peculiar to Shetland Norn have, no doubt, been developed in the Islands themselves, some in ancient times, others only more recently, but many certainly go back to the original language.
Stress may be laid upon the numerous compounds, that are characteristic of Shetlandic.
Sometimes there are to be found, preserved in Shetland Norn, meanings of words more primitive than in other Northern languages, occasionally more primitive even than those that have come down to us in the Old Northern literature.
In the next place there are, in the Shetlandic, some words originating from prehistoric Norse [ur-nordisk], words that are lost in Old Norse itself, although the stems have been preserved in other words belonging to this language. Note the peculiar use in Shetlandic of O.N. annarr, second, and annarhvárr, every second one, used in Foula and Yell respectively, in sense of alternating, alternately, of sea and wind or rain, in the words adnasjur, adnakwi, annehwart and *atrahola [*aðrahvára], all ancient.
aber, adj., is used in Shetl. in numerous meanings.
bjog has several different meanings in Shetl., all pointing back to the root-meaning ring, O.N. baugr. The word has been lost in Norwegian and Færoese.
dokka is still occasionally used in Shetl. (U.) in its original sense: girl. In O.N. only handed down in derived senses.
firsmo, vb., still occasionally used in an original sense: to diminish. O.N. fyrirsmá, vb., to despise; -scorn.
raga, sb., woman, now only used in a few combinations, and only disparagingly. It is certainly a very old word. From O.N., only ragr, adj., is known, womanish, cowardly.
