[gothic-l] Re: The Langobards on Gotland, now Odin

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Anthony Appleyard wrote:

>  keth at online.no answered Gendler thus:-
>> Another correspondence is between "Frey" and "Pharaoh".
>
>  Accident. Old Norse {Freyja} and similar comes from a Germanic root "frew-"
>meaning "lord", and likely ultimately from IE {pr-} as in various prepositions
>for "in front".

Yes, that is the most sensible answer. Nevertheless, it is sometimes
fascinating to see that such accidents sometimes appear to be meaningful.
Thus the Goths use "Frauja" for "Lord". A Pharaoh is of course also a Lord.
But when you say that "Pharaoh" is Egyptian, I must of course agree.
Is it then out of the question that there is some kind of agreement
between some Hebrew and Egyptian words? After all, the two countries
are not too far removed. Also Egyptians today often call themselves
"Arabs".

The thing I read about Frøy/Frøya, is that it is related to a word
for seed (frø) and a word for fruit.
Also there is a Hebrew word "pru" that has a similar meaning.
(be fruitful and multiply) This is what I remember.
Now I can look up all these words, and maybe I will find some connection.
After all, the Mediterranean was a big lake, with all sorts of
trade going on. Maybe they even traded fruits among people
of different languages, and then they found a word starting
with "pr" or "fr" that meant "fruit" in different languages.
In this way unrelated languages may synchronize the sounds they
use to describe the same thing, even if the etymologies do
not indicate it.

Etymology I see more as a descriptive science.
There are not always definite laws that allow us to
reconstruct or predict future developments.

Best regards,
Keth



>> Those who know Hebrew may perhaps attest that there
>> is a semitic word "pru" or something like that,
>
>  "Pharaoh" is not native Hebrew but is from Egyptian: {p-r ayin-glottalstop)
>= "big house", which for a long time meant the palace, and later came to mean
>the king.
>
>> The other day we were also discussing the Old Norse name of
>> Athens as "Óðinsborg", "Oþinsborg" or some similar spelling.
>> (source = Postulo sögur, an Icelandic Ms. dealing with the vitae of the
>> apostles)
>
>Thus some Viking may have distorted the name of Athens. but it is not the
>origin of the name of Athens, or of the name of Odin. The Vikings were good at
>"Ypres to Wipers" type distortions of foreign names: e.g. Elizabeth ->
>Ellisi:f = "old-age - wire"; Jerusalem -> Jo'rsala; Sicilia -> Sikiley =
>"sickle island".
>

And they also called York "Jórvík" - same beginning as "Jórsalir".



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