Um at hava tomur/tømur á tamarhaldinum

The subject of this article is a linguistic analysis of the origin of the Faroese word tamarhald ‘control’ and its relation to Faroese teymahald and the Icelandic counterpart taumhald ‘control’. Dispite their similarities in form and meaning, they have different etymological origin. The first part of the composition of tamarhald has its root in an old Faroese word tomur and tømur ‘control’ while the first part of teymahald and taumhald is the Faroese word teymur, Icelandic taumur ‘rein’. The Faroese word teymahald and the Icelandic taumhald are mostly used figuratively with the same meaning as tamarhald ‘control’. Neither tomur/tømur nor tamarhald is documented in Old Norse prose and must be viewed as specific Faroese forms, although its root goes back to the Indo-European language in words like temja ‘tame’ and tamur ‘tame, domesticated’. Tomur and tømur are doubtless old forms in Faroese; tamarhald is more problematic in terms of age, because the form indicates an old form (in genitive with an old r-insertion in hiatus), but the word is poorly documented in old sources.