Gripla - 20.12.2018, Qupperneq 153

153
Here I will propose that the analogues in old English and other West
Germanic languages can be used to clarify the origin of the word aldrnari.
In order to do this the etymology, formation and meaning of the words in
question will be considered in some detail.
3.1. The formation of *ealdorneru, *aldorneru
the first part of the compound noun *ealdorneru, *aldorneru is obviously
ealdor, aldor ‘life, age’, while the second component, the feminine ō-stem
*-neru, is derived from a verb that is attested in Old English as nerian ‘save’
and with a prefix as ge-nerian ‘save, deliver, take away, set free, preserve,
defend’;48 this verb is cognate with old Saxon nerian, Old High German
nerien ‘save, heal; nourish’, and Gothic nasjan ‘save’.49 Thus, the verb in
question occurs in West Germanic and Gothic, going back to a form which
can be reconstructed as *nazjan-.50 It does not seem to be attested in North
Germanic. While the old Icelandic verb næra ‘nourish’ is no doubt related
to *nazjan-, it must reflect a form with a different root vocalism, recon-
structed as *nōzjan-.51
numerous examples of the old English verb nerian ‘save’ are found in
Bosworth and toller’s dictionary, including this one:
Wyrd oft nereþ unfǽgne eorl
[Destiny often saves a man who is not fey]52
a further example, attested in the old English Orosius (or. 2, 5), is notable
in that the verb occurs with the object noun feorh ‘life’, corresponding to
the members of the compound *feorhneru:
... þæt hé mehte his feorh generian.
[that he might save his life.]53
48 Bosworth and toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 716, 421.
49 See, e.g., Ferdinand Holthausen, Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (Heidelberg:
Winter, 1962) 234, who also brings up the old High German noun neri ‘Heil, rettung,
nahrung’.
50 Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, 385.
51 Kroonen, Ibid., 392.
52 Bosworth and toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 716 (s.v. nerian).
53 Ibid., 1015 (s.v. trog).
ALDRNARI