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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Feima Lv 1VIII (GrL 2)

[7] Kleima: This name is considered to be etymologically related to the Old Norse verb kleima ‘besmear, besmirch’ (HálfdEyst ch. 16, FSGJ 4, 271), and to the synonymous verb klæma used figuratively in the sense ‘shame, mock’ (AEW: kleima; ÍO: 1 kleima). In New Norwegian dialects the noun kleima denotes something ‘sticky’ or a person who is slow (cf. also the New Norwegian verb kleima ‘stick’), while the noun kleim variously refers to a person who is ‘forward’ or ‘clumsy’ (cf. Ross 1895-1913: kleim; Aasen 2003: kleima and Kleima; NO: I kleima and kleime). In Modern Icelandic the noun kleima means ‘blotch, scratch’. All of these words are pejorative; if the name Kleima was understood to mean anything (and not simply invented to rhyme with Feima), then it may perhaps have been interpreted as ‘smear, blotch’ (cf. the characterisation of the milkmaid Beyla in Lok 56).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
  3. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
  4. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
  5. HálfdEyst = Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar.
  6. Ross, Hans. 1895-1913. Norsk Ordbog. Tillæg til ‘Norsk Ordbog’ af Ivar Aasen. 6 parts. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget. Facsimile rpt. 1971.
  7. Aasen 2003 = Kruken, Kristoffer and Terje Aarset, eds. 2003. Ivar Aasen: Norsk ordbog med dansk forklaring. New edition. Originally published 1873. Oslo: Det norske samlaget.
  8. NO = [Anonymous] 1966-. Norsk ordbok. Ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet. 9 vols (continuing). Oslo: Det norske samlaget.
  9. Internal references
  10. Not published: do not cite ()

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