[4] -draugar ‘logs’: The interpretation of this heiti remains uncertain. Meissner 264-5 cites the interpretation as ‘wood’, therefore ‘tree’, in Orms Eddu-brot (SnE 1848-87, II, 497), but notes that draugr is not attested in this general sense and instead posits, following Neckel (1914), an agentive noun with the meaning ‘one who carries or draws’, from a verb *driuga ‘lead, carry out’, as the base-word for this and similar kennings (but cf. AEW: draugr 2).
References
- Bibliography
- SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
- Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- Neckel, Gustav. 1914. ‘Altnordisch draugr in Mannkenningar’. BGDSL 39, 189-200.