Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Pronunciation of the old norse name FENRISULFR?

FENRIS�LFR: In mythology, this is the name of a wolf, the son of Loki and the giantess Angrbo�a, popularly translated "swamp wolf," but probably originally meaning "wolf of hell." According to Sophus Bugge, author of The Home of The Eddic Poems, this name cannot possibly mean "swamp wolf," for there does not exist in Old Norse any derivative endings as -rir, or -ris. He believes Fenrir and Fenris arose under the influence of Christian conceptions of the devil as lupus infernus, combined with tales of the Behemoth and the beast of the Apocalypse, and was altered in form in accordance with popular Old Norse etymology. He compares Old Norse fern from Latin infernus to Old Saxon fern which was derived from Latin infernum, and explains that Fenrir and Fenris must have been formed from *Fernir from fern using the endings -ir and gen. -is, both of which were very much used in mythical names, including names of giants. He goes on to explain that the later connection with fen ("fen, swamp, mire") was natural, for hell and lower regions, such as the abyss, are often connected by imagination just as they still are today.

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