n.
WA pl. myrys
'mire, swamp'
(Modern English mire)cp. OIcel mýrr ‘moor, bog, swamp’ < PGmc *meuziz; cp. OE mēos, OHG mios ‘moss’, formations on the same root without the operation of Verner’s Law, i.e. < PGmc *meusan or *meusaz.
PGmc Ancestor
*meuziz
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
mýrr ‘moor, bog, swamp’
(ONP mýrr (n.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far mýri, Icel mýri, Norw myr, Dan, myr, Sw myr, myra
OE Cognate
meos 'moss'
Phonological and morphological markers
ON /y/ < */iu/ by front mutation
Summary category
A1*b
Widespread in ME (inc. in metaphorical use, e.g. MED 3(a)). Treated in detail by Hug 1987 (see esp. pp. 106-8 and 109-47). Predominantly N in place-names; see further EPNE, Elliott 1984: 148.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 749; Cl 1114; Pat 279; WA 2986