Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Kort Kobbeimur (Kurt Cobain)

1) Kurt - Kort (not Konni):
The Icelandic form of the German pet-name Kurt is Kort. Normally the Icelandic pet-form of Konáð is konni, but in iceladicizing foreign personal names one should less hyperpuristic than when dealing with other kinds of words. For that reason I choose Kort (see Íslensk Orðabók, önnur útgáfa, aukin og endurbætt, Mál og Menning, Reykjavík 1992.
Excerpt from the Íslensk Orðabók, 1992

2) Cobain -Kobbeimur

This family name is a toponymical one derived from Cobham, a village in Kent. The Oxford dictionary of English place-names mentions: Cobbeham 1197. 'Enclosureor homestead of a man called *Cobba (phonologically adapted to Kobbi in Icelandic). Old English pers. name + hamm (no Icelandic equivalent) or hám (Icel. heimur). see http://www.houseofnames.com/cobain-family-crest


Exerpt from the Oxford dictionary of English etymology

The resulting Icelandic adaptation of the place name would be Kobbaheimur, but could also be contracted to Kobbeimur, with loss of the initial 'h-' in heimur, as is seen in many Old Norse place-names: Asseimur, Lisseimur, Surðeimur (see Íslensk Orðsifjabók) and modern Danish place-names like Bygum (Byggeimur), Darrum (Darreimur), see http://users.telenet.be/Hafronska/Icelandic_equivalents_of_the_Danish_place-names_(uncorrected_version).doc