skrælingi
Icelandic
Etymology
Noun
skrælingi m (genitive singular skrælingja, nominative plural skrælingjar)
- barbarian
- Synonyms: barbari m, villimaður m
- (archaic, derogatory) Greenlander, person from Greenland
Declension
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | skrælingi | skrælinginn | skrælingjar | skrælingjarnir |
| accusative | skrælingja | skrælingjann | skrælingja | skrælingjana |
| dative | skrælingja | skrælingjanum | skrælingjum | skrælingjunum |
| genitive | skrælingja | skrælingjans | skrælingja | skrælingjanna |
Old Norse
FWOTD – 11 January 2018
Etymology
Uncertain. There are several suggested origins:
- Derived from an unattested adjective *skræll (“poor, puny”), compare Norwegian skral (“poor, ill, bad”), Dutch schraal (“poor, scanty”);[1]
- Fortescue et al. (1994) propose relation to skrá (“dried skin”), in reference to the animal pelts worn by the Inuit;[1][2]
- May be linked to skrælna (“to be shrivelled, e.g. by the sun”);[1]
- Onomatopoeic origin has been proposed by William Thalbitzer (1932), compare skrækja (“to screech, shriek”).[3]
Pronunciation
- (12th century Icelandic) IPA(key): /ˈskrɛːlɪ̃ŋɡɪ/
Noun
skrælingi m (genitive skrælinga, plural skrælingar or skrælingjar)
- a native of Greenland or Vinland
- a. 1265, chapter 12, in Eiríks saga rauða [Saga of Erik the Red]; republished as Haukr Erlendsson, compiler, Hauksbók[1], a. 1334:
- Þat bar til ad gridungr liop or skoge er þeir karlsefni attu ok gellr hat. þat felast vid skrelingar ok laupa vt a keipana ok ʀeru sidan sudr fyri landit. verdr þa ekki uart uid þa þríar uikur i samt.
- [Þat bar til, at griðungr hljóp ór skógi, er þeir Karlsefni áttu, ok gellr hátt. Þetta fælast skrælingar ok hlaupa út á keipana ok reru síðan suðr fyrir landit. Verðr þá ekki vart við þá þrjár vikur í samt.]
- Now it came to pass that a bull, which belonged to Karlsefni's people, rushed out of the wood and bellowed loudly at the same time. The Skrælingar, frightened thereat, rushed away to their canoes, and rowed south along the coast. There was then nothing seen of them for three weeks together.
Declension
| masculine | singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | skrælingi | skrælinginn | skrælingar, skrælingjar | skrælingarnir, skrælingjarnir |
| accusative | skrælinga | skrælingann | skrælinga, skrælingja | skrælingana, skrælingjana |
| dative | skrælinga | skrælinganum | skrælingum, skrælingjum | skrælingunum, skrælingjunum |
| genitive | skrælinga | skrælingans | skrælinga, skrælingja | skrælinganna, skrælingjanna |
Derived terms
- skrælingaland
- skrælingaskip
Descendants
- Icelandic: skrælingi (“barbarian”)
- Faroese: skrælingur
- Norwegian Nynorsk: skræling
- Swedish: skräling
- Danish: skrælling (“wimp, weakling”)
- Norwegian Bokmål: skrelling
- → English: Skraeling
- →? Greenlandic: kalaaleq (“Greenlander”)
- West Greenlandic Pidgin: kralit
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) “skrælingi”, in Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
- ^ Michael Fortescue, Steven Jacobson, Lawrence Kaplan (1994) “kalaaliq”, in Comparative Eskimo dictionary: with Aleut cognates, Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 153, column 2
- ^ William Thalbitzer (1932) Fra Grønlandsforskningens første dage (in Danish), Copenhagen: Bianco Luno, page 14
- Ernst Håkon Jahr, Ingvild Broch, editors (1996), “kralit”, in “Appendix II: Comments on the words in Meyer's list”, in Language contact in the Arctic: Northern Pidgins and Contact Languages (Trends in linguistics: Studies and monographs; 88), Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 233
- Kirsten A. Seaver (March 2008) “Pygmies of the Far North”, in Journal of World History[2], volume 19, number 1, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, pages 63–87
- van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “schraal”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute