Orð og tunga - 26.04.2018, Page 30

Helgi Skúli Kjartansson: Sproti. Geta fornar skógarnytjar ... 19
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Lykilorð
merkingarþróun, forníslenska, skógarnytjar
Keywords
semantic development, Old Icelandic, forestry
Abstract
The Old Norse noun sproti (masc.) displays a variety of meanings, only some of
which are preserved in Modern Icelandic. The present article seeks, largely on the
basis of material from the Copenhagen Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (ONP), to map
the usage of the term and its compounds. Many of the occurrences in old texts have
religious overtones, either Christian – partly as a translation of Lat. virga – or pagan
– especially in connection with the god Óðinn, while others concern tales of magic
and fantasy.
Down-to-earth use of the term is too rare for its basic meaning to clearly occur.
It is, however, tempting to connect it with the common practice of coppicing or
pollarding trees for a variety of uses, from tree hay to firewood, including any sort
of poles or sticks. The term sproti would then primarily refer to the young stems
harvested from such trees and secondarily to fancier magic wands and regal sceptres,
even when made of ivory or gold.
The Odinic reyrsproti and laufsproti might then refer to tender stems used, respec-
tively, for fastening (cf. vb. reyra ‘tie’) and for animal feed.
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