Ekoln

By Lennart Elmevik

In: Ortnamnssällskapets i Uppsala årsskrift 2018

Summary

Ekoln (OSw. *Ekul, *Ekol) is the name of an arm of Lake Mälaren, just south of Uppsala. It has been interpreted in two different ways. According to Jöran Sahl­gren (1938), the name refers to an abundance of oak vegetation along the shore­line, while according to Ivar Lundahl (1955) it contains a nominalisation of an adjective corresponding to Old English ācol ‘agitated, frightened, terrified’. Extralinguistic support can be found for both interpretations. The present author, for his part, concludes that Sahlgren’s interpretation is to be preferred. Finally, he comments on the term ‘suffix of tendency’ (benägenhetssuffix) for certain uses of the suffixes –ala and –ula.