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 , 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 -, 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.htmlwodka: 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 , 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 - (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-)

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.

kylfuferill, ausuferill (J-curve)

If you type J-curve in the Google Image Search bar, you will see that the term also exists as the trade name of a "hockey stick". A j-curve looks like what Icelanders call 'kylfa'. As for me, it looks more like an 'ausa' (ladle).

Friday, November 11, 2011

Andland (Australia)

The region around Australia, the island-continent, is often refered to as 'the land down under (hinum megin á hnettinu, hence the term hinumeginland) or the 'antipodal region' (andfælingssvæði). The term antipode derives from anti- "opposed" and pous "foot" of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth's surface which is diametrically opposite to it. Two points that are antipodal to one another are connected by a straight line running through the centre of the Earth.
Why not using the simple construction 'Andland'. The word refers to the "antipodal regions", the regions 'down under' and it is only different from 'Indland' in having another initial vowel, which is appropriate since the west coast of Australia lies at the Indian Ocean and the East Indies (Indonesia lies just north of Australia, so the similarity between the names 'Indland' and 'Andland' is a convenient coincidence.
Australia means 'the southern land', but it is actually, the land at the other end, and andland applies to this description.

Derivations:

Andlendingur: Australian
andlenskur: Australian
frumandlendingur: Aboriginal (or 'andfætlingssvertingi')
frumandlensk tungumál: aboriginal languages

New toponyms for Europe, Atlantic, Eurasia and Australia

The ritmálssafn orðabókar háskólans makes mention of two genuine Icelandic names for Europe:
1) Kvöldlönd (based upon the German 'Abendland', which, in the Old World's view, before the Columbian period of discoveries, was antonymous to 'the lands of the rising sun, the morning lands' (Asia)) and
2) Norðurálfa (Northern continent). Derivations like 'kvöldlendingur' or 'kvöldlenskur' are possible, but there happens to be a better option.

The SnorraEdda mentions a second name for the European mainland: Enea, derived from the name Aeneas, the Troyan hero, who fled to Carthago and later to Italy, where he was thought to be an ancester of Romulus, founder of the city of Rome. Unfortunately, this name is troublesome to construct derivations with: Enneskur??, Ennverji, Enjungur. Not possible.

It's regrettable that I or anybody else have apparently never tried an adjectival derivation of 'aftann' with the suffixes -anskur or -neskur, often observed in toponymic derivations like rússneskur, lettneskur, tyrkneskur. Aftneskur or aftanskur (Dat. of aftann is 'aftni') is just a derivation of "aftann" while at the same time it LUCKILY sounds as being derived from a place-name, which is interesting. It miraculously leans itself to an appropriate Icelandic equivalent for 'European'. It is the ideal word to refer to Europeans, less akward as 'kvöldlenskur'. This is very interesting and opens up new possibilities.

Let's observe the following construction:

Aftanálfa (evening continent): Europe (Some argue that 'evening land' should be interpreted in a narrower sense, applying only to 'Western Europe'. This problem is solved by making use of 'álfa' instead of 'land'.)
aftneskur, aftanskur: European
Eftningur, aftneskur (aftanskur probably resembles 'afganskur' too much) maður, Aftani (maybe too much like Afgani): European (inhabitant)
Eftningahreyfingin: European movement (Evrópuhreyfingin)
Aftneska húsið í Strætisborg (í Stransborg, Steinvegarborg): Palais de l' Europe. (The original name of Strassbourg is the old texts is Stransborg, which was later replaced by Strætisborg (Old Latin name Stratisburgum, fortress at the (stone or Roman) road. Still, it is possible to form an even more genuine Icelandic name for the city: 'stræti' refers to a "Roman road", which were the first roads in Europe made of 'stone'. The original meaning of the word is explained in the Íslensk orðsifjabók as 'Steinlagður vegur'. Let's use 'steinvegur' as the pure equivalent of the latinism 'stræti'. The name for Strassbourg then becomes the ultra-pure Steinvegarborg)
aftneska þingið: European parliament
Aftneska bandalagið: European communion
Aftnesk-Indversk tungumál: Indo-European languages
Aftneska Efnahagsbandalagið
: European Economic community
afti
: Euro (currency unit, yes, the 'n', a part of the stem is lost, but so is the last syllable of the name Europa in 'Euro'., So why not using Afta- as the equivalent of constructions with Euro-)
aftneskur eyrir: Eurocent
aftneskur dalur: Eurodollar
að aftneska: to europeanize
aftneskun
: europeanization
Aftasýn, Eftningasýn
: Eurovision
Aftnesk söngvakeppni: Eurovision song contest

Aftanshafið: Atlantic Ocean (From Old German 'Abendmeer' (Evening sea, Google "abendmeer atlantische". I should have conceived this long before. Indeed, in the traditional, Old world view, the far east of asia is regarded as the "Land of Dawn", hence the Pacific could be described as the 'Sea of dawn' and the Atlantic ocean is the 'sea of the evening land', the atlantic ocean. Although there's no real term for the atlantic ocean in the Old Icelandic writs, the denotation 'aftanshaf' is so obvious (and more so because the German 'Abendmeer' existed in this meaning) that no reference to an old Icelandic word is needed.)
Aftanshafssambandið: NATO
Aftanshafsfylki: Atlantic states (USA)
Aftanshafshryggur (Jörmungandshryggur)
: Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Reginland: Eurasia (The prefix 'Regin-' denotes something 'huge' and is used here to designate a huge 'Meginland'. The Eurasian continent is the largest landmass on the planet.
Reginlenskur: Eurasian
Aftnesk-Austurlenskur: Eurasian

NB: But kvelskur (kveld-skur, 'd' is lost like in 'land - lenskur'), kvelskur maður is also possible

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Bjóðveig eða hvatn (whiskey)

1) hvatn
Whiskey means 'water of life' in Gaelic uisge beatha and is here expressed by a fusion between the adjective hvatur (quick, lively, brisk) and vatn (water).

2) bjóðvatn
The part -bjóður in Magbjóður means 'life' and derives This word from Scottish Gaelic beatha, which means 'life'. Coincidentially, it is the second element in the term uisge beatha, meaning 'water of life, a word that has been corrupted quite heavily in the course of time until it took shape as the modern whiskey. This means that the prefix bjóð- can be used to form the Gaelic-Icelandic hybrid neologism bjóðveig, which is more appropriate than fjörveig, because quite some other alcoholic beverages in the world are coincidentially designated as 'water of life', the Scandinavian aquavit being a prominent example. The prefix bjóð- is a hyponym ('dog' is a hyponym of 'animal')of fjör restricted to the Celtic regions. Hermann Pálsson mentions in his book 'Keltar á Íslandi' a second form: bjó-, occuring in the the masculine personal name Bjólan, which is a constructed of the elements beó (lively) and lán (full).

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Njúka, kleyfsa or sveppa (to nuke)

1) kleyfsa:
If there wasn't any possible way to make a short verb equivalent to English verb 'nuke', I would use 'að kleyfsa', the verbal form of the name Kleyfsi, the name of an 18th century Latin grammar-school handbook.
Kleyfsi k. (18. öld) nafn á latn. -ísl. orðabók frá 1738. Nucleus latinitatis. Líklega einskonar gæluorðsmyndun skólapilta af fyrri lið latneska titilsins, nucleus (from which the verb 'to nuke' is derived) = kjarni. (Íslensk orðsifjabók)
The funny thing about this, is that the phonetical ravages of the Latin word nucleus by 18th century grammar-schoolboys resulted into a word (kleyfsi), of which the unsuffixed part sounds identically with the stem of the adjective 'kleyfur', which links the word 'nucleus' with the concept of 'nuclear fission'. In the 18th century, no one had any clue about the structure of the atom let alone about the fact that isotopes of heavy elements could be split resulting into an incredible burst of energy. As for atomic theory, science hadn't evolved any single bit further than what the Greek philosopher Democritos hypothesized more than two thousand years earlier: an unfissile, uncleavable unit of matter, which he called 'atomos' (undividable, unfissile). Without them or anybody else ever being aware of this, 18th century Icelandic grammar-schoolboys gave a hint to a key phenomenon in nuclear physics, a 20th centruy science. What a weird coincidence!
Yes, kleyfsi and its verbal derivation kleyfsa are latisisms, but they are so dramatically cannibalized, thanks to phonoadaptative endeavours of 18th century Icelandic schoolboys that it can almost be regarded as being "genuine". So if there was a need for an equivalent of the English 'to nuke' (until now the long and troublesome 'gera kjarnorkuárás á' is used) I would prefer kleyfsi above the Anglophile construction 'að njúka'.

2) njúka (nýk, njúkum, nauk, nukum, ég er nokinn)
If it is going to be 'að njúka' I would decline it like strong verbs on -úka, because they all (except for 'strjúka') display some semantical relevance with regard to the idea of a "nuclear attack":
ljúka, lúka: the idea of 'ending something'
fjúka: also means 'to snow', scatter by the wind (could refer to the fall-out aftermath)
rjúka: smoke steam, blow away, all relevant in connection to the idea of nuclear attack.

3) sveppa
And last but not least, we have 'að sveppa' (to mushroom), refering to the form of a nuclear explosion, but this applies also to explosions in general, if they are powerful enough.)

Douglas McArthur

Thanks to the wealth of old Icelandicized Irish personal names it is possible to construct hiberno-Icelandic forms Irish names born by contemporary people. The name "Douglas MacArthur", for instance, can be transformed into Dufglás MagArtús.
The first element 'Duf-' means 'dark' and occurs in 'Dufgus' and 'Dufgall' (Modern English Dougall), the second is adapted as -glás.
The pet-form of Douglas, Doug, would be 'Duggi'.
Constructions of surnames beginning with 'mac-' can be formed after the example 'Magbjóður', the Icelandic form of the name MacBeth, mentioned in the book "Keltar á Íslandi" by Hermann Pálsson. The first element 'mag-'could be regareded as being an adaptation of the Gaelic word but also as the stem of 'mögur' (an old word for 'son', which is indogermanicly related to the Scottish mac). The second element is a nominative form, where one would normally expect a genive (Magartúsar), but being literary traditionalists, we prefer to stick to the example 'Magbjóður', where the second element is in the nominative form,, so Magartús instead of Magartúsar it is.

Smyrjólfsbáfjáni (Anubis Baboon)

Smyfjólfur is an Icelandic descriptive neonym to denote the Egytian jackal-god (refsbróðir or gullúlfur, hence the ending -ólfur) who was the embalming god: smyrj- + ólfur (sounds like Brynjólfur). Báfjáni is a spoonerism of fábjáni, an age-old Icelandic word, and resulted to my surprise in an eccentric but yet colourful, somewhat playful further icelandification of 'bavíani'. I was somewhat frustrted with 'bavían(i). The South African have their Bobbejaan, the English have their Baboon, which are colourful adaptations of the original Latin word Papio (Papi? rhymes on "api").
http://extremeicelandic.blogspot.com/2010/12/baboon-bafjani.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism

Monday, November 7, 2011

Various neologisms

Fuglshausey: New Guinea (After the famous 'Bird's head peninsula' at the westernmost part of the island. The name was founded on the form of the island, which looked like a sitting bird, the head of which was called 'bird head's peninsula' http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogelkop
Austurfuglshausey: Papua New Guinea
Papuan: papverskur; Papverji, papversk tungumál

Melkur (Melks-): Moloch (The first element in Melkjör is identical to the Hebrew word for 'king', melek and the name Moloch. I choose 'Melkur instead of Melki, because the latter could be a pet-form of the Icelandic personal name Melkjör.)

terfi: taurine (amino-acid in energy drinks. the name of the substance was derived from Latin 'taurus' (bull, Icelandic 'tarfur')

The shoulders of the world

Is it really far fetched to call Alaska the shoulder-state (Axlarríki, Axlrískur; there's no 'state' at the eastern (Russian) shoulder of the world), or to call the Bering strait Axlasund (the strait between Ýmir's shoulders) and the Indian race 'Axlsyndingar' (people who crossed the "shoulder-strait", refering to the part of the Mongolian race that crossed the strait and became the native inhabitants of the America's)?
No, not really. The Afro-Eurasian and American landmass get "narrower up north" if you move towards the outermost eastern and western extremes. When you make the comparison with a human body, in this case the body of the mythological giant Ýmir, from whose flesh the earth was created, it would take a complete anatomically illiterate to fail to see the comparison with 'shoulders'. I googled 'shoulder of the world' and I'm quite surprised that these geographical epithets for Alaska and easternmost Siberia are unexistent.
My idea of 'shoulders of the world is mainly based upon the notion of 'east' and 'west', which is according to some arbitrary. But it isn't. On the contrary. This notion is well-founded upon a almost universally established traditional view of the world that actually does make sense from both a geographical and a geological viewpoint. Most cultures living on the Afro-Eurasian landmass, the so-called 'Old World', considered Europe as being the 'evening land' (hence the German denotation 'Abendland'), or the western part of the world. Asians sometimes refer to their countries as 'Morning land', the East. The America's were considered to lie 'at the westernmost side of the world' instead of "more eastern than Asia". This makes sense from a geological viewpoint. On the original Pangaean Continent, the part what is now called America, was the western part of the ancient landmass and Asia was the eastern part. The formation of the Atlantic does by no means have to cast doubt on the fact that the America's can be considered to lie "West".
Another Argument is the establishment of the position of the Prime Meridian. In this respect, the landmasses have never in geological history been so well tectonicly arranged for an intelligent species to establish a prime meridian for their homeworld. The Easternmost part of the Eurasian Landmass is only narrowly separated from the Westernmost part of the American continent by the Bering strait. If you draw a line from the North to the South-pole through the middle of this narrow strait the line at the other end of the planet coincidentially runs through London, a fact which has possibly inspired some Anglophiles and British chauvenists in the past to think that God arranged the landmasses and the seas for the convenience of the British Navy. No, it is merely a coincidence that just now of all times, when intelligence on this planet begins to develop, the landmasses are lying so well tectonicly arranged (The Bering strait!) that even a moron might come up with the same suggestion for the position of a prime meridian.

Alaska: Axlarríki
Indian race: Axlsyndingur (axlsundungur), rauða kynið
Bering strait: Axlasund
Aleutian islands: Axlaeyjar, Axleyskur (Aleutian), Axleyingar (aleutian people)
Bering sea: Axlahaf

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Miklhellisbúi (Cro-Magnon)


The first element 'Cro' in 'Cro Magnon' is presumably a dialectal form of creux, meaning "cavity" or "hollow". Forms like "crau", "cro" or "crouè" are found in French dialects, and each of them probably derives, through the hypothetical Vulgar Latin *crosus, from a Celtic root. The second element "Magnon" is almost definitely the augmentative of the Old French adjective "magne", derived from the Latin magnus, meaning "large" or "great" and ultimately deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *megh- (related to English much and Icelandic 'mikill'). Thus, the probable original meaning is ""large cave". The Icelandic name for the Cro-Magnon man is "Miklhellisbúi".