Skagerrak
From ePedia, the electronic encyclopedia
The Skagerrak strait runs between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat strait, which leads to the Baltic Sea.
Name
Skagerrak is an assimilation of Skagen-rak, named after Skagen, the northernmost tip of Jutland. There is no evidence of the name in ancient sources.
Rak is identical to Swedish rak (pronounced rawk), "straight"; i.e., Skagerrak is a stretch of straight sailing in the vicinity of Skagen. The ultimate source is Indo-european *reg-, "straight", but the waters certainly did not receive the name in Indo-european days.
Kattegat is ancient, preceding the north Germanic languages as the source of Latin Codanus, which appears to have meant the combined waterways of Skagerrak and Kattegat. Kattegat, however, is obscene and therefore taboo in polite society. Skagerrak must be a substitution at some time after the dissimilation of north Germanic.
Name
Skagerrak is an assimilation of Skagen-rak, named after Skagen, the northernmost tip of Jutland. There is no evidence of the name in ancient sources.
Rak is identical to Swedish rak (pronounced rawk), "straight"; i.e., Skagerrak is a stretch of straight sailing in the vicinity of Skagen. The ultimate source is Indo-european *reg-, "straight", but the waters certainly did not receive the name in Indo-european days.
Kattegat is ancient, preceding the north Germanic languages as the source of Latin Codanus, which appears to have meant the combined waterways of Skagerrak and Kattegat. Kattegat, however, is obscene and therefore taboo in polite society. Skagerrak must be a substitution at some time after the dissimilation of north Germanic.
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