Lámh chearr í føroyskum máli

Abstract

In the Viking Age the West Norse languages borrowed the Gaelic WOTCI íor »hand«: 0.1 d Ir. lám, Mod. Ir. 'lámh, Steots Gaeílic
lámh, tihe word appearing in Norse as lámr m. In Snorra Edda (I 512) we Ihear that lam (i. e. lám, aoc. of lámr) could foe used
in poetry for »4iand«. In a bula (mnemonic verse) there occurs among the heiti handar (poetic synonyms for hand) the word
lámr (soe Finnur Jónsson, Den norsk-islandske Skjaldedigtning A I 689; MS. AM 748 I 4to, from afoout 1300). The ícelandic
poet Einarr Gilsson (the 14th century) has the line: lími geck med láámum \ lundstorum gudmundi translated by Finnur Jónsson
as »ferlen behandlede den storsindede Gudmunds ihænder«  (see Skjaldedigtn. A II p. 397; MS. AM 396, 4to, from about
1400). Tihe word is also found in Fljátsdæla hin meiri, occurring on p. 21 of the edition (Kr. Kálund, Købenliavn 1883): iotunin
breider fra sier lámana (thus here used of a giant's paws). The MiS. in question is from t/he first half of tihe 17th century and
was likely written in North Ioeland. The word exists in Modern Icelandic, but the weak form lámi seems to ibe the chief form.
However tliis may be, Blóndals dictionary 'has tlhe following: lámi m. (pop.) Lab, Grabbe, lámur m. (pop) = lámi, lámur f. pl.
(pop.) Grabber. The word is unknown in Norwegian, but Shetland Norn lamek »paw, big clumsy hand; handful« (see Jakofo
Jakobsen, Etymologisk ordbog over det norrøne sprog pá Sfoe;- land) is most likely the same word, and so is Orkney Norn
lawmo (Jakofosen: lomo) »the hand etc.« (see Marwiok, The Orkney Norn). In Faroese the word is correct as to form, but the meaning varies. Lámur m. means »front l'eg of an animal« (pes anterior animalis), especially of a cat (pes felis anterior), though it can also mean, according to a note of Jakob Jakobsen's taken down in Suðuroy, froní flipper of a seal, in sorne plaoes furtiher: Ihuman hand, »paw«. In Modern Faroese the word almost always has the meaning »left hand, left paw« and »one who is left-ihanded«, formerly kjallámur [cadláamor] sometimes [catláamorj. This word, occurring in the digiionary MSS. from the 18tlh to the ibeginning of the 19th century as kjadlaamur m. (sinistra manus, sinislra utens manu prae dextra) can hardly be anyithipg eJse than -ílhe Scots Gaelic word foir »left-hand« lámh chearr, which first dhanged to 'kjarr-lámr, later to *kj<mrlám(u)r and finally (rl > 11 > dl) to [cadláamor], writien kjallámur- Thus Faroese has borrowed the Gaelic word for left-hand, placing the adjective first as in Norse. When lámur means »left hand« or »left-handed man« etc. it may be an abbreviated form of kjallámur.