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Latest comment: 5 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
How the word norse word Ginning has come to be translated to tricking is not convincing. Ginn rather seems to mean power in terms of effective. The Norwegian word for power, 'makt' derives from old 'megin'. The etymology of engine seems related (according to etymonline.com). Because there is a sense of 'a making' it seems plausible that the notion of ginning as trickery has evolved. But what has to be recalled in the context of Gylfaginning is that the story of Gylve is the story of the first king of the lands of the Svea people (Svitjod), referring not merely to modern Sweden, but in Snorri's world also comprising big Sweden which included large parts of Russia (Store Svitjod). It is a story about how the Æsa-religion was imported to the Nordic countries from the east. This theory I find confirmed by Alvíssmál where there is a mention of Ginnregin who rather should be regarded as the crafty ones, than the tricksters. I'm arguing that Gylfaginning rather should be translated the Gylfe's empowerment. As a native speaker of Norwegian, and well aquainted with Swedish, having some understanding of Icelandic and old Norse, I'm compelled to correct the blunt statement in the article per date. Both in contemporary Norwegian and Swedish the verb 'å gynne'/'at gynna' exist. It is the act of making a favour, making something better, benefitting. --Xact (talk) 20:01, 13 September 2015 (UTC)Reply
Also, 'gynne/gynna' is not an inherited Norse word, but a Low German loan composed of the prefix 'gi/ge-' and the cognate of the verb 'unne/unna' (http://runeberg.org/svetym/0300.html), so it has nothing to do with 'ginning'; not to mention that it should have been 'gynning' if there were a connection.--94.155.68.202 (talk) 05:15, 21 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
