Dictionary:kerling

Nynorn

Etymology

From Old Norse kerling (ONP)

Shetland use

An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland (1928–1932)

Jakobsen, Jakob

kerlin [kērlɩn, kē^ərlɩn] and kerl [kē^ərl], sb., properly a crone, but now generally in sense of a big woman, and commonly used in the form kerl, prob. by mingling with L.Sc. cairl(e) = carl, sb., a man. — In Shetl. place-names the word is applied to detached rocks, mostly by the water-side or in the sea, and then often in the form kellin [kelin, keᶅɩn, (kælən) käᶅən], in which word the development rl > ll is more in accordance with the rules of Shetl. phonology. Thus in several places in Fetlar, e.g. de mukkel and de piri Kellin [keᶅɩn, käᶅən] (Hammersness, Fe^w.), the big and the small “crone”; de Kellin: a) in “de Gjo o’ Litleland”, Fe^e. [käᶅən]; b) in Ramnagio, U^mo. [käᶅən]; c) by the isle of Uyea, “Øja”, U^s. [kelin]. Sometimes also in the form kerl as a place-name,thus: “de Kerl”, detached rock near “de Loch o’ Skellister”, N. — O.N. kerling, f., (old) woman.

Pronunciation

IPA:

Alternate Forms

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Noun

kerling

1. old woman

Inflection

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Synonyms

(none known)