Re: Oh, Boii

On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 01:41:16 +0200, Trond Engen
<trondnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:nOqdneMC_ogKyoza4p2dnAA@xxxxxxxxxxx> in sci.lang:

Brian M. Scott skreiv:

[...]

[My mother's] earliest traceable ancestor, Matz Selven,
was at Selva, which I was amused to find mentioned in
Haraldar saga hárfagra: 'Eiríkr konungr fór um vetrinn
eftir norðr á Mæri og tók veizlu í Sölva fyrir innan
Agðanes'.

Locally pronounced /sæ2£ven/ (2 for tone 2 and £ for
retroflex l -- I think the written e makes this a case
of phonemic representation) according to Oluf Rygh:
Norske Gaardnavne (<http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh
_felt.html>).

S&S give that as the older pronunciation and say that it's
now usually /sæ2£va/.

It's an interesting name in more than one respect. Rygh
doesn't explain it beyond saying that it's probably
originally the name of the bay. And it's masculine,
which opens for another quick look at the Norwegian
language situation:

S&S offer the same suggestion, but with a few more details:

Har vel opphavleg vore namn på den smale
fjordarmen som går innover til garden. Etter
E. Vågslid (Allkunneboka 9) kan S[elva] setjast
til gno. _so,lr_ adj 'bleik, gusten', og det kunne
høve godt om den indre, grunne og leirfylte
delen av fjorden.

The form <Selva> seems to be a hypercorrect adjustment to
spoken language, imposing the feminine ending on a
masculine name. There are regular complaints regarding
the gender of placenames in maps, usually because the
authority on these matters -- Statens Kartverk -- has
chosen a feminine nominative ending in a feminine name,
while the locals speak of their home in the dative case,
using an ending identical to the masculine nominative --
which is considered prestigeous. Or Kartverket may have
chosen to use the dative form in this one.

S&S mention an attestation of <i Selwe> ~1520, presumably
representing ON <í Sölva> (found as <i So,lfua> in at least
one Icelandic ms.).

If so, they aren't consistent.

Brian
.

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