[gothic-l] Re: Name origin and meaning

[sverre_johnsen at HOTMAIL.COM]

> You're right, Sverre!!  There are some foreign words in Icelandic,
such as 
> "bill", which is derived from automoBIL, and "stræti" which most
probably 
> comes from Danish "straede", 

Oh come on! That has got to come from Old Norse "stræti", which is
a loan from Old English "stræt", which again is a loan from Latin
"strâta via".

>and "vagn"  which comes from Danish "vogn", 

I would say it comes from Old Norse "vagn".

>However, 
> word borrowings from foreign languages into Icelandic are rare
indeed, and 
> Icelandic has an aversion toward borrowings.  In fact, virtually
all 
> scientific vocabulary in Icelandic (medical, engineering, physics,
etc.) is 
> homemade, i.e., inherently Icelandic,  a phenomenon unheard of in
the 
> linguistic world!

That's precisely why Icelandic is so lovely!

Sverre


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