[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Bushnell, BSG) writes: > I would expect (without proof) that the Norweigian "hird" does have > some etymological connection with English "herd".
The word exists in Swedish to, although probably less common than in Norwegian (the Quisling association was also new to me, but Swedish world war II history is also quite different from the Norwegian). My popular ethymological handbook (Våra Ord, Norstedts) says that "hird" means body guard. It comes from old English "hir[e]d", via Icelandic literature and old Swedish "hirþ", where it meant body guard or other court folks. Also the same word as German "Heirat", wedding. So it's probably unrelated to "herd". On the one hand we have a small group of quiet proud men, on the other a large group of four-foot animals ;-) /Niels _______________________________________________ Help-hurd mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-hurd
