Andreas Johansson:
> Ray:
> > 2. The Old Germanic runes were divided into four
> > 'rows of eight' (ættir);
> That should be three _ættir_ - there were only 24 runes!
> > *Arntz assumes that _ætt_ [the first letter is 'ash'],
> > which originally meant "eight", was understood as _ætt_
> > meaning "family" and was thus reproduced by the Irish
> > word of similar meaning.
> In modern Swedish litterature the word used is _ätter_,
> which is certainly interpreted as "families" by the casual
> reader.
Um. I haven't followed this thread, so I'm not quite sure
what you're talking about, but _ætt_ (fem.pl. _ættir_) surely
means 'family, dynasty'. Always has afaik. "Eight" is _átta_
with an |á|, not an |æ|.
Sorry if I don't understand what you're trying to say.
||| daniel
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