[gothic-l] Re: Analysis/Reconstruction of *Biari

[Håkan]

--- In gothic-l at y..., "M. Carver" <matt at i...> wrote:
> Reading through the Gothic Dictionary of Koebler, I came across 
this word.
> 
> Unbiari, Nia "wild beast, animal, brute".
> 
> Un- is obvious, but *biari was unexplained. After some 
investigation, I have
> come to the conclusion that 'biarj-' arises from two elements: bi-
 "on,
> about" + arj- "plough", hence "that on which a plow can be 
harnessed," >
> "something tamed" or possibly "a domestic beast of burden, ox, ass, 
etc." I
> think the definition of a general tamed or domesticated animal fits
> perfectly with the meanings for unbiari, subtracting the un-. Let 
me know
> what you think.
> 
> Matþaius

Hails Matþaius!
That word "biari" made me think about a similar word in nordic 
believs.
In south Scandinavian tradition is the word 'biera'or 'bjära'. That 
means a creature that comes to the domesticised animals like cows and 
goats at nights, and drain them of power and milk. In islendic 
tradition it´s called 'tillbera', that could mean "carry-to". The 
myths are alike as far as I can understand. It´s usually a women, a 
whitch, who put sticks, cloths and threads together. She says a magic 
spell and the cloth comes to life and must work for here. It just 
have to fed time by time with milk. It when goes out to milk the 
neighbours and other peoples cows. It takes away luck from the other 
farms to give everything to hi´s owner. Maybe it was a way to explain 
why some peasants were lucky and some continued to have misfortune.
"They are draining us from good fortune", could have been said by 
many farmers about their neighbours 150-200 years ago. And in some 
cases old people would suspect a 'biera'.


Håkan Liljeberg


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