hǫrgr

Old Norse

FWOTD – 30 April 2015

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *harugaz (“sanctuary, cairn, grove”). Cognate with Old English hearg, hearga, Old High German harug, haruc, haruch. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱarǝk- (“fenced or enclosed area”).

Pronunciation

  • (12th century Icelandic) IPA(key): /ˈhɒrɣr̩/

Noun

hǫrgr m (genitive hǫrgs, plural hǫrgar)

  1. (Germanic paganism) a sanctuary, cairn, altar
    • Hyndluljóð, verse 10, lines 1-2, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 83:
      Hörg hann mér gerði · hlaðinn steinum, […]
      A cairn he made for me, loaded with stones […]

Declension

Declension of hǫrgr (strong a-stem)
masculine singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative hǫrgr hǫrgrinn hǫrgar hǫrgarnir
accusative hǫrg hǫrginn hǫrga hǫrgana
dative hǫrgi hǫrginum hǫrgum hǫrgunum
genitive hǫrgs hǫrgsins hǫrga hǫrganna

Derived terms

  • blóthǫrgr (“sacrificial altar”)
  • brúnahǫrgr (“head”)
  • gunnhǫrgr (“helmet”)

Descendants

  • Icelandic: hörgur m
  • Faroese: hørgur m
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: horg m
  • Norwegian Bokmål: horg m
  • Old Swedish: hargher m
    • Swedish: harg c, horg c, horv c
  • Danish: harg c, hørg c

Further reading

  • Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “hǫrgr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 311
  • Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “hörgr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 226; also available at the Internet Archive
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