Orð og tunga - 01.06.2016, Page 107

Matteo Tarsi: On the origin of Christian terminology 97
the oldest manuscripts of the Old Norse translation of the Elucidari-
us (Sherabon Firchow & Grimstad (eds.) 1989), along with its native
synonym lærifaðir. The word seems however to be used there with a
precise textual function, i.e. to introduce the teacher’s words in the
dialogue he has with his counterpart, the discipulus. Moreover, it al-
ways occurs in its abbreviated form, either M or, as Figure 4 shows,
Magist’. In the text of the dialogue only the native synonyms are used,
respectively lærifaðir and lærisveinn.
The oldest occurrences of OIc. meistari date back to the 13th cen-
tury16, where the word has the same basic meaning as OIc. magister,
while in compounds, such as skólameistari (the fi rst occurrences of
which also date from the 13th century) the word acquires the meaning
of ‘head of x’, with ‘x’ being an institution or such.
OIc. meistari is usually considered (AeW, IeW and ÍOb) to be a loan
from MLG. mēster, meister < OFr. maistre < Lat. magister. It should,
however, be noted that the Old Icelandic word is more likely to be
derived from the second of the Middle Low German variants, namely
meister, which is in turn a loan variant from OHG. meistar or MHG.
meister (cf. EWdS).
The etymology of this word would then be: Icel./OIc. meistari <
MLG. meister < OHG. meistar / MHG. meister < OFr. maistre < Lat. mag-
ister.
In the modern language, the meaning of this word has widened: it
can, in fact, be used both in its original sense of ‘teacher, mentor’ but
also in its extended sense of ‘champion’, as in the compounds heims-
meistari ‘World champion’ and meistaramót ‘championship’.
páfi : The oldest occurrence of this word (E. ‘pope’) dates to the fi rst
decade of the 12th century, in Markús Skeggjason’s Eiríksdrápa (Skjald,
A–I:444–452)17. IeW and ÍOb list two possible sources for this loan-
word: OSax. pāƀos and MLG. pāwes, while AeW considers it to be a
loan from Middle Low German.
Given the importance of this term in the ecclesiastical hierarchy,
the word most likely reached Scandinavia at the latest in the period
when Christianity was introduced in that area (9th–10th c.), making
Old Saxon the only possible candidate as lending language (cf. Hall-
dór Halldórsson 1969b:116–118 and Veturliði Óskarsson 2003:170).
16 The word appears in slightly older Norwegian sources as in a Bergen diplom from
about 1170–1190 (DN VIII:2).
17 For a complete list of the mss. in which the poem is preserved see SkP II, 1:443–444.
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