705

n. universal testimony, Sks. 12.

(pl. -ir), f. thousand.

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f.; sérhverja þúsund, Stj. 298; á þúsund (dat.), Sks. 705; tvær, þrjár … þúsundir, 623. 53: in mod. usage it is mostly neut. (influenced by Latin?), but also fem. It is spelt þús-hund, Barl. 53; þús-hundum, Fms. vi. 409 (v. l.), Geisli 49; another form þús-hundrað (q. v.) is freq., esp. in Stj., Barl.; this double form -hund and -hundrað answers to the equally double form of ‘hundred,’ see p. 292, and is a proof that þúsund is a compound word, the latter part of which is ‘hund’ or ‘hundred;’ the etymology of the former part ‘þús’ is less certain; it is, we believe, akin to þysja, þyss, þaus-nir (a lost strong verb þúsa, þaus, þusu); þúsund would thus literally mean a swarm of hundreds: [in Goth. the gender varies, þûsundi, pl. þusundjos = χίλιοι, or þusundja, neut.; A. S. þûsend; Engl. thousand; O. H. G. dusunta; Germ. tausend, qs. dausend; Swed. tusende and tusen; Dan. tusinde; Dutch tuysend: this word is also common to the Slavon. languages: again, the Lapp, duhat and Finn. tuhat are no doubt borrowed from the Slavon. or Scandin.; the Gr., Lat., and Sansk. use other words]—a thousand.

B. There is little doubt that with the ancient heathen Scandinavians (and perhaps all Teutons), before their contact with the civilised southern people, the notion of numbers was limited, and that their thousand was not a definite number, but a vague term, denoting a swarm, crowd, host (cp. the Gr. μυρίοι): in ancient lays it occurs thrice (Hkv., Em., Fas. i. 502), but indefinitely; hvat þrym er þar sem þúsund bifisk eðr mengi til mikit, what a din is there as if a thousand were shaking, or an over-mickle multitude, Em. 2; sjau þúsundir, Hkv. 1. 49, literally = seven thousands, but in fact meaning seven hosts of men.

2. the dat. pl. þúsundum is, like huudruðum, used adverbially = by thousands, in countless numbers, Fms. vi. 409 (in a verse), Geisli 49.

3. in the ancient popular literature, uninfluenced by southern writers, ‘þúsund,’ as a definite number, occurs, we think, not half-a-dozen times. As the multiple of ten duodecimal hundreds, ere the decimal hundred was adopted, ‘þnsund’ would mean twelve decimal hundreds; and such is its use in the Sverris Saga, Fms. viii. 40, where one vellum says ‘tvær þúsundir,’ whilst the others, by a more idiomatic phrase, call it ‘twenty hundreds.’

II. in ecclesiastical writers, and in annals influenced by the Latin and the like, it is frequent enough; tíu þúsundir, fjórtán þúsundir, Fms. i. 107, 108 (annalistic records); fimm þúsundir, xi. 386, Al. 111; tíu þúsundum, Sks. 705; tíu þúsundum sinna hundrað þúsunda, Hom.; þúsund þúsunda, a thousand of thousands, i. e. a million, (mod.); hundrað þúsundir rasta ok átta tigir þúsunda, … hundrað þúsund mílna, Fb. i. 31 (in the legend of Eric the Far-traveller and Paradise, taken from some church-legend); fjórar þúsundir, Þiðr. 234: or of the years of the world, sex þúsundir vetra, Fs. 197; sjau þúsundir vetra, Landn. 34.

C. REMARKS.—The popular way of counting high numbers was not by thousands, but by tens (decades) and duodecimal hundreds as factors; thus ten … twenty hundreds, and then going on three, four, five, six … tens of hundreds (a ‘ten of hundreds’ being = 1200). The following references may illustrate this—tíu hundruð, ellefu hundruð, tólf hundruð, þrettán hundruð, fimtán hundruð …, Íb. 17, Ó. H. 119, 201, Fms. vii. 295, xi. 383, 385. From twenty and upwards—tuttugu hundrað manna, twenty hundreds of men, Fms. vii. 324, viii. 40; hálfr þriðitugr hundraða skipa, two tens and a half hundreds of ships, i. e. twenty-five hundreds, Fas. i. 378; þrjá tigu hundraða manna, three tens of hundreds of men, Fms. viii. 311; var skorat manntal, hafði hann meirr enn þrjá tigu hundraða manna, vii. 204; þrír tigir hundraða, D. N. v. 18; user fjorir tigir hundraða manna, nearly four tens of hundreds of men, Fms. vii. 275; á fimta tigi hundraða, on the fifth ten of hundreds, i. e. from four to five tens of hundreds, viii. 321; sex tigir hundraða, six tens of hundreds, 311, xi. 390; sex tigu hundraða manna, Fb. ii. 518, D. I. i. 350,—all odd amounts being neglected. The highest number recorded as actually reckoned in this way is ‘six tens of hundreds’ (fimtán tigir hundraða, fifteen tens of hundreds, Fms. viii. 321, v. l., is a scribe’s error): it is probable that no reckoning exceeded twelve tens of hundreds. All high multiples were unintelligible to the ancients; the number of the Einherjar in Walhalla is in the old lay Gm. thus expressed,—there are ‘five hundred doors in Walhalla, and five tens beside (the ‘five tens’ are, by the way, merely added for alliteration’s sake), and eight hundred Einherjar will walk out of each door when they go out to fight the Wolf’ (on the Day of final Doom). There seems to have been some dim exaggerated notion of a definite thousand in an ancient lay, only preserved in a half alliterative prose paraphrase, Fas. i. 502, where a mythical host is given thus,—there were thirty-three phalanxes, each of five ‘thousand,’ each thousand of thirteen hundreds, each hundred four times counted. The armies in the battle of Brawalla, the greatest of the mythical age, are given, not in numbers, but by the space the ranks occupied, Skjöld. S. ch. 8. This resembles the story in Ó. H. ch. 59, of the two young brothers, king’s sons: when asked what they would like to have most of, the one said: ‘Cows.’ ‘And how many?’ ‘As many,’ said he, ‘as could stand packed in a row round the lake (Mjösen in Norway) and drink.’ ‘But you?’ they asked the other boy: ‘House-carles’ (soldiers), said he. ‘And how many?’ ‘As many,’ said he, ‘as would in one meal eat up all my brother’s cows.’ Add also the tale of the King and the Giant, and the number of the giant’s house-carles, Maurer’s Volksagen 306. No less elementary was the rule for division and fractions, of which a remarkable instance is preserved in an ancient Icelandic deed, called Spákonu-arfr, published in D. I. i. 305. See also the words tigr, hundrað, skor, skora, and the remarks in Gramm. p. xix. The Homeric numeration, as set forth in Mr. Gladstone’s Homeric Studies, vol. iii, p. 425 sqq., is highly interesting, and bears a striking resemblance to that of the ancient Scandinavians. We may notice that in Iceland land and property are still divided into hundreds (hundreds of ells = 120), see hundrað B; in this case a thousand is never used, but units and hundreds of hundreds as factors, thus, sex tögu hundraða, in Reykh. Máld, (a deed of the 12th century), and so still in mod. usage; a wealthy man of the 15th century is said to have bequeathed to his daughters in land, ‘tólf hundruð hundraða ok ellefu-tíu og tvau hundruð betr, en í lausafé fimm hundruð hundraða,’ i. e. twelve hundreds of hundreds and ‘eleventy’ and two hundreds, and in movables five hundreds of hundreds, Feðga-æfi 16 (by the learned Bogi Benidiktsson of Staðarfell in Iceland, A. D. 1771–1849); sjau hundruð hundraða og þrjátigi hundruð betr, 21; hann eptir-lét börnum sínum fjármuni upp á níu hundruð hundraða, 22,—a proof that in very remote times, when this valuation of land first took place, ‘thousand’ was still unknown as a definite number.

adj. [v. the words above, from á- intens. and geta—gat—gátu, to get and to record; the old etymology in glossaries of the last century from the Greek αγαθός cannot be admitted], famous, goodly, excellent; á. maðr um allt land, Nj. 106; á. at afli, Edda 19; ágætir gimsteinar, precious stones, Fms. i. 15; á. skjöldr, Eg. 705; compar, mun hann verða ágætari ( more famous) en allir þínir frændr, Fms. i. 256; superl., ágætaztr, Nj. 282, Eg. 311; ágæztr, contr., Edda 5, Íb. 14, Fms. vii. 95, Greg. 53. In the Landn. ‘maðr ágætr’ is freq. used in a peculiar sense, viz. a noble man, nearly synonymous to gæðingr in the Orkneys, or hersir in Norway, e. g. 143, 149, 169, 190, 198, 201, 203, 279, 281, 308, 312; hersir á., 173, etc.; cp. also Kristni S. ch. I.

mod. dansa, að, to dance, Sks. 705, not in Sturl. and Bs., who use the phrase slá danz; the verb danza occurs for the first time in the ballads and rímur—Ekki er dagr enn, vel d. vifin, Fkv. ii. 102.

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(flyt, flutta, fluttr), v.

1) to carry, convey (flytja vöru til skips);

2) to recite, deliver (flytja or flytja fram kvæði); flytja mál e-s, to plead one’s cause, interceed for one; flytja (fram) sitt erendi, to state one’s errand;

3) to perform (flytja járnburð, skírslu); flytja fórn, to bring an offering;

4) refl., flytjast, to flit, remove.

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pres. flyt: pret. flutti; sup. flutt:—to cause to flit, carry, Gísl. 133; flytja vöru til skips, Nj. 4, Skálda 163, Eg. 125, 194: of trade, to export or import, þenna fjárhlut f. menn þaðan, Sks. 184; kaupmenn er mest gæði flytja landi þessu, Fms. vii. 122; frillu þá er þú hefir flutt af Noregi, Ld. 34.

2. metaph., flytja fórn, to bring an offering, Sks. 781.

β. to perform; flytja skírslu, járnburð, Ld. 58, Fms. viii. 149, Hkr. ii. 229.

γ. to proclaim, preach; hvaða skiru hann flytti, 625. 90: pass., Fms. x. 161: to recite, deliver a poem, speech, etc., flytja kvæði, Ísl. ii. 222; flytja ræðu, to deliver a sermon (mod.): metaph., var sú vísa mjök flutt, the verse was much repeated, went abroad, Fms. i. 48: pass. to be told, Stj. 59, K. Á. 200.

δ. to help, plead, intercede; flytja eyrindi, Fms. x. 44, v. l.; göfgir menn fluttu þetta mál með honum, Fms. i. 13; nú hefi ek flutt sem ek mun at sinni, Hrafn. 17; cp. af-flytja, to disparage: pass., Sks. 185 B.

ε. to entertain, support; flytja úmegð, Mar. (Fr.): pass. to support oneself, Bs. i. 705.

II. reflex. to flit, migrate; hann fluttisk til fjalls upp, Fms. x. 411; fluttisk þá herrinn, ix. 353; fluttusk þeir upp í árós einn, Landn. 57: láta skjóta báti ok fluttisk út á skipit, Nj. 133, Fms. xi. 143; flytjask þeir Ólafr þangat ok kasta akkerum, Ld. 76: ef þér flytisk eigi ór höfninni, Ísl. ii. 127; flytjask fram, to pass, succeed tolerably, Helgi kvað sér við slíkt hafa fram flutzk nokkura stund, Fms. v. 257: þó at nú flytisk fram búið er þú ert við, Band. 2.

III. part. flytjandi, in the phrase, f. eyrir, movables, money, Grett. 90, Ám. 3, Pm. 22, Dipl. iii. 6.

β. a conveyer, Grág. ii. 358: metaph. a promoter, Ó. H. 126, Glúm. 349.

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(-ða, -t), v.

1) to accompany, help, with dat.; f. e-m at, f. e-s málum, to side with one, take one’s part;

2) to lead, guide one (yðr var fylgt í kornhlöðu eina);

3) to pursue (f. fast flóttamönnum);

4) to follow, be about one (konungr lét sveininn f. móður sinni);

5) to follow, observe (f. e-s ráðom, f. hirðsiðum);

6) to belong, or pertain to (segl ok reiði er fylgðu skipinu);

7) láta f., to add; þat lét hann f., at, he added that;

8) refl., fylgjast, to follow one another; fig. to hold together (hann bað sína menn f. vel, hold well together).

1) guidance (beiða e-n fylgju);

2) female guardian spirit; attendant spirit in animal form (þú munt vera feigr maðr ok muntu hafa sét fylgju þína).

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ð or d, [A. S. folgjan; Engl. follow; Germ. folgen; Swed. följa; Dan. fölge]:—to follow, and metaph. to back, help, side with, with dat., Dropl. 26; landvættir allar fylgðu Hafr-Birni til þings, Landn. 271, Grág. i. 46; ek man fylgja Búa bróður mínum, Fms. xi. 111; ok er úfallit at f. Þjórólfi um þetta mál, Boll. 342; fylgja málum e-s, Fms. i. 86; fylgja e-m at, to side with, take one’s part. xi. 111; man Björn þeim at f., Bjarn. 7:—also of things, láta sverðit hendi f., let it follow the hand, remain in it, Eg. 505.

2. to lead, guide one; yðr var fylgt í kornhlöðu eina, Eg. 49; fylgja e-m á brott, Ld. 44; vilda ek at þú fylgdir mér til frænda minna, Nj. 45.

3. to pursue a flying host, Fms. i. 45, ix. 409.

4. a law term, fylgja konu, to elope with a woman, Grág. i. 342, 343; an offence liable to the lesser outlawry, even in the case of accomplices.

5. to be about one; konungr lét sveininn f. móður sinni, meðan hann var allungr, Fms. i. 14: tungl fylgir sólmerkjum, Rb. 108; meðan svörðr ok hold fylgði, Eg. 770:—to follow one as one’s mistress, Fms. xi. 160, Sturl. i. 97; cp. Fms. x. 322, Sturl. i. 94, Orkn.

II. metaph. to follow, observe, Róm. 87; fylgja e-s ráðum, Bs. i. 720; fylgja hirðsiðum, Fms. vi. 240.

2. to follow as an encumbrance; Margrét fylgi Loptstaða-eign, D. N. i. 82; so in the saying, vandi fylgir vegsemd hverri:— to follow as a quality or the like; þat segi þér at mér fylgi engi hugr, … you say that there is no courage in me, Fms. vii. 297; svá mikill kraptr fylgði þessum mönnum, Edda (pref.); þar fylgði sætr ilmr, Bs. i. 454; upphaf allra frásagna þeirra er (dat.) sannindi f., true records, Fms. xi. 412; hvat fylgir engli þeim, what is the quality of this angel? Nj. 157.

3. to belong to; himin ok jörð ok alla hluti sem þeim f., Edda (pref.); nú fylgir skógr landi, a forest belongs to the land, Grág. i. 200; segl ok reiða er fylgðu skipinu, Hkr. i. 277; aðrar eignir þær er þar f., Ld. 96; sök þá er tylptar-kviðr á at fylgja, a case that falls under the verdict of twelve, Grág. i. 41.

4. causal, to let a thing follow, to add; þat lét hann f., at …, he added, that …, Fms. vii. 227; þar lét hann ok f. grávöru mikla, Eg. 69; hann lét þat f. boði, Fb. ii. 187; þat fylgði ok þeirri sögn, 184.

5. fylgja (sér) at e-u, to work hard, push on with one’s work (cp. fylgi, at-fylgi), Bs. i. 793; fylgja e-u at, to pursue, press on with a thing, Ó. H. 41.

6. with acc., but only as a Latinism in translation, H. E. i. 514.

III. reflex. to follow one another, metaph. to side with one another, hang together; hann bað sína menn fylgjask vel, he bade them hold well together, Eg. 288; þeir fylgðusk at hverju máli, Nj. 72: in a pass. sense rare and unclass., Sks. 347.

IV. part. fylgendr, pl. followers, Bs. i. 705, Barl. 53.

( norœnn), adj. Norse, Norwegian, Grág. i. 299; Danskir Sænskir eða Norrænir, ii. 72; maðr norrænn, Eg. 705, Ísl. ii. 232 (v. l.), Landn. passim; n. víkingr, Hkr. i. 198; n. berserkr, Bs. i. 16, cp. 953; norræn lög, Eg. 259; norræna skjöldu, 286; norrænan eið, Sturl. ii. 201; norræn tunga, the Norse tongue, Fms. i. 23, Sturl. ii. 3 (opp. to Latin); í norrænu máli, Skálda 189, Hkr. i. (pref.); norrænn skáldskapr, Skálda 190.

II. of the wind, northern; görði á norrænt, Sturl. iii. 263; þá var á norrænt, Fms. ix. 42.

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m. giant (risar ok troll).

* * *

a, m., thus sounded with a short i, but perh. better rísi; qs. vrísi; [cp. Hel. vrisul; Germ. riese; Ivar Aascn ryse and rysel; the v shews that the word has no connection with the verb rísa, and the root is unknown; Swed. vresig = burly may be a kindred word]:—a giant, Hkr. i. 5, Sks. 601, 705, Fas. iii. 24, Ann. 1338. In popular Icel. usage risi denotes size, jötunn strength, þurs lack of intelligence; thus, hár sem risi, sterkr sem jötunn, heimskr sem þurs, as tall as a risi, strong as a jötun, stupid as a þurs. The ancient legends describe the risar as handsome, and a long-lived race; bygðu þá risar víða, en sumir vóru hálfrisar, þá var mikit sambland þjóðanna, þvíat risar fengu kvenna af Ýmislandi, Fas. i. 513, Herv. S. ch. 1, Örvar Odds S. ch. 18; cp. also the tales of Godmund on Glasisvellir: compds, hálf-risi, berg-risi. The word is very popular (even more so than jötunn) in modern tales, but is only found once (in the compd berg-risi) in old poems; risa barn, -dóttir, a giant-bairn, giant-daughter. Fas. ii. 239; but in compds risa fólk, -kyn, -ætt, giant-folk, giant-kind, 383, 384, Bárð. 163, Landn. 118; risa vöxtr, a giant’s size, Stj. 326.

m. a ‘shield-boy,’ shield-bearer, Sks. 705, Korm. 118, Stj. 631.

adv. faithfully, Nj. 62, 146, Hrafn. 28, Sks. 705, Hom. 37, Bs. i. 39, 203, passim.

adv. faithfully, H. E. i. 561, Sks. 705, Sól. 20.