falma

Forms

falma (also fálma) v (past falmaði)^[1][2]

Etymology

The etymology is uncertain.^[3] De Vries thinks it most likely related to Old English fēlan (“to feel”), Old Saxon gifōlian and Old High German fuolen, comparing Latin palpō (“to stroke gently”).^[3] Torp and Jóhannesson put it with felmtr (“terror”) and felmsfullr (“terrified”), from a root for trembling, unsteady movement, which would fit the sense “to falter”.^[4][5][3] If the movement of the hand is the starting point, it may belong with Old English folm (“palm of the hand”), Old High German folma and Latin palma.^[3][6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon combines the first two views.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's earliest dated record is from 1237, in the Old Norse version of the Descent into Hell, where the devils were so terrified at the breaking of hell at dioflar allir toco at falma oc at scialva “that all the devils began to falter and tremble”.^[1]

Semantic evolution

ONP orders the senses as “to fumble” (falma hǫndum “to fumble with the hands”), “to falter, lose one's head from fear”, with the phrase flýja eða falma “to flee or falter”, and “to grope for, reach out for”.^[1] Lexicon Poeticum has both the physical and the figurative sense in skaldic verse.^[7] The verb lives on as Icelandic fálma “to grope, fumble; hesitate”, with the noun fálm.^[6]

Timeline

• 1237 – toco at falma oc at scialva “began to falter and tremble”, the first dated record.^[1]
• 1270–1290 – falma in the Alexanders saga manuscript AM 519 a 4to.^[8][1]
• 1325 – falmaði jǫtunninn til agnsaxins, of the giant groping for the bait-knife, in Snorra Edda.^[1][9]
• 1320–1350 – falma in the Laxdæla saga of Möðruvallabók.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. to fumble, grope about with the hands.^[1][2]
2. to falter, flinch, lose one's head from fear.^[1][2][11]
3. falma til to grope for, try to get hold of someone or something.^[1][2]

Descendants

• Icelandic fálma^[6]

Related words

• felmtr
• felmsfullr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. falma
2. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. fálma
3. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 110
4. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 236
5. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 555
6. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. fálma
7. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 121
8. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 519 a 4to
9. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. falma
10. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
11. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 146