Category Archives: words

Coca þola

Posted on December 30, 2022 by JE

I was looking up þola in Cleasby & Vigfusson this afternoon even though I was pretty sure I knew what it meant, which is a totally normal thing to do. They said it meant “endure”, as I expected, and connected … Continue reading →

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Who’s Nest?

Posted on December 28, 2022 by JE

I was looking up  the Old Norse word nestbaggi (“bag for provisions”) and wondering about the etymon of nest (“provisions”). Is it the same as English nest (like, where birds live)? I still don’t know; it looks doubtful. But apparently English … Continue reading →

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Scale vs. Scale

Posted on December 21, 2022 by JE

While looking up something today, I got lost in the dictionary (an almost daily occurrence around here). I ended up finding out that scale in the sense of “a calibrated line” (etc.) isn’t related at all to scale from a … Continue reading →

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The Ygg and I

Posted on July 28, 2022 by JE

Today I’m thinking about Weird water and eggs. Snorri says that the first root of Yggdrasil comes down in Ásgarð and that next to it is the Pool of Weird. The Norns come out to it each day and splash … Continue reading →

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Good for the Gander?

Posted on July 21, 2022 by JE

Apparently the gands that appear in Gandalf and in Jǫrmungandr (the name of the world-girdling serpent in Norse myth) are really the same root. Cleasby and Vigfusson say “the exact sense of this word is somewhat dubious; it is mostly … Continue reading →

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