Year: 1970
Type: article
Abstract: ICELANDIC SAGAStell us about several prominent :men who bore the name Kalfr, Kalfr, etc. 1 The Old Swedish form was written as Kalf or Kalv 2 and was a fairly common name in Viking-age Scandinavia.An older form of the same name is probably kaulfR which is found on a runic stone (the Skarby stone).On the basis of this form it is believed that the name developed from an earlier *Kaoulfr which goes back to Proto-Norse *KapwulfaR.It is then a compound as are most of old Scandinavian anthroponyms.The second element of it is the native word for "wolf," ON"ulfr, OSw.ulv (cf.OE, OS wulf, OHG wolf, Goth.wulfs, from PGmc.*wulfaz).The first component, however, is most likely a name element borrowed from Celtic, cf.Old Irish cath "battle, fight."It is contained in the Old Irish name Cathal which occurred in Iceland also, viz.as Kaoall.The native Germ.anicequivalents of OIr.cath, which go back to PGmc.hapu-, also occurred in personal names (e.g., as a monothematic Old Norse divine name Hr;or), and the runic HapuwulfR, ON Hr;lfr and Halfr, OE Heaouwulf, OHG Haduwolf, Hadulf are exact Germanic correspondences of the hybrid Kalfr, Kalfr < *Kaoulfr.However, counterparts of the compound containing the Old Irish stem existed also in other Germanic languages: Oeadwulf in Old English, and Kathwulf in Old High German.3 1 For the variants see E. H. Lind, Nor8k-i8liind8ka dopnamn och fingerade namn fran medeltiden (Uppsala and Leipzig, 1905-15), e. g., p. 672f.
Source: Names
Author: Hildegard Must
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1997089176