David, Sure, if Nouns change ending depending on gender in Norse, then that certainly makes sense. In Slavic languages - Polish for instance - you will have a guy called Sikorski, but his daughter will be called Sikorska. Cheers, Paul On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 3:06 PM, David Maclennan <[email protected] > wrote: > Paul - A colleague from Icelandic Studies at the University of Manitoba > had an interesting suggestion: Spelling in Icelandic is often case and > gender specific. Therefore, a name ending in a soft "sh" sound might be > mistaken as feminine, whereas changing the ending to a firmer "N" might > indicate masculinity. Does that make sense? > David > > On 2013-11-06 8:10 PM, "Paul Conroy" <[email protected]> wrote: > > >David, > >I would pronounce it as: > >Mwir-kjart-ok > > > >But Melkorka looks like: > >Maol- ... as in tonsured, indicating a monk. So if female, a former > >abbess? > > > >Btw, my mother in Ireland is showing some distant Icelandic relatives, > >whereas my father has some Norwegian relatives - on 23andme. > > > >Cheers, > >Paul > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi All, A study of European languages can make a complete mess of spoken American English. My mother-in-law comes from a far-northern European nation and is college educated, but when she speaks English it does not sound at all like what might be expected. For instance, English is a four syllable word. Best, Doug On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 5:25 PM, Paul Conroy <[email protected]> wrote: > David, > > Sure, if Nouns change ending depending on gender in Norse, then that > certainly makes sense. > > In Slavic languages - Polish for instance - you will have a guy called > Sikorski, but his daughter will be called Sikorska. > > Cheers, > Paul > > > On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 3:06 PM, David Maclennan < > [email protected] > > wrote: > > > Paul - A colleague from Icelandic Studies at the University of Manitoba > > had an interesting suggestion: Spelling in Icelandic is often case and > > gender specific. Therefore, a name ending in a soft "sh" sound might be > > mistaken as feminine, whereas changing the ending to a firmer "N" might > > indicate masculinity. Does that make sense? > > David > > > > On 2013-11-06 8:10 PM, "Paul Conroy" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > >David, > > >I would pronounce it as: > > >Mwir-kjart-ok > > > > > >But Melkorka looks like: > > >Maol- ... as in tonsured, indicating a monk. So if female, a former > > >abbess? > > > > > >Btw, my mother in Ireland is showing some distant Icelandic relatives, > > >whereas my father has some Norwegian relatives - on 23andme. > > > > > >Cheers, > > >Paul > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >