King’s College 2004 v Mistress Gunnvör sílfrahárr
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Descriptive
Bynames – General Info
Bynames
largely derogatory, and why
v“The
wittiness of many of these bynames reflects not only typical Icelandic humor, which is very direct and earthy, but also human
nature universally. Accordingly, one must be prepared for the fact that the
vast majority of them are,
unfortunately for the person involved, derogatory.” (Christopher Hale. “Modern Icelandic Bynames”. Scandinavian Studies 53 (1981) p. 398.)
vExamples: alicarl (“fat
karl”), beigaldi (“weak, sickly”), beiskaldi (“nag, bitch”),
breiðmagi (“broad-gut”), dritkinn (“shit cheek”), eitrkveisa (“pus-sore”),
inn fíflski (“foolish, moronic”), fretr (“fart”), gleiðr
(“bow-legged”), inn
halti (“halt, lame”), illskælda (“bad
poet”), inn matarrili (“food-stingy”), meinfretr
(“harm-fart, stink-fart”), saurr (“mud, dirt, excrement”), etc.
Bynames
not acquired until adulthood
A
person almost never uses his own byname
v“A person almost never
uses his own byname nor is it usually ever expressed to him personally, even though he knows about
it in almost all instances. This probably has come about because, as
mentioned before, and as is
now quite obvious, so many of the bynames are of derogatory nature. Nevertheless, they are used freely in most
conversations where the person
concerned is mentioned.” (Hale, p. 403.)