nanometre: hármýrjungur (In nanotechnology, the nanometre is most often refered to a technology that operates at the scale of ten thousandth of the breadth a human hair. The 10.000th part (mýrjungur from mýrio- 10.000th part, like þriðjungur). It is unnecessarily to use the full compound "hárbreiddarmýrjungur-" because when referring to comparisons in magnitude, "hair" is always used with reference to its breadth, because hair-lenght may vary greatly (cfr. the word for "capillary" is formed with hár (hárpípa). http://www.nanodic.com/General/Nanometer.htm and the term "hair-breadth" is informally used for ten to the minus fifth metre (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair's_breadth )
nanotechnology: hármýrjungstækni: Of course, nanó- and the loan-translation dverg- is shorter, but hármýrjungs- is an uninternational, alternative approach that describes its smallness more thoroughly
nanorobot: hármýrjungsþjarki, vélögn
angström: örmýrjungur (The "micro-scale (ör-) myriadth (mýría (10.000), mýrjungur, the 10,000th part, like þriðjungur). It is unnecessary to add 'stika' or 'metri' to denote this unit of lenght because the ångström is the only name in use for a "ten billionth of a basic unit". There can't be any mistake whatsoever here.)
Nanosecond: ljósfet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement see under the paragraph of "light-nanosecond") When you combine the word light with the name of a time-unit you express a distance (lightyear), when you combine light with a unit of lenght you express a time-frame: ljósfet (the time light needs to travel a distance of 1 foot. This is so extremely close to a nanosecond that ljósfet can be used to express the time-frame of a nanosecond.)
barn: kjarnekra (barn (symbol b) is a unit of area defined as 10 to the −28 m2 (100 fm2) and is approximately the cross sectional area of an uranium nucleus.)
outhouse (1 millionth of a barn, rarely used in practice): öreindarreitur
shed (10−52 m2, or 1 yottabarn, rarely used in practice): niftlumýrjungsreitur (a typical neutrino (niftla, físeind) cross section is some ten thousand sheds. mýrjungur = a 10.000th part, from mýrío- 1/ 10.000, Icelandic mýría- + -ungur, as in þriðjungur)
planck area: plakkneskur teigur, teiglingur, reitur, reitlingur, reiteind
Hubble parametre: Hugbeldringsstika (The surname Hubble derives from Hugbald (Icelandic Hugbaldur), so the family name for one individual of the Hubble family (Hugbeldringar) becomes Hugbeldring(ur) + -s +stika (parameter)
Jurassic Park (movie)
1) Skriðrisagarður (sounds better and more elaborated than risaeðlugarður)
2) Miðlífsgarður (The most prominent and sensational of all beasts presented in the movie, the tyrannosaur Rex, is actually a LATE CRETACEOUS species, not a strictly JURASSIC one, so this gives us a reason to refer to the entire mesosoic era and use Miðlífs- (Mesozoic) in the Icelandic translation of the movie's name. Still, this doesn't completely renders "Jurassic" inappropriate a term in this case. Apart from its function as a strict designator of the "central mesozoic epoque", it can also be used in a broader or let's say more popularized sense of "anything that has to do with the largest land animals that ever lived". And indeed, the largest of dinosaurs came about in the Jurassic.)
Vosges Mountains:
1) Vasgáfjöll (Exonym mentioned in the first volume of the Icelandic magazine Gefn from 1870, probably an icelandification of German exonymic equivalent Wasgenwald) http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?pageId=2043282
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogesen
2) Veiðiguðsfjöll (The construction veiðiguð (hunting god) is phonetically similar enough to the name of the Celtic hunting-god Vosegus, whom the mountain range was called after, that we can, in my opinion that is, construct an Icelandic exonym from it)
2) Frakkneskur Svartiskógur (Because it has the same geological characteristics as the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine).
sea mile (sjómíla): hnútstund (knot-hour) The knot (pronounced not) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile (which is defined as 1.852 km) per hour, approximately 1.151 mph. This means that the term 'knot-hour' is equal to a seamile.
Stalinism/ Stalinist: Stælinsstefna/ Stælinssinni (The Russian name Stalin means 'man of steel'. The Icelandic adjective stælinn (hard, stiff, but also quarrelsome, argumentative) is derived from stál (steel). We can use the adjective as a surname to denote the russian dictator: Stælinn)
kamikaze: hrapherjabylgja
nazism/ nazist (person)/ nazist (adj.): þjóðherjastefna, aðylfingastefna/ Þjóðherji, Aðylfingur / þjóðherja-/ aðylfskur (A friend of mine told me that þjóðherji wouldn't exclusively apply to 'nazism' but also to 'Prussian', which were known for there militarism, but I disagree: the first element in the term 'national socialism', nationalism translates as 'þjóðerni' in Icelandic, which has the same first element þjóð in þjóðherji. The masculine personal name Adolf consists of the elements athall (noble, Icelandic Aðall) and wulf (wolf, Icelandic úlfur or -ólfur). The full name would be Aðalúflur or Aðalólfur, but the most sound-similar adaptation is to contract it to Aðólfur. The names of family members AND FOLLOWERS of Aðólfur are called Aðylfingar, which can be used for all national socialists. The adjective derivation 'nazist' or 'nazistic' becomes aðylfskur.
Switzerland, Swiss: Gnáfylkin, Gnáfold (compare adj. foldgnár), Gnáfylkjamaður, Gnáfylkja- (after the epiteth 'roof of Europe')
Monday, December 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Archaizing hyperpurists of Iceland unite!
Isn't it a great feeling to have a mother-tongue in which you can easily form terms for postultramodern concepts with lexical building blocks that are unchanged since the era of Icelandic saga literature. No Icelander should be ashamed to be a bloody, exaggeratedly archaizing hyperpurist. There's no evil in it when you don't impose these views upon other individuals. Sunday, December 18, 2011
Names of auxiliary languages
1. Esperanto (speranska)
Like the language itself, the name esperanto is almost unassailably international and I would be surprised if any linguist, however purist he may be, would have meade attempts to adapt it to the phonology of their language, let alone translate it completely. I used voneska or vonarmál in my ultrapurist High Icelandic model, but these solutions are surely too far a leap of radicalism for the more moderated Icelandic crowd. Still an in between solution, a succesful addaptation of the word without exaggerated corruption that would violate its interational character, could be palatable for most Icelandic neologists.
a) I thought of omitting the initial e- as is seen in many borrowings from Romance languages in Germanic languages:
espagnol (sp.) - spanska (isl.)
espacia (sp.) - espace (fr.) - spássía, spesíudalur (isl.)
espiritu (sp.) - esprit (fr.) -sprítt (isl.)
epinanca (sp.) - épinards (fr.) - spínat (isl.)
b) Secondly, I would let the word end in -anska, as in danska, franska, spanska, which works as a designator of a language.
The ending -anska is completely relevant because but you might as well regard the meaning of Esperanto it as 'the language of hope' (cherished by Zammenhof, to unite people of different languages)
Even though "speranska" is a loan-word, no language in the world has made even the slightest alterations to this word, so 'speranska', even though we're still dealing with a foreignism, is already very hyperpuristic an adaptation.
Ido (í(ð)ska: the name of a simplified form of esperanto, which was derived from the Esperanto word ido meaning 'offspring'. It actually has the same origin as the suffix -íð (eng. -ide) in klóríð (eng. chloride), so if we make use of -ska as in speranska we get: íðska, which, on omission of the 'eth' becomes íska (íðneska would be inappropriate because it gives rise to an unconvenient connotation with -iðn). Many languages end in -íska, and this speaks in favour of using this suffix on its own as the name of an interantional language.
The method of using the suffix -ska to coin names for auxiliary languages has the property to reduce word-lenght significantly: henska (hand + -ska = henska (táknmál, fingramál (sign language)), lenska (drunkard's language, from landi (kind of moonshine)), blenska (blanda + enska, Pidgin English, contracted form of blendingsmál), frenska (franglais), einska (ideolect)
Like the language itself, the name esperanto is almost unassailably international and I would be surprised if any linguist, however purist he may be, would have meade attempts to adapt it to the phonology of their language, let alone translate it completely. I used voneska or vonarmál in my ultrapurist High Icelandic model, but these solutions are surely too far a leap of radicalism for the more moderated Icelandic crowd. Still an in between solution, a succesful addaptation of the word without exaggerated corruption that would violate its interational character, could be palatable for most Icelandic neologists.
a) I thought of omitting the initial e- as is seen in many borrowings from Romance languages in Germanic languages:
espagnol (sp.) - spanska (isl.)
espacia (sp.) - espace (fr.) - spássía, spesíudalur (isl.)
espiritu (sp.) - esprit (fr.) -sprítt (isl.)
epinanca (sp.) - épinards (fr.) - spínat (isl.)
b) Secondly, I would let the word end in -anska, as in danska, franska, spanska, which works as a designator of a language.
The ending -anska is completely relevant because but you might as well regard the meaning of Esperanto it as 'the language of hope' (cherished by Zammenhof, to unite people of different languages)
Even though "speranska" is a loan-word, no language in the world has made even the slightest alterations to this word, so 'speranska', even though we're still dealing with a foreignism, is already very hyperpuristic an adaptation.
Ido (í(ð)ska: the name of a simplified form of esperanto, which was derived from the Esperanto word ido meaning 'offspring'. It actually has the same origin as the suffix -íð (eng. -ide) in klóríð (eng. chloride), so if we make use of -ska as in speranska we get: íðska, which, on omission of the 'eth' becomes íska (íðneska would be inappropriate because it gives rise to an unconvenient connotation with -iðn). Many languages end in -íska, and this speaks in favour of using this suffix on its own as the name of an interantional language.
The method of using the suffix -ska to coin names for auxiliary languages has the property to reduce word-lenght significantly: henska (hand + -ska = henska (táknmál, fingramál (sign language)), lenska (drunkard's language, from landi (kind of moonshine)), blenska (blanda + enska, Pidgin English, contracted form of blendingsmál), frenska (franglais), einska (ideolect)
Monday, December 12, 2011
Neologisms 12/12/2008
þyngdarvíti: black hole
Móðurþokan: synonym for 'Vetrarbrautin' (our milky way)
Korpúsarinn: Le Corbusier (The name, Le Corbusier, is French. It is a different version of his grandmother's surname, Lecorbésier. The name translates in to English as "the crow like one". The icelandic name is based upon the similar word Korpur: Korpúsarinn.)
nýplatneskur: neoplatonic
nýplatneska: neoplatonism
nýplatneskusinni: neoplatonist
Mynnishæðaey: Manhattan (see English wikipedia article Manhattan)
Gengusar(heims)metabók: Guinness record book (The Icelandic form of the surname Guinness is Gengus. The origin is the Gaelic MagAonghusa, which easily icelandicizes into Magengus (Engus is the form found in Old Icelandic literature) after the example Magbjóður (MacBeth). The prefix 'mag' was dropped except for the "g" which became the initial of the bastardized name. MagAongus slowly transformed into Guinness. We can ape this transformation by adding 'g' to Engus: Gengus (Gengus, Gengusi, Gengusar). compounds: Gengusarbjór, heimsmetabók Gengusar.)
Hrafjáll / Hrafælskur: Raphael / Raphaelian (compare: Michael - Mikjáll)
Kambrýningaland: Cameroon
Huddsynskur flói: Hudson bay
lésveyskur: lesbian, lesbosian (This seems like a very strange construction, but it is the only one founded upon the oldest Icelandic spelling for the name of the island found in Icelandic literature: Lésvos http://www.facebook.com/pages/L%C3%A9svos/111642312192786?sk=wiki , see also Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin. There is a tendency however to icelandify these names by replacing the Greek ending "-os" in "-ey" in the names of Aegean islands: examples are:
Lemney (Limnos) http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemney
Roðey (Rhodos) http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3dos
Kíey (Chios - Ensk-íslensk orðabók með alfræðilegu ívafi: Chi-os. n. Chios, Kíey, eyja í austanverðu Eyjahafi, af sumum til forna talin fæðingarstaður Hómers.
We can do the same with Lésvos and call it LÉSVEY. Derivations of Lésvey would be Lésveyskur, which would stand for: - inhabitant of the island of Lesbos but also lesbian (why should the ending -"-eyskur" be disturbing? After all, Lesbos was the island where the Greek poetess Sappho wrote about female homosexual love. There have been many attempts in the past to adapt the adjective Lesbian to Icelandic phonology and there's obviously no consensus about its definitive form: Lespa, Lespískur, Lesbískur, so why not take the oldest spelling of the word, slightly altered by the change of -os into -ey as a reference point upon which a solid definitive spelling can be founded. Furthermore, the more reductionist form LÉSKUR could also be possible.
lestund: 100 milion (lest = tonne, a million units, + und (hundred, as in þúsund (þús-hund-rað) = 100.000.000)
mikiljón: milionaire (after meðaljón)
mýsopi: microlitre, ýrill
maurahaus: millimetre
örvíddaröst, þursund: billion (In the same way as 'lightyear' expresses the distance light travels in a year, örvíddaröst expresses the amount of times in which a "micro-scale object" fits into a "kiloscale" space: a billion times. The second possibility, þursund is a combination of þurs(i) (giant, greek gigas, a billion units) integrated into the word þúsund (thousand)
hneitill, ikla, iklingur: crystal (from hneita, the crystals of salt that form on stockfish and the sugar-crystals that form on dried dulse-leaves. ikla is the diminutive of jaki, which is formed by adding the diminitive suffix -la to jaki (it sounds like its English etymological cognate -icle in icicle.)
hneitilfræði, iklufræði: crystallography
hneitla, ikla: crystallize
hneitlun, iklun: crystallization
hneitlaður, iklaður: crystallized
hneitiltær, iklutær: crystalline
hneitilsgerð
Móðurþokan: synonym for 'Vetrarbrautin' (our milky way)
Korpúsarinn: Le Corbusier (The name, Le Corbusier, is French. It is a different version of his grandmother's surname, Lecorbésier. The name translates in to English as "the crow like one". The icelandic name is based upon the similar word Korpur: Korpúsarinn.)
nýplatneskur: neoplatonic
nýplatneska: neoplatonism
nýplatneskusinni: neoplatonist
Mynnishæðaey: Manhattan (see English wikipedia article Manhattan)
Gengusar(heims)metabók: Guinness record book (The Icelandic form of the surname Guinness is Gengus. The origin is the Gaelic MagAonghusa, which easily icelandicizes into Magengus (Engus is the form found in Old Icelandic literature) after the example Magbjóður (MacBeth). The prefix 'mag' was dropped except for the "g" which became the initial of the bastardized name. MagAongus slowly transformed into Guinness. We can ape this transformation by adding 'g' to Engus: Gengus (Gengus, Gengusi, Gengusar). compounds: Gengusarbjór, heimsmetabók Gengusar.)
Hrafjáll / Hrafælskur: Raphael / Raphaelian (compare: Michael - Mikjáll)
Kambrýningaland: Cameroon
Huddsynskur flói: Hudson bay
lésveyskur: lesbian, lesbosian (This seems like a very strange construction, but it is the only one founded upon the oldest Icelandic spelling for the name of the island found in Icelandic literature: Lésvos http://www.facebook.com/pages/L%C3%A9svos/111642312192786?sk=wiki , see also Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin. There is a tendency however to icelandify these names by replacing the Greek ending "-os" in "-ey" in the names of Aegean islands: examples are:
Lemney (Limnos) http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemney
Roðey (Rhodos) http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3dos
Kíey (Chios - Ensk-íslensk orðabók með alfræðilegu ívafi: Chi-os. n. Chios, Kíey, eyja í austanverðu Eyjahafi, af sumum til forna talin fæðingarstaður Hómers.
We can do the same with Lésvos and call it LÉSVEY. Derivations of Lésvey would be Lésveyskur, which would stand for: - inhabitant of the island of Lesbos but also lesbian (why should the ending -"-eyskur" be disturbing? After all, Lesbos was the island where the Greek poetess Sappho wrote about female homosexual love. There have been many attempts in the past to adapt the adjective Lesbian to Icelandic phonology and there's obviously no consensus about its definitive form: Lespa, Lespískur, Lesbískur, so why not take the oldest spelling of the word, slightly altered by the change of -os into -ey as a reference point upon which a solid definitive spelling can be founded. Furthermore, the more reductionist form LÉSKUR could also be possible.
lestund: 100 milion (lest = tonne, a million units, + und (hundred, as in þúsund (þús-hund-rað) = 100.000.000)
mikiljón: milionaire (after meðaljón)
mýsopi: microlitre, ýrill
maurahaus: millimetre
örvíddaröst, þursund: billion (In the same way as 'lightyear' expresses the distance light travels in a year, örvíddaröst expresses the amount of times in which a "micro-scale object" fits into a "kiloscale" space: a billion times. The second possibility, þursund is a combination of þurs(i) (giant, greek gigas, a billion units) integrated into the word þúsund (thousand)
hneitill, ikla, iklingur: crystal (from hneita, the crystals of salt that form on stockfish and the sugar-crystals that form on dried dulse-leaves. ikla is the diminutive of jaki, which is formed by adding the diminitive suffix -la to jaki (it sounds like its English etymological cognate -icle in icicle.)
hneitilfræði, iklufræði: crystallography
hneitla, ikla: crystallize
hneitlun, iklun: crystallization
hneitlaður, iklaður: crystallized
hneitiltær, iklutær: crystalline
hneitilsgerð
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Uninterantional Icelandic names for the magnitudes of thousand.
In the Western world, specific names for larger numbers did not come into common use until quite recently. The Ancient Greeks used a system based on the myriad, that is 10.000; and their largest named number was a myriad myriad, or "one hundred million". The Romans, who were less interested in theoretical issues, expressed 1,000,000 as decies centena milia, that is, "ten hundred thousand". But it was only in the 13th century that the (originally French) word million was introduced. Until then, the name of the largest number in Latin that was uncompounded was mille (1000).
In the Icelandic as well in other Germanic languages, the possibility exists to create alternatives for the names of the magnitudes of thousand based on the Greek myriad instead on the Latin mille.
In Icelandic the ending -und in þúsund (1000, -and in English, -und in German) derives from the word hundred: þús-hund-rað (þús, thous-, taus- means 'a lot', and rað, red, -ert (*raþ, number).
In a parallel universe, history with regard to the lexical development of names of large numbers could have been different. Imagine a 15th century English mathematician developping the first magnitude of thousand, a million, by using the Graeco-English myriad (10.000) instead of the Latin mille and letting it end on -and (= hundred) as in thousand (thous-hund-red): myriand, which is exactly 1000.000. It really is possible to create an alternative term for million from the Greek myriad when developping it on a Greek or Anglos-Saxon morphological substrate. All right, first part of the problem solved. We have a solid name for the first magnitude of thousand, now the only thing we have to do to develop the other large numbers is applying the same method that was used in the creation of the existing names of multitudes of thousand: by cutting the initial character of the name of the first magnitude of thousand (as was done with the 'm' in million: billion, trillion) and replace it by the first characters of the Greek or Latin maybe even the native English names of cardinal numbers. Consider this model:
million (myriand)
billion (biryand or dyriand)
trillion (tririand)
quadrillion (tetriand, tesseriand or quadriand)
quintillion (pentriand or quintriand)
sextillion (hexriand or sexriand)
septillion (heptriand or septriand)
octillion (octriand)
nonillion (novriand)
decillion (dekriand)
undecillion (undekriand)
This scenario isn't unthinkable. Imagine if the creators of the large numerals in the 15th centrury had chosen the Greek largest single-name numeral myriad instead of the ten times smaller Latin counterpart mille to base their names upon. These words look weird at a first glance's sight, but so would be the existing ones, if we weren't used to them.
This model of creating alternatives for the names of the multitudes of thousand do actually happen to work in Icelandic because of the fact that there is lexical artefact in the old language that is similar in sound and meaning: mýr (a great many). This is what the Íslensk orðsifjabók (Icelandic etymological dictionary) has on this word:
mýr: 'mergð, grúi'. vafaorð, e.t.v. s.o. og myr (s.þ.) en ý tilkomið vegna þess að lærðir menn tengdu það við lat. mýrias, gr. mýrias (ef. mýriados) 'tíu þúsund' af mýrios (ótölulegur).
The Icelandic model goes as follows (and I would like to express my thanks to an Icelandic friend of mine who has helped me adjusting these construction)
mýrjund (million, myriand), tvírjund (billion, duriand), þrírjund (trillion, tririand), fjórjund (quadrillion, tetriand, tessyriand), fimmjund (quintillion, pentyriand, pentriand), sexjund (sixtillion, hexyriand, hexriand), seyjund (septillion, heptriand, heptyriand), áttjund (octillion, octyriand octriand), nírjund (nonillion, nonyriand, niniand), tírjund (decillion, dekriand), ellefjund (undecillion, undekriand), tólfjund (dudecillion, dudekriand).
*mýrjungur, mýrjungs- is the equivalent of the suffix myrio-, which means 1/10,000th
*mýrjund- could serve as the equivalent of mega- in mýrjundlest- (megatonne), mýrjundlát (megadeath), mýrjundrið (megahertz), mýrjundstafur (megabyte, but also gagnalest, a data-tonne), as well "mega" used in youth culture to express something fabulous. The same can be done for the other prefixes of the metric system: giga- (tvírjund-), tera (þrírjund), peta (fjórjund-), exa (fimmjund-); examples: terabyte: þrírjundstafur, þrírjundstafa-
*myrjöld means 'a million years', names for larger units of time can be formed by replacing -und by -öld: tvírjöld (a billion years, a gigayear), þrírjund (a trillion years): Jörðin er talin hafa myndast fyrir um 4,55 tvírjalda.
The term mýrjund for million and mýrjöld for "a million years" or a "megayear" could have been constructed at any point in Icelandic literary history. The Greek word has been around for thousands of years and could, in theory, have been borrowed even by medieval Icelandic scribes to construct a neologism like mýrjund at any time in Icelandic literary history. As for the other construction miklund (another possible construction, based upon the international metric prefix designating a million units: mega- (from Greek megas, the etymological cognate of Icelandic mikill) there's no lexical artifact, no historical basis in Icelandic literature to give this construction nay validity. The fact that this prefix 'mega' has been confirmed only as late as 1960 as a designation of " a million units" makes it unlikely for the 19th centrury hyperpurists and further down the road the Icelandic medieval scribes (if they would ever have experienced the urge to do so) to have come up with constructions like miklund.
In the Icelandic as well in other Germanic languages, the possibility exists to create alternatives for the names of the magnitudes of thousand based on the Greek myriad instead on the Latin mille.
In Icelandic the ending -und in þúsund (1000, -and in English, -und in German) derives from the word hundred: þús-hund-rað (þús, thous-, taus- means 'a lot', and rað, red, -ert (*raþ, number).
In a parallel universe, history with regard to the lexical development of names of large numbers could have been different. Imagine a 15th century English mathematician developping the first magnitude of thousand, a million, by using the Graeco-English myriad (10.000) instead of the Latin mille and letting it end on -and (= hundred) as in thousand (thous-hund-red): myriand, which is exactly 1000.000. It really is possible to create an alternative term for million from the Greek myriad when developping it on a Greek or Anglos-Saxon morphological substrate. All right, first part of the problem solved. We have a solid name for the first magnitude of thousand, now the only thing we have to do to develop the other large numbers is applying the same method that was used in the creation of the existing names of multitudes of thousand: by cutting the initial character of the name of the first magnitude of thousand (as was done with the 'm' in million: billion, trillion) and replace it by the first characters of the Greek or Latin maybe even the native English names of cardinal numbers. Consider this model:
million (myriand)
billion (biryand or dyriand)
trillion (tririand)
quadrillion (tetriand, tesseriand or quadriand)
quintillion (pentriand or quintriand)
sextillion (hexriand or sexriand)
septillion (heptriand or septriand)
octillion (octriand)
nonillion (novriand)
decillion (dekriand)
undecillion (undekriand)
This scenario isn't unthinkable. Imagine if the creators of the large numerals in the 15th centrury had chosen the Greek largest single-name numeral myriad instead of the ten times smaller Latin counterpart mille to base their names upon. These words look weird at a first glance's sight, but so would be the existing ones, if we weren't used to them.
This model of creating alternatives for the names of the multitudes of thousand do actually happen to work in Icelandic because of the fact that there is lexical artefact in the old language that is similar in sound and meaning: mýr (a great many). This is what the Íslensk orðsifjabók (Icelandic etymological dictionary) has on this word:
mýr: 'mergð, grúi'. vafaorð, e.t.v. s.o. og myr (s.þ.) en ý tilkomið vegna þess að lærðir menn tengdu það við lat. mýrias, gr. mýrias (ef. mýriados) 'tíu þúsund' af mýrios (ótölulegur).
The Icelandic model goes as follows (and I would like to express my thanks to an Icelandic friend of mine who has helped me adjusting these construction)
mýrjund (million, myriand), tvírjund (billion, duriand), þrírjund (trillion, tririand), fjórjund (quadrillion, tetriand, tessyriand), fimmjund (quintillion, pentyriand, pentriand), sexjund (sixtillion, hexyriand, hexriand), seyjund (septillion, heptriand, heptyriand), áttjund (octillion, octyriand octriand), nírjund (nonillion, nonyriand, niniand), tírjund (decillion, dekriand), ellefjund (undecillion, undekriand), tólfjund (dudecillion, dudekriand).
*mýrjungur, mýrjungs- is the equivalent of the suffix myrio-, which means 1/10,000th
*mýrjund- could serve as the equivalent of mega- in mýrjundlest- (megatonne), mýrjundlát (megadeath), mýrjundrið (megahertz), mýrjundstafur (megabyte, but also gagnalest, a data-tonne), as well "mega" used in youth culture to express something fabulous. The same can be done for the other prefixes of the metric system: giga- (tvírjund-), tera (þrírjund), peta (fjórjund-), exa (fimmjund-); examples: terabyte: þrírjundstafur, þrírjundstafa-
*myrjöld means 'a million years', names for larger units of time can be formed by replacing -und by -öld: tvírjöld (a billion years, a gigayear), þrírjund (a trillion years): Jörðin er talin hafa myndast fyrir um 4,55 tvírjalda.
The term mýrjund for million and mýrjöld for "a million years" or a "megayear" could have been constructed at any point in Icelandic literary history. The Greek word has been around for thousands of years and could, in theory, have been borrowed even by medieval Icelandic scribes to construct a neologism like mýrjund at any time in Icelandic literary history. As for the other construction miklund (another possible construction, based upon the international metric prefix designating a million units: mega- (from Greek megas, the etymological cognate of Icelandic mikill) there's no lexical artifact, no historical basis in Icelandic literature to give this construction nay validity. The fact that this prefix 'mega' has been confirmed only as late as 1960 as a designation of " a million units" makes it unlikely for the 19th centrury hyperpurists and further down the road the Icelandic medieval scribes (if they would ever have experienced the urge to do so) to have come up with constructions like miklund.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Stærðfræðiorðaskrá: More thourough icelandifications
To my surprize it's possible to Icelandicize foreign proper names by turning them into adjectives and use them as concepts rather than strictly personal names because this terminological method is not uncommon. An example we all know is the word Cartesian, derived from Descartes (Icelandic Karteskur)or Arguesian from Desargues (Icelandic Argeskur), see Ensk-íslensk stærðfræðiorðaskrá).
In the same way, we can easily form similar constructions like Nýtúnskur (Newtonian, from Nýtún, an Icelandicized form of the toponym Newton, new town, new village), Smiðsynsk stjarneðlisfræðistofnun (SAO, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), allneskur geislabelti (Van Allen's radiation belt), mikjálsynskur víxlunarmælir (Michelson interferometer), dobbsynskur sjónauki or dobbsynsk hásjá (Dobbsonian telescope) , meilangavískar sveiflar (Milankovič cycles), Makksvellsku fjöllin (Maxwell Montes on Venus), pálísk einsetulögmál (Pauli exclusion principle), Hrylfskar töflur (Rudolfsine tables, from Hrólfur, the Icelandic form of the German Rudolf), koparnísk heimsmynd (Copernican system, the Latinized Slavic surname Koparnik means 'copper-smith', hence the adaptation kopar- in koparnískur), platneskur for platonic, ect. I Icelandicized part of the names of mathematicians that are used in the terminology of the Ensk-Íslensk stærðfræðiorðaskrá.
Archimedean: Erkimeðs- (This Greek personal name means 'master of thought' and is derived from the Greek element archos (master) combined with medomai (to think, to be mindful of). The first element is identical with Icelandic prefix erki-, the second medes can be adapted to -með, like in the Arabism Múhameð. The reason this is wasn't done is because there has never been real uniformity in the icelandification of Greek and Latin names. In the Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin, the Greek personal name Euclides and is adjectival derivation Euclidean were entered as Evklíð and Evkliðskur respectively, no -es or -esar here, while Euripides, an other name ending in -es preceded by the consonant 'd', became the semiadapted, halficelandic Evrípídes, instead of Evripíð. The Icelandic Evklíð is similar to the French Euclide and both are examples of good adaptations. So my proposition for the name Archimedes and its derivative Archimedean are Erkimeð and Erkimeðskur/Erkimeskur respectively, instead of the far too unicelandic Arkimedesar- or Arkimedískur.
Erkimeðsstuðull (Archimedean constant, the number Pi)
Erkimeðskuðungur (Archimedean spiral)
Erkimeðsvirðing (Archimedean valuation)
Erkimeðsraðsvið (Archimedean ordered field)
Banach-: banaks
Bartlett: bartleskur
Bayes, bayesian: bæjeskur
Bertrand's: bjarthrafneskur
Boolean: búlskur
Brownian: brúneskur
Cantor: kantreskur
Cauchy: kósískur
Cevian: sefjanskur (sefjanskur þríhyrningur)
Chebyshev: Tébbískur
Cholesky: kóleskur
Dirichlet: ríkleskur (Di- is omitted because it is prepositional, compare: Descartes - Karteskur (Cartesian))
Dynkin: dynkneskur
Feuerbach: fúrbekkings- (Feuer, fire, Icelandic phonosemantic match = fúr + bach (brook, Icelandic bekkur), Fúrbekkingar (Feuerbach family), Fúrbekkingur, Fúrbekkings- (Individual of the Feuerbach family)
Fermat: fermskur
Galois: galeiskur (compare: Bourgeois - Burgeis, courteois - kurteis); galeiskt mengi
Gaussian: gáskur, gásneskur
Gödel: gæðleskur (It derives from a Germanic and later Anglo-Saxon baptismal name of the pre 8th century, of which the principle element was 'god' meaning 'good', plus a varied range of suffix, most of which are simple patronymics and diminutives, or are compounds and descriptive as in the surname "Godwin" meaning good-friend. The Icelandic construction is as follows: góður (good) + -ill (gæðill), + -eskur (gæðleskur, gödelian)http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gohn
compounds and derivations: gæðleskun (gödelization), gæðlesk fullkomleikasetning (Gödel's incompleteness theorem)
Grassmann: grassmennskur
Haar: hærskur (Haar is originally a Dutch surname meaning 'hair' (Icelandic hár, adjective derivation: hærskur)
Hamel: Hamleskur
Hamiltonian: hamltúnskur
Hartogs: hertyggskur
Hausdorff: húsþyrpskur
Heron (from Alexandria): Herneskur
Hessian: hessneskur
Hilbert: hilbirskur (from Hildibjartur, Hildibirtingur, Hildibirskur, but here we adapt it after the modern name: Hilbirskur)
Hippocratic: Jóveigs- (Greek name Latinized form of the Greek name Hippokrates, which meant "horse power", derived from the elements hippos "horse" and kratos "power". The Icelandic equivalent is Jóveigur
Jacobian: jakobískur
Jacobson: jakobsynskur
Jordan: Jórdanskur
Kendall's: kendælskur (Two possible origins here: Kendal in Westmorland was originally named Kirkby Kendal, and is recorded as Cherchebi in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Cherkaby Kendale in "Records of Kendal" from 1090 - 1097. The toponym means "the valley of the River Kent", from the ancient British (pre-Roman) river-name "Cunetio" with the Olde English pre 7th Century dael, which means valley or Kendale in Yorkshire is in the parish of Driffield, and derived it's name from the Old Norse kelda, spring, with dalr, valley. Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Kendall
So, one thing we can be certain of: whatever the etymology, the second element is 'valley' for certain. Best way to proceed is to leave the first element as it is and add the adjectival derivation of Icelandic dalur: dælskur.
Klein: klénskur
Kronecker: krónakarneskur (Kron = krón- + ecker = akarn +eskur)
Landau: Landár- (The place-name Landau, from which this surname is derived consists of Land (land) + au (watery place, related to Icelandic á and agi). The best possible addaptaion is Landá, gen. Landár-)
Laplace, laplacian: plássneskur (plássnesk liðun (Laplace expansion), plássneskt virki (Laplace operator), plássnesk mynd (Laplace transform)
Laurent: lafranskur
Lebesgue: Beggneskur (The article in the name 'le-' can be dropped like the prepositional 'Des-' in Descartes (Cartesian, Karteskur) or Desargues (Arguesian, Argeskur. Besgue derives from the verb bégayer, which means 'stammer, stutter'. The most appropriate adaptation of the name is Begg- + neskur)
Leibnitz: lífnískur (From the city of Leibnitz (Slovenian: Libnica, adapted with German leib- which is the same word as leib (body, Icelandic líf)
Lie: lískur
Möbius: möbbskur
Pascal's: Páskals-
Picard: píkarðneskur (see http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Picard )
Pythagorian: þagreskur: þagresk setning (Pythagoras's theorem), þagreskt svið (pythagorean field), þagresk aljafna (pythagorean identity), þagreskur þríhyrningur (pythagorean triangle), þagresk þrennd (pythagorean triple).
Riemann: rímanneskur, rímennskur (from ricmann, meaning 'king's man')
Russell: hríslneskur, Hrísils- (Fjölnismenn called the contemporary British politician John Russell 'Jón Hrísill'. Compounds: Hrísilsþversögn (Russell-paradox)
Steinitz: steinískur
Sylow: sylveskur
Turing: þýrings- (surname is a habitational one derived from Thüringen in Germany, Icelandic Þýringaland)
Venn: Fenjungs- (This name is of English topographic origin for someone who lived by a marsh or fen (Icelandic fen, fenjar, Fenjungur (comp. land -lendingur)). The name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century 'fenn', translating as 'a low-lying marshy area', and is first recorded at the end of the 12th Century.) compounds: Fenjungsmynd (Venn diagram) http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Venn
Wronskian: vornskur http://surnames.behindthename.com/name/wronski )
Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory: Sermlesk-Frekklesk mengjafræði (Origin of the surname Zermelo is the place-name Tormählen (Google Zermelo Tormählen), but this name is unicelandicizable so I adpapted it as Sermill - Sermleskur -Sermlingar). The origin of Fraenkel is frank (Icelandic Frakkur + -ill Frekkill, Frekkleskur). see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A4nkel
In the same way, we can easily form similar constructions like Nýtúnskur (Newtonian, from Nýtún, an Icelandicized form of the toponym Newton, new town, new village), Smiðsynsk stjarneðlisfræðistofnun (SAO, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), allneskur geislabelti (Van Allen's radiation belt), mikjálsynskur víxlunarmælir (Michelson interferometer), dobbsynskur sjónauki or dobbsynsk hásjá (Dobbsonian telescope) , meilangavískar sveiflar (Milankovič cycles), Makksvellsku fjöllin (Maxwell Montes on Venus), pálísk einsetulögmál (Pauli exclusion principle), Hrylfskar töflur (Rudolfsine tables, from Hrólfur, the Icelandic form of the German Rudolf), koparnísk heimsmynd (Copernican system, the Latinized Slavic surname Koparnik means 'copper-smith', hence the adaptation kopar- in koparnískur), platneskur for platonic, ect. I Icelandicized part of the names of mathematicians that are used in the terminology of the Ensk-Íslensk stærðfræðiorðaskrá.
Archimedean: Erkimeðs- (This Greek personal name means 'master of thought' and is derived from the Greek element archos (master) combined with medomai (to think, to be mindful of). The first element is identical with Icelandic prefix erki-, the second medes can be adapted to -með, like in the Arabism Múhameð. The reason this is wasn't done is because there has never been real uniformity in the icelandification of Greek and Latin names. In the Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin, the Greek personal name Euclides and is adjectival derivation Euclidean were entered as Evklíð and Evkliðskur respectively, no -es or -esar here, while Euripides, an other name ending in -es preceded by the consonant 'd', became the semiadapted, halficelandic Evrípídes, instead of Evripíð. The Icelandic Evklíð is similar to the French Euclide and both are examples of good adaptations. So my proposition for the name Archimedes and its derivative Archimedean are Erkimeð and Erkimeðskur/Erkimeskur respectively, instead of the far too unicelandic Arkimedesar- or Arkimedískur.
Erkimeðsstuðull (Archimedean constant, the number Pi)
Erkimeðskuðungur (Archimedean spiral)
Erkimeðsvirðing (Archimedean valuation)
Erkimeðsraðsvið (Archimedean ordered field)
Banach-: banaks
Bartlett: bartleskur
Bayes, bayesian: bæjeskur
Bertrand's: bjarthrafneskur
Boolean: búlskur
Brownian: brúneskur
Cantor: kantreskur
Cauchy: kósískur
Cevian: sefjanskur (sefjanskur þríhyrningur)
Chebyshev: Tébbískur
Cholesky: kóleskur
Dirichlet: ríkleskur (Di- is omitted because it is prepositional, compare: Descartes - Karteskur (Cartesian))
Dynkin: dynkneskur
Feuerbach: fúrbekkings- (Feuer, fire, Icelandic phonosemantic match = fúr + bach (brook, Icelandic bekkur), Fúrbekkingar (Feuerbach family), Fúrbekkingur, Fúrbekkings- (Individual of the Feuerbach family)
Fermat: fermskur
Galois: galeiskur (compare: Bourgeois - Burgeis, courteois - kurteis); galeiskt mengi
Gaussian: gáskur, gásneskur
Gödel: gæðleskur (It derives from a Germanic and later Anglo-Saxon baptismal name of the pre 8th century, of which the principle element was 'god' meaning 'good', plus a varied range of suffix, most of which are simple patronymics and diminutives, or are compounds and descriptive as in the surname "Godwin" meaning good-friend. The Icelandic construction is as follows: góður (good) + -ill (gæðill), + -eskur (gæðleskur, gödelian)http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gohn
compounds and derivations: gæðleskun (gödelization), gæðlesk fullkomleikasetning (Gödel's incompleteness theorem)
Grassmann: grassmennskur
Haar: hærskur (Haar is originally a Dutch surname meaning 'hair' (Icelandic hár, adjective derivation: hærskur)
Hamel: Hamleskur
Hamiltonian: hamltúnskur
Hartogs: hertyggskur
Hausdorff: húsþyrpskur
Heron (from Alexandria): Herneskur
Hessian: hessneskur
Hilbert: hilbirskur (from Hildibjartur, Hildibirtingur, Hildibirskur, but here we adapt it after the modern name: Hilbirskur)
Hippocratic: Jóveigs- (Greek name Latinized form of the Greek name Hippokrates, which meant "horse power", derived from the elements hippos "horse" and kratos "power". The Icelandic equivalent is Jóveigur
Jacobian: jakobískur
Jacobson: jakobsynskur
Jordan: Jórdanskur
Kendall's: kendælskur (Two possible origins here: Kendal in Westmorland was originally named Kirkby Kendal, and is recorded as Cherchebi in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Cherkaby Kendale in "Records of Kendal" from 1090 - 1097. The toponym means "the valley of the River Kent", from the ancient British (pre-Roman) river-name "Cunetio" with the Olde English pre 7th Century dael, which means valley or Kendale in Yorkshire is in the parish of Driffield, and derived it's name from the Old Norse kelda, spring, with dalr, valley. Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Kendall
So, one thing we can be certain of: whatever the etymology, the second element is 'valley' for certain. Best way to proceed is to leave the first element as it is and add the adjectival derivation of Icelandic dalur: dælskur.
Klein: klénskur
Kronecker: krónakarneskur (Kron = krón- + ecker = akarn +eskur)
Landau: Landár- (The place-name Landau, from which this surname is derived consists of Land (land) + au (watery place, related to Icelandic á and agi). The best possible addaptaion is Landá, gen. Landár-)
Laplace, laplacian: plássneskur (plássnesk liðun (Laplace expansion), plássneskt virki (Laplace operator), plássnesk mynd (Laplace transform)
Laurent: lafranskur
Lebesgue: Beggneskur (The article in the name 'le-' can be dropped like the prepositional 'Des-' in Descartes (Cartesian, Karteskur) or Desargues (Arguesian, Argeskur. Besgue derives from the verb bégayer, which means 'stammer, stutter'. The most appropriate adaptation of the name is Begg- + neskur)
Leibnitz: lífnískur (From the city of Leibnitz (Slovenian: Libnica, adapted with German leib- which is the same word as leib (body, Icelandic líf)
Lie: lískur
Möbius: möbbskur
Pascal's: Páskals-
Picard: píkarðneskur (see http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Picard )
Pythagorian: þagreskur: þagresk setning (Pythagoras's theorem), þagreskt svið (pythagorean field), þagresk aljafna (pythagorean identity), þagreskur þríhyrningur (pythagorean triangle), þagresk þrennd (pythagorean triple).
Riemann: rímanneskur, rímennskur (from ricmann, meaning 'king's man')
Russell: hríslneskur, Hrísils- (Fjölnismenn called the contemporary British politician John Russell 'Jón Hrísill'. Compounds: Hrísilsþversögn (Russell-paradox)
Steinitz: steinískur
Sylow: sylveskur
Turing: þýrings- (surname is a habitational one derived from Thüringen in Germany, Icelandic Þýringaland)
Venn: Fenjungs- (This name is of English topographic origin for someone who lived by a marsh or fen (Icelandic fen, fenjar, Fenjungur (comp. land -lendingur)). The name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century 'fenn', translating as 'a low-lying marshy area', and is first recorded at the end of the 12th Century.) compounds: Fenjungsmynd (Venn diagram) http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Venn
Wronskian: vornskur http://surnames.behindthename.com/name/wronski )
Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory: Sermlesk-Frekklesk mengjafræði (Origin of the surname Zermelo is the place-name Tormählen (Google Zermelo Tormählen), but this name is unicelandicizable so I adpapted it as Sermill - Sermleskur -Sermlingar). The origin of Fraenkel is frank (Icelandic Frakkur + -ill Frekkill, Frekkleskur). see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A4nkel
Úllakan (Hooligan)
The surname Hooligan derives from Irish Uallach, which means 'proud'. Because of the sufficient phonetic similarity with Ceallach, the root of the old Hiberno-Icelandic personal name Kjallak(u)r, it is possible to create an exact Icelandic version of the name without the need of a validating lexical artifact in the Old Literature: Úllakan
http://www.libraryireland.com/names/oh/o-huallachain.php
http://www.libraryireland.com/names/on/o-nuallachain.php
The pronounciation of the root of the surname Hooligan: ullach (proud) is OOlakh (Icelandic: ÚLLAK). http://namenerds.com/irish/trad.html
The 'l' is written twice because of the doubling of the character in the root uallach (compare: kjALLAK(u)R (from ceALLACH) 'O huALLACHain - ÚLLAKAN (the ending -ain is the diminutive ending -an, -án in Icelandicized Irish personal names: Kjartan, Kvaran, Dufan, Brjánn).
The 'h' in Hooligan is formed by adding the patronymic prefix 'O' as in O' Hara. But I decided to keep 'Ú' as the initial character because there isn't one existing Icelandic name or word of Irish origin beginning with húl-, but we do have one beginning with Úl-: Úlaðstíri (Ulster) and because of this example, the force of folk-etymology would always make people favourize the version without the initial 'h'. Morover, variants of the surname do exist: Oolihan, Oolahen, see
http://www.houseofnames.com/hooligan-family-crest?a=54323-224
An example of this folk-etymology in Icelandic names of Irish origin is mentioned in the book 'Keltar á Íslandi' by Hermann Pálsson: ROÐÍAN: Hinn gáfaði höfundur Göngu-Hrólfs sögu hefur ekki gripið slíkt nafn úr lausu lofti. Mér hefur komið til hugar að það sé með einhverjum hætti tengt við nafnið ROTHNÍAN í MetDinn. og kunni að eiga rætur að rekja til orðsins ruithen, kvenkyns 'ljósgeisli', EN VITASKULD HEFUR ÍSLENSKA ORÐIÐ 'ROÐI' ÞÁ ORKAÐ Á MYND NAFNSINS.
I propose Úllakan as the Icelandic equivalent of Hooligan.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Köðnungur samþegn (Borgari Kane)
The surname Kane derives from Gaelic cath "battle" combined with the diminutive suffix -an, -án. This name doesn't occur in an Icelandicized form in the Old Literature, but can be constructed easily from existing names. The first part of the name is Kað- (Cath-) as in Kaðlín (Caithlin), Kaðall (Cathal), the second part is the diminutive -an, occuring in Kjartan, Kalman, Dufan. Kane as a personal name is Kaðan. The chief character in the movie is Charles Foster Kane (Köðnunga-Karl), which means that Kane is a family name, so we have to make a derivation from Kaðan. For that reason we have to take the singular form of the Old Norse style collective family name: Kaðan - KöðnungarI chose samþegn and as opposed to the original Icelandic translation of the movie-title I postpositioned the word. I know that titles like Herra are prepositioned but these are exceptions and not naturally icelandic, so I post-positioned samþegn. It it also very uninterantional. The number of lightyears of difference between Icelandic and other languages shouldn't ever be reduced.
Therefore my choice is the eccentric: Köðnungur samþegn
Thursday, December 1, 2011
"Kjalli" instead of "sella"
If there has to be a synonym of foreign origin for fruma (cell): sella, why must it look so much like the international word. The word should be kjalli instead of sella.
Kjallari derives from Latin cellarium, derived from cella, which is the etymological root of the modern biology term cell. If kjallari corresponds with cellarium, then cella corresponds with something like Kjalla or Kjalli in Icelandic.
Why not using the more uninternationally sounding kjalli instead of the simplisticly adapted sella if it is really necessary that fruma has a loan-word as a synonym.
I made the word masculine (KJALLI) because it sounds a bit like 'karl' and because their has to be some "gender balance" with the feminine fruma. Maybe it's phonetical similarity with karl makes it a good candidate as a shorter word for sáðfruma.
Kjallari derives from Latin cellarium, derived from cella, which is the etymological root of the modern biology term cell. If kjallari corresponds with cellarium, then cella corresponds with something like Kjalla or Kjalli in Icelandic.
Why not using the more uninternationally sounding kjalli instead of the simplisticly adapted sella if it is really necessary that fruma has a loan-word as a synonym.
I made the word masculine (KJALLI) because it sounds a bit like 'karl' and because their has to be some "gender balance" with the feminine fruma. Maybe it's phonetical similarity with karl makes it a good candidate as a shorter word for sáðfruma.
ljorka (laser)
1) LEYSIR: This neologism is a lousy attempt to ape the sound of the Anglo-Saxon acronym LASER, which hasn't even remotely anything semanticly in common with the Icelandic verb "að leysa".2) LJÖRVI: is the other alternative which unfortunately hasn't gained acceptance with the wider public. It is based on the acronym laser: Light (LJós) Amplification by Stimulated (að ÖRVa) Emission of Radiation. It's still somewhat a loan-translation of two words in the acronym (light and stimulate), but qualitatively superior to the 'lélegur leysir', which sounds too uninternational, too little eccentricly icelandic. The problem with ljörvi, but this can as well be said of leysir, is that the connection with the word ljós is lost, where in neologisms like tölva, the connection with töl- and völva is retained.
3) LJORKA: This is really my final attempt. The short o in ljorka is not the same sound as ó in ljós but still more closely than the ö in ljörvi. I hope the connection with both ljós and orka is retained. Another good thing is that the word isn't by any means tributary to the idea behind the word laser. Yes, ljós is used as the first element in a name for the device, but this is so obvious a choice. The vast majority of neologists would come up with light as the first element when having to coin a name for the device, so this can hardly be considered no loan-translation. the second element orka just refers to the power of the beam and don't occur in the English acronym. For that reason, the only connection between LJORKA and LASER is the acronymic nature of both words. If that's too unpuristic, I'm glad to be a loan-word lover!
But, of course, the "market" still have to kind-a-like this word.
Note: It is even possible to call a boy after a "laser beam": Ljósgeir (Sound a bit like Ásgeir; Ljós- is a first element in Icelandic personal names: Ljósbjörg, Ljósbjört, Ljósborg and Ljósbrá, Ljósálfur)
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Milskuorðasafn (Icelandic names of cocktails)
appletini (apple-martini): Eplateiningur (Epli + Marteiningur)
Alexander: Sandríska, Sandrísk milska
alien secretion cocktail: grændreyramilska
amaretto sour: súramrettingur
ambrosia cocktail: ódáinsmilska
Anna's banana frozen cocktail: bjúgaldinsmilska Önnu
April in Paris: Vortími í Frakklandshjarta
Bahama Mama: Norðvesturindversk milska (The bahamas could be called 'the north west-indies, Norðvesturindverskar eyjar)
B-52: heiðhvólfsvirki (After the nick-name of the bomber, stratofortress ( = stratosphere fortress)
Bacardi breezer: gosreyrveig, bágherðlingur (Diminutive form of Bágherðlingur (see Bacardi cola), expressing the lower alcohol content of the mix (soft rhum, soft bacardi). Reyrveig (cane spirits) is the pure Icelandic equivalent of romm (rhum))
Bacardi cola: Bágherðinga-Brúnka (The family name Bacardi is like its french cognate Bacquart Germanic of origin, consisting of the roots "bag" (bagan = battle, Icelandic bág- in báglyndur) et "hard" (= harður). The full Icelandic family name is Bágherðingar. Another possibility is Reyrveiga-Brúnka (Cane-spirits (rhum)-brunette. The name of the beverage is the singular form Bágherðingur or Bágherðinga-reyrveig (reyrveig = rhum)
B and B (brandy and cognac): bentneskuð (benskt) kampaveig (benedictined cognac)
Benedictine: Bentbræðraveig, bentingaveig, bentneskt (benskt) brennivín (Derived from 'Bent', the pet-form of Benedikt. Bendictine is an herbal liqueur beverage developed by Alexandre Le Grand in the 19th century and produced in France. It is claimed that at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, monks had developed a medicinal aromatic herbal beverage which was produced until the abbey's devastation during the French Revolution and that from this Le Grand developed the formula now in us)
Black Velvet (Guiness and champagne): Kampa-Gengus, Kampavín-Duflöð (The Icelandic form of Guinness is Gengus. The origin of this Scottish surname is the Gaelic MagAonghusa, which easily icelandicizes into Magengus (Engus is the form found in Old Icelandic literature) after the example Magbjóður (MacBeth). The prefix 'mag' was dropped except for the g which became the initial of the bastardized name. MagAongus slowly transformed into Guinness. We can ape this transformation by adding 'g' to Engus: Gengus (Gengus, Gengusi, Gengusar). compounds: Gengusarbjór, heimsmetabók Gengusar. Another possibility is Duflöð: The Book Keltar á Íslandi by Hermann Pálsson meantions the ending -flaith, which occurs in Irish-Icelandic names like Kormlöð. Here it means 'power', 'independence', but he mentions a similar meaning for the word: beer, ale: Flaith (2) kvk. bjór, öl. Sama orðið og -laith; f-ið er þegið frá orðinu flaith (1). So Duflöð in Irish Icelandic can mean 'black beer'. Of course this could refer to 'porter beer' also, but the fact that the word is constructed from Hiberno-icelandic lexical blocks makes it more appropriate to use it as the designation for the national 'black beer' of Ireland: Guinness.
Bloody Aztec: hlautmilska, upptyppingshlaut
Bloody Mary: dreyradrotting
Blue Curaçao: Kurseyjarblámi
Bourbon whiskey: Búrbóni, Búrbónahvatn (spelling used in the Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin for 'Bourbon')
Brandy Alexander: Sandrísk Kampaveig (Cognac = Kampaveig. The word 'veig' is used exclusively for 'spirited drinks' like whiskey, which was called 'bretaveig'. This word also means 'gold' and 'powerful'. In the latter it is especially in personal names. "Veig" er poetiskt ord þegar þad skal þída godann drick ellegar ogso gull, enn þegar þad þidir valorem internum hlutarins so er þad i almenu bruke, ,,ecki vil eg kav pa þessi veigalav su klæde, ,,hafdu storar þackir fyrir giafirnar sem þu fieckz mier. mier þiki mikil og god veig i þvi bædi skickiune og bikarnum`. (ritmálssafn orðabókar háskólans) If so, "veig" would be an appropriate word to designate "golden-coloured" alcoholic beverages like whiskey and brandy (cognac). The region around the French town of cognac is called 'Le grand et le petit champagne' (not to be confused with the Champagne-region in Northern France). This means that we can use kampa- as a prefix in the word for cognac. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Champagne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_Champagne
Cognac is made of grapes, like the bubble champagne. All these arguments make Kampaveig a valid designation of the French Cognac. There's no need to have recourse to unicelandic adaptation like Koníak.
Broadway cocktail: Breiðvegarmilska
Bronx cocktail: brynsk marteiningur (a The Bronx Cocktail is essentially a Perfect Martini with orange juice added. The Bronx is named after Jonas Bronck (Jónas Bronk, Icelandic Bronck + -skur = bryn(k)skur, brynskur, Brynska stjórnarumdæmið: Bronkverji, Brynskur)
Café Zurich cocktail: Súrískt kaffi
Cape Codder: þorskhöfðamilskan þorskhöfðungur
Chocolate Martini: Guðgætismarteiningur (The botanist Carl von Linné named the cacao tree 'Theobroma cacao'. 'Theobroma is Greek for "the food of the gods' and Linné based the name upon the beliefs of the Aztecs and Mayas, who considered cacao to be man's inheritance from Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air. We can create a pun can be created on góðgæti (delicacy): guðgæti (not that the two g's in this word correspond with the two 'k's' in 'kakó'.
Cointreau: Kvintrjáungur (This name is related to the Old French "cointerell", designating a gentleman, and is a figure in the Medieval work Reynard (the fox). The problem was to adapt the first part but luckily the Íslensk orðsifjabók mentions kvint, an old Icelandic word borrowed from Old French which is exactly the same word.)
Colorado Bulldog: Gljúfárfylkis-bolabíti (Gljúfá = the river that erodes the grand canyon = colorado river + bulldog = bolabíti)
Columbia: Kólmlandsfáni (The drink appears as stacked horizontal layers of yellow, blue and red, which matches the three colours of the Colombian flag. For Kólmland, see http://extremeicelandic.blogspot.com/2011/10/icelandicized-geographical-names-based.html )
Corpse Reviver: Uppvakningarmilska
Death in the Afternoon: Hemingavegskampavín (also named 'the Hemingway Champagne', invented by Ernest Hemingway (Hemingavega-Ernusti)
Duncan MacLeod: Magljótunga-Dungaður, Dungaðarmilska (The name Léod is a Scottish adaptation of Old Norse Ljótr: Magljótur (built after Magbjóður, MacBeth), the derived family name Magljótungar and Duncan is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Donnchadh meaning "brown warrior", derived from Gaelic donn "brown" and cath "warrior", which existed in the an Icelandicized form Dungaðr (Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson))
Earthquake: Ljóðrekinga-Hinrik eða jarðskjálftamilska (The Tremblement de Terre (or "Earthquake") Cocktail has been attributed to the French Post-Impressionist painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The name is derived from its effects, which tend to "shake up" the drinker. As for the icelandic name one can choose between the name of the painter: Þolósu-Ljóðrekinga-Hinrik or simply Ljóðrekinga-Hinric (The name of the city has no historical Icelandic exonym unlike German (Tholosen). I Icelandicized the name after the original Latin and, importantly, also the present-day Occitan name Tolosa. The name of the village Lautrec is of Germanic origin and consists of Laut (people, Icelandic Ljóð- as in Ljóðey, Ljóðólfur, see Íslensk orðsifjabók, ljóð(u)r (1)) and ric (rich, Icelandic ríkur,-rekur). The full family name is Tolósu-Ljóðrekingar. The name Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec becomes Tolósu-Ljóðrekinga-Henrik, but the short cut sounds better Ljóðrekinga-Hinrik. A painting of the master is often referred to as 'a Lautrec', so Ljóðrekingur as a designation of the cocktail could go as well.
Gibson: Gibbsyningur, Gibbingur (cocktail made by Charles Dana Gibson. The name Gibson means 'son of Gib', which is in its turn a short form of Gilbert (Icelandic Gíslbjartur, pet-form Gibbi, Gibbason, Gibbsyningar or Gibbingar.)
Golden Cadillac: gullkaðlakur The surname Cadillac has Latino-Celtic origins. It appears to have originated from the Celtic catus, meaning 'battle' or 'struggle', which is related to Icelandic höð, hað-, the Irish Icelandic Kað- (Kaðlín (Caithlin), Kaðall (Cathal). The Íslensk orðsifjabók mentions
Kaðall karlkyns karlmannsnafn. Tökuorð úr fornírsku Cathal, samkvæmt fornírskur cath 'bardagi', samanber höð. Sjá Kaðlín
Kaðlín kvenkyns kvenmannsnafn fornírska Catilin. Sjá Kaðall.
The most common suffix in northern France is -acum meaning 'place of', 'property'. Its origin is Celtic *-ako (compare Breton -eg, Welsh -og, Irish -ach, same thing). The book 'Keltar á Íslandi' (Hermann Pálsson) mentions this Irish suffix. It is normally adapted -akur in Icelandic personal names of Irish origin. The adaptation of the surname Cadillac is: Kaðlakur, Kaðlaks-The name of the cocktail is Gullkaðlakur.
Green Vesper: Malurtar-Vestmey (See Vesper; The Kina Lillet is replaced by absinth (malurtarveig))
Flirtini: Víkingseista (Richard Christy, noted heavy metal drummer and writer for The Howard Stern Show, likes flirtinis but calls it a "Viking's Testicle" to make it sound more manly.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flirtini
Hanky-Panky: Klækamilska
Happy Jack: Hamingju-Kobbi
Incredible Hulk: Grænrisamilska (Victor Alvarez, a bartender at the restaurant, mixed Hennessy with Hypnotiq to dilute the fruity flavor, resulting in a green beverage that quickly became a hit.)
Irish flag: Íravoð
Italian Stallion: Skóskagastóðhestur (Yes, Italy is not only the penisula, but 80% of americans of Italian origin are from Sicily and the southern province of Campania, so the prefix Skóskaga- applies. See wikipedia article "Italian American")
jackalope: hjartarhéri (The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a so-called "fearsome critter") described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail (and often hind legs).)
Jack Daniels: Kobbaveig, Tensár-Kobbi (Jack is the pet-form of Jacob and translates as Kobbi in Icelandic (e.g. Kviðristu-Kobbi, Jack the Ripper). It is a Tennessee whiskey. The name of the state of Tennessee is actually the name of the river. A Old Norse speaking viking would make use of folk-etymology (comp. Jórsalir for Jeruzalem, Rauðstofa for Rostov) to designate the river and the most appropriate folk-etymological adptation would be Tensá, which looks familiar to Tempsá (Thames). Surprisingly, the original Cherokee word Tamasi (a village name) looks like the latin Tamesis for the Thames. (Tensárfylki, state of Tennessee, Tensár- in compounds). Hence the name Tensár-Kobbi (Fix me a Tennessee Jack, on the double!)
Jack and Coke (Jack Daniels and Coke): Kobbabrúnka
Jim Beam (Kentucky bourbon): Jemsbúrbóni (In some cases it is inconvenient that 'kobbi' is the only Icelandic equivalent of 'Jim' and 'Jack', the English pet-forms of James (Jakob). In this case we have to make the distiction lexically, because of the facts that Jim Beam (Kentucky) is the rival of Jack Daniels (Tennessee), we can't call them both 'Kobbi'. I propose JEMS (from James, declined like the unrelated but similarly sounding JENS). The spelling Búrbóni I got from the Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin and can be used in the meaning of 'Bourbon whiskey'.
Kamikaze cocktail: hrapherjamilska
Kensington Court Special: Kynsingatúnshallarmilska, Kynsingatýningur, kynsyngatýnsk hallarmilska (The name Kynsingur is the Icelandic equivalent of Kensing in the English place-name Kensington, which means "Estate associated with Cynesige". Anglo-Saxon names ending in -sigi get -si in their Nordicized contracted forms: e.g. Lefsi (from Leófsige (Ljúfsigi) (see Lefsi: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONMensNames.shtml The contracted Icelandic equivalent of Cynesige Kynsigur becomes Kynsi. The name of the followers or family would be Kynsingar (which corresponds with the modern Kensing-) and a possible first element in an Icelandic equivalent of the English Kensington: Kynsingatún)
Kremlin Colonel: Knjasgarðsefstingi (The first rulers of the Kremlin were called 'knyaz' (knjas in Icelandic, see Íslensk orðabók, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knyaz
Margarita: Möggumilska, Magga, Margrétarmilska
Manhattan cocktail: Feringarmilska (On the small North Frisian island of Föhr (North Frisian Fering), the Manhattan cocktail is a standard drink at almost every cafe restaurant, and 'get together' of locals. The story goes, that many of the people of Föhr (Fering) emigrated to Manhattan during deep sea fishing trips, took a liking to the drink, and brought it back to Föhr with them. )
Mezcal: meðki (named after the 'worm' (maðka)) in the bottle and the traditional way of drinking mescal, with a side plate of fried larvae ground with chili peppers and salt and cut limes. One takes a pinch of the larvae mixture and places it on the tongue, then immediately begins to drink the shot, but slowly.)
Michelada: Míkaldi (The word "chela" is a popular way to call a beer in Mexico. It comes from the English word "chill". When you ask for a chela you are asking for a cold beer. "Mix" comes from the mix of sauces added to the beer. Therefore putting the two words together Mix-chela sounds like Michelada. Others argue that it stands for "Mi Chela Helada", meaning "My cold beer".)
Modernista: Nútímaþerna (Modern Maid Cocktail, the cocktail of the modern chamber-maid)
Moloko plus: ofurbeldismjólk (Ultraviolence (ofurbeldi) milk. The drink's name originates from the Nadsat word for milk, translated as "milk plus". The main characters in " A Clockwork Orange (Vélgengt glóandin)" prepare for "ultraviolence" by drinking it.)
Monkey gland: Magkormáksmilska (Sometimes known as the McCormick, which translates into Icelandic as Magkormákur (built after the example Magbjóður for MacBeth, see Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson)
Montgomery cocktail: Mundgumaríkingamilska, mundgumarískur marteiningur (The montgomery cocktail is a very strong variant of the classic martini. It is The surname Montgomery originates rom an English surname meaning "gumarich's mountain" in Norman French. The first element is adapted as Mund- as is found in Mundíafjöll (Alps), Gumarich is a compound of Gumi (man) and rik (rich, Icel. ríkur). The full family name is: Mungumaríkingar)
Moskow Mule: miðrússnesk hálfveig (a "mule" is a mixture of ginger ale an wodka)
My Fair Lady: Duflektlinga-Ellisif (Eliza Doolittle. The surname Doolittle doesn't actually mean 'lazy parson' but is derived from the Irish surname O' Dubhlachta. The first element dubh- , meaning 'dark', 'black', is identical to the prefix Duf- in icelandicized Irish names like Dufgall, Dufþakr and Dufgus. The etymology of the second element '-lachta' is of obscure origin but can luckily be adapted after an existing exemplary Icelandic toponym: ConnACHTA (Connaught) - KunnAKTIR and Sneachta (snow) - Snati (Herman Pálsson, Keltar á Íslandi). Thus, the correct Icelandicized form for the originator of the Doolittle family is Duflakti, the family name Duflektlingar. The reason I used -lingar instead of -ingar or -ungar to built the collective family name is to make the end result more phonetically similar to the anglicized Irish surname. The Icelandicized name for Eliza Doolittle is Duflektlinga-Ellisif. Instead of translating 'My Fair Lady', we can use her hyperarchaicly icelandicized full name to designate the drink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady_Cocktail#My_Fair_Lady
Rex Harrison: Harrison = Hinriksyningar; Rex means 'King' and the only phonosemantic match for this one is the Irish-Icelandic Rígur (From Irish Rí, king): Hinriksyninga-Rígur (The reason why I use Hinriksyningar instead of Heinrekingar or Hinrikingar is because I want to keep some sound-similarity with the Engish surname, while avoiding 'son' in its underived form because of its use as a patronymic in Icelandic. For that reason, it is in my opinion more preferable in the case of foreign non-patronymic surnames ending in -son to use a constrution with -syningur to retain some phonetical similarity while avoiding confusion with 'son' as a 'patronymic'); The origins of the name Hepburn are suggested to be the same as that of Hebborne from the Old English words heah ("high") and byrgen ("burial mound"). Alternatively it could mean something along the lines of "high place beside the water", as the word burn is a still widely used in Northumbrian and Scots for stream. OK, the first element is certainly 'High, Icelandic Há-, the second element is not entirely certain and has to be adapted: Hábyrningar. The name Audrey is the medieval diminutive of the Anglo-Saxon Æthelþryð (Old Norse Aðalþrúður). The full name has to be used here because its impossible to construct a pet-form that is phoneticly similar to 'Audrey'.
Nicolaschka: Láskumilska (Lási + suffix -ka, as in Sifka)
Old Etonian: Ártýningur gamli (A gin cocktail which enjoyed great popularity in London, circa 1925. The cocktail takes its name from Eton College and from the college's alumni, who are often referred to as Old Etonians. The name Eaton means 'island town' (Icelandic Ártún or Átún, derivatives: ártýnskur, Ártýningur)
Orange tundra: glófreðmýri, gulrauð freðmýri
Panama cocktail: Eiðilandsmilska
Pimm's nr 1: Femjungur (The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Pim came from the name Euphemia where it is a short form of that name. Icelandic Femja - Femjungar)
Pina colada: Ríkhafnarmilska (The official drink of Puerto Rico since 1978)
Pink Lady: rósalafði (pink colour is due to the added grenadine, compare rósavín
Pisco (Chilean-Peruvian cognac): fuglborgari (named after the city of Pisco, a word meaning 'bird' in Quechua)
Pisco sour: Súr Fuglborgari
Piscola (pisco and cola): brúnkaður fuglborgari
Porchcrawler: svalaskriðill
Prince of Wales: Valbretafursti
rhum: reyrveig
Rob Roy: Robbi Ruðri (Rob is the pet-form of Robert (Icelandic: Hróbjartur, pet-form Robbi; Roy is the anglicized form of ruadh (Icelandic Ruðri (see Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson).
Rose Kennedy: Kjanneiðinga-Rós (Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh ‘descendant of Ceannéidigh’, a personal name derived from ceann ‘head’ + éidigh ‘ugly’ (éi pronounces as ei in Icelandic). It is adapted like Irish names in Old Icelandic. See Íslensk Orðsifjabók under 'kjanni') Sazerac: Sassrekingur (adaptation)
7 and 7 (Pimm's nr 1 mixed with 7 Up): sjöpptur femjungur (Sjöppa (sjö + upp + verbal -a, to mix with the soft drink "7 Up". The Anglos-Saxon surname Pimm derives from Greek Euphemia (Femja, Femjungur). See Pimm's nr.1
Shirley Temple: Templa-Skírló (The name Temple originates from the Knights templar. In this case the name is Tempill, family name Templa; The name Shirley originates from a place-name meaning 'bright clearing' (Icelandic: Skírló)
Skrewdriver: skrúfmilska
Tequila sunrise: dögunarmilska (The the cocktail is named for the way it looks after it has been poured into a glass. The denser ingredients (cassis or grenadine) settle, creating gradations in color that mimic a sunrise.)
Texas Highball: Kobbaveigarte (Jack Daniels (Kobbaveig) and iced tea)
Tom Collins cocktail: Kýlansmilska (The name Collin is identical to the Irish-Icelandic personal name Kýlan (little dog))
Tom and Jerry: Tumi og Geiri (The name is related neither to the popular MGM cartoon nor to the earlier Tom and Jerry by Van Beuren Studio, nor to famous bartender "Professor" Jerry Thomas, the author of one of the first bartender's guides, How to Mix Drinks (1862). Instead, it is a reference to Egan's book, Life in London, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom (1821), and the subsequent stage play Tom and Jerry, or Life in London (also 1821). The pet-form Jerry is either derived from Jeremy or Jerome or from Gerald (Geiraldur, pet-form Geiri))
Twentieth century: tuttugöldungur
U-boat: kafbátsmilska, þjóðherjakafbátur
Vesper: Vestmey (compare Vestmar (Nöfn Íslsndinga); named after the novel's lead female character, Vesper Lynd, a pun on "West Berlin". Vesper is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hesperos ( "evening", "evening star", "west")
Widow's Cork: jakobsynsk amrettingur (mix of Jameson whiskey and amaretto)
whiskey: hvatn (hvatur (lively) + vatn (water), fjörveig. see http://extremeicelandic.blogspot.com/2011/11/bjoveig-ea-hvatn-whiskey.html
wodka: slafaveig, brennivatn (wodka is the diminutive of woda, which simply means 'water', so why not calling it brennivatn as a pun on brennivín)
Wolfram: Ylfinga-Hrólfsmilska, Ylfunga-Hrólfur (Created in 1990 to commemorate the election of John Wolff Director of Rudolf Wolff as Chairman of the London Metal Exchange. The family Wolff can be Icelandicized to Ylfingar, gen. Ylfinga and the German Rudolf exists in the contracted form Hrólfur: Rudolf Wolff = Ylfinga-Hrólfur)
Alexander: Sandríska, Sandrísk milska
alien secretion cocktail: grændreyramilska
amaretto sour: súramrettingur
ambrosia cocktail: ódáinsmilska
Anna's banana frozen cocktail: bjúgaldinsmilska Önnu
April in Paris: Vortími í Frakklandshjarta
Bahama Mama: Norðvesturindversk milska (The bahamas could be called 'the north west-indies, Norðvesturindverskar eyjar)
B-52: heiðhvólfsvirki (After the nick-name of the bomber, stratofortress ( = stratosphere fortress)
Bacardi breezer: gosreyrveig, bágherðlingur (Diminutive form of Bágherðlingur (see Bacardi cola), expressing the lower alcohol content of the mix (soft rhum, soft bacardi). Reyrveig (cane spirits) is the pure Icelandic equivalent of romm (rhum))
Bacardi cola: Bágherðinga-Brúnka (The family name Bacardi is like its french cognate Bacquart Germanic of origin, consisting of the roots "bag" (bagan = battle, Icelandic bág- in báglyndur) et "hard" (= harður). The full Icelandic family name is Bágherðingar. Another possibility is Reyrveiga-Brúnka (Cane-spirits (rhum)-brunette. The name of the beverage is the singular form Bágherðingur or Bágherðinga-reyrveig (reyrveig = rhum)
B and B (brandy and cognac): bentneskuð (benskt) kampaveig (benedictined cognac)Benedictine: Bentbræðraveig, bentingaveig, bentneskt (benskt) brennivín (Derived from 'Bent', the pet-form of Benedikt. Bendictine is an herbal liqueur beverage developed by Alexandre Le Grand in the 19th century and produced in France. It is claimed that at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, monks had developed a medicinal aromatic herbal beverage which was produced until the abbey's devastation during the French Revolution and that from this Le Grand developed the formula now in us)
Black Velvet (Guiness and champagne): Kampa-Gengus, Kampavín-Duflöð (The Icelandic form of Guinness is Gengus. The origin of this Scottish surname is the Gaelic MagAonghusa, which easily icelandicizes into Magengus (Engus is the form found in Old Icelandic literature) after the example Magbjóður (MacBeth). The prefix 'mag' was dropped except for the g which became the initial of the bastardized name. MagAongus slowly transformed into Guinness. We can ape this transformation by adding 'g' to Engus: Gengus (Gengus, Gengusi, Gengusar). compounds: Gengusarbjór, heimsmetabók Gengusar. Another possibility is Duflöð: The Book Keltar á Íslandi by Hermann Pálsson meantions the ending -flaith, which occurs in Irish-Icelandic names like Kormlöð. Here it means 'power', 'independence', but he mentions a similar meaning for the word: beer, ale: Flaith (2) kvk. bjór, öl. Sama orðið og -laith; f-ið er þegið frá orðinu flaith (1). So Duflöð in Irish Icelandic can mean 'black beer'. Of course this could refer to 'porter beer' also, but the fact that the word is constructed from Hiberno-icelandic lexical blocks makes it more appropriate to use it as the designation for the national 'black beer' of Ireland: Guinness.
Bloody Aztec: hlautmilska, upptyppingshlaut
Bloody Mary: dreyradrotting
Blue Curaçao: Kurseyjarblámi
Bourbon whiskey: Búrbóni, Búrbónahvatn (spelling used in the Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin for 'Bourbon')
Brandy Alexander: Sandrísk Kampaveig (Cognac = Kampaveig. The word 'veig' is used exclusively for 'spirited drinks' like whiskey, which was called 'bretaveig'. This word also means 'gold' and 'powerful'. In the latter it is especially in personal names. "Veig" er poetiskt ord þegar þad skal þída godann drick ellegar ogso gull, enn þegar þad þidir valorem internum hlutarins so er þad i almenu bruke, ,,ecki vil eg kav pa þessi veigalav su klæde, ,,hafdu storar þackir fyrir giafirnar sem þu fieckz mier. mier þiki mikil og god veig i þvi bædi skickiune og bikarnum`. (ritmálssafn orðabókar háskólans) If so, "veig" would be an appropriate word to designate "golden-coloured" alcoholic beverages like whiskey and brandy (cognac). The region around the French town of cognac is called 'Le grand et le petit champagne' (not to be confused with the Champagne-region in Northern France). This means that we can use kampa- as a prefix in the word for cognac. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Champagne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_Champagne
Cognac is made of grapes, like the bubble champagne. All these arguments make Kampaveig a valid designation of the French Cognac. There's no need to have recourse to unicelandic adaptation like Koníak.
Broadway cocktail: Breiðvegarmilska
Bronx cocktail: brynsk marteiningur (a The Bronx Cocktail is essentially a Perfect Martini with orange juice added. The Bronx is named after Jonas Bronck (Jónas Bronk, Icelandic Bronck + -skur = bryn(k)skur, brynskur, Brynska stjórnarumdæmið: Bronkverji, Brynskur)
Café Zurich cocktail: Súrískt kaffi
Cape Codder: þorskhöfðamilskan þorskhöfðungur
Chocolate Martini: Guðgætismarteiningur (The botanist Carl von Linné named the cacao tree 'Theobroma cacao'. 'Theobroma is Greek for "the food of the gods' and Linné based the name upon the beliefs of the Aztecs and Mayas, who considered cacao to be man's inheritance from Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air. We can create a pun can be created on góðgæti (delicacy): guðgæti (not that the two g's in this word correspond with the two 'k's' in 'kakó'.
Cointreau: Kvintrjáungur (This name is related to the Old French "cointerell", designating a gentleman, and is a figure in the Medieval work Reynard (the fox). The problem was to adapt the first part but luckily the Íslensk orðsifjabók mentions kvint, an old Icelandic word borrowed from Old French which is exactly the same word.)
Colorado Bulldog: Gljúfárfylkis-bolabíti (Gljúfá = the river that erodes the grand canyon = colorado river + bulldog = bolabíti)
Columbia: Kólmlandsfáni (The drink appears as stacked horizontal layers of yellow, blue and red, which matches the three colours of the Colombian flag. For Kólmland, see http://extremeicelandic.blogspot.com/2011/10/icelandicized-geographical-names-based.html )
Corpse Reviver: Uppvakningarmilska
Death in the Afternoon: Hemingavegskampavín (also named 'the Hemingway Champagne', invented by Ernest Hemingway (Hemingavega-Ernusti)
Duncan MacLeod: Magljótunga-Dungaður, Dungaðarmilska (The name Léod is a Scottish adaptation of Old Norse Ljótr: Magljótur (built after Magbjóður, MacBeth), the derived family name Magljótungar and Duncan is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Donnchadh meaning "brown warrior", derived from Gaelic donn "brown" and cath "warrior", which existed in the an Icelandicized form Dungaðr (Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson))
Earthquake: Ljóðrekinga-Hinrik eða jarðskjálftamilska (The Tremblement de Terre (or "Earthquake") Cocktail has been attributed to the French Post-Impressionist painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The name is derived from its effects, which tend to "shake up" the drinker. As for the icelandic name one can choose between the name of the painter: Þolósu-Ljóðrekinga-Hinrik or simply Ljóðrekinga-Hinric (The name of the city has no historical Icelandic exonym unlike German (Tholosen). I Icelandicized the name after the original Latin and, importantly, also the present-day Occitan name Tolosa. The name of the village Lautrec is of Germanic origin and consists of Laut (people, Icelandic Ljóð- as in Ljóðey, Ljóðólfur, see Íslensk orðsifjabók, ljóð(u)r (1)) and ric (rich, Icelandic ríkur,-rekur). The full family name is Tolósu-Ljóðrekingar. The name Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec becomes Tolósu-Ljóðrekinga-Henrik, but the short cut sounds better Ljóðrekinga-Hinrik. A painting of the master is often referred to as 'a Lautrec', so Ljóðrekingur as a designation of the cocktail could go as well.
Gibson: Gibbsyningur, Gibbingur (cocktail made by Charles Dana Gibson. The name Gibson means 'son of Gib', which is in its turn a short form of Gilbert (Icelandic Gíslbjartur, pet-form Gibbi, Gibbason, Gibbsyningar or Gibbingar.)Golden Cadillac: gullkaðlakur The surname Cadillac has Latino-Celtic origins. It appears to have originated from the Celtic catus, meaning 'battle' or 'struggle', which is related to Icelandic höð, hað-, the Irish Icelandic Kað- (Kaðlín (Caithlin), Kaðall (Cathal). The Íslensk orðsifjabók mentions
Kaðall karlkyns karlmannsnafn. Tökuorð úr fornírsku Cathal, samkvæmt fornírskur cath 'bardagi', samanber höð. Sjá Kaðlín
Kaðlín kvenkyns kvenmannsnafn fornírska Catilin. Sjá Kaðall.
The most common suffix in northern France is -acum meaning 'place of', 'property'. Its origin is Celtic *-ako (compare Breton -eg, Welsh -og, Irish -ach, same thing). The book 'Keltar á Íslandi' (Hermann Pálsson) mentions this Irish suffix. It is normally adapted -akur in Icelandic personal names of Irish origin. The adaptation of the surname Cadillac is: Kaðlakur, Kaðlaks-The name of the cocktail is Gullkaðlakur.
Green Vesper: Malurtar-Vestmey (See Vesper; The Kina Lillet is replaced by absinth (malurtarveig))
Flirtini: Víkingseista (Richard Christy, noted heavy metal drummer and writer for The Howard Stern Show, likes flirtinis but calls it a "Viking's Testicle" to make it sound more manly.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flirtini
Hanky-Panky: Klækamilska
Happy Jack: Hamingju-Kobbi
Incredible Hulk: Grænrisamilska (Victor Alvarez, a bartender at the restaurant, mixed Hennessy with Hypnotiq to dilute the fruity flavor, resulting in a green beverage that quickly became a hit.)
Irish flag: Íravoð
Italian Stallion: Skóskagastóðhestur (Yes, Italy is not only the penisula, but 80% of americans of Italian origin are from Sicily and the southern province of Campania, so the prefix Skóskaga- applies. See wikipedia article "Italian American")
jackalope: hjartarhéri (The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a so-called "fearsome critter") described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail (and often hind legs).)
Jack Daniels: Kobbaveig, Tensár-Kobbi (Jack is the pet-form of Jacob and translates as Kobbi in Icelandic (e.g. Kviðristu-Kobbi, Jack the Ripper). It is a Tennessee whiskey. The name of the state of Tennessee is actually the name of the river. A Old Norse speaking viking would make use of folk-etymology (comp. Jórsalir for Jeruzalem, Rauðstofa for Rostov) to designate the river and the most appropriate folk-etymological adptation would be Tensá, which looks familiar to Tempsá (Thames). Surprisingly, the original Cherokee word Tamasi (a village name) looks like the latin Tamesis for the Thames. (Tensárfylki, state of Tennessee, Tensár- in compounds). Hence the name Tensár-Kobbi (Fix me a Tennessee Jack, on the double!)
Jack and Coke (Jack Daniels and Coke): KobbabrúnkaJim Beam (Kentucky bourbon): Jemsbúrbóni (In some cases it is inconvenient that 'kobbi' is the only Icelandic equivalent of 'Jim' and 'Jack', the English pet-forms of James (Jakob). In this case we have to make the distiction lexically, because of the facts that Jim Beam (Kentucky) is the rival of Jack Daniels (Tennessee), we can't call them both 'Kobbi'. I propose JEMS (from James, declined like the unrelated but similarly sounding JENS). The spelling Búrbóni I got from the Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin and can be used in the meaning of 'Bourbon whiskey'.
Kamikaze cocktail: hrapherjamilska
Kensington Court Special: Kynsingatúnshallarmilska, Kynsingatýningur, kynsyngatýnsk hallarmilska (The name Kynsingur is the Icelandic equivalent of Kensing in the English place-name Kensington, which means "Estate associated with Cynesige". Anglo-Saxon names ending in -sigi get -si in their Nordicized contracted forms: e.g. Lefsi (from Leófsige (Ljúfsigi) (see Lefsi: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONMensNames.shtml The contracted Icelandic equivalent of Cynesige Kynsigur becomes Kynsi. The name of the followers or family would be Kynsingar (which corresponds with the modern Kensing-) and a possible first element in an Icelandic equivalent of the English Kensington: Kynsingatún)
Kremlin Colonel: Knjasgarðsefstingi (The first rulers of the Kremlin were called 'knyaz' (knjas in Icelandic, see Íslensk orðabók, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knyaz
Margarita: Möggumilska, Magga, Margrétarmilska
Manhattan cocktail: Feringarmilska (On the small North Frisian island of Föhr (North Frisian Fering), the Manhattan cocktail is a standard drink at almost every cafe restaurant, and 'get together' of locals. The story goes, that many of the people of Föhr (Fering) emigrated to Manhattan during deep sea fishing trips, took a liking to the drink, and brought it back to Föhr with them. )
Mezcal: meðki (named after the 'worm' (maðka)) in the bottle and the traditional way of drinking mescal, with a side plate of fried larvae ground with chili peppers and salt and cut limes. One takes a pinch of the larvae mixture and places it on the tongue, then immediately begins to drink the shot, but slowly.)
Michelada: Míkaldi (The word "chela" is a popular way to call a beer in Mexico. It comes from the English word "chill". When you ask for a chela you are asking for a cold beer. "Mix" comes from the mix of sauces added to the beer. Therefore putting the two words together Mix-chela sounds like Michelada. Others argue that it stands for "Mi Chela Helada", meaning "My cold beer".)
Modernista: Nútímaþerna (Modern Maid Cocktail, the cocktail of the modern chamber-maid)
Moloko plus: ofurbeldismjólk (Ultraviolence (ofurbeldi) milk. The drink's name originates from the Nadsat word for milk, translated as "milk plus". The main characters in " A Clockwork Orange (Vélgengt glóandin)" prepare for "ultraviolence" by drinking it.)
Monkey gland: Magkormáksmilska (Sometimes known as the McCormick, which translates into Icelandic as Magkormákur (built after the example Magbjóður for MacBeth, see Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson)
Montgomery cocktail: Mundgumaríkingamilska, mundgumarískur marteiningur (The montgomery cocktail is a very strong variant of the classic martini. It is The surname Montgomery originates rom an English surname meaning "gumarich's mountain" in Norman French. The first element is adapted as Mund- as is found in Mundíafjöll (Alps), Gumarich is a compound of Gumi (man) and rik (rich, Icel. ríkur). The full family name is: Mungumaríkingar)
Moskow Mule: miðrússnesk hálfveig (a "mule" is a mixture of ginger ale an wodka)
My Fair Lady: Duflektlinga-Ellisif (Eliza Doolittle. The surname Doolittle doesn't actually mean 'lazy parson' but is derived from the Irish surname O' Dubhlachta. The first element dubh- , meaning 'dark', 'black', is identical to the prefix Duf- in icelandicized Irish names like Dufgall, Dufþakr and Dufgus. The etymology of the second element '-lachta' is of obscure origin but can luckily be adapted after an existing exemplary Icelandic toponym: ConnACHTA (Connaught) - KunnAKTIR and Sneachta (snow) - Snati (Herman Pálsson, Keltar á Íslandi). Thus, the correct Icelandicized form for the originator of the Doolittle family is Duflakti, the family name Duflektlingar. The reason I used -lingar instead of -ingar or -ungar to built the collective family name is to make the end result more phonetically similar to the anglicized Irish surname. The Icelandicized name for Eliza Doolittle is Duflektlinga-Ellisif. Instead of translating 'My Fair Lady', we can use her hyperarchaicly icelandicized full name to designate the drink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady_Cocktail#My_Fair_Lady
Rex Harrison: Harrison = Hinriksyningar; Rex means 'King' and the only phonosemantic match for this one is the Irish-Icelandic Rígur (From Irish Rí, king): Hinriksyninga-Rígur (The reason why I use Hinriksyningar instead of Heinrekingar or Hinrikingar is because I want to keep some sound-similarity with the Engish surname, while avoiding 'son' in its underived form because of its use as a patronymic in Icelandic. For that reason, it is in my opinion more preferable in the case of foreign non-patronymic surnames ending in -son to use a constrution with -syningur to retain some phonetical similarity while avoiding confusion with 'son' as a 'patronymic'); The origins of the name Hepburn are suggested to be the same as that of Hebborne from the Old English words heah ("high") and byrgen ("burial mound"). Alternatively it could mean something along the lines of "high place beside the water", as the word burn is a still widely used in Northumbrian and Scots for stream. OK, the first element is certainly 'High, Icelandic Há-, the second element is not entirely certain and has to be adapted: Hábyrningar. The name Audrey is the medieval diminutive of the Anglo-Saxon Æthelþryð (Old Norse Aðalþrúður). The full name has to be used here because its impossible to construct a pet-form that is phoneticly similar to 'Audrey'.Nicolaschka: Láskumilska (Lási + suffix -ka, as in Sifka)
Old Etonian: Ártýningur gamli (A gin cocktail which enjoyed great popularity in London, circa 1925. The cocktail takes its name from Eton College and from the college's alumni, who are often referred to as Old Etonians. The name Eaton means 'island town' (Icelandic Ártún or Átún, derivatives: ártýnskur, Ártýningur)
Orange tundra: glófreðmýri, gulrauð freðmýri
Panama cocktail: Eiðilandsmilska
Pimm's nr 1: Femjungur (The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Pim came from the name Euphemia where it is a short form of that name. Icelandic Femja - Femjungar)
Pina colada: Ríkhafnarmilska (The official drink of Puerto Rico since 1978)
Pink Lady: rósalafði (pink colour is due to the added grenadine, compare rósavín
Pisco (Chilean-Peruvian cognac): fuglborgari (named after the city of Pisco, a word meaning 'bird' in Quechua)
Pisco sour: Súr Fuglborgari
Piscola (pisco and cola): brúnkaður fuglborgari
Porchcrawler: svalaskriðill
Prince of Wales: Valbretafursti
rhum: reyrveig
Rob Roy: Robbi Ruðri (Rob is the pet-form of Robert (Icelandic: Hróbjartur, pet-form Robbi; Roy is the anglicized form of ruadh (Icelandic Ruðri (see Keltar á Íslandi, Hermann Pálsson).
Rose Kennedy: Kjanneiðinga-Rós (Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh ‘descendant of Ceannéidigh’, a personal name derived from ceann ‘head’ + éidigh ‘ugly’ (éi pronounces as ei in Icelandic). It is adapted like Irish names in Old Icelandic. See Íslensk Orðsifjabók under 'kjanni') Sazerac: Sassrekingur (adaptation)
7 and 7 (Pimm's nr 1 mixed with 7 Up): sjöpptur femjungur (Sjöppa (sjö + upp + verbal -a, to mix with the soft drink "7 Up". The Anglos-Saxon surname Pimm derives from Greek Euphemia (Femja, Femjungur). See Pimm's nr.1
Shirley Temple: Templa-Skírló (The name Temple originates from the Knights templar. In this case the name is Tempill, family name Templa; The name Shirley originates from a place-name meaning 'bright clearing' (Icelandic: Skírló)
Skrewdriver: skrúfmilska
Tequila sunrise: dögunarmilska (The the cocktail is named for the way it looks after it has been poured into a glass. The denser ingredients (cassis or grenadine) settle, creating gradations in color that mimic a sunrise.)
Texas Highball: Kobbaveigarte (Jack Daniels (Kobbaveig) and iced tea)
Tom Collins cocktail: Kýlansmilska (The name Collin is identical to the Irish-Icelandic personal name Kýlan (little dog))
Tom and Jerry: Tumi og Geiri (The name is related neither to the popular MGM cartoon nor to the earlier Tom and Jerry by Van Beuren Studio, nor to famous bartender "Professor" Jerry Thomas, the author of one of the first bartender's guides, How to Mix Drinks (1862). Instead, it is a reference to Egan's book, Life in London, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom (1821), and the subsequent stage play Tom and Jerry, or Life in London (also 1821). The pet-form Jerry is either derived from Jeremy or Jerome or from Gerald (Geiraldur, pet-form Geiri))
Twentieth century: tuttugöldungur
U-boat: kafbátsmilska, þjóðherjakafbátur
Vesper: Vestmey (compare Vestmar (Nöfn Íslsndinga); named after the novel's lead female character, Vesper Lynd, a pun on "West Berlin". Vesper is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hesperos ( "evening", "evening star", "west")
Widow's Cork: jakobsynsk amrettingur (mix of Jameson whiskey and amaretto)
whiskey: hvatn (hvatur (lively) + vatn (water), fjörveig. see http://extremeicelandic.blogspot.com/2011/11/bjoveig-ea-hvatn-whiskey.html
wodka: slafaveig, brennivatn (wodka is the diminutive of woda, which simply means 'water', so why not calling it brennivatn as a pun on brennivín)Wolfram: Ylfinga-Hrólfsmilska, Ylfunga-Hrólfur (Created in 1990 to commemorate the election of John Wolff Director of Rudolf Wolff as Chairman of the London Metal Exchange. The family Wolff can be Icelandicized to Ylfingar, gen. Ylfinga and the German Rudolf exists in the contracted form Hrólfur: Rudolf Wolff = Ylfinga-Hrólfur)
Friday, November 25, 2011
Bombay Sapphire tonic
skveppur, að skveppa: tonic, mix with tonic:The only possible monosyllabic word for this kind of softdrink is an icelandification of the most popular brand which can be used a a generalizing term for all tonics: Schweppes (from the name of the originater Schweppe: skveppur, the verbal derivation 'skveppa' means 'to mix with tonic'.
sapphire: jarlsteinn: The corundum is the second hardest stone after the 'king of stones', the diamond, so it can be called 'jarlsteinn'. Because the red variety of the gem, the ruby, is already called 'roðasteinn' in Icelandic, 'jarlsteinn' can be used for the sapphire, which originally designated the blue variety but which is now used for all non-ruby corundum colour varieties.
Góðvík: Bombay (The name for Bombay used by the Fjölnismenn in the literary magazine Skírnir)
skveppt einiveig, einiskveppur: gin tonic
Saving Private Ryan
The Icelandicized equivalent of the diminutive ending -án in Irish personal names was mostly -an (Feilan, Kjaran) or in a few examples as -án (Brjánn, Koðrán). Ryan is constructed from Irish Rí and the diminutive suffix án (compare the similarly constructed Bríán (meaning 'little hill', from brí (hill) + án (diminutive) which was icelandicized as Brjánn). In the case of Ryan, we have a completely similar construction: Irish Rí + án = Rjánn.
Icelandification of foreign surnames
The best way of adapting foreign personal names along with surnames is prepositioning of the genitive plural of collective family names like 'skarphjaðningar': skarphjaðninga- followed by the personal name, the same construction as in Hrafna-Flóki, Hropta-Þór,...examples:
François Mitterand: Mittrendinga-Franseis (the ending -ois corresponds with -eis in Icelandic words of French origin: courteois (kurteis), bourgeois (burgeis), hence François - Franseis
Nicolas Sarkozy: Sarkösunga-Nikulás (From the name Sárköz (pronounced in Icelandic: Sarkös), meaning 'mud strip'.)
Bill Clinton: Klinttýninga-Villi
Ronald Reagan: Rígninga-Rögnvaldur (The name Reagan is of Irish origin and means 'little king'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regan
Herman Pálsson mentions in his book 'Keltar á Íslandi' the Icelandicized Irish name Rígr (from Rí, meaning 'king'). The diminutive ending -án in Irish personal names was Icelandicized either as -an (Feilan, Kjaran) or in a few examples as -án (Brjánn, Koðrán). The surname Reagan has the same origin as Ryan (Irish Rí + án, compare Bríán (brí (hill) + án (diminutive), Icelandic Brjánn). The Icelandic construction of Ríán is Rjánn, the derived family name Rjánungar. But in spite of the fact that Ryan and Reagan share the same origin it is better to use different constructions for these names: Rjánn for Ryan (corresponds to Brjánn for Brian) and Rígan, family name: Rígninga (the already Icelandicized Rígr with addition of -an) for Reagan.
As for the first name: Ronald is the Scottish form of the Old Norse Rögnvaldr.)
Madelin Albright: Albirtinga-Maðlín (adapted the name like Kaðlín, the Icelandicized form of the Old Irish Catilin. The existing Icelandic Malín and Magdalena aren't sufficiently phonetically similar.)
Helmut Kohl: Kolunga-Helmóður
Vladimir Putin: Pútnunga-Valdimar
Silvio Berlusconi: Berlúskunga-Silfár
Richard Dawkins: Dáknunga-Ríkharður
Dimitri Medvedev: Mjaðvöðunga-Dímóður (Medvedev derives from Medved which means 'bear' and is related to Polish Niedzwiedz, actually Miedzwiedz, the first element in which is derived from miód (honey) and related with Icelandic mjöður (mead). For that reason I adapted the family name as Mjaðvöðungar. The ending -ev is just a Russian suffix in surnames comparable to -ungur in Icelandic)
Lyndon Johnsson: Jónssyninga-Limdún (From an English surname which was derived from a place name meaning "lime tree hill" in Old English. In the past, I translated '-don' as 'hæð' and sometimes it is equalized with 'tún', but since I found out that it is of the same origin as Irish-Icelandic 'dún' (see book 'Keltar á Íslandi') I use this one.)
Masterpieces of the Louvre
Brosfreyjan (The smiling wife, because she was a married woman (hence the word Mona, which is actually corruption of Italian Monna (from Madonna, which means 'married woman', the equivalent of the Icelandic frú, but also húsfreyja)Geirherðinga-Lísa (Her maiden name was Gherardini, a surname derived from a germanic name equivalent with German Gerhard (Icelandic Geirharður). The typically Old Icelandic collective family name becomes Geirherðingar and Lisa herself 'Geirherðinga-Lísa'.)
Fagurborgarfegurðin (the beauty from Florence, called Flórens in Icelandic but also Fagurborg http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%B3rens
Jókund: After the French name for the painting La Gioconde, after her husband's name (Francesco) del Giocondo (her maiden's name was Gherardini), a name derived from the Late Latin Iucunda which meant "pleasant, delightful, happy". The Icelandic euivalent of Gio- in Italian personal names is Jó- (Giovanni - Jóhann), the rest is logical adaptation.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioconda
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Joconde
The name Venus can be Icelandicized as Vindís, because the vinur (friend) is related to the Latin name Venus. The Íslensk orðsifjabók mentions for the entry vinur:vinur k. 'kær félagi,...'; samanber fareyska vinur, nýnorska vin, nýsænska vän (fornsænska vin), danska ven (forndanska win), frumnorrænir rúnar winiR, fornenska wine, fornsaxneska og fornháþýska wini < germanska *weni, samanber fornírska fine 'frændsemi' og Veni- í gallískum mannanöfnum, lat. venus 'kærleikur',...
For that reason I think a compound of Vinur (which occurs as a first element in Icelandic personal names: Vinbjörg, Vinfús, see Nöfn Íslensdinga) and -dís, a suffix found mostly as a second element in femine personal names meaning 'godess'. It somewhat sounds similar to Vanadís (nick-name of the Scandinavian equivalent of Venus) but not to a disturbing extent.
The godess Aphrodite was known to be born from the 'foam of the sea': see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite The construction haf(f)ríður, composed of Haf- (sea, a first element in many feminine personal names and -fríður, or -ríður, a second element in feminine names, which means among other things 'beauty'. Hafríður is a descriptive neonym which is phonetically similar to the Greek name at the same time.
But as for the artwork itself, we can keep things much simpler: constructions like Vindís (Haf(f)ríður) frá Meley (Meley is my personal construction for the island of Melos, Mílos, see below) or "Ástargyðjan handleggjalausa" aren't necessary:
The only thing to be done here is to adapt the name Melos to Icelandic as was done for some other Greek islands: replace the ending -os by -ey and use it as a femine personal name to designate the statue itself . The result is Meley. Examples of EXISTING icelandicized names of Greek islands:
Lemney (Limnos), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_exonyms
Róðey for Rhodos http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3dos
Kíey for Khios (Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin, Grikkland, sjá kort)
In the same line of thought we could call Patmos Paðmey (decided to use the 'eth' here instead of the 't' because it sounds more like the Varangian toponym Paðreimur), Lesbos Lespey, Samos Samey and Melos Meley.
Nike of Samothrace: Þrakeysk sigurgyðja (Thrace is one of the 13 regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the country, comprising the eastern part of the region of Macedonia along with the region of Thrace, and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace. Samothrace is named after the Island Samos and Thrace, but the name Þrakey (Thrace = Þrakland) suffices bacause it is the only island named after Thrace. The name Niké (godess of victory) is replaced by 'Sigurdís'.)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
neologisms 24/11/11
Alaskan:
1) útvestrænn, (ultraoccidental)
2) andeldlensk (anti-firelandish)
3) Axlarfylkis- (shoulderstate-), Axlverskur
4) frá ystrænu fylkinu
Aleutian islands:
1) kyrrahafsdjásn, Djásneyjar, Elddjásn (The diadem of the pacific or simply 'diadem islands'. The word djásn suggest a region up north, since it is a head dress. The only islands applying to this description are the Aleutian islands.)
2) Axlareyjar (islands at the shoulders of the world, the Russian chukchi region and Alaska)
Aleutian (people): Axleyjingar, Ystræningar, Djásneyjingur
Bering sea:
1) Ystrænt haf ("ystrænn" can be a pun on "vestrænn" and "austrænn' and combines the western- and easternmost (útvestrænn and útaustrænn) areas in the world)
2) Axlarhaf
3) Miðnætturhaf (because the "date line" runs through the strait and if you extrapolate morgunlönd (Asia) and kvöldlönd (Europe, America), the Bering area is the land of 'midnight').
Bering strait:
1) Ystrænt sund (combines útvestrænn and útaustrænn)
2) Ísnjörvasund (The toponym Njörvasund (strait of Gibraltar) is used here in the figurative sense of "small strait between two continents" (only the strait of gibraltar and the Bering strait apply), so we can make the distinction by adding 'ís-', referring to the arctic ocean (Íshaf) and the drift ice in the strait)
3) Axlarsund (strait at the shoulders of the world)
Commander islands: Ystrússnesk eyjar (The outer (east or west) russian islands, the westernmost extension of the Aleutian Islands (islands at the shoulders of the world. They were named after Commander Vitus Bering, who died on one of the islands)
Calypso deep (Ionian sea): Klyfsudýpi
Guinea, Gulf of: Miðbaugsflói (the only gulf on the equator)
Hudson (in geographical names): Huddsynskur, Hyddings- (Huddsynskur flói (Hudson bay), Huddsynskt sund (Hudson strait), Hyddingsfljót (the surname Hudson derives from 'son of Huddi', which is a pet-form of either Hugh or Richard, instead of Huddasýnskur, the first element is kept monosyllabic (Hudd-) for reasons of sound-similarity. The construction Hyddingar is based on an Old Icelandic formation of family names by adding -ingar to the personal name of an ancestor. In the case of 'Hudde', it would be Hyddingar and the singular form Hyddingur is born by an individual belonging to that family.
Ochotsk, sea of: Ystgerskt innhaf (Ystgerskur: easternmost Russian, because yst- rhymes with aust-)
1) útvestrænn, (ultraoccidental)
2) andeldlensk (anti-firelandish)
3) Axlarfylkis- (shoulderstate-), Axlverskur
4) frá ystrænu fylkinu
Aleutian islands:
1) kyrrahafsdjásn, Djásneyjar, Elddjásn (The diadem of the pacific or simply 'diadem islands'. The word djásn suggest a region up north, since it is a head dress. The only islands applying to this description are the Aleutian islands.)
2) Axlareyjar (islands at the shoulders of the world, the Russian chukchi region and Alaska)
Aleutian (people): Axleyjingar, Ystræningar, Djásneyjingur
Bering sea:
1) Ystrænt haf ("ystrænn" can be a pun on "vestrænn" and "austrænn' and combines the western- and easternmost (útvestrænn and útaustrænn) areas in the world)
2) Axlarhaf
3) Miðnætturhaf (because the "date line" runs through the strait and if you extrapolate morgunlönd (Asia) and kvöldlönd (Europe, America), the Bering area is the land of 'midnight').
Bering strait:
1) Ystrænt sund (combines útvestrænn and útaustrænn)
2) Ísnjörvasund (The toponym Njörvasund (strait of Gibraltar) is used here in the figurative sense of "small strait between two continents" (only the strait of gibraltar and the Bering strait apply), so we can make the distinction by adding 'ís-', referring to the arctic ocean (Íshaf) and the drift ice in the strait)
3) Axlarsund (strait at the shoulders of the world)
Commander islands: Ystrússnesk eyjar (The outer (east or west) russian islands, the westernmost extension of the Aleutian Islands (islands at the shoulders of the world. They were named after Commander Vitus Bering, who died on one of the islands)
Calypso deep (Ionian sea): Klyfsudýpi
Guinea, Gulf of: Miðbaugsflói (the only gulf on the equator)
Hudson (in geographical names): Huddsynskur, Hyddings- (Huddsynskur flói (Hudson bay), Huddsynskt sund (Hudson strait), Hyddingsfljót (the surname Hudson derives from 'son of Huddi', which is a pet-form of either Hugh or Richard, instead of Huddasýnskur, the first element is kept monosyllabic (Hudd-) for reasons of sound-similarity. The construction Hyddingar is based on an Old Icelandic formation of family names by adding -ingar to the personal name of an ancestor. In the case of 'Hudde', it would be Hyddingar and the singular form Hyddingur is born by an individual belonging to that family.
Ochotsk, sea of: Ystgerskt innhaf (Ystgerskur: easternmost Russian, because yst- rhymes with aust-)
Monday, November 21, 2011
Ångström
1) Örmýrjungur
(The Íslensk orðsifjabók mentions for the obsolete mýr: 'mergð, grúi'. vafaorð, e.t.v. s.o. og myr (s.þ.) en ý tilkomið vegna þess að lærðir menn tengdu það við lat. Mýrias, gr. Mýrias (ef. Mýriados) 'tíu þúsund' af 'mýrios' (ótölulegur). The ideal construction of a name for "one ten thousandth part is, in my opinion, is “mýr-” or “mýríu-” (10,000) combined with -jungur (100) as in the construction þriðjungur (a third).
The addition of the prefix ör- (yes, I know mikró- is used in Icelandic translation of metrical prefixes, but that's only a convention. One could as well use ör in this sense), örmýrjungur, which means the 'ten billionth part'. We can use this for ångström. There's no need to add -stika or -metri. Most scientists will link up the notion "ten billionth part" with an ångström.)
2) Angstreymingur
(The Swedish toponymical surname Angström icelandicizes as 'Angstraumur'. The Icelandic collective family name would be 'Angstreymingar', the singualr form of which denotes an individual belonging to that family or group of follower. Angstreymingur is the logical name of the unit.)
3) rófstika (róf- spectro- + stika (unit)).
The ångström is still the predominantly used unit in spectroscopy.
Units of radiation
rem: geiska (GEISlaSKAmmtseining)
sievert: sívörðungur (The surname Sievert derives from the Germanic Sigward (Icelandic: Sigvörður). The collective name of family or followers of this individual would be Sigvörðungar, the singular of which could be used as the surname of an individual family member. I omitted the g in Sig- for two reasons: to make the word more sound-similar with Sievert and because there is a tendency of omitting the latter g of the first lement in a name when the second element begins with 'v-'. An example of this is the Old Icelandic stívarður (English stewart, from stigvörður, see orðsifjabók). The loss of the 'g' in 'sig' has happened in the family name Sievert as well. For that reason, I prefer the construction Sívörðungur instead of Sigvörðungur)
grey: greyingur (Named after Louis Harold Gray). The family name Gray is a toponymical surname and goes back to the place-name Gray in France. The logical adaptation of the family name is Grey + -ingur: Greyingur, which can be used as the name of the unit. )
becquerel: bekkrellingur. Named after Henri Becquerel. The surname Becquerel is mostly found in the French region called 'La Manche" and has the meaning of "little river, brook", the first element becq being of German origin (Icelandic bekkur). The second element is the diminutive suffixe -elle, which phonetically corresponds to -lingur in Icelandic. So the name would be bekklingur. If this sounds to radically an adaptation, the more phonetical and less etymological solution Bekkrellingur is a second option.
http://www.geneanet.org/genealogie/fr/becquerelle.html
curie: kýringur (The surname Curie is found in the French region of 'le doubs' en in 'Haute-Saône' and is a gallicized form of the French-Provençal toponym Curia, Curiaz, the etymology of which is uncertain. The name of the family is icelandicized by adding -ingur to the stem Kurj-.)
rutherford (1 million becquerel): hryðurfurða, myrjundbekkrellingur (= mega-bequerel, myría= 10.000 units with adiition of the suffix -und (as in þúsund, thousand, from þúshundrað) = million. As a suffix mýrjund- can be use to denote the metrical prefix mega-. )
röntgen: röndkin (see http://extremeicelandic.blogspot.com/2011/11/icelandic-equivalent-of-german-surname.html )
rad: eyrisgreyingur (= centigrey, the prefix eyris- (genitive of eyrir, the hundredth part of the Icelandic currency unit, the króna) is used here to designate the metrical prefix centi- (a hundredth part of a unit)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Icelandic equivalent of the German surname Röntgen
The latter -gen in Röntgen is definitely a diminutive suffix:
g remains voiced after voiceless consonants in names: Fitger, röntgen. The g in the name Kügelgen is [g], though -GEN ORIGINALLY IS FOR -CHEN; CF. GOETHE's SPELLING: MÄDGEN (MÄDCHEN) (Jethro Bithell, German Pronounciation and phonology)
So the ending -gen in the surname röntgen or roentgen is the Goethian form of the diminutive suffix -chen, related to the Old English suffix -kin. For the Icelandic adaptation we will use -kin as in the following example mentioned in the Íslensk orðsifjabók.
Vilkin k. karlmannsnafn. Tökunafn ættað úr þýsku samanber fornháþýsku Willikin, miðháþýsku Willeke, eiginlegt smækkunar- eða gælumynd af nafninu Wilhelm.
The first element in Röntgen probably derives from the Old High German rant
(shield or 'boss of a shield'), mentioned in the the Icelandic etymological dictionary under the entry 'rönd'), which semantically answers to its Icelandic etymological cognate 'rönd', which still exists in personal names.
So I choose Rönd- as the first element in the Icelandic adaptation of the German name, as in Röndólfur (Randolph, mentioned in the Íslensk orðsifjabók under 'rönd'). Then we add the icelandicized Old German suffix '-kin' and we have our adaptation: RÖNDKIN. As for the gender of the word, we will use the earlier mentioned 'Vilkin' as an example, which is masculine so it requires the genitive -s in compounds: RÖNDKINSGEISLUN, RÖNDKINSSTJARNA
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Magdufnallsfíklingar (Young MacDonalds addicts)
The Iclandic equivalent of the name of the junk food concern is Magdufnalls. As in the example Magbjóður (Macbeth), mentioned in the book Keltar á Íslandi by Hermann Pálsson, surnames starting with mac- are icelandicized by adding the stem of the etymologically related Icelandic mögur (son): mag- to the nominative form of the second element. The masculine personal name Donald derives from the Gaelic name Domhnall (Icelandicized to Dufn(i)all in Old Icelandic writs), which means "ruler of the world", composed of the old Celtic dumno "world" and val "rule".Magdufnallshús: MacDonalds restaurant
Magdufnallsfíkill, Magdufnalingur: junk food addict
Magdufnallsmeti: junk food
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Einvist (Rockall)
In 1956 the British scientist James Fisher eferred to the island as "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall
I tried out different names like draugadrangur or Einsemdarsker, but I think I've now found a more elaborated one based on two aspects of the rock: Its remoteness and its relation to some the nearest Scottish Islands, the Hebrides. Rockall could be seen as the superlative of St Kilda, the outermost archipel of the Outer Hebrides. Rockall is proportionate to the Hebrides what X-rays are to the visible spectrum (St Kilda is in the ultraviolet region). Rockall is to Scotland what Kolbeinsey is to Iceland, but I can't useany part of the Icelandic name here.
No, the things is, Rockall lies very close to the same latitude as North Uist, Which was called Ívist by the Norseman (According to the English Wikipedia Article about North Uist, the earlier name was Innivist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Uist . It is possible to create a pun on the Old Norse name of the island: Einvist, which should emphasize the remoteness of this peculiar skerry. I wouldn't make constructions like Einvistardrangur in order not to ruin the word-play on Ívist.
North Uist. Latitude: 57° 40′n /
South Uist site information: Latitude: 57.333
Rockall Island is at latitude 57.61ºN
Well, actually, it isn't exactly situated on the very same latitude as Ívist, but somewhat halfway the Island of Lewis (Ljóðhús), but it still close enough to the island for the relevance of the pun.
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