Differences between nordic languages - amusing!

[einhar]

In Icelandic we have sunka, which means fall down, a sinking movement. It's more like the spelled sinkwan. I sank into the chair means. Ég sunkaðist ofan í stólinn or Ég sökk ofan í stólinn. But sökkva, synkva and sinkwan may have sounded similiar. Who knows?

Amikeco, does the German ü corresponds to the Danish y?

Could Gunther correspond to the Icelandic Gunnþór (Battle Thor)?

[Nukalurk]

"ü" is like [y], and [ʏ] (I think). So if the Danish "y" is like that, then yes.

Gunther played an important role in the Nibelungensage, which is based on old tales but the story itself is distorted.

[einhar]

"ü" is like [y], and [ʏ] (I think). So if the Danish "y" is like that, then yes.

Gunther played an important role in the Nibelungensage, which is based on old tales but the story itself is distorted.

Gunther is a lot like GunþaharijaR from Proto Norse, which Hunef mentioned earlier.

[Hunef]

In Icelandic we have sunka, which means fall down, a sinking movement. It's more like the spelled sinkwan. I sank into the chair means. Ég sunkaðist ofan í stólinn or Ég sökk ofan í stólinn. But sökkva, synkva and sinkwan may have sounded similiar. Who knows?

There's a Swedish adjective sunkig 'trashy' which may come from the Swedish verb sunka, which is another (but hardly ever used) spelling of sjunka.

[Hunef]

"ü" is like [y], and [ʏ] (I think). So if the Danish "y" is like that, then yes.

Gunther played an important role in the Nibelungensage, which is based on old tales but the story itself is distorted.

Gunther is a lot like GunþaharijaR from Proto Norse, which Hunef mentioned earlier.

Yes, Proto-Norse nþ became nn in Old Norse, but th in English ("tooth" < tanþu) and probably nt i some German words. (Though 'Zahn' = "tooth".) More consistently, Proto-Norse lþ is ll in Old Norse but ld in contemporary Western Germanic. E.g. gulþ- 'gold', which is gull in Old Norse.

[linguoboy]

Yes, Proto-Norse nþ became nn in Old Norse, but th in English ("tooth" < tanþu) and probably nt i some German words. (Though 'Zahn' = "tooth".) More consistently, Proto-Norse lþ is ll in Old Norse but ld in contemporary Western Germanic. E.g. gulþ- 'gold', which is gull in Old Norse.

The usual outcome of PGmc *þ in High German is /d/, e.g. *munþs > Mund, *anþeraz > ander. Zant (gen. zandes) is found in MHG alongside zan. I'm not sure what accounts for the prevalence of the latter form, but it parallels the development in Low Saxon (i.e. mod. NLS Tähn [pl. idem.]).