Orð og tunga - 01.06.2008, Side 103

Baldur jónsson: Klambrar saga
Abstract
93
This paper describes the morphological development of the feminine noun klömbur (<
klombr < *klambrö), from its first occurrences in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
to modern times. Its basic meaning is 'tightness' and it was used as a term for vice
and as a place name as well. The present paper focuses on the common noun.
The declension of klömbur was the regular one for ö-stems, but the fourteenth-
century development of epenthetic u (klömbr > klömbur) gave rise to a new word,
klömbrur (fem. plur.) 'vice(s)', first attested in the early seventeenth century. This plu-
ral noun had no singular counterpart, klambra 'vice', until around 1900.
It is argued that klömbru-, as a first member in compounds, is derived from klömbr-
ur, rather than being the gen. sing. of klambra, e.g. in klömbruhnaus, a term for a certain
type of turfblock (used in wall building), first attested in the middle of the nineteenth
century. Furthermore, it is argued that klambra, with the same meaning, occurs only
locally after 1900 as a shortened form of klömbruhnaus.
The late appearances of klömbruhnaus and klambra are unexpected since it had
been assumed that both were medieval terms.
Baldur Jónsson
Tómasarhaga 22
107 Reykjavík
baldur@hi.is