ᚹᚨᛃᛖᛗᚨᚱᛁᛉ

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Proto-Norse

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Etymology

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From Proto-Germanic *wajamērijaz or ᚹᚨᛃᛖ- (waje- /⁠wajē⁠/, woe) +‎ *ᛗᚨᚱᛁᛉ (*mariʀ /⁠mārīʀ⁠/, renowned, famous). First element derived from Proto-Germanic *wai (woe; evil), identical to that of Old Norse vesall (wretched) and veill (ailing, diseased), second from *mērijaz (renowned), ancestor of Old Norse mærr. Compare Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌾𐌰𐌼𐌴𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wajamērjan, to slander, blaspheme), 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌴𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (wailamēreis, of good repute).

The connecting vowel -ē- has been explained as progressive i-umlaut, but an i-umlauted vowel is never otherwise written with the ᛖ-rune (indeed, mārīʀ here is the ancestor of Old Norse mærr, with i-umlaut). Antonsen (2002) reads waje as wajē, the dative singular of a neuter ja-stem, corresponding to the dative singular of a *wają, compared with Sanskrit उवे (uve) and Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬫𐬋𐬌 (vayōi). He thus interprets wajemariʀ as two words rather than one, but this is a minority position.

Adjective

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ᚹᚨᛃᛖᛗᚨᚱᛁᛉ (wajemariʀ /wajēmāriʀ/)

  1. ill-famed, of poor repute
    • c. 200 AD, Thorsberg chape, found near Süderbrarup, Germany.
      ᛟᚹᛚᚦᚢᚦᛖᚹᚨᛉ ¶ ᚾᛁᚹᚨᛃᛖᛗᚨᚱᛁᛉ
      owlþuþewaʀ ¶ niwajemariʀ
      Wolþuþewaʀ, ni wajēmāriʀ.
      Wolþuþewaz, not ill-famed [well-renowned].

Usage notes

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  • This word is only attested once, in what is likely a poetic line, where it is negated. Together with the negation it literally means "not ill-famed", but this should be understood as a litotes meaning "well-renowned", "of infallible repute".

Further reading

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