[gothic-l] Re: ASILUKAIRNUS

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Ingemar Nordgren" <ingemar at n...> 
wrote:
> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "faltin2001" <dirk at s...> wrote:
>  
> 
> > I am interested in the word  "fairhwus" for world. Can you think 
of 
> > an equivalent in another Germanic language. All the other words 
are 
> > more or less easily recognisable but "fairhwus" is not, at least 
not 
> > for me. Could it be a loanword? Old high German has "mittingart" 
for 
> > world and "aerdha" for lat. terra. Also, "hliftus" for thief does 
not 
> > remind me of a Germanic equivalent.
> 
> Hi Dirk,
> 
> This is a complicated word and there are only relative guesses about
> the etymology as far as I (and Streitberger)  can say. Fairhwus is
> principally the  same word as Fjörgyn, the mother of Þórr, who also 
is
> called Jord/Earth. ON 'fjör', n. = leben/live, lebende Person/living
> person, pl. 'firar´=men. In Ags. is the  phrase'mid firihun' 
OHG 'mid
> firahim' meaning 'among the humans, the living'. The closest 
relative
> is I think 'Fjörgyn' and 'fjör' in strict etymological sense and 
hence
> we can  assume it means 'the humans living on the Earth' rather than
> the more technical ´world'. In that case the Nordic 'kringla
> heims´says a lot more. It is anyhow interesting since it indicates 
the
> word has a religious origin. 
> 
> This is the best I can offer you!
> 
> Best greetings
> Ingemar



Hi Ingemar,

very good, you are right. I forgot the Old Bavarian Wessobrunn prayer 
which starts:

"Dat gafregin ih mit firahim firiuuizzo meista, 
dat ero ni uuas noh ûfhimil, 
noh paum ... noh pereg ni uuas, ni ... nohheinîig 
noh sunna ni scein, 
no mâno ni liuhta, 
noh der mâreo sêo. ...."

Trans.:

"I learned this from 'humanity/the world of humans' that there is no 
greater wonder ... "

Hence, Gothic "fairhwus" is almost certainly related to Old Bavarian 
(oHG) "firahim', both meaning 'humanity/world of humans', possibly in 
a more spiritual way, as you said. Also, the Old High German 
(Alamannic) form "firahi", meaning folk/people is attested, for 
example in the form 'smalafirahi' meaning  the comon/little folk.

Cheers
Dirk





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