ysja

Forms

ysja f (genitive ysju)^[1]

Etymology

The etymology is uncertain, and the senses may belong to more than one word.^[2] De Vries compares eimyrja (“embers”) and usli (“glowing ash”),^[3] and Torp sets up a Germanic stem Proto-Germanic *usjōn (“glowing ash”) beside Old English ǣmyrie (“embers”) and Old High German eimuria.^[4] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon treats the word for fire as possibly akin to “usli” and “eimyrja”, but the word for a bustling woman and the river name as belonging to yss (“noise”), from a Germanic root *jes-, *jas-, *jus-.^[2] Jóhannesson puts all of them under one root and explains the river name as “the noisy one”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the old poetry ysja is a name for fire in the þulur of Snorra Edda, a river name in the same lists, and the name of one of Þræll's daughters in Rígsþula.^[6][7] Cleasby and Vigfússon explain the bondwoman's name as “the bustler, the noisy one”, and the word is also a nickname in Sturlunga saga.^[1] The modern word Icelandic ysja means a big, bustling woman, and also quicksand, drizzle and loose snow.^[8][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (poetic) fire.^[1][6]
2. (poetic) the name of a river.^[6][7]
3. a noisy, bustling woman, used as a nickname.^[1][2]

Descendants

• Icelandic ysja^[8]

Related words

• usli
• eimyrja
• yss

Usage notes

Ysja is the name of a daughter of Þræll and Þír in Rígsþula,^[9][10] and the nickname of an old woman, Þorbjǫrg ysja, in Sturlunga saga.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 727
2. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. ysja
3. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 680
4. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 32
5. ^ a b Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 48
6. ^ a b c d Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 633
7. ^ a b Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 903
8. ^ a b Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 403
9. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 1364
10. ^ Lind, E. H. (1905–1915), Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden, Uppsala & Leipzig, p. col. 918