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Forum URL: http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi
Forum Name: Mini-Stories
Topic ID: 68
Message ID: 11
#11, RE: S5 mini: Matalde the Red
Posted by Gryphon on Mar-27-09 at 09:35 PM
In response to message #7
>>"Nallénskuldgändr"
>
>What does that translate too, if I may ask? I'm pretty sure I
>recognize 'gändr' as a word even if I don't recall its meaning, to
>say nothing of the obvious recognition 'skuld' will engender in your
>readers.

The heavy metal umlaut is probably superfluous, and the whole thing is completely half-assed fiattery on my part (it's sort of to actual Norse what the Swedish Chef's accent is to Swedish), but roughly it breaks down as:

Nall - chosen personal name, possibly of dwarvish or bergalvish extraction; the dragons of the Northern mountains have always had close relations with their dwarven and elven neighbors (cf. Gaelic Niall)

én - possessive conjunction, from Draconic, possibly best rendered "son of" in this context

skuld - Æs of the future, one of the three Norns

gändr - "great serpent", see also Jörmundgandr, the World-Serpent (literally Jör, he who encircles; mund, the world; gandr, great serpent); can refer specifically to one of the greater dragons, as with the English wyrm; also modifies én to some degree in its Draconic usage, which may account in-story for the seemingly extraneous umlaut.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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