Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/110

CII word as “bis”, in the line “bis bis bio”, in the cradle-song from Unst. ( is a frequent development of in Norn words in Shetlandic.) , following, may almost be accepted as denoting a child, as in “Hushie baw ”, hush-a-bye my little child?, the introductory line in a lullaby from in which  “hushie baw” corresponds to an older Norn “biss biss”. might correspond to the and word batting, a child.

The first line also appears to have belonged to a lullaby, as can be explained as “eignar barnit”, my own dear child, from eign,, possession, with metathesis of gn to ng in   , , from  eign, in Dictionary. The compound “eignabarn” is found in (lovable child: R.). Another word is “einkabarn (onka-)”, in (a dearly loved child). for *, the child, is easily explained through alliteration to the preceding. Such alliterations are fairly common in Norn folk-verses, especially in cases where all sense of the original meaning of the word has been lost, and the term appears to be simply gibberish. If is “eignarbarnit”,  must mean sleep! from *lúra, lura,, to sleep lightly, to have a little nap.

The remaining lines probably show traces of an actual charm-formula. The two lines: “bæl skola rina, bæl skola beti” are probably the remnants of such; in any case, they can be best explained as a charm to drive out sickness: *bǫli skulum renna, * skulum beita? the evil (the hurt) shall leak (stream) out, or we shall make the evil leak out? ( the ), we shall chase or subdue the evil.

may be bǫl,, hurt; evil; disaster.  is the verb, skulu, to be obliged to. The twice repeated, to be obliged, must, indicates a spell.

beita,, to cause to bite, thereafter (inter alia), to chase; subdue; kill.

The following two lines are not connected with the preceding ones, “andru” is doubtless the name of a man “Andrew”; “güd to bid”, went to invite; “bræti”: place-name?

. is  ganga,, to go. If this should have any connection with the two preceding lines, may be a metathesis of, gista, , to visit; call, through influence of the following.

.

hagəda wəzo hâla vogədə nȯit (nȯt, nət), segə me das (and) rūdə krɩŋədə âla.

Variant forms:

Vâlafjel wəz tȯ‘rt o brota hâfatu wɩzo hâla fram såkəto (sɔkəto) dafa vɔgədə nȯit æn rūdə krɩŋədə âla.