mergund

f. a wound to the marrow; also.

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1) bone; láta með beini ganga, to deal blows to the very bone, give no quarter; hafa bein í hendi, to be well off;

2) leg, = fótleggr;

3) pl. mortal remains; bera bein or beinin, to be buried (hér mun ek bein bera á Íslandi).

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n. a word common to the Teut. idioms and peculiar to them; [the Goth. word is not on record, as Luke xxiv. 39 and John xix. 36 are lost in Ulf.; A. S. bân; Engl. bone; Germ. bein; Swed.-Dan. ben (been). Sansk., Gr., Lat., and the Slav. languages agree in a totally different root; Sansk. asthi; Gr. οστέον; Lat. os; the Slav. branch all with an initial c, cp. the Lat. costa. Vide Grimm (s. v.), who suggests a relation to Gr. βαίνω; but the native Icel. words beinn, rectus, and beina, promovere, are more likely roots; the original sense might thus be crus, Gr. σκέλος, but Lat. os the secondary one]:— a bone.

I. spec. the leg from the knee to the foot; freq. in Swed. and Dan., but very rare and nearly obsolete in Icel., where leggr is the common word; hosa strengd at beini, Eg. 602, Fms. x. 331; kálfar á beinum fram, N. G. L. i. 339.

II. gener. = Lat. os, a bone, but originally the bones with marrow (Germ. knochen), as may be inferred from the passages, þá er mergund ef b. er í sundr til mergjar, þat er mergr er í, Grág. ii. 11, i. 442, Fms. vii. 118, Vápn. 21, Fas. i. 66, Vígl. 20; stór bein í andliti, with a strongly-marked, high-boned face, Band. 7, whence stórbeinóttr, q. v.; viðbeina, a collar-bone; höfuðbein, pl. head-bones, the scull around the temples and the forehead; er gamlir grísir skyldu halda mér at höfuðbeinum, Grett. (in a verse); strjúka höfuðbeinin; málbein, os loquendi, a small bone in the head; hence the phrase, láta málbeinið ganga, of one talking incessantly and foolishly: metaph. in phrases, láta ganga með beini, to deal blows to the very marrow, deal severely, Ld. 230; hafa bein í hendi (the Danes say, have been i næsen), to have a boned hand, i. e. strength and power, Hrafn. 10, Al. 29.

2. pl. relics, remains (ashes); the phrase, bera bein, to repose, rest, be buried; far þú út til Íslands, þar mun þér auðit verða beinin at bera, Grett. 148, Nj. 201; ok iðrast nú að aptr hvarf að bera b. blá við hrjóstr, Bjarni, 57:—of the relics of saints, Bs. 468, 469; hence beina-færsla, u, f. removal of bones (translatio); in the Catholic age, when churches were removed, the churchyard was dug up and the bones removed also, vide Eb. (in fine), Bjarn. 19, K. Þ. K. 40, Eg. (in fine).

COMPDS: beinavatn, beinagrind, beináta, beinbrot, beinkröm, beinkveisa, beinsullr, beinverkir.

(pl. -ir), f. wound (undir dreyrgar); cf. holund, mergund.

prep. under; see undir.

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f. [Goth. wunds = wounded and wundufni = μάστιξ; A. S. wund; Engl. wound; O. H. G. wunta; Germ. wunde]:—a wound; undir svella, Skv. 3. 68; undir dreyrgar, 32; blóð hljóp ór undinni. Eg. 216, Sæm. 179; taka vápnit ór undinni, Gísl. 22; hann beit yðr stóra und, Fas. ii. 378; tók at láta í undum þeim er vóru fyrir brjóstinu, Róm. 232; hol-und, merg-und. This word is little used in prose, having been superseded by the word sár, a sore: in poët. circumlocutions, unda-log, und-bál, und-leygr, wound-fire, i. e. weapons; und-bára, -gjálfr, -lögr, a wound-wave, i. e. blood; und-reyr, -fleinn, -linnr, = a wound-reed, wound-snake, a sword; und-gagl, a carrion bird, Lex. Poët. unda-fífill, m., botan. hawkweed, hieracium.

prep., see undir.