Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2000, Page 107

Flugur, smágreinar og umræðuefni
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SUMMARY
Two sources of heat in life’
Keywords: etymology, metaphors, loanwords
According to etymological dictionaries, the word sofn in Old Icelandic is a loanword
from early Irish sorn. It is said to refer to some sort of an oven (used to dry straw) and
considered related to Lat.furnus ‘oven’.
In the present paper it is argued, however, that it is not enough to consider plain
and straightforward etymological relationships and literal meanings of words when
studying their interrelations and role in the language. The Latin word furnus (earlier
fornus) refers to an oven of vaulted shape, related to the name of the goddess of ovens,
Fornax. This goddess was celebrated in ancient Rome and the celebration was refer-
rcd to as Fornacalia. Although it is not clear in any detail what went on during this
celebration, the word is reminiscent of the English verb fornicate, which is apparent-
'y a French loanword in English and of Latin origin and clearly related tofurnus (or
fornus). The central idea of this paper is that a metaphor is involved here, connecting
fio'nus/fornus (‘an oven of vaulted shape’) and Mons Veneris and thus some of the
activities related to these, because of similarities in shape, the heat involved etc. Inter-
estingly, however, Icelandic has borrowed the corresponding word from Irish with an
•nitial s- instead of /-, namely as sofn, making it possible to adopt this loanword into
ihe family of words related to svefn ‘sleep’ and thus add another dimension to the
game of metaphors (cf. ‘sleeping together’ etc.).
Based on examples of this sort, the author argues that etymologists, lexicologists
and other linguists cannot afford to neglect the metaphorical aspect of language, alt-
i'uugh they typically tend to do so.
Davíð Erlingsson
Flenskuskor
Fáskóla íslands
'S-101 Reykjavík, ÍSLAND
davide@hi.is