aurr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *auraz (“wet sand or earth, mud”). Cognate with Old English ēar and possibly Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌷𐌾𐍉𐌼 (aurahjōm), an inflection of an obscure Gothic word.

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈɑurː/

Noun

aurr m (genitive aurs, plural aurar)

1. moist earth, wet clay, mud
   • Grottasöngr, verse 15, lines 5-6, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 203:

     […] aurr etr iljar, / en ofan kuldi, […]

     […] mud tears our feet, / frost freezes our forms, […]

   • Vǫluspá, verse 19, lines 1-4, in 1867, S. Bugge, Norrœn fornkvæði: Sæmundar Edda hins fróða. Christiania, page 4:

     Ask veit ek standa / heitir Yggdrasill
     hár baðmr, ausinn / hvíta auri; […]

     I know an ash stands / named Yggdrasill
     a high tree, washed / with white mud; […]

Declension

  Declension of aurr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	aurr	aurrinn	aurar	aurarnir
accusative	aur	aurinn	aura	aurana
dative	auri	aurinum	aurum	aurunum
genitive	aurs	aursins	aura	auranna

Derived terms

Terms derived from aurr

• aurigr (“muddy”)
• aurskór (“horseshoe”)
• aurskriða (“landslip”)
• aurvangr (“loamy field”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: aur
• Faroese: eyrur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: aur
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: aur
• Old Swedish: ø̄r
  • Swedish: ör
• Danish: ør
• Gutnish: aur

References

• “aurr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• aurr in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• aurr in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.