-LÁWA and -LOV- words

General Note: From now on, when referring to a fragment in the original text, I will no longer use the exact line in which the fragment starts, but the block: line 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30, as used in my new edition and already online here.

personified Belief by Jb. Matham, after Goltzius (1593)

A reader commented:

There is a somewhat incongruent line I found in most English editions of the OLB I read, and I am wondering how you will deal with it in your new translation. We know the Fryas believed in the occult, as Minnos was a seer*, and Kalta a witch, so it is confirmed they had a belief in sorcery/ witchcraft. We also know from a line later in the book (I forgot where exactly) they believed that wicked souls would 'haunt the earth' after death, so they also believed in 'evil spirits'**. Despite all of this, in Frethorik's writings we hear him denounce the (Scandinavians?), he states "They believe in bad spirits, sorcerers, witches, dwarves, and elves as if they descended from the Fins".*** I think a better word for 'believe' would be worship, because we know the Fryas would have also believed in sorcery and bad spirits, however they didn't worship sorcerers and spirits, like the Fins would've. Changing 'belief' to worship makes a lot more sense to the reader, and makes more sense of the general religious worldview of the Fryas, however I am wondering if changing it would maintain the translation's integrity.

* [029/10] MINNO WAS [...] SIANER - Minno was [...] seer; this does not have to be interpreted as 'occult' as it can simply mean he had a clear vision (was 'clairvoyant').
** [127/15] '... if you defile your soul, you will never reach Walhalla. Your soul will then wander over the earth without being able to see the light. Like bats and owls you will hide in your hole by day, and come out at night, crying and howling upon our graves, while Frya must turn her head away from you.'; this was Friso speaking, who may well have been influenced by foreign beliefs. I agree however, that there are enough fragments suggesting a belief in what we might call the 'supernatural'.
*** see fragment [133/10] below.

This inspired me to do a quick study, the conclusion of which is that (BI)LÁWA does mean 'believe' as is clear from the contexts in which it is used. However there are some other interesting conclusions to be drawn from the study below. For now, I will have to leave these to the discretion of the student.

1. Oera Linda words and their modern cognates/ varieties

A. (BI)LÁWA (verb)
believe - English (noun: belief)
geloven - Dutch (noun: geloof)
glauben - German (noun: Glaube)
leauwe - Frisian

B. LÁWA (noun) [unclear if this word is related to the previous, but since its spelling is identical I have included it here]
lion - English
leeuw - Dutch
Löwe - German
liuw - Frisian
løve - Norse, Danish
lejon - Swedish
ljón - Icelandic
[Note: Through Latin leō (...) ‘lion’ derived from Greek léōn. The -w- in Old Dutch is an intervocal transition sound. The Greek word is derived from an unknown language. The Semitic words for ‘lion’ (Hebrew lāvīʾ, Assyric labbu, Akkadic lābu) deviate too much.] Dutch source (my underlinings): etymologiebank

C. VRLOVA (verb)
(promise - English)
beloven - Dutch (noun: belofte)
geloben (archaic) - German (noun:  Gelöbnis)
love - Danish (noun: (løfte)
lova - Swedish (noun: (löfte)
love - Norse (noun: love)
lofa - Icelandic (noun: (lofa)

D. ORLOVI (noun) used as meaning 'permission'
furlough, leave - English
verlof - Dutch
Urlaub - German
ferlof - Frisian
orlof, leyfi - Icelandic
orlov - Danish
løyve - Norse
lov - Swedish

E. LOV (noun)
(praise - English; cognate love)
lof - Dutch (verb: loven)
Lob - German (verb: loben)

2. Oera Linda fragments and translation

A. (BI)LÁWA - believe

[037/05]
WI WILLATH BILÁWA THÀT THIN RÉD GOD SY
We want to believe your counsel is good

[132/05]
ANG THRVCH OVERBILÁWICHHÉD
anxious from superstition

[132/20]
SÁ LÁWATH HJA THÀT THENE GÁST THES VRSTURVENE THÉR INNE FÁRATH
they believe that the spirit of the departed resides in it

[133/10]
ÔLON LÁWATH HJA AN BOSA GÁSTA. HEXNA. KOLLA.
ULDERMANKES. ÀND ELFUN AS JEF HJA FON THA FINNA WEI KÉMEN
They persistently believe in evil spirits, witches, sorcerers,
little forest men and elves as if they stemmed from the Finns

[139/10]
ALLE THÉR AN HIM ÀND AN SINA LÉRA LÁWA WILDE
all who would believe in him and his teachings

[210/25]
THRVCHDAM.ET FOLK NAVT LÁWA NAVT NILDE
THAT WODIN HJAM HELPA KVSTE
because the folk would not believe
Wodin could help them

B. LÁWA - lion

[009/25]
THRVCH THENE KRÀFT HJRAR BLIKKAR STRÉK THENE LÁWA TOFARA HJARA FYT DÀL
The force of her glance made the lion lie down at her feet

[109/20]
THÉR SEND WOLVA BARA ÀND SWÁRTE GRISLIKA LÁWA
There are wolves, bears and terrible black lions

C. VRLOVA - promise (Dutch: beloven)

[003/01]
VRLOVANDE.RA KY MITH GOLDEN HORNA
promised them mountains of gold (lit. 'cows with golden horns')

[003/10]
VRLOVADON HJA FON SINANT WÉGUM JETA.N ÀFTER.DÉL BY
were promised a back yard on behalf of the magus

D. ORLOVI - permission

[093/01]
HÉDE MIN BURCH.FÁM ORLOVI VMBIM BUTA THA LAND.PÁLA TO HELPANE
my burg maiden was per­mitted  [lit. 'had permission'] to merely banish him

[113/15]
HETH HJU ORLOVI FRÉJAD VMBE NÉI HJRA HUS TO GÁNE
she asked leave to go home

E. LOV(E) - praise (LOV.SPRÉKA/-E: 'ode' lit. 'praise-speak', LOVLIK: 'admirable' or 'laudable' lit. 'praise-like')

[095/20]
THÉRE BURCHFÁM.S LOV
Ode to the burg maiden

[091/05]
LOV.SPRÉKA OVIR MIN MÀM
an ode to my mother

[091/01]
HWANA KVMTET WÉI THÀTSTER SOKKE HÁGE LOVE TO SWIKTH
why do you praise her so much?

[092/15]
THÀT IS LOVLIK
That is admirable indeed

[097/20]
IN THA LOV.SPRÉKE
in the ode

[154/05]
THA JONGA FÁMNA KÉTHON SINA LOVE
the young maidens praised him

Comparing translation with original in various editions

Until recently I have been uncertain as to how best present the new translation in print.

Initially, I wanted facsimile, transliteration* and translation all together, page by page. The first and only time this was done before, was in Jensma's edition (2006). However, I do not like his layout with 'landscape' (horizontal) pages and much empty space on most pages, which is only sometimes used for notes. A book in this shape will have a smaller back, will not fit well on many bookshelves nor in the hand, and will damage more easily. The facsimile was printed in grey-scales, with the frayed paper edges cut off. Transliteration follows the manuscript line-by-line, which makes it easy to compare the two. However, comparing translation with original language is more difficult. Not all pages contain as much text, as sometimes the letters were bigger or had more space between them. Therefore, some of the printed pages are significantly less filled than others (see sample).

* transliteration - representing letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script; the term transcription is usually used for a typed representation of handwritten text (same alphabet or script).

sample of Jensma (2006) Het Oera Linda-boek

Most well known to English language readers will be Sandbach's edition (1876). Using Ottema's transliteration and lay-out, he presented the translation on the uneven pages (right side), with the original text on the left. As Ottema, he did not include page numbers of the manuscript, and because there were few paragraphs or blank lines, comparing translation with original is awkward.

sample of Sandbach (1876) The Oera Linda Book

A unique edition — the first one I bought and read — is De Heer (2008) Het Oera Linda boek. De Heer designed a Jol-based font which he used for a transcription of the original text. Lines in Jol-script alternate with their Dutch translations, making it very easy to compare the two. A downside is that there are no paragraphs or blank lines, making it less attractive to read translation only. Also, one has to get used to the unfamiliar script and discussing original fragments or words (for example on a forum) is hard, as they cannot easily be reproduced without transliterating them first.

sample of De Heer (2008) Het Oera Linda boek

With respect for the late mr. Menkens, I must mention his German edition (2013) as being least attractive, in my opinion. Instead of presenting a full transliteration of the original text, he added selected original words in brackets throughout the translation and often gave several possible translations for certain words, one of which most resembling the original, the other a more customary interpretation. This is very distracting and makes it almost impossible to read, concentrating on the content. I do hope that the planned new edition will be improved in this regard.

sample of Menkens (2013) Die Oera-Linda-Handschriften

Alternating pages of transliteration with pages of translation (as in Sandbach's edition) is a designers nightmare. After considering printing the whole translation first and then the whole transliteration (and reading ribbons to switch between the two), I now have decided to rather do it as in the sample below, because making it easier to study the original language has always been my main goal. Manuscript-page numbers (in translation and transliteration) and line numbers 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 (in transliteration only) will make it easy to also compare with the full color manuscript pages (provided with line numbers) in the back of the book. Browsing through these original pages may be a mesmerizing experience.

draft sample of Ott (to be released 2021) Codex Oera Linda ~ English edition

"doing my own research and making great discoveries"

[Note: This was written in April. About 80% of the books has been sold and shipped by now, early September.]

Since almost 150 people have now pre-ordered my new English Oera Linda translation (approaching 250 copies), and many of them have trusted me enough to make a deposit, I think it is fair to — for a change — talk a bit about myself, insofar as this is relevant to the work I have been doing on this blog. The following was mostly taken from an interview I recently gave.

 

Born and raised Westfrisian, I am the father of four children below the age of seven. My wife is Prussian. We live in a village in the rural north-eastern Netherlands, less than a mile from the Frisian border, with woods on walking distance.

When fifteen years old, I was given an old family tree. After a few weeks of going to the archives myself, I was able to add an older (early 18th century) generation to it. By visiting distant relatives I also collected stories and very old photos. This was in the mid-eighties, long before the internet. These experiences of doing my own research and making great discoveries possibly taught me more than high school.

Twenty years later, I got interested in religion, mythology and our ancient ancestors, as well as the origin of our language. Searching for sources about the goddess Freya, I stumbled upon the Oera Linda-book. Its original language resonated strongly, provided many ‘aha’-moments, and I decided to try and understand every word of it. The most regular sources about the book felt suspicious, based on fallacies and bad reasoning. I recognized its significance, as the texts provided me so much inspiration and clarity of mind. To specialize in it and make it more easily available to a larger audience felt like a calling. I knew this could become a life's work, but since I became a father several years later, that obviously became a competing priority.

One of the many interesting and relevant conclusions we can draw from these texts, I think, is that our pre-Christian ancestors did not inevitably all believe in several gods and their tales, or worship various idols, but that at least a significant group may have had a much more advanced philosophy and culture. A general philosophy that actually still makes sense to us and that may indeed provide much needed guidance and inspiration to regain our strength and direction.

note: not the final design

For now and the coming months, my main priority (after being a father) is to get the new translation out. This will be the first English translation from the original language. The existing one from 1876 by Sandbach was based on the first Dutch translation and begged for improvement. It is already possible to order “Codex Oera Linda” and I will also open a fundraiser to support the Oera Linda Foundation which I have set up to publish and distribute the book, as well as possible future projects. When I have more time, I intend to record a reading of all texts in the original language, that is, my approximation of how it may have sounded, with subtitles and showing the original script. A German and Dutch edition of the Codex are contemplated.

Oera Linda video part 3 - Subverted History series

Watch the whole Subverted History series here.

Blog post with video and fragments list part 1 and part 2.

Description of part 3 (on March. 21), by Asha Logos:

The third and final part of our three part series on the Oera Linda book, in which we speak to a 'Celtic' offshoot that seems to have moved into South America and the region of New Zealand and Easter Island, to the extremely strong connections to ancient Persia and India, and the growing evidence of a highly competent seafaring civilization that seems to have left port-footprints across much of the known world - especially the most strategically significant locations: Athens, Troy, Crete, Minnagara, Constantinople, Stavoren, Tunis, Tyre, and the northwesternmost part of the Black Sea, near the territory of the Royal Scythians).

Among so much more than I didn't have time to include were portions of the 'Skeletons in the Cupboard' documentary speaking to what seems to be aggressive and purposeful destruction of old skeletons, proactively searching them out to grind them into fertilizer. What's so disturbing about these modern trends is that they seem to be international in scope, perhaps even organized and intentional, and fueled by a great deal of money, and help from institutions like the Smithsonian. Whether it be Zahi Hawass preventing digging and exploration in Egypt, China restricting Tocharian sites and planting trees atop the pyramids they refuse to officially recognize, the most important artifacts in the world being looted en masse in Iraq during recent conflicts, or ISIS being used to destroy statues, sculptures, and ancient sites, or the Smithsonian 'misplacing' *thousands* of various findings that don't fit into the conventional historical narrative - it's becoming more and more difficult to believe this broader push to rewrite history isn't willful, intentional.

The 'why', here, remains an open question - but this is one of the foremost reasons I decided to begin this series, and why there's much more to come.

A sidenote: I sometimes cite legendary accounts, possibly exaggerated or embellished stories, in which the authors have taken artistic/poetic license, and even the occasional snippet of supposed 'fiction' to highlight larger themes running through countless older works. This isn't to say I believe each and every one of these is perfectly factual - we should approach *all* such things with caution/discernment - but rather to say that the totality of these taken together seem to present a powerfully convincing and cohesive story. I'm less interested in details and specifics, more interested in the broader 'flow' of the unfolding storyline.. and believe it has far more to offer, and is vastly more important. Legends and myths and accounts - like a game of 'telephone' - can become a bit muddied and convoluted with the passage of time.. but the core/essence elements seem to speak to 'seed truths' of immense importance.

 

Oera Linda fragments used in the video:

49:58 "Then the Twisklander princes..." [209/26];  video with original fragment: Skots and Saxmen

 53:50 "When Minerva explored..." [070/06]; video with original fragment: Minerva's Athenia

1:04:06 "Disaster hovers over..." [203/04]; video with original fragment: Cast-aside-nicknames

1:05:23 "Frana, since you are..." [083/14]; video with original fragment: Clairvoyant Frana

*** more may be added later ***

Oera Linda: Language and Theory (video)

Eight examples to study: trimmed and subtitled (English) re-load of two earlier videos (Reply to Johan Oldenkamp, May 2018), now combined as one.

Parts:
A. Language 
01:29​ - 1) WR.ALDA 
04:50​ - 2) JRTHA
05:39​ - 3) DÉNE (MARKA)
07:35​ - 4) KRÉKA (LANDA)
B. Theory 
10:00​ - 1) Alleged suicide Ottema
15:05​ - 2) Halbertsma-Stadermann
18:34​ - 3) Wheel-based symbols
22:09​ - 4) Trade with Phoenicians

Fragments referred to in part A, in order of appearance:

[098/7] WR.ALDA IS THET ALDER.ALDESTA JEFTHA OVER.ALDESTA
[010/14] ALSA THA STÀRA OM JRTHA OM.SWÍRMJA
[116/19] INNA HÁGA LÁNDA WÉRON HJA THRVCH JRTHA. INNA DÉNA LANDA THRVCH WÉTER VRDÉN
[109/13] THÉR DELVATH HJA ÍSER JRTHA. THÉR HJA ISER OF MÁKJA
[048/3] TOJENST.VR THA DÉNA.MARKA ÀND THÀT JUTTAR LÁND HÉDON WI FOLK.PLANTINGA MITH EN BURCHFAM
[049/4] THÉRA THÉR IN DA HÁGA MARKA SÁTON THÉR ANNA TWISK.LANDA PÁLON WRDON SAXMANNA HÉTON
[149/2] HJU IS NET KREK LIK JOW BJAR.KRUK THÉR
[085/31] MEN AS ALLET FOLK MITH THA BÔTUM LAND WAS. KÉMON VSA STJURAR UTÉRE KRÉKE WÉI
[087/8] THÁ THA STJURAR ANDA KRÉKE LÉJON [...] THÉRVMB HÀVON THA FÁMNA THJU KRÉKE MÉDÉA MÉI LAKKIA HÉTEN

Letter shapes explained? ~ unfinished essay

This unfinished essay was sent to me by a reader in December. A more final version did not follow yet. Perhaps the author or someone else may finish it later, but even in its current state it may be of interest or inspiration to some.

for the study of the sound vowels, go here

~ ~ ~

 

SPEECH AND SYMBOLS

Let me start off by saying that I am in no way a specialist on the subject, nor am I a linguist in any way. I can make a mean linguini though, as I'm just a cook with a special interest on the subject and currently lots of time on his hands. Having said that, I would like to talk about and explain something I noticed while watching Jan's video Saved from the Flood ~ Oera Linda Studies. In this excellent video he delves into a wide variety of subjects concerning the book, but what made my neurons truly fire was when he covers the alphabet as shown in the Jol. As you probably know, the letters are all pictured in a wheel, with some of them very similar to another, while others being completely singular. Ones that are very similar to each other for example being the I and J, the B, P and D, with the D also very close to G. Almost all of them instantly recognisable to us.

As I was watching, subconsciously mimicking the corresponding phonetics to each letter moving up the list, the video passed through N, NG, and M. Once again, mouth and tongue did the works and silently uttered them, as I am you sure you are doing right now. I noticed then how, when you shift from making an N to an NG, your tongue moves from the front of your mouth to the upper back. Looking at the Jol symbol for NG, it's exactly the same as the N, with an added rooftop on the upper-left. If you were to look at a mouth from a sideways perspective, I figured, this might have a direct connection with how it's written in the Jol. I contacted Jan Ott in the comment section of the video, and asked him if anyone had made the potential link before and if not, would it be something worth researching. He responded very quickly and said this was the first time anyone did, and asked if I perhaps “would like to eleborate some more on this topic “. Hence, the reason for this article. Should you happen to read this, that means the kind man has offered a public podium for my inane ramblings. That said, I will stress one more time that I am a mere enthusiast, and not at all qualified to make any of the previous nor impending statements.

Trying to cover everything as simple and accesible as possible, I've structured the article in two parts:

• closer examination of possible connection between symbols/letters of the Jol and their corresponding pronunciation, as well as how they group together
• advantages and further potential effects of such a system

 

Examining the connection between the pronunciation of letters and how they appear in the Jol

Here I will briefly examine each letter as taught to the Frysians of old in the Jol, seen pictured below, some of which I already touched upon earlier. I will follow the same order as the picture, as I believe they are put in that way for a reason. Why this is should quickly become evident to you (if it hasn't already) as we go through the list, but I will discuss it later as well.

Certain assumptions have been made, as to the pronunciation of letters as they were spoken at the time. I am a Dutch native and can, to some degree of certainty, guess how the letters were spoken. Especially when taking into consideration how astonishingly similar our current alphabet is to 'theirs', I think we can safely assume most of the pronunciation of individual letters would to an extent be the same as current Frysian, Dutch, Scandinavian, etc. 

letters on page [046]

VOWELS

Looking at the picture, the first thing noticeable is the dividing of vowels in top two rows, and consonants in the bottom two. Already they are grouped in an almost identical manner as that we do- almost, as there are two exceptions: the J and H.

the A-group

This first group consists of A, Á and À. That last is mostly an educated guess after viewing multiple sources. It does not really matter though, as I can not really ascertain the exact differences in pronunciation in these varients. A simple search for any of these yields a very diverse outcome, depending on which language you pick from. At least the simple A, I assume, should be the same as the current Dutch equivalent, sounding like the As in ba-na-na when spoken as if to a small child. One of the other A's could be like how for example Champagne is pronounced by the French and that one guy who keeps correcting people's Barcelona's at parties. I don't know for sure and hope that someone perhaps could fill in for me on this one.

As for their relation between how they appear in the Jol and how they are pronounced, there isn't a whole lot to say. When pronouncing any form of A as per the examples above, you make a small triangle with your tongue inside your mouth. Like I said earlier, I believe the symbols depicted in the Jol are meant to be viewed as if they were the side of your mouth. Viewed from the right cheek, to be exact.

letter H

Depicted similar to our modern lower-case h, the H is one of two 'vowels' that isn't counted as a vowel in our modern language. As you can see, its appearance isn't only close to its eventual offspring, but also to that of Á. I chose to not include it with the previous group, because it wasn't shown as such in Jan Ott's video I mentioned in the introduction, and I just followed suit. Pronouncing it seems fairly straightforward, taking for example the word happy. Cutting everything off except for the H, you get a pretty clear idea what I mean. It's quite similar to saying A (like ba-na-na),  the difference being when pronouncing the H you push the tongue a little bit forward. Which, I suggest, is why the symbol for H in the Jol has a line going to the upper-right corner, comparing to the A.

That also means we can now take a guess as to which of the As is the one in Champagne, as it would be the one most closely to the H. When pronouncing the H, it's almost as if you say a little A at the end. Meaning Á would be the best fit. 

the O-group

Consisting of two members, the O group is probably the easiest for everyone to understand. The first one, Ô, is pronounced as in the word dog. Although maybe slightly flatter like Europeans nowadays still do, think of Pewdiepie saying Stop! The other one, is just O, and likely needn't any explanation, but just in case, think of hope.

How they appear in the Jol is also easier to explain, compared to some others. Getting the simple O out the way, it's basically pronounced with the lips forming a circling and the tongue flat on the base of the mouth. Hence the circle, and possibly the origin of the symbol.

The Ô is quite the same as the O, in that again the lips are round when saying. But this time, the tongue comes more into play, and is in a more upward position. I believe this is the reason for the triangle below in the middle of the circle.

the U-group

Comprising of U, Ú and Ü, this group has been squeezed into one over time. Explaining the pronunciation of these words in English is a bit tricky, so I'm throwing in some Dutch words.

Going off of my theory, the first one, U, has to have been pronounced like in the Dutch word kruk. It sounds a bit as like in hug, but you English just say it a little different. Moving on to Ú, this is once again something not often spoken in the English vocabulary. I suspect it would have been pronounced as like in the Dutch word duur, with only close English alternatives being new, or few.

Ü is a letter still much used in Germany, here in The Netherlands it has been replaced with -oe. An example I could give for Ü is the Dutch word stoer, where you can see the oe having replaced the Ü over time.

Going off of how it's symbolized in the Jol above, I was able to determine which of the three had which sound attached. Because of my heritage I knew beforehand which U-tones they had to be comprised of, just not how they would be pictured. The Ü was easy, as I recognized it from German, leaving the other two. The U would have been as I described above, because this one has the tongue at the base. Same process for Ú, when pronounced as in duur, the tongue is raised to about the center of the mouth. This would explain the dot in the middle. Finally, the Ü is pictured with a line from the center to the bottom, which is a first, the line also appears to be thinner drawn. At this moment I can only presume it would have to do something with the position of the tongue. The pronunciation, in any case, also has the tongue sitting in the center, though slightly more to the back compared to Ú. You perk your lips a little more as well.

the E-group

In this group there are two tones to be expected, namely the one as heard in egg, and the one like deer. Judging by what I've written so far, we could now probably deduce who belongs where. Let's take a look at how both how pronounced, starting with the E in egg. Mouth open, tongue in the center, nothing much to clearly identify with. Continuing with deer. The E in this one is notably different, with the tongue clearly moving forward in comparison. In fact, the entire mouth seems to want to move a little forward when saying it.

With both pronunciations having been tested, we can look at the symbols above. They are basically the same, with differences being the one on the right has an extra line closing the left side and the two lines leading to the center are drawn thinner (as seen earlier in Ü). As said before, I believe the image should be seen as if it where a mouth shown from the right side. This means the first one has more emphasis on forward moving, like the E in deer. Making the second one the egg.

This aligns with what their current symbols are: E and Ê.

the I-group

After what we've already learned, I'm going to speed things up a little bit. The I and J are grouped together here, with good reason. The pronunciation of I should be about the same as in Yin Yang, with the J sounding like the Ys in those words. You can see now why they are grouped together as their pronunciation is very alike. With the I, you have your mouth slightly open and your tongue just above the base. It's also similar to Ê, but the position of the tongue is a tad lower here. The J is the same position as I, but as you speak it, you push your tongue further up.

How this all relates to how it's pictured isn't very clear to me yet, as they're both simple lines, one having a dot.

the Y-group

[to be continued?]

WÉRHÉD ~ veritas (truth)

Truth brought to light by Time (source)

In an earlier post, I presented Oera Linda fragments with the word WÉRHÉD (truth) and listed its cognates in modern languages. I included the Latin varieties of veritas, without further contemplation.

It would be interesting to see if we can establish which variety of the word would logically be more original.

Latin ver- means true, but -itas seems to have no meaning, in contrast to -HÉD, which would make sense as a conjugation of the verb HÀVE (to have).

Thus, WÉRHÉD may be one of the many examples of Fryan words (and names) that would rather be the more original form than its Latin or Greek cognate.

 ~ ~ ~

What I had not realised, until a reader of this blog pointed it out to me indirectly, is that one of the two words for lips (WÉRA, reviewed in this blog post) could be related.

The following fragment may be relevant, to explain a possible relation:

[158/11] When Wralda gave children to the mothers of mankind, he laid one language in all tongues and on all lips. This gift Wralda bestowed upon men to be used for letting each other know what must be avoided and what must be pursued to find happiness and hold it for eternity. Wralda is wise, good and all-foreseeing. As he knew that luck and happiness must flee from earth when malice can deceive virtue, he attached an equitable property to this language.
This property consists of the impossibility to tell lies or speak deceptive words without stammering or blushing, by which means the evilhearted can instantly be identified.

In case of a relation between WÉR (true) and WÉRA (lips), it would be curious, however, that the author of the fragment (Gosa) used the other term LIPPA here.