[4] genja (f.) ‘gaper’: As a heiti for ‘axe’ the word is not found elsewhere, but it occurs as a nickname and as the second element of the ship-name Brandagenja (Falk 1914b, 115). The meaning of this word is either ‘gaper’ (cf. the weak verb gana ‘stare, gape’; AEW: genja) or ‘towering one’, used of a large frightening female creature (SnE 1998, II, 286).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.