einir

Forms

einir m (genitive einis) (strong ija-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is usually taken as inherited from Proto-Germanic *ainijaz (“juniper”),^[1] which Kroonen writes *ainja-,^[2] while Orel, Torp and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon reconstruct it with an initial ⟨j-⟩ as *jainja-.^[3][4][5] The form with ⟨j-⟩ is meant to match Latin iūniperus (“juniper”) and Middle Irish áin (“rush”), which Orel, Torp and de Vries compare,^[3][4][6] and de Vries and Torp add iūncus (“rush”).^[6][4]

Kroonen objects that the Low German and German relatives exclude an initial ⟨j-⟩; he takes the word as an old collective and, if Hittite eian- (“a kind of evergreen tree”) is related, derives it from a static n-stem Proto-Indo-European *h₁ói-n, genitive *h₁éi-n-s.^[2] Hellquist, finding it too bold to call the German words loans from Norse, gives up the comparison with Latin.^[7] Wiktionary records the opposite view as well: a borrowing from a Vulgar Latin form of the Latin word, reshaped as if it contained ber (“berry”), in which case the West Germanic words would be loans from Norse.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Stjórn manuscript of 1312, explaining a Latin tree name: Hann settiz þar niðr vndir ęinv tre er hæitir ivnipervs. þat kalla svmir menn eini “He sat down there under a tree called iuniperus; some people call it juniper.”^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word names the juniper bush or tree, and most of ONP's citations are from religious works;^[8] a medical manuscript of 1387 advises tygg rót undan halmi (ɔ: almi) eda eini, þat tekr af verk ok festir tennr “chew a root of elm or juniper; it takes away the pain and makes the teeth firm”.^[8] In poetry it is one of the tree names of the þulur and a base word in kennings for a man, such as einir hranna elds “juniper of the fire of the waves”, that is, of gold.^[9][10] The word survives as Icelandic einir,^[5][11] and the word continues in Swedish en and Danish ene.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1312 – eini glossing Latin iuniperus in Stjórn.^[8]
• 1320–1350 – eini in the Laxdæla saga of AM 132 fol.^[12]
• 1387 – eini as a remedy in a medical manuscript.^[8]
• 1790 – einir in the first IcePaHC text with the word, by IcePaHC's dating.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. juniper, the juniper bush or tree.^[8][14][15]
2. (poetic) in kennings, the base word of a periphrasis for a man.^[9][10]

Word family

• einiber

Descendants

• Icelandic einir^[1]
• Faroese eini^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk eine^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål einer^[1]
• Swedish en^[1]
• Danish ene^[1]

Related words

• eini

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 12
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 205
4. ^ a b c Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 328
5. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. einir
6. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 97
7. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. en
8. ^ a b c d e f Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. einir
9. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 102
10. ^ a b Meissner, Rudolf (1921), Die Kenningar der Skalden, Bonn & Leipzig, p. 267
11. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 158
12. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
13. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
14. ^ Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. einir
15. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 105