That little funny looking d character -> ð is an eth, pronounced /th/.
The related Old English character is an ash, looks something like a crooked y, the source of all those "ye old shoppe" signs, which were originally an ash, and mistaken by moderns as a y. Both are sometimes voiced and sometimes voiceless, and seem to be used interchangeable, at least in Old English.
> 'fem. gyðja = goddess and priestess'
gythja
> (Like goði is both god and priest)
gothi
Grimmund
On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 3:17 AM, ileskela <ileskela_at_S4n2UEcFnAcsNIcOZTMvdvIB5YqejbhiGkFmeZZOIWQQAHeRjNd3JACbl1OpN8Z-Uya-gdSYBhzdRSg.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> Gyrda, with an 'r', has a meaning of 'to gird oneself
> with, a belt or the like'.
>
> But there is a word gydja, used in Edda and some sagas:
>
> 'fem. gyðja = goddess and priestess'
> (Like goði is both god and priest)
>
> If I understand Icelandic grammar, the pl. of 'gydja'
> should be 'gydju' or 'gydjur'.
>
> My reference is 'An Iceland-English Dictionary'
> http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html
>
> If gydja is the origin, where does the 'r' come for?
> A mistake, or a way to make the word Gloranthan - not
> Norse but of the language spoken in e.g. Sartar?
>
> -ile
>
--
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have
to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.
-George Carlin
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