On 2009-02-25 Lars Finsen wrote:
> > BTW I suspect that [kainu] > [kQinu] >
> > [kwEinu] may have been a spontaneous
> > development in some dialect of ON. The [kwEin]
> > > [kw&:n] change was under the influence of
> > the ON word _kvæn_ 'womanfolk' (cognate to
> > English _quean_).
>
> They didn't think the Kainulaiset looked
> very manly?
>
The Finns of old times were certainly less
warlike than the Norsemen. It is well known that
warlike cultures confuse unwarlikeness with
effeminacy, alas!
> ON has no kai- word, so it's perhaps natural
> that it would change. Possibly the word has
> arrived to ON via Sami, that would account for
> some changes.
The kai-/kuöi- correspondance is probably a
regular Finnish/Saami isogloss, since it is not
commented upon. I shall have to look up _kainu-_
in a Finnish etymological dictionary to pursue the
matter further.
/BP