ᛊᚹᛖᛊᛏᚨᚱ

Proto-Norse edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Germanic *swestēr, from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr. Often seen as problematic, the expected nominative form would be *ᛊᚹᛖᛊᛏᛖᚱ (*swester). Stiles 1984 proposes it be a vocative, descended from Proto-Germanic vocative form *swester^[1] with regular development of unstressed short /e/ > /a/, as in Old Norse hvaðarr, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz.^[2]

Noun edit

ᛊᚹᛖᛊᛏᚨᚱ (swestar) f

(singular vocative) sister
- early 5th century, inscription on the Opedal Rune Stone:
  ᛚᛖᚢᛒᚢᛗᛖᛉ᛬ᚹᚨᚷᛖ ¶ ᛒᛁᚱᚷᛜᚷᚢᛒᛟᚱᛟᛊᚹᛖᛊᛏᚨᚱᛗᛁᚾᚢ
  leubumez:wage ¶ birgŋguboroswestarminu
  leubumeʀ᛬wage ¶ birgŋguboroswestarminu
  leubumez:wage ¶ birgŋguboroswestarminu
  [She is] dear to me, Wagaʀ. / [???] Boro my sister!

Descendants edit

Old Norse: systir
- Icelandic: systir
- Faroese: systir
- Norwegian Bokmål: søster
- Norwegian Nynorsk: syster
- Old Swedish: systir
  - Swedish: syster
- Danish: søster
- Old Gutnish: systir
  - Gutnish: systar

References edit

^ Stiles, Patrick V. (1984), On the Interpretation of Older Runic Swestar on the Opedal Stone (URL)
^ Heusler, Andreas (1921), Altisländisches Elementarbuch. 2. Auflage. Heidelberg: §113 (URL)

[1] Stiles, Patrick V. (1984), On the Interpretation of Older Runic Swestar on the Opedal Stone (URL)

[2] Heusler, Andreas (1921), Altisländisches Elementarbuch. 2. Auflage. Heidelberg: §113 (URL)

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