slóð

Forms

slóð f^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain;^[1] Wiktionary tentatively relates it to Proto-Germanic *slīdaną (“to slide”).^[1] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon derives it from Proto-Indo-European *slēdʰ- (“to drag”), with Norwegian Nynorsk slada (“to slope slightly”), Old English slæd (“valley”) and Lithuanian slė̃dnas (“steep”).^[2] De Vries gives the same ablaut set,^[3] and Hellquist calls the Swedish dialect word an ablaut form of Swedish släda (“to drift”).^[4]

Of the same family are slóði (“something dragged”), slæða and slǫðra.^[3][2] It was borrowed as Middle English sleuth (“track”), the source of the English word sleuth.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Menota's Holm perg 4 fol, dated 1275–1300, with the forms slod and sloðena.^[6] Egils saga tells of tracks found in a forest: kómu vér á mannafar, ok lá sú slóð fram á skóginn “we came upon men's tracks, and the trail led into the forest”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word first means a trail left by someone passing, especially in snow or dew,^[9][10] and hence a beaten path or way.^[11][12] Lexicon Poeticum explains it as a track made by dragging something.^[13] In the plural it is a ship's wake and the waters it sails.^[9][11] Skaldic kennings make the sea the path of the keel or of fish, and the sky the path of the sun or the clouds.^[13][14] In the Edda it is used of Fáfnir's trail.^[15]

It continues as Icelandic slóð, with the senses “trail, path, region” and “sea route”.^[2] In English sleuth meant a track from the late 12th century;^[5] sleuth-hound “bloodhound” followed, which gave sleuth “detective”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1275–1300 – slod and sloðena in Holm perg 4 fol.^[6]
• 1320–1350 – slóð and slóðina in Egils saga in AM 132 fol.^[8]
• late 12th century – the English sloth, later sleuth, “track”, from Norse.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. a track or trail left by a person or animal, as in snow or dew.^[10][9][7]
2. a beaten path, a way.^[11][12]
3. (plural) a ship's wake; the waters sailed.^[9][11]
4. (poetic) in kennings, a path: of the sea, the sky or the arm.^[13][14]

Word family

• slóði
• kynslóð
• döggslóð

Descendants

• Icelandic slóð^[1]
• Faroese slóð^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk slod^[3]
• English sleuth^[5]

Related words

• slæða
• slǫðra
• sleði

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. slóð
3. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 516
4. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. slod
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 4 fol
7. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. slóð
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
9. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 569
10. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. slóð
11. ^ a b c d Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 577
12. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 409
13. ^ a b c Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 520
14. ^ a b Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. slóð
15. ^ Gering, Hugo (1915), Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda, 4th ed., Paderborn, p. 163