkut
> var til, at danska ætt áttu at faðerni eða móðerni, en
> margir hvárirtveggju
> "because there were in Northumbria only such men of any
> importance as those who had Danish family on their
> father's side, or their mother's side, or both."
Minor quibble: I'd have said 'and many (had it) on both
sides'.
These are pretty typical of what I remember having seen.
Brian