Margaret Cormack wrote:
>do you happen to know the etymology of the word "saudr" that you mention
>as a farm name? is it related to modern Icelandic "sjoda" meaning "to
boil"?
Saudr: Identical to Got. sauths (sorry, I don't have the right letter
available), 'sacrifice', originally referring to boiled mutton used in old
sacrifices; Germ. *sauthi- to *seuthan, 'boil'. In addition also, N. dial.
saud, 'boiling', old N. seyd f., 'stream of bubbling water', Gotl. saud,
'well', Anglo-S. séath, 'well' etc. This is from H. Falk & A. Torp,
Etymologisk ordbog over det norske og det danske sprog.
Saudr or pl. Saudar, farm name (cf. seydr and Sw. saud, spring).
Seydr: seething current, rapid. This is from L. Heggstad et al., Norrøn
ordbok.
The farm name is commonly translated from Old Norse as 'Spring'.
Examples of holy wells or springs in Norse mythology are, of course, Urd's
well (associated with fate) and Mimir's well (associated with wisdom), both
at the foot of the World Tree, Yggdrasil.
Thanks for the correction regarding geysirs!
Ingegerd Holand
Dr. Ingegerd Holand
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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