Re: Hird - was Re: concerning installation of hurd;request from Norway

[Thomas Bushnell, BSG]

Guy Bormann <spaderada@wanadoo.be> writes:

> In Dutch (incl. Flemish), we have "een horde" which is a group of
> wild animals or a large gang of looting soldiers or 'barbarians' (as
> in "horden Hunnen trokken plunderend door Europa"). Actually, the
> English translation I found in a pocket dictionary is also "horde"
> so I'm not sure anymore if it is related.  

Yeah, "horde" is an ordinary English word, with a clearly close
meaning to the Dutch word there, and a totally different etymology
from English "hird".

> So, please enlighten me, what was originally meant in naming the Hurd?

Like I said, the idea was to have a name which sounded the same as
"herd", but with a different spelling.  In the normal rules of English
orthography, "hurd", "hird", and "herd" are all pronounced the same.