Rosomil, Rosmunda, Rosamunda (and Rosomoni)

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "ualarauans" <ualarauans at ...> wrote:
>
> Incidentally, how will we reconstruct the name in Gothic - *Sibika 
> M.-an (a shortform of a name with Sibja-?) or *Bikk(j)a? In the 
> latter case a folk-etymological connection with "bitch" seems 
> arguable.

I had *Sibika once in an earlier version of that there poem; in fact,
I was even calling it Sibikins liuþ at one point. In Hervarar saga,
Heidrek's treacherous wife is called Sifka (and she's the daugher of
the Hunnish King Humli). If the name reached Scandinavia from West
Germanic sources at some time after the ôn-stems became restricted to
feminine words and the an-stems to masculine, that would account for
the name being applied to a female character.

> Was there anything like *bikkjusonr in ON?

There was indeed: 'bikkjusonr' (son of a bitch), 'bikkjuhvelpr' (whelp
of a bitch), 'bikkjustakkr' (bitch's hide) as well as 'bikkja' itself
and the male 'hundr' are all attested as insults in Old Norse [
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0062.png ].
Likewise 'grey' (synonymous with 'bykkja'). I don't know if there are
any examples of ON 'tík' "bitch" used as an insult, but it wouldn't be
surprising; this latter is the source of the Modern English word 'tyke'!

Right, I think this calls for a medley of Viking repartee:

(1) Kolr mælti: "Hverr er þessi inn vándi bikkjusonrinn, er þorir at
tjalda búð þá, er ek er vanr at tjalda, ok hann er svá djarfr?"

Sturlaugr mælti: "Þú munt vita glöggvast, hverr bikkjusonrinn er, því
at hann var hér engi, áðr þú komst hér, en ef þú spyrr at nafni mínu
þá heiti ek Sturlaugr," 

Kol said, "Who is this wretched son of a bitch who makes so bold as to
dare to pitch camp in the shelter where I normally set up."

Sturlaug said, "You should know best who the son of a bitch is, seeing
as how there wasn't one here before you arrived. But if you want to
know my name, well then I'm called Sturlaug."

(Hmm, this reminds me of the pirate insults from the computer game
Monkey Island.)


(2) Ok áðr en samam kómu fylkingar, bað Hákon konungr lúðrsveininn
blása; hann blés tysvar ok heldr lágt. Konúngr mælti: "Betr blés
bikkjuhvelprinn þinn á Björgynjar bryggjum, er þú tók silfr af
mönnum." Síðan blés hann miklu betr.

And before the armies came together, King Hakon bade his trumpeter to
blow on his trumpet. He blew twice, rather quietly. The king said,
"You blew better at Bergen quay, you whelp of a bitch, when people
gave you silver." After that, he blew much better.

(I can well imagine...)


(3) Konungr lézt aldri hirða um heitingar þeira ok kvað enga dáð í
bikkjum þeim.

The king showed no concern for their threats and said there wasn't a
bit of bravery in those bitches. (=his former berserks)


(4) Boðvarr bað bikkjuna hans þegja ok kastar honum niðr í mosann.

Bodvar told the bitch to shut up and threw him down onto the moss.

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