Kråka's word laboratory

[Kråka]

Hi everyone!

As I told you a few weeks ago, I've been working on Orkney Nynorn a lot. Vocabulary, Orthography, Grammar ect.
It is not an easy task and now understand what a titanic work some of you guys have been doing since the beginning of the project! My hat's off to you guys!
Anyway, back to topic! I decided to share some of my Orkney Nynorn words and neologisms with you, so we can debate about them. For each word, I'll try to provide at least (a) definition(s), its history (where it comes from and/or why I chose it), a Hjetmål equivalent, and its etymology.

I hope that you will enjoy discovering these new Orkney Nynorn words just as much as I enjoyed exhuming them, and I'll try to post new stuff here as often as possible! Do let me know what you think and let's have a debate about it!

Let's get started with the first word in Kråka's laboratory :

LÅMO [ˈloːmo] nm

1) (left) hand also karlåmo
2) paw
3) handful

Old Norse borrowed the Old Irish word lám as early as the Viking Age. Lám appeared in Snorra Edda, in a name-list (þula) called Handar heiti, as a synonym for “hand”. Although lám did not survive in continental Scandinavia, it was well preserved in insular Norse settlements. In Faroese lámur means “left hand”, “left handed person”, “front leg” (in animals such as cats, seals ect.).

In Orkney Scots, the word lomo/lummo was a taboo-name designating a “big or clumsy hand”. Therefore, I decided to give Nynorn låmo the additional meaning “left hand”, since the English adjective left originally means “weak, clumsy” in Old English (Also French gauche, “left” (clumsy) ).

As for the adjective form, “left-handed”, a close look at the old Faroese word kjallámur will, without doubt, be enough to become aware of its Celtic ancestry. Indeed, kjal- is nothing but a “Faroesed” version of Gaelic cearr “wrong, left(hand)”. And in Scots, which did borrow cearr too, a left-handed person is whether “car-handed” or a “car-hander”. So the Orkney Nynorn word for "left-handed" would probably be karlåmt [ka'loːmt].

Shetland Nynorn : L(j)omek/L(j)åmek

ORIGIN From Old Norse lámr “a paw, hand”, from Gaelic/Irish lámh, id. + -o ending

[Hnolt]

Hi Kråka,
Thank you, now you know that it's not an easy task to be doing this!
Interesting contribution, I'd love to hear what others would think of it. May be Àdhamh would want to add something to the Gaelic connection?
I hope you'll keep on posting things on Orkney Nynorn.

[Rogapl]

Hi Kråka

I look forward to seeing more of your Orkney Nynorn words. I am working on the English-Nynorn Dictionary project. Most of my suggested words are based on Shetland Nynorn and adaptions from Old Norse, Faeroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian. I have some reference files on Orkney Norn and will try to use some Orkney words when suitable. I did a search on left handed and found the following.
corrie-handed, corrie-jouket left handed. [Gael
cearr left hand Orkney Wordbook a dictionary of the dialect
of Orkney by Gregor Lamb
ørvendr, left-handed ref A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic by Geir T. ZOEGA.
You made an interesting choice of a word for clumsy and applied it to left handed re LÅMO
When I searched for LÅMO I found the following -
GOLLAMOL'S, adj. large and clumsy, ungainly, as a person. Ref. A Glossary of the Shetland Dialect by James Stout Angus
I agree with your choice of LÅMO for left handed in Orkney Norn but I might have chosen ørvendr in selecting a word for the English- Nynorn dictionary. What are the opinions of other forum members?
Rogapl

[Kråka]

Hej alla samen!

Hnolt, I've never doubted it was an exhausting task, but I had too little knowledge of Scandinavian languages when I entered the project to truly get involved in it and thus understand just how tiring it is to hunt down all these words and etymologies! I have loads of other words waiting to be shared but I want each one of them to be discussed by other members before I add them to my Orkney Nynorn dictionary, so I'll post them one by one.

Rogapl, I could not find any further information about corrie-jouket. Where does jouket come from? It doesn't seem like a Scandinavian word to me (but I might be wrong!) here is the full thula (word-list) for "hand" :
Heiti eru handar:
hrammr, dyr ok raukn,
greip, mund ok spǫnn,
gaupn ok hreifi,
ulfliðr ok fingr,
armr, leggr ok bógr,
lámr, hnefi, lófi,
loppa, krumma.
Vol. 3. Anonymous Þulur, 55. Heiti á hendi, 1 — Þul á hendi 1III

As you can see, lámr (ORKN. Nynorn låmo) is featured here, jouket isn't, so corri-jouket >> corri-låm(e)t. Also corri- is a Scots-influenced deformation of "cearr", a more "Scandinavian-ish" version of it being kar/kal (cf. Faroese kjal-) hence karlåmt. Also, I preferred "kar" to "kal" because it is closer to both the original Gaelic word and to its Scottish rendition, and also because kallåmt would then be pronounced "kallyomt" (because of palatalisation), when karlåmt is pronounced "kallomt", "r" being dropped in front of "l" in Orkney norn. Hence, the orthography fits phonologically and etymologically.

As for ørvendr, the word does exist in Norse, but I could not find any equivalent to it in either Shetland or Orkney norn. My purpose being to use Norn material to the greatest possible extent, I chose karlåmt, which is completely Orcadian AND echoes back to Faroese kjallámur! Nevertheless, we may consider ørvendr a more archaic and/or poetic way to say "left-handed", and include it to the dictionary as well. What do you guys think?

[Rogapl]

Hi Kråka
Thank you for your reply. I also am not totally familiar with Scandinavian languages but I enjoy researching words and their origins. The reference I have to jouket is from Gregor Lamb's Orkney wordbook. corrie-handed, corrie-jouket left handed. [Gael cearr left hand; Sc jouket cunning]. I could not find jouket in any of my other references including Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish language so I am not sure where G. Lamb found the word and assigned it to Scottish origin. I have an OCR copy of this book which I could send you if you provide me with your private email address. I defer to your suggestions as you are much more familiar than I am with Orkney Norn.

[Kråka]

I would love to have a look at Lamb's dictionary, it may be very helpful indeed!! I'll send you my e-mail address so you can send it to me! Thank you a lot

[Àdhamh]

OK, this interesting. I'll fling the Gaelic words out there, see what you think. The word for 'hand' itself is very close to this:

làmh or làimh -hand
/ɫɑːv/ or /ɫɑj/

corrie-fistet -Scots
ceàrr -wrong
/c'aːr/

ciotach -left-handed or ambidextrous....
/c'iᴅɑx/
-like Alasdair MacColla's father Colla Ciotach (Colkitto) and indeed Alasdair himself....

[Hnolt]

Yes, we actually can do it Kråka's way, may be not only for Orkney Nynorn but also for the Shetland one. In Faroese both lámur and kjallámur mean 'left hand'. (Not to forget another meaning of Ork. lomo, Shet. lom, Faer. lámr - 'paw'). At the same time we should keep hand as the common word for 'hand'.

[Kråka]

Hej,

I agree that hand should remain the common word for "hand". I've worked on a few expressions using the word hand, tell me what you think :

Sjålvs hand ir best : if you want to have a thing well done, do it yourself (ON. sjálfs hönd er hollust)

Giva mig hand : give me a hand

Hand i hand : hand in hand

Taka hand um : take care of

Handbuk : handbook, manual

Handbrekk : handbrake (Nynorsk/scots : brekk)

Handgrip : grip/handle (Orkney scots : handigrip, cf. Marw.)

Handhalden : hand-held

Handkleð : towel (nynorsk : handkled/ ON. hand-klæðe/Scots Hand-claith (Orkney : -claes))

Kisjenhandkleð : kitchen towel (nynorsk : kjøk(k)en / Scots : kichen)

Handkleðaknagg : towel hanger (Norw./Scots : knag, a peg, a hook, projection for hanging things on)

Handlos : without hands

Handsel : (law term) hanselling, i.e. the transference of a right, bargain, duty to another by joining hands

Handsella : to make over by hansel, sinn hann handsellaðe viþ hann. As he stipulated with him.

Handverk : a handiwork, handicraft. Handverkið krev tið og tolmod. This craftmanship demands time and patience.

Handverksmann : a handicraftsman (ON. handverks-maðr)

Handlag : skill, ability, dexterity. Hafa gott handlag/vera handlagen viþ nål og trað. Be skillful with needle and thread. (Hand + lag «manner» / Norw. Handlag «skill, dexterity» / ON. Hand-laginn : «adroit»). Handlagað : handmade (Nynorsk handlaga)

Handfasta : make a contract by a symbolic joining of hands (ON. Handfasta) >> make a contract (??), handfast(ing) : contract (??)

Handskrift : handwriting / manuscript(norw. Handskrift) handskriven : written by hand

Handtask : handbag

Forehand : beforehand, advance : å forehand(i?) : in advance

Forehands : pre- , in advance : forehandssel : advance booking, pre-sale/ forehandsvising : preview (Shetland Scots vis Jak. / norw. Vise/ Ice. Vísa "show, point out")

Handjarn : handcuffs (hand + jarn "iron" cf.scots ern, ON járn, Norw. jarn, Dan jern, Swe järn, Gael iarunn)

Jarnhand : iron hand. Styra viþ jarnhand(i?). Govern/rule with an iron hand (ON stýra, scots stirre, norw styre)

Overhand : upper hand. Taka overhand. get the upper hand.

Handgranat : hand grenade (Du. Granaat>> norw granat, scots granade, garnet)

Handsåp : toilet soap

Dørhandgrip : door handle (dør + handgrip)

Hun slu handen i borðið : she hit the table with her hand/fist

So, what do you guys think?

Last edited by Kråka on Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Rogapl]

Hi Kraka and Hnolt

Kraka proposes the acceptance of hand for Orkney Nynorn.
The Forum dictionary lists the following for hand.

hanjd nf. 1. hand; 2. handful;;
i hanjd, at henjdi, anjdi 1. at hand, near; 2. fast approaching;
at koma i hanjd/til hanjdar to be at hand
hanjdalos nm. without a hand/arm;
hanjdla vw. to handle
hanjd(a)grip nn. firm grip with the hand
hanjd(a)krupp nf.def. 1. slap on the hand
hanjdmel nn. (ON handmál, -mæli) handmeasure
I did a search of hanjd in my Norn, Shetland, Orkney, Old Norse, Icelandic and Faroese references and could not find the word hanjd. Hnolt- what is the derivation of this word. I am trying to understand how the phonology of Norn differs from the original Old Norse.
In Icelandic hand is hönd nf. In Faroese hand is hond nf.
Jacobsen lists hand and handi for hand. Some of the compounds are handigrip [han"digrip-], sb., a firm grip with the hand.

handikruppen [hån'dikrop'an and-krup'an], sb-, properly a slap or slight blow on the hand?