neorxnawang

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From neorxna (an element of unknown provenance) + wang (“field”). Many attempts have been made to explain the etymology of neorxna, but little agreement has been reached; the available evidence probably does not permit a definite answer.

Selected explanations
  • An early attempt at etymologising the first element of this word is Edward Lye's 18th-century derivation from an adjective *neorxen, from ne (“no”) +‎ weorc (“work”).[1][2] However, neither the medial /s/ or the final /a/ can be explained without straining the bounds of formal plausibility. Additionally, one would expect weorc to be negated with un-, not ne; compare e.g. unweorclīċ (“not work-ready”).
  • Roberts derives neorxna from *nēoryxena, the genitive plural of hypothetical *nēoryxe (literally “garden of the dead”), from nēo (“corpse”) +‎ ryxe, variant of rysċe (“rush”); connecting this to the "reeds and rushes" of Isaiah 35:7.[3]
  • Gostenfell instead considers it to contain a compound of eorcen (“shining”) +‎ stan (“stone”), with initial n- through metanalysis. However, this hypothesis would require a level of phonetic reduction rarely seen in Old English.[4]
  • A suggestion once "almost universally approved" connects nēo (“corpse”) and an unattested cognate of Gothic 𐍂𐍉𐌷𐍃𐌽𐍃 (rōhsns, “chamber”), this would form *nēorīehsn (literally “hall of the dead”),[2][5] which could reduce to neorxen- without undue difficulty, but 𐍂𐍉𐌷𐍃𐌽𐍃 is entirely isolated within Germanic, making the supposition of an Old English cognate very risky.
  • For discussion of the innumerable other proposed etymologies, see the references listed below.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈne͜orks.nɑˌwɑnɡ/, [ˈne͜orˠks.nɑˌwɑŋɡ]

Noun

neorxnawang m

  1. Paradise.

Declension
Declension of neorxnawang (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative neorxnawang neorxnawangas
accusative neorxnawang neorxnawangas
genitive neorxnawanges neorxnawanga
dative neorxnawange neorxnawangum

References
  1. Lye, Eduardus (a. 1767) “Neoꞃcꞅen”, in Owen Manning, editor, Dictionarium Saxonico Et Gothico-Latinum […] , volume II, Londinium: Edmund Allen, published 1743.
  2. Henry, P. L. (1966) “Some Old English Religious Terms”, in The Early English and Celtic Lyric, London: George Allen & Unwin, pages 202-205.
  3. Roberts, Jane (1985) “A Preliminary "Heaven" Index for Old English”, in Leeds Studies in English‎, volume n.s. 16, University of Leeds, pages 208-19.
  4. Langenfelt, Gösta (1936) “The OE Paradise Lost: Neorxnawang”, in Anglia - Zeitschrift fur Englisch Philologie, volume 60, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 374-376.
  5. Brown, Alan K. (1973) “Neorxnawang”, in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, volume 74, number 4, Modern Language Society, page 611.
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