sála

Forms

sála f (genitive sálu, plural sálur) (weak ōn-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old English sāwol (“soul”), the Old English word having come into West Norse with Christianity.^[2][3][4] The Old English noun goes back to Proto-Germanic *saiwalō, the source also of Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌰 (saiwala), Old Saxon sēola and Old High German sēla.^[2] Cleasby and Vigfússon took it rather from Old Saxon, as a word brought in with the new faith.^[5]

The shorter sál is the same word.^[2][5] Fischer and Jóhannesson think the weak form may owe something to Middle Low German sēle.^[4][6] De Vries derives the mainland forms Swedish själ and Danish sjæl from Old Saxon siola instead, and those in -a- from Old Frisian or Middle Low German.^[3]

The further origin of the Germanic word is quite unknown: it has been linked with Proto-Germanic *saiwaz (“sea, lake”), as if the souls were thought to dwell in the sea or in lakes, and with Ancient Greek αἰόλος (aiólos, “quick-moving”), but Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon calls every proposal doubtful.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found on Christian runestones of eleventh-century Sweden, in the prayer for the dead man's soul.^[7][8] Rundata dates the Uppland stone U 586 to the early eleventh century and U 539 to the 1010s–1020s; on the latter the runes read kuþ ialbi ons at uk salu “may God help his spirit and soul”.^[7][8] In West Norse the earliest dated record is the Norwegian runic inscription N 384, from about 1175, where a staff is given “for the soul of Arnþórr”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Being a word of the Church, it is used only of the Christian soul;^[5] Cleasby and Vigfússon note that it does not occur in heathen poetry, and that the oldest skaldic instance is in a stanza attributed to Hallfreðr.^[5] The old writers prefer the weak sála, with compounds in sálu- such as sálubót “salvation of the soul”, sálumessa “requiem” and sáluhús “hospice”, while the strong sál prevails in later Icelandic.^[5] Baetke and Hægstad–Torp also give a sense “bliss, luck”, for which the word stands for sæla.^[11][12]

The modern descendants are Icelandic sál, Faroese sál and Nynorsk sål.^[2]

Timeline

• Early 11th century – salu “soul” on the Uppland runestone U 586, by Rundata's dating.^[7]
• 1010s–1020s – salu on the runestone U 539.^[8]
• c. 1175 – solo on the Norwegian runic inscription N 384.^[9][10]
• 1200–1225 – sála, sálur in the manuscript AM 619 4to.^[13]
• 1350 – sála in the first IcePaHC text that has it, by IcePaHC's dating.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. the soul, in the Christian sense.^[15][5][16]
2. bliss, good fortune (for sæla).^[11][12]

Word family

• sálubót
• sáluhjálp
• sálumessa
• sáluhús
• sálutíðir
• sáluskaði
• sálugjǫf

Descendants

• Icelandic sál^[2]
• Faroese sál^[2]
• Norwegian Nynorsk sål^[2]

Related words

• sál

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. sál
3. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 460
4. ^ a b Fischer, Frank (1909), Die Lehnwörter des Altwestnordischen, Palaestra 85, Berlin, p. 25
5. ^ a b c d e f Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 516
6. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 1146
7. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 586
8. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 539
9. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. N 384
10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 384
11. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 514
12. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 357
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
14. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
15. ^ Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. sála
16. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. sála