Re: electronyms
| From: | Benct Philip Jonsson <conlang@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, September 14, 2007, 13:30 |
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On 2007-09-13 Andreas Johansson wrote:
> > Isn't the modern Hebrew for 'electricity' derived from a Biblical
> Hebrew
> > > word for _amber_?
>
> I don't know, but the Icelandic is from their word for amber. BP will
> correct me
> on the exact form, but it's something like _ragnkraft_. Both are
> still "based"
> on the Greek in a sense, in so much they're calques of it.
>
>
It is _rafmagn_ 'amber power'. Cf. Danish _rav_ 'amber'[^1].
It is often shortened to _raf_ only.
FWIW Old English had a noun _gl&:r_ related to MEng. _glare_,
so the meaning transition from the substance to its emission
isn't a new one.
[^1] Swedish has the unsexy Germanism _bärnsten_...
/BP