Hi everyone
Been a while since I last posted here but the recent increase of activity on the forum has given the motivation I needed to dedicate some time to a new entry in my lab!
Today's word is villyero (Sanday), recorded in Rousay in the form vildro (Marwick) and meaning "confusion, destruction in both islands with an additional sense specific to Sanday : "A being lost or scattered". The aim of this entry is to give the word a simpler, "updated" definition and introduce archetypal phrases for learners of Nynorn to use. I built these archetypes with pan-scandinavian usages as a foundation, as well as examples from both Orkney and Shetland. I will stick to the Sanday form villyero (villeråð) which is closer to other scandinavian forms, but you may choose to replace it with vildro (vild(e)råð) if you like.
Villeråð is a compound word formed from the adjective *ville 'wild' (ON villi-) and the neutral noun *råð (ON ráð). In Orkney, ON ráð is found in several contexts : Marwick gives us the legal term roth which he says is found in charters of the fifteenth and sixteenth century and applied to udal rights and property. Here the word seems to be used in the sense of 'control', 'management', 'household affairs' (Cleasby/Vigfússon). It can't the sense of ráð in villeråð, unless villyero primarily meant 'loss of control' > 'confusion'. Gregor Lamb gives the Norn word gouraye/garoye in his Orkney Wordbook and gives it the meaning 'heyday', from ON góðræði (good counsel). In gouraye and villyero, ráð seems to be understood as 'state', 'condition', like in Old Norse ('state of life, condition). Villeråð would then translate as 'state of bewilderment' (cf ON villiráða adj indecl. 'bewildered, confused'), and gouraye (guðreði/guðråði?) as 'good state of life' > 'heyday'.
The word is also found in the other Scandinavian languages in different forms. In Swedish and Norwegian the form is villråd 'confusion', 'bewilderment', 'perplexity'. Adjectival forms also exist : Danish has vildrådig, related to other forms rådvild, tvivlrådig og vildråden, Swedish and Norwegian villrådig. The word villråd (and it's variants vildrede, villrede and villreie) is used in the idiom "i villråd" meaning 'uncertain', 'confused' , literally 'in a state of confusion".
A similar formation is/was also found in Orkney : "Hid’s a' gaan tae vildro." As well as an adverbial form "avildroo" (< í villiráð). The sense of these two forms is 'in(to) confusion/chaos'. The additional meaning of the Sanday form villyero 'being lost or scattered' comes very close to the Scandinavian use of villråd and an *i villeråð would mean 'in a lost state', 'in(to) a state of confusion' > 'confused, perplexe'.
In Shetland, the form is villarø ['vıljərø, 'vıljəru] and the meaning is slightly different from the rest of Scandinavian : 'foolish talk', 'nonsense'. You can see it in the following Shetlandic sentence : "I mind fine da villyaroo dere wis aboot it at da time." (G. Temple in Britta) Jakobsen seems to be uncertain about the second element of this word.
I also found two instances of an Icelandic villiráð, here is one of them : "Þetta vín er gott með villiráð af ýmsu tagi, t. d. hreindýrakjöti, villigæs og villibráðarpaté..." = a (disorderly) mix? cf Swedish : här är ett villråd av kultur, material och stilar..." (could native Scandinavians confirm that theory? )
VILLERÅÐ, VILDRÅÐ [vıljəro, vıldro] confusion, perplexity, lost state; confusion, chaos.
IDIOMS
- i villeråð (við/um) 1. uncertain/confused (about)
Eg stuð i villeråð um hvat eg så. I was confused by what I was seeing.
2. (i/til villeråð) in(to) chaos, confusion
Nu ligger alt i vildråð/villeråð. It's all a mess now.
- leiða i villeråð to confuse
Tað er ikke gott at leiða folk i villeråð. It's not good to confuse people.
We're done here for now but do give your suggestions, opinions, criticisms, questions etc. 
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