Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/417

þáttr; O.N. hallr, adj., sloping; O.N. þáttr, m., a single strand of a rope. Cf. Fær. høllur [hödlȯr], m., unevenness; lump in worsted.

hals, haws [has, hās], sb., the neck. L.Sc. form: hawse = hals. O.N. hals, m. Some compds. in Shetl., prefixed by “hals”, and the form halsin [hasɩn (hāsɩn)], probably originate from O.N., of which further below. — A) in compds.: 1) halsband [hasbānd, -bənd, hās-], sb., a collar, esp. a band around a calf’s neck for tying it up in the stall; *halsband, n. 2) halsgirt [hasgə‘rt, hās-], sb., a band around a cow’s neck for tying it up in the stall; O.N. halsgjǫrð, f., a necklace. 3) halslokk [haslåk, -lɔk, hās-], sb., “neck-lock”, the wool taken off the throat of a sheep before killing it; also holslokk [håslɔk, -lək] (Yⁿ.). *halslokkr. — B) halsin [hasɩn], sb., a) short bottom-board nearest the keel fore or aft in a boat, ¹⁄₃ of the boat’s length; de fore- or aft-halsin. From Ai. is noted down “de gabord-stroke and de halsins” as the name of the lowest side-board in a boat, “de gabord-stroke” is the middle-board, and “de halsins” the added end-boards; b) side-board in a boat, curved towards the stem; de lower and upper halsin (Conn.). Common as a pl. word, halsins, prop. denoting the two curvatures of the boards, towards the stem and stern respectively, halsin is doubtless “halsinn”, and halsins is an abbr. of “halsarnir” (with a later added Eng. pl. -s), definite forms in sing. and pl. respectively, from O.N. hals, m., neck, which seems also to have been used of the planks between the stem and the forehold in a ship, or the planks enclosing the forehold (hals 4 in Fr.); otherwise appl. to the space in a ship nearest the stem (hals 5 in Fr.). —

The dropping of l in the pronunc. of ha(l)sin shows that the word is infl. by L.Sc. “hawse”. — The forms *hols (now only as a place-name) and *hwols (q.v.) in Shetl. are developed phonetically from O.N. “hals”.

halt [ha‘lt, hä‘ᶅt], sb., a halting, limping gait; to geng [‘go’] wi’ a h.

halt [ha‘lt, hä‘ᶅt], vb., to halt, limp; to h. or to geng haltin. Also (more rarely) halk [hä‘ᶅk], to geng halkin. Yⁿ. No., Fær., Sw. halta, Da. halte, vb. A form of pronunc. “hā‘lt”, with long vowel-sound, most prob. springs from Eng. halt, vb.

haltadans [(ha‘l··tada‘ns·) hä‘ᶅ··tada‘ns·], sb., prop. halting dance, limping dance, esp. denoting fairies’ dance; acc. to old Shetl. legends, the fairies limp in dancing. Now certainly only in foll. meanings and applications: 1) to had [‘hold’] a h., to run about, scolding and making a noise. Y.; Fe. Also halkadans [hä‘ᶅ··kada‘ns·] and hilkadans [h^eɩ‘ᶅ··kada‘ns·] (Y^b.); “shø [‘she’]’s dansin’ a hilkadans”, reported of a tethered cow, trying to break loose. 2) gossamer, motion in a cobweb, quivering in the atmosphere near the ground. Fe. [hä‘ᶅ··tada‘ns·]. Regarded as the fairies’ dance? — *haltr dans or (def. form) *halti dans (acc.: halta dans), “halting dance”.

*haltagonga [(ha‘l·tagɔŋ·ga) hä‘ᶅ·tagɔŋ·ga] and *haltagongi [ha‘l·tagɔŋ·gi], expr. in the imperative, belonging to fishermen’s tabu-lang. at sea: stop your gait! stop your speed! a kind of spell by which fishermen formerly thought to be able to check a halibut or other large fish, when hooked, and threatening to run out the whole length of line and break it. U^{n., w}. haltagonga: U^wg. haltagongi: Uⁿ. Also with dropped initial h: altagongi [a‘l·tagɔŋ·gi] (Uⁿ.). Reported by Edm. in the form “haltugonga”. — *halt gǫngu! “stop (your)

19*