Monday, December 13, 2010

Purely Icelandic geographical names

The term "Horn of Africa" designates the region containing the following countries: Erithrea (Rauðströnd), Djibouti (Sundbláland), Ethiopia (Bláland) and Somalia (Hornströnd). Somalia really lies at the horn, while it has the longest coast-line, more so than the other three countries and has the longest coast-line. Add to this the fact that many names of African countries contained the toponymic element 'coast', like 'Gold coast' (Ghana), Peppercoast (Liberia, Fríbláland, Fríströnd), and of course 'Ivory coast')
Somalia: Hornströnd
Somalian: hornstrandar-, Hornstrandarmaður
Somalian language: Hornstrenska, Hornstrandarmál

The Íslenska orðsifjabók mentions 'jafi, javi' and 'jafa, java' in the meaning of 'loosely-woven fabric'. The word originates from Danish 'java', which is identical to the name of the Indonesian island, where the fabric originated from. This example shows that we could use the consonant 'f' instead of 'v' in the Icelandic adaptation of the island's name, which would give the name a less international and as a consequence a more distinct Icelandic appearance. Because we're dealing with an island it is also possible to make the name end on -ey, which is by no means an overadaptation as the Sanskrit name for the Iceland was "yāvaka dvīpa" (dvīpa = island). The hyperpurist adaptation of the island's name becomes Jafey (jafeyskur, jafeyingur). It's still a loan-word, but so sufficiently cannibalized that any hyperpurist could live with it.
The epithet of Switzerland is 'roof of Europe', Gnáfylkin, Gnáfylkjamaður, Gnáfylkja-The driest country in the world. Libia has the least amount of oases of all desert-countries.
Indá (Indus river, the word is mentioned in the ritmálssafn orðabókar háskólans). Pakistan is 'the land of the Indus river'. Bolivia is the greatest producer of tin in the world.The terms Georgia and Georgians appeared in Western Europe in numerous early medieval annals. The French chronicler Jacques de Vitry and the English traveler Sir John Mandeville wrote that Georgians are called Georgian because they especially revere Saint George. Notably, in January 2004 the country adopted the five-cross flag, featuring the Saint George's Cross; it has been argued that the flag was used in Georgia from the 5th century throughout the Middle Ages. (source: wikipedia). The Old Icelandic form of the masculine personal name George is 'Gyrgir' (Gyrgis- in compounds). The only Old Icelandic name that designates a West Slavic people is Vindur (Wends), who lived between the Elbe and the Oder, the area which is also called Pommerania. The name Vindur can be used as a marker to locate other West-Slavic people. An alternative name for Slovakia can be coined by utilizing a cross-section technique: The combination of the Old Icelandic name for the Carpathian mountains (Harfaðafjöll, Harfaða-), because the Slowaks are the only West-Slavic people living in the Carpathians and 'Vindland': the land of the Carpathian West-Slavs. Derivations are: Harfaðavindverskur (Carpathian Wendish, Slovak). Old Icelandic name of Armenia. The adjective is 'ermskur', hence the name of the language is 'ermska'.

The first element 'brís-' occurs in the 19th century brúnbrís (brazil-wood) and is a corruption of the Norwegian loan-word 'brissel' or Old Danish bresilie (brazil-wood), which are derived from Latin brasilium. (Brísaland - Bríslenskur - Bríslendingur)
The first element Sáðungar, Sáðunga- in compounds, is composed of an icelandification of the royal family name Saudi: Sáði and the ending -ungur, which is found in Old Icelandic names designating families.
The 'dwarf-state at the rhine, this can only be LiechtensteinnThe island was named after Saint Dominic, which has the Irish-Icelandic equivalent Dofnakur (see: Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson), The adjective derived from Dofnakr is Dofneskur: Dofneska lýðveldið. The Icelandic name of the Capital Santo domingo is Dofnaksborg.

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