Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/268

in an old Norn fragment, the verse: Skjere, skjere skulma! ek ska(l) skjera (I shall cut) — see Introd. In the Foula-ballad (Hildina-ballad), by assimilation, “yach” and “yagh” (cf. Sw. jag). — Acc. sing., mog [mɔg, mȯg], me, O.N. mik, is preserved in the verse about the crow and the crab; cf. “moch” in the Foula-ballad. mier and mir, me, in dat. sing., O.N. mér, are found in the Foula-ballad. nom. pl.: *vi (Lord’s Prayer), we, O.N. vér, pl., and vit, dual; vi is most prob. developed from “vit”, like *di (see du, pron.) from “þit”. *vus and *wus (Lord’s Prayer), acc. dat. pl., us, O.N. oss. — Cf. min (mine), poss. pron.

eken [ækən], adj., thin; meagre; a puir [‘poor’] e. body. Uⁿ. Poss. for *heken, and cognate either with No. hik, hek, m., a small corner; a thin, insignificant person, of which “hekel”, a small corner; a tall, thin man, is a derivative, or with No. hekkja, f., a long shelf; tall, thin woman. eken almost assimilates in pronunc. to “achin’ [-ɩn]”, from Eng. ache, vb.

eker [ɛkər, ækər], sb., 1*) corn (field), in the phrase “e [ɛkər] and hø”, corn and hay; Du. 2) crushed mass of corn, trampled or blown down on the field; in a wider sense: decomposed or crushed mass; decomposed (crushed) state; to lie in e.; to lay in e. (to crush; destroy). See aker, sb.

ekra, sb., see ekrabung, sb.

ekrabung [æk··raboŋ·] and ekerbung [æk··raboŋ·], sb., denotes diff. sorts of grass, esp. weeds in the field: barley-grass, oat-grass or brome-grass, rye-grass, couch-grass. Also long, dry grass; the aftermath, fog-grass (U^wg.: ekrabung). In the N.I. as a parallel form to okrabung; q.v. From Yⁿ. is reported an abbr. form ekra [ækra] in the sense of weeds. — O.N. ekra, f., land ploughed up;

cultivated land; field (deriv. of “akr”, m.); No. ækra, f., Sw. dial. ekra, äkra, f., a fallow field; meadow, formerly field. — For the last part see bung², sb.

eksben [æks··ben·], sb., the rump-piece of a cow, given as payment to one who slaughters a cow. U.

eksis-girs [æk··sɩsgɩ‘rs·, -gə‘rs·], sb., a plant, occas.: a) dandelion, taraxacum, also called “bitter-aks” and “bitter-flooer”; occas.: b) devil’s-bit, scabiosa succisa. The first part, eksi, is prob. an older *exi from O.N. ax, n., ear of corn, raceme; No. ekse, n., = ear of corn. Cf. “bitter-aks” as a name for the dandelion.

*eld [ɛld, eld], sb., fire, a) noted down as belonging to the Unst fishermen’s tabu-lang. at sea (Uⁿ.); b) handed down in an old rigmarole from Unst, preserved in Nm.: De vare (vera) gue ti . . . . . . hann kann ca’ e. [eld] fire . . . . . (see Introd.). Other forms (from Wests.) are: ilder, ildin (hildin); q.v. O.N. eldr, m., fire.

†elderin [æl··dərɩn], adj., elderly, up in years, a e. man. N.I. Also O.Eng. and L.Sc. (eldern, eldren, elderin). Da. aldrende, No. eldande (R.); O.N. aldrænn, aldraðr, aldinn, adj., old.

elf(s)wind [æ‘lf(s)wɩnd], sb., nettlerash; a sort of rash with small, red spots and pimples, prop. elf-wind, as the complaint was supposed to be caused by the breath of the elves; “du’s gotten e.-w. upo dee”. Anglicised form of an old *alf-blástr or *alf-gustr, -vindr (O.N. alfr, m., elf; O.N. blástr, gustr, m., wind, breath of wind); cf. No. alvblaaster, elveblaast, alvgust, Sw. dial. elvblåst, m., rash, nettlerash. The old Shetl. form of O.N. “alfr”, occurring in the Shetl. place-names (esp. hill-names), is wolv (wol) from *olv (Icel. álfr, Fær. álvur), e.g. Wolvhul [wȯlvol, -vəl, -wȯl], O.N. *alf-hóll; Wolvhul [wȯl-