andþyngd
Andþyngd is a term used in some discussions of Germanic philology to denote a possible compound meaning “spiritual weight” or “burden of the soul.” It is not widely attested in surviving manuscripts as an independent lexical item; rather, andþyngd is often described as a reconstructed form or a theoretical shorthand used by scholars to discuss how an Old Norse or Old English speaker might have expressed the idea of a moral or spiritual burden using a compound of and- (spirit, breath) and þyngd (weight, burden).
Etymology and meaning in scholarly use
The proposed etymology blends and- with þyngd, drawing on the sense of spirit or breath associated with
Because direct attestation is scarce, andþyngd appears mainly in philological or glossographic discussions rather than as
See also: Old Norse language, Old English, Germanic linguistics, compounding in Germanic languages.
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