[ANSTHRLD] Bjorn and Ulfhedinn

[C. L. Ward]

Aryanhwy said (in re: how to spell the Old Norse form of "Bjorn"):
>If you're going for the standard scholarly
>form, it's neither:  The <o> is supposed to
>be an o-ogenek.  This character was replaced
>in modern times with o-umlaut, so you'll
>sometimes find it recorded in that fashion,
>in places where the o-ogenek is not reproducable.

A lot of sources (including the Cleasby-Vigfusson Old Icelandic Dictionary)
use o-umlaut (ö, the o with two dots above, or using a PC's numeric keypad,
ALT+0246) and the explanation I've seen given is because the sound is quite
similar between the two.

Web usage and even MS Word usage are starting to show this character as
o-circumflex (ô, the o wearing a caret on top, or using a PC's numeric
keypad, ALT+0244), since not even Microsoft's Pan-European Windows Glyph
List 4 (WGL4) manages to include either o-cedilla and o-ogenek.

Quoth "BOWERMAN, MATTHEW S. (JSC-DV6) (USA)":
>> I have looked at  (Bjorn Úlfhedinn) as well.

Aryanhwy resplied:
>That's <Úlfheðinn>, which is a given name.  The
>Norse didn't use either unmarked patronyms or
>double give names, so if you want to have both
>elements, I recommend making <Úlfheðinn> into a
>patronym, which would be <Úlfheðinsson>, I believe.

Remembering that I'm using these encodings (the real diacriticals hash up
pretty bad in some email programs):

<u'> = ú or u-acute
<U'> = Ú or U-acute
<e'> = é or e-acute
<a'> = á or a-acute
<o'> = ó or o-acute
<{dh}> = ð or edth, the unvoiced "th"

Actually, it's both a personal name and a common noun, lowercase
<u'lfhe'{dh}inn> (note the e-acute in the middle), which is literally
"wolf-hide; wolf-skin" but has the meaning of "berserker" (See
Cleasby-Vigfusson p. 668 s.v. <u'lfhe'{dh}inn>). For example, see "Haralds
saga ha'rfagra" ch. 19 (http://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/har-har.htm), where
the poet Hornklofi uses both <berserkir> and <u'lfhe'{dh}nar> as synonyms,
and clearly neither is being used here as a personal name:

"The dreadful din you well might hear
Savage berserks roaring mad,
And champions fierce in wolf-skins clad,
Howling like wolves; and clanking jar
Of many a mail-clad man of war."
(From the OMACL translation at
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Heimskringla/harfager.html)

Interestingly enough, when I go and look at Landna'mabo'k
(http://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/landnama.htm), I find the personal name in
chs. 46, 59, and 65 as <U'lfhe{dh}inn>, without the e-acute that appears in
the common noun.  But Cleasby-Vigfusson, p. 668 s.v. <U'lfr>, has the
personal name as <U'lfhe'{dh}inn> and does use the e-acute.  Weird.

Also see the synonym <u'lfhamr> "wolf-skin", shown in "Hervarar saga og
Hei{dh}reks" ch. 15(http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/hervar.htm) in use as a
by-name for the son of King Angantyr, <Hei{dh}rekr u'lfhamr> (See
Cleasby-Vigfusson p. 668 s.v. <u'lfhamr>).

Based on the documented by-name <u'lfhamr>, I don't see any problem with a
by-name of <u'lfhe'{dh}inn>.

::GUNNVOR::