hǫrgr

Old Norse

FWOTD – 30 April 2015

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *harugaz (“sanctuary, cairn, grove”). Cognate with Old English hearg, hearga, Old High German harug, haruc, haruch. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱarǝk- (“fenced or enclosed area”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

hǫrgr m (genitive hǫrgs, plural hǫrgar)

1. (Germanic paganism) a sanctuary, cairn, altar
   • Hyndluljóð, verse 10, lines 1-2, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 83:

     Hörg hann mér gerði · hlaðinn steinum, […]

     A cairn he made for me, loaded with stones […]

Declension

Declension of hǫrgr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hǫrgr	hǫrgrinn	hǫrgar	hǫrgarnir
accusative	hǫrg	hǫrginn	hǫrga	hǫrgana
dative	hǫrgi	hǫrginum	hǫrgum	hǫrgunum
genitive	hǫrgs	hǫrgsins	hǫrga	hǫrganna

Derived terms

• blóthǫrgr (“sacrificial altar”)
• brúnahǫrgr (“head”)
• gunnhǫrgr (“helmet”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: hörgur m
• Faroese: hørgur m
• Norwegian Nynorsk: horg m
• Norwegian Bokmål: horg m
• Old Swedish: hargher m
  • Swedish: harg c, horg c, horv c
• Danish: harg c, hørg c

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “hǫrgr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 311
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “hörgr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 226; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

1. page/226 Internet Archive]