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Germanic Lexicon Project
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Author: IIAM (IIAM)
Date: 2005-01-05 02:34:21
Subject: Re: jólasveinar
> >
> > what oes jólasveinar mean?
>
> Literally "christmas boys". They are a kind of ghosts, see Cleasby/Vigfusson sub 'jól'.
Even more literally, jól = winter-weather, cold, death, yule > Christmas
as = a family of gods in the old pantheon
veinar= friends
for a total of: Friends of the winter-weather (war) god. Who these would be depends on the contest. The term looks modern, in which context they will be Christmas Friends or Christmas Ghosts. To non-Judeo-Christians the term could mean Friends of the Devil, or Judeo-Christians. See Cather in Wikkipedia.
| Messages in this thread | Name | College/University | Date |
| jólasveinar |
Claire |
|
2004-12-22 13:19:50 |
| Re: jólasveinar |
Sean Crist |
Swarthmore College |
2004-12-28 16:24:08 |
| Re: jólasveinar |
Guest |
|
2005-01-01 11:50:47 |
| Re: jólasveinar |
IIAM |
IIAM |
2005-01-05 02:34:21 |
| Re: jólasveinar |
IIAM |
IIAM |
2005-01-05 02:52:38 |