Harfaðafjǫll

Old Norse

Etymology

The first element is cognate to Latin Carpates and displays the effects of Grimm's law, making this the sole attestation in any Germanic language of the inherited Germanic name of this mountain range. Tentatively, the Proto-Germanic reflex of the Carpathian ethnonym may thus have been *harbaþaz. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) The second element, fjǫll, is simply the plural of fjall (“mountain”).[1]

Proper noun

Harfaðafjǫll n pl

  1. (hapax legomenon) the Carpathian Mountains

References

  1. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977) “Harfaðafjǫll”, in Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Old Norse Etymological Dictionary]‎[1] (in German), 2nd revised edition, Leiden: Brill, page 211
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