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Author: Peter
Date: 2005-09-17 17:32:30
Subject: Re: Etymology of a Gothic name
Aha, thanks for the extra information, Victar. McBain's Gaelic dictionary agrees: see 'mór' (but ignore the garbled spelling of the Norse form cited, which should read 'mærr' of course).
http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb27.html
I haven't found an independent OIc. 'már' meaning "big" in Cleasby-Vigfusson or in Fritzner, only a word 'már' (pl. 'mávar') meaning "seagull" (but there the 'r' is the nominative sg. ending and not part of the root). OIc. 'mærr' "famous" reflects the normal development of Proto Norse máriz, attested in a 3rd century runic inscription from Torsberg, Denmark.
http://www.arild-hauge.com/danske_runeinnskrifter1.htm
The adjective is attested in the Gothic bible at Php 4,8 as neut.nom.sg. waila-meri "praiseworthy, of good report", which would give masc.nom.sg.
*waila-mereis. It's quite possible a contracted form like *mers may have existed in personal names in Gothic. OE too has a contracted -mer in names, beside the adjective 'mære'. I don't think the redundency of meaning in a name like OHG Hlodomár would have troubled anyone at the timne, as these name elements seem to have been recycled freely according to convention, without regard to tautology or even contradiction, cf. Fridegund, literally "peace-war".
Peter