User talk:Supine

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Hashar 03:52, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Toponymy Question

Hi. Rather than point out that what you seem to have classed as a spelling mistake of mine in the Wulver article was merely a typo, thankyouverymuch, I thought I'd ask you a toponymy question if I may. I noticed that you are interested in Old Norse and in etymology. Could I ask you what you would make of the Scottish placenames Maeshowe and Thurso? Lianachan 11:31, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

hi, and thanks for breaking the ice at this page. i suppose my usual edits of correcting spelling ("occassionaly" giving people the benefit of the doubt in the edit summary...) don't lend themselves well to discussion. i have no experience with gàidhlig or scottish toponymy, but i'll make some guesses without looking the place names up (in case this is a quiz).
  • Maeshowe - i know that the gaelic name méabh means intoxicating or exciting, but it's probably not the same root. it could be a gaelic way of spelling the month of may, but that month was called eggtið in norse times. -showe could be from norse sjó, meaning "seven." i really don't know, though.
  • Thurso - this looks more norse. my first thought was something related to thor, which is very common in norwegian toponymy, at least. þurs is also a word, however, which in old norse means jotun, and was the scandinavian name of the þ rune. as for the -o, my norse dictionary says "ó f. = á f. (river)," something which would be å in modern norwegian.
- supine 14:42, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
Cheers. No, it's not a quiz, I just wondered if you could offer any insights given your interests in etymology and Old Norse. Both of those names have Old Norse origins, but the exact etymology is disputed or uncertain in both cases.
  • Maeshowe I take to be mest(r) haug(r), meaning biggest or greatest howe. This one is hotly disputed, but that's the only Old Norse origin that makes any sense, as far as I'm aware. The maes~ toponym is not to be confused with the British/Celtic/Welsh origin maes~, meaning field.
  • Thurso is regarded as coming from Thjórsá, but there's debate as to whether this would mean Thor's River/Water or Bull's River/Water.

None of this is particularly relevant to wikipedia, it's just what I do in my spare time :-) Lianachan 15:09, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

aha. Þjórsá is listed in my old norse dictionary, being the name of a river in iceland. it's mentioned in grettis saga and gríms saga loðinkinna. þjórr is definitely "bull" in icelandic toponymy, and it would be odd if it were anything else in scotland. does that poke holes in your theory? supine 15:23, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for that. On the contrary, it's good for my theory. I prefer the bull origin. There's a headland next to Thurso which appears on Ptolemy's map as Tarvodunon - which means Bull Fort, and there's still traces of a fort there. This name predates the Norse arrival by centuries, and I'm wondering if the area had been inhabited at the time by a tribe who had a bull totem, or something like that. Any thoughts on the 'Maeshowe name? Lianachan 16:08, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
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