Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
It appears this board has quite a few North Germanic-speaking members so I'll give this a shot.
I'm currently researching some East Slavic ethnographic stuff and I'd find very helpful if I could figure out the etymology of certain mysterious names that show up in folk songs, tales and spells. Among them is the isle of Buyan which is located 'amidst the ocean' and harbors miscellaneous sacred and magical artefacts. Of course many people have wondered if Buyan reflects some actual thisworldly place (the folk narratives being quite vague about its location).
To business: was Bornholm by any chance called something like [burjand] or [burjend] in some medieval (North) Germanic dialect? With a little mangling or contamination, such a form could end up as Slavic Buyan.
Wikipedia mentions several old names: Borgundarholm in Old Norse, Borghand~Borghund in 'ancient Danish', Burgendaland, Burgundehulm, Borghandæholm (in I dunno what) and finally the Old English Burgenda land. But with a plosive [g] (if that's how they were pronounced) they seem too distant phonetically to be borrowed as Buyan. What's up with the second vowel variation u~a~e, is it vowel reduction, umlaut or what?
I'm currently researching some East Slavic ethnographic stuff and I'd find very helpful if I could figure out the etymology of certain mysterious names that show up in folk songs, tales and spells. Among them is the isle of Buyan which is located 'amidst the ocean' and harbors miscellaneous sacred and magical artefacts. Of course many people have wondered if Buyan reflects some actual thisworldly place (the folk narratives being quite vague about its location).
To business: was Bornholm by any chance called something like [burjand] or [burjend] in some medieval (North) Germanic dialect? With a little mangling or contamination, such a form could end up as Slavic Buyan.
Wikipedia mentions several old names: Borgundarholm in Old Norse, Borghand~Borghund in 'ancient Danish', Burgendaland, Burgundehulm, Borghandæholm (in I dunno what) and finally the Old English Burgenda land. But with a plosive [g] (if that's how they were pronounced) they seem too distant phonetically to be borrowed as Buyan. What's up with the second vowel variation u~a~e, is it vowel reduction, umlaut or what?
if you can't decline it or conjugate it, piss on it.
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Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
I dunno about the other languages, but Old English <g> was typically pronounced [j] when adjacent to front vowels, so I think <Burgenda land> was most likely pronounced [ˈburjendɑ lɑnd].pittmirg wrote:Wikipedia mentions several old names: Borgundarholm in Old Norse, Borghand~Borghund in 'ancient Danish', Burgendaland, Burgundehulm, Borghandæholm (in I dunno what) and finally the Old English Burgenda land. But with a plosive [g] (if that's how they were pronounced) they seem too distant phonetically to be borrowed as Buyan. What's up with the second vowel variation u~a~e, is it vowel reduction, umlaut or what?
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
I have taken some courses in Danish Place Names, so I have looked up Bornholm in "Denmarks Place Names" (http://danmarksstednavne.navneforskning.ku.dk/ ).
It seems there are no forms of the name written with a <j> or <y>. The closest I could find is one 13th century form fir borghvndar holmi, where the <gh> may correspond to something more /j/-like.
There are two main theories about the origin of the first part of the name. Either it is a female (possibly godess) name Borgund with a genitive -ar ending.Or it may be a place name in itself with the same form *Borgund + -ar. This would be identical in origin to the Norwegian place of the same name (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgund,_Sogn_og_Fjordane).
The main difference I see between Buyan and Burgund is the <r>. In all other forms of the name the <r> is retained - even in the modern form of Bornholm. So if Buyan is to be called a translation of Bornholm, it is not one that pays very close attention to details in pronunciation. But if you can explain it in a Slavic context, maybe.
Are you looking into other similarities between Buyan and Bornholm? Bornholm is very well known for its rocky shores and cliffs, so maybe you should compare the descriptions of the nature of the island (if there are any).
It seems there are no forms of the name written with a <j> or <y>. The closest I could find is one 13th century form fir borghvndar holmi, where the <gh> may correspond to something more /j/-like.
There are two main theories about the origin of the first part of the name. Either it is a female (possibly godess) name Borgund with a genitive -ar ending.Or it may be a place name in itself with the same form *Borgund + -ar. This would be identical in origin to the Norwegian place of the same name (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgund,_Sogn_og_Fjordane).
Vowel reduction. It seems -und is a common Nordic place name ending, and being an ending with no stress, it is very prone to vowel reduction. The origin of Zealand ( Sjælland) is Selund or sel "seal" + -und. At some point it must have been reanalyzed as "sea(l)" + "land", and that is where the vowel change comes from.pittmirg wrote:What's up with the second vowel variation u~a~e, is it vowel reduction, umlaut or what?
Danish is also happy to lenite g's postvocalically and before unstressed syllables into either [j] or [w], so your suggestion for pronunciation sounds very plausible.GrandPiano wrote:I dunno about the other languages, but Old English <g> was typically pronounced [j] when adjacent to front vowels, so I think <Burgenda land> was most likely pronounced [ˈburjendɑ lɑnd].
The main difference I see between Buyan and Burgund is the <r>. In all other forms of the name the <r> is retained - even in the modern form of Bornholm. So if Buyan is to be called a translation of Bornholm, it is not one that pays very close attention to details in pronunciation. But if you can explain it in a Slavic context, maybe.
Are you looking into other similarities between Buyan and Bornholm? Bornholm is very well known for its rocky shores and cliffs, so maybe you should compare the descriptions of the nature of the island (if there are any).
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Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Old Norse <g> typically represents [ɣ] in this position.
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
This is tempting but Old English was spoken a tad too far away, so it wouldn't be very convincing to postulate a borrowing from it.GrandPiano wrote:I dunno about the other languages, but Old English <g> was typically pronounced [j] when adjacent to front vowels, so I think <Burgenda land> was most likely pronounced [ˈburjendɑ lɑnd].pittmirg wrote:Wikipedia mentions several old names: Borgundarholm in Old Norse, Borghand~Borghund in 'ancient Danish', Burgendaland, Burgundehulm, Borghandæholm (in I dunno what) and finally the Old English Burgenda land. But with a plosive [g] (if that's how they were pronounced) they seem too distant phonetically to be borrowed as Buyan. What's up with the second vowel variation u~a~e, is it vowel reduction, umlaut or what?
Yeah, the r is tricky too. Maybe the source /r/ was different? But I doubt that, uvularization wasn't that early afaik. Another thing to consider is contamination, quite likely in an unintelligible foreign name. There is Common Sl. *bujati, with such meanings as 'rave', 'grow (profusely)', 'hover/float' in descendants.CMunk wrote:The main difference I see between Buyan and Burgund is the <r>. In all other forms of the name the <r> is retained - even in the modern form of Bornholm. So if Buyan is to be called a translation of Bornholm, it is not one that pays very close attention to details in pronunciation. But if you can explain it in a Slavic context, maybe.
In principle *bujanъ could be a native formation (there are words in a few Slavic langs that come down to such a proto-form with disparate meanings incl. a kind of dance, 'bully/ruffian' ,'stubborn ox', 'mud'). But I want to check out other possibilities that come to mind in order to avoid concocting a folk etymology.
Some people believe Buyan is derived from Ruyana (Slavic name for Rügen, with its famous Slavic temples) which is even less credible phonetically.
The spells etc. are schematic with little realistic description (along the lines of: amidst the ocean, upon the isle of Buyan, there lies a white fiery stone (some additional descriptive elements may occur: a sewing maiden, or an oak*). Alternatively the island is used as a generic location for fairly tales. It's very mythological, like the ash Yggdrasil. So I have little hope of pinpointing it this way, although I'll continue looking into the matter.Are you looking into other similarities between Buyan and Bornholm? Bornholm is very well known for its rocky shores and cliffs, so maybe you should compare the descriptions of the nature of the island (if there are any).
Very occasionally there is further geographical specification which is contradictiory and probably secondary (Caspian Sea or White Sea or the Jordan...).
Thanks for the bits about the etymology of Borgund.
*Wikipedia claims there are oaks on Bornholm. I think its inclusion is due to the tree's venerability in folklore, though.
if you can't decline it or conjugate it, piss on it.
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Perhaps not, but as I've pointed out before, rhotics in modern Germanic are all over the place - to the extent that it warrants suspecting, IMO, that it wasn't just all alveolar trills a thousand years back, either. Something like, say, [ɹɣ] could presumably sound a bit like /j/ to a Slavic speaker, maybe?pittmirg wrote:Yeah, the r is tricky too. Maybe the source /r/ was different? But I doubt that, uvularization wasn't that early afaik.CMunk wrote:The main difference I see between Buyan and Burgund is the <r>. In all other forms of the name the <r> is retained - even in the modern form of Bornholm. So if Buyan is to be called a translation of Bornholm, it is not one that pays very close attention to details in pronunciation. But if you can explain it in a Slavic context, maybe.
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Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Also pleophony? Does that fit?
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Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Even though Buy an appears to be a generic fairytale land, you should look into key characteristics of it, especially in older texts, as they are "closer" to its origin.
Spoiler:
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
/rj/ would always be treated as a syllable onset and thus be immune to pleophony or metathesis, cf. *morjǫ 'I cause the death (of), I famish' → Russian морю, Polish morzę, not **морою, **mroję.Creyeditor wrote:Also pleophony? Does that fit?
[ɣ] was a variant (or the main realization) of /g/ over large swaths of Slavic lands from early on, though. Hence I don't think it would be that alien a sound. It'd be much more convincing if there was a Scandinavian dialect with [j] in this position (Danish likes to lenite indeed but it wouldn't lenite to [j] around a/u, would it? also after a consonant).Xonen wrote: Something like, say, [ɹɣ] could presumably sound a bit like /j/ to a Slavic speaker, maybe?
if you can't decline it or conjugate it, piss on it.
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
You're right. Danish usually lenites /g/ to [w] in back vowel environments, such as borg [ˈb̥ɒːˀw] "castle". But you must remember, that Bornholmian is an east Danish dialect closely related to Scanian . Here, the combination /rg/ is often pronounced [rj] (sometimes with a uvular r).pittmirg wrote:[ɣ] was a variant (or the main realization) of /g/ over large swaths of Slavic lands from early on, though. Hence I don't think it would be that alien a sound. It'd be much more convincing if there was a Scandinavian dialect with [j] in this position (Danish likes to lenite indeed but it wouldn't lenite to [j] around a/u, would it? also after a consonant).Xonen wrote:Something like, say, [ɹɣ] could presumably sound a bit like /j/ to a Slavic speaker, maybe?
I even found this orthography for Scanian: http://www.maniskor.se/isbn9789197726511cropmarked.pdf
Especially this quote is interesting:
But this may very well be a later development, that wouldn't have been in effect when the Slavs wrote about Buyan.M. Lucazin wrote:〈rg〉 uttalas [ʁɪ̯], se även §4.6.1; i NÖ ibland metates [ɪ̯ʁ].
[...]
børga [bø̀ɪ̯ːʁa] el [bø̀ɐ̯ːɪ̯a] v1 'börja'
farg [faːɪ̯] s m 'färg'
farga [faːɪ̯a] v1 'färga'
færge [faːɪ̯ɛ] s f 'färja'
[...]
sørg [søɐ̯ːɪ̯ː] s f 'sorg'
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Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Well interestingly, I found a source that suggests that Bornholm is Buyan
http://denmark-travel.com/cities/island-bornholm
"The island of Bornholm is located in the Baltic Sea, just between Sweden and Poland. In ancient legends Bornholm supposedly was called for the island Buyan."
Most other sources assign Buyan to Rügen. It could placename movement, along the lines of Mälaren and Vanern.
http://denmark-travel.com/cities/island-bornholm
"The island of Bornholm is located in the Baltic Sea, just between Sweden and Poland. In ancient legends Bornholm supposedly was called for the island Buyan."
Most other sources assign Buyan to Rügen. It could placename movement, along the lines of Mälaren and Vanern.
Spoiler:
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Once I came across a Russian book that did just that and that's what got me thinking about a possible connection.qwed117 wrote:Well interestingly, I found a source that suggests that Bornholm is Buyan
http://denmark-travel.com/cities/island-bornholm
"The island of Bornholm is located in the Baltic Sea, just between Sweden and Poland. In ancient legends Bornholm supposedly was called for the island Buyan."
Most other sources assign Buyan to Rügen. It could placename movement, along the lines of Mälaren and Vanern.
Beep beep beep, we have a winner :) Thanks. Well, if this is indeed old. Also more examples wouldn't hurt to rule out a sporadic analogy or something.CMunk wrote:Especially this quote is interesting:
I was vaguely aware that Swedish has [rj] for "rg" word-finally but had no idea if this also happens in other positions anywhere in the area.
So now that there's some promise, I guess it would be good to look for stuff about historical sound changes in Swedish dialects and the like. I dunno if I'll get far with that where I live (and not knowing the languages in question) :P Does anyone know about such works that might be worth consulting?
if you can't decline it or conjugate it, piss on it.
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
I'm not sure why you've overlooked it, but as I said before, <g> in this position (i.e. after /r/) was realized as [ɣ]. The pronunciation [rj] is a later phenomenon¹, and should not be assumed as a 13th century pronunciation. F.ex. the 13th century Scanian Codex Runicus writes /rg/ ([rɣ]) as <rh>.
¹The change [ɣ] > [j] / (r,l)_ is not universal in Swedish either; Central and East Swedish dialects change(d) it to [rg] instead. Wessén (1957) dates these changes to the Early Modern Swedish period (1526–1750).
¹The change [ɣ] > [j] / (r,l)_ is not universal in Swedish either; Central and East Swedish dialects change(d) it to [rg] instead. Wessén (1957) dates these changes to the Early Modern Swedish period (1526–1750).
Re: Bornholm in old Scandinavian / Buyan Island
Elias Wessén is trustworthy, and a solution should explain the -an- part of Buyan.
How about this common germanic word examplified with its OE form?
búian http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/005383
How about this common germanic word examplified with its OE form?
búian http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/005383