Work

Norwegian ármaðr – Swedish ari – Gothic airus

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The medieval royal administration in Norway and Sweden we had two officials with cognate titles ON ármaðr and OSw āri, both related to Gothic airus ‘emissary, messenger’. The stem ār- in these words denote an itinerant official: in the religious sphere, an angel, in the prophane sphere of the medieval royal administration in Sweden, an emissary, a king’s representative. The Norwegian ármaðr is probably a later developed composition, where the ár- has lost this “itinerant” semantic content and resulted in a term for a “stationary” royal official in the local administration.

Source: Mirator

DOI: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159709

Author: Stefan Brink

Institutions: University of Cambridge, University of the Highlands and Islands

Language: English

Topic: Linguistics and language evolution

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4409469407

FWCI:

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