above

1) the east (sól í austri; til austrs);

2) as adv., in the east (ek var a. ok ána varðak); towards the east (þú vart a. sendr).

(-ra or -rar), m.

1) the act of baling out water; standa í austri, to be engaged in baling;

2) bilge-water (skipit fullt af austri).

* * *

rs and rar, m. [ausa], the act of drawing water in buckets, pumping; v. dæluaustr and byttuaustr, Grett. ch. 19; standa í austri, to toil hard at the pump, Fas. ii. 520, Sturl. iii. 68; til austrar, Grett. 94 B. β. the water pumped or to be pumped, bilge water, Gr. αντλος, Sturl. iii. 67, 68; skipið fullt af austri, full of bilge water, Fb. ii. 204 (Fbr.), Finnb. 234; standa í a., v. above.

COMPD: austrs-ker, austker (N. G. L. i. 59), a scoop, pump-bucket (cp. ausker), GÞl. 424.

and usla-bót (N. G. L. i. 246), f. a law term, compensation fixed by a jury of five, cp. above; distinction is made between a. hin meiri and hin minni, first rate or second rate compensation, Grág. ii. 344: in pl. 225.

1) before (löngu á.);

2) a little while ago (Kolr fór frá seli á.).

* * *

adv. [cp. Ulf. apn = ivtavrós, Gal. iv. 10, and atapni, id.], a little before, a little while ago, erewhile; Kolr for frá seli á., Nj. 55; á. er vit skildum, Lv. 34; slíkt sem á. talða ek, as I said just above (of the Speaker reading the law in the lögrétta), Grág. i. 49, ii. 242; nu a., just now, 656 G. 39.

n. (áfangi, m., Grág. i. 433), [fá á, to grasp], a grasping, seizing, laying hands upon, esp. of rough bundling; harm hló mjök mót áfangi manna, Fms. vi. 203; varð hann fyrir miklu spotti ok áfangi, 209.

2. a law term, a mulct, fine, incurred by illegal seizure of another man’s goods; ef maðr hleypr á bak hrossi manns úlofat, þat varðar sex aura á., if a man jumps on the back of another man’s horse without leave, that is visited with a fine of six ounces, Grág. i. 432, Gþl. 520; hvatki skip er tekr skal sitt á. gjalda hverr …, á. á maðr á hrossi sínu hvárt er hann ekr eðr ríðr, N. G. L. i. 45; at hann hafi riðit hrossi manns um þrjá bæi … varðar skóggang ok áfanga (where it is used masc. acc. pl.) með, Grág., vide above.

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.

(-s, -ar), m. elf, fairy (hóll er skamt heðan er álfar búa í).

* * *

s, m. [A. S. ælf, munt-ælfen, sæ-ælfen, wudu-ælfen, etc.; Engl. elf, elves, in Shakespeare ouphes are ‘fairies;’ Germ. alb and elfen, Erl- in Erlkönig (Göthe) is, according to Grimm, a corrupt form from the Danish Ellekonge qs. Elver-konge]; in the west of Icel. also pronounced álbr:

I. mythically, an elf, fairy; the Edda distinguishes between Ljósálfar, the elves of light, and Dökkálfar, of darkness (the last not elsewhere mentioned either in mod. fairy tales or in old writers), 12; the Elves and Ases are fellow gods, and form a favourite alliteration in the old mythical poems, e. g. Vsp. 53, Hm. 144, 161, Gm. 4, Ls. 2, 13, Þkv. 7, Skm. 7, 17, Sdm. 18. In the Alvismál Elves and Dwarfs are clearly distinguished as different. The abode of the elves in the Edda is Álfheimar, fairy land, and their king the god Frey (the god of light), Edda 12; see the poem Gm. 12, Álfheim Frey gáfu í árdaga tívar at tannfé. In the fairy tales the Elves haunt the hills, hence their name Huldufólk, hidden people: respecting their origin, life, and customs, v. Ísl. Þjóðs. i. I sqq. In old writers the Elves are rarely mentioned; but that the same tales were told as at present is clear;—Hallr mælti, hvi brosir þú nú? þórhallr svarar, af því brosir ek, at margr hóll opnast ok hvert kvikindi býr sinn bagga bæði smá ok stór, ok gera fardaga (a foreboding of the introduction of Christianity), Fms. ii. 197, cp. landvættir; álfamenn, elves, Bs. i. 417, Fas. i. 313, 96; hóll einn er hér skamt í brott er álfar búa í, Km. 216: álfrek, in the phrase, ganga álfreka, cacare, means dirt, excrements, driving the elves away through contamination, Eb. 12, cp. Landn. 97, Fms. iv. 308, Bárð. ch. 4: álfröðull, elfin beam or light, a poët. name of the sun; álfavakir, elf-holes, the small rotten holes in the ice in spring-time in which the elves go a fishing; the white stripes in the sea in calm weather are the wakes of elfin fishing boats, etc.: medic. álfabruni is an eruption in the face, Fél. ix. 186: Ivar Aasen mentions ‘alvgust, alveblaastr, alveld,’ the breath, fire of elves (cp. St. Vitus’ dance or St. Anthony’s fire); ‘alvskot,’ a sort of cancer in the bone:—græti álfa, elfin tears, Hðm. I, is dubious; it may mean some flower with dew-drops glittering in the morning sun, vide s. v. glýstamr ( glee-steaming). Jamieson speaks of an elf’s cup, but elf tears are not noticed elsewhere; cp. Edda 39. In Sweden, where the worship of Frey prevailed, sacrifices, álfa-blót, were made to the elves, stóð húsfreyja í dyrum ok bað hann ( the guest) eigi þar innkoma, segir at þau ætti álfa blót, Hkr. ii. 124 (referring to the year 1018), cp. Korm. ch. 22.

2. metaph., as the elves had the power to bewitch men, a silly, vacant person is in Icel. called álfr; hence álfalegr, silly; álfaskapr and álfaháttr, silly behaviour.

II. in historical sense, the Norse district situated between the two great rivers Raumelfr and Gautelfr (Alhis Raumarum, et Gotharum) was in the mythical times called Álfheimar, and its inhabitants Álfar, Fas. i. 413, 384, 387, Fb. i. 23, vide also P. A. Munch, Beskrivelse over Norge, p. 7. For the compds v. above.

n. dirt, excrements (which drive away the elves); ganga álfrek, álfreka, at álfreka = ganga ørna sinna.

* * *

n., álfröðull, m., v. above.

n. pl., gjöra e-t at álitamálum = göra at álitum, v. above, Lv. 16.

n. pl., Grág., v. above.

* * *

conj. than (an old form for en).

* * *

prep. [Goth. inuh; Hel. and O. H. G. ano; Germ, ohne; Gr. ανευ], without: the oldest form in MSS. is ón, Eluc. 25, Greg. Dial, (freq.), 655 xxvii. 2, Fms. xi. in, 153; aon, Hom. 19 sqq.; the common form is án; with gen. dat. and acc.; at present only with gen.

I. with gen., þess máttu Gautar ilia án vera, Hkr. ii. 70. Ó. H. 49 has ‘þat;’ án manna valda, Fms. iii. 98; á. allra afarkosta, x. 7; mættim vér vel þess án vera, Ísl. ii. 339; in the proverb, án er ills gengis nema heiman hafi, Gísl. 63, but án er illt gengi (acc.), 149, Nj. 27, Ísl. ii. 142, l. c..; án allra klæða, Al. 171; án allrar vægðar, Sks. 229; ón lasta synda, Eluc. 25.

II. with dat., esp. in translations or eccles. Writings, perh. in imitation of the Lat., and now quite out of use; esp. In the phrase, án e-s ráði, without (against) one’s will, Nj. 38, Bjarn. 71, Korm. 142, Fms. xi. 153, 111; ón góðum verkum, Greg. 13; án úfláti, incessantly, Bs. i. 97; ón dómi, Eluc. 39; sannr ok on gildingi, 655 xxvii. 2.

III. with acc., esp. freq. in the Grág., án er illt gengi, v. above; þá skal hann án vera liðit, Grág. i. 276; án ráð lögráðanda, 334; hann mun þik ekki þykjast mega án vera, Fms. vii. 26; án allan verma, Sks. 210; án alla flærð, 522 B; ón líkamligan breyskleik, ok on dóm, Eluc. 38; án leyfi, without leave, Fms. vii. 141.

IV. ellipt. without case, or adverbially, hvatki es betra es at hafa en ón at vera ( to be without), 677. 8; þau er mönnum þykir betr at hafa en án at vera, Gþl. 379; eiga vilja heldr en ón vera þat hit mjallhvíta man, Alvm. 7: acc. with inf., án við löst at lifa, sine culpâ vivere, Hm. 68; used substantively, in the proverb, alls áni ( omnium expers) verðr sá er einskis biðr, Sl. 38: Egilsson also, on Hdl. 23, suggests a form án, n.; but the passage (the poem is only left in the Fb.) is no doubt a corrupt one. Probably ‘ani ómi’ is a corruption from Arngrími (arngmi, the lower part of the g being blotted out: Arngrími | óru bornir | (öflgir ?) synir | ok Eyfuru, or the like).

and Ön, a mythical king of Sweden, hence ána-sótt, f. painless sickness from age, decrepid old age; þat er síðan kölluð á. ef maðr deyr verklauss af elli, Hkr. i. 35: the word is mentioned in Fél. ix. s. v., but it only occurs l. c. as an απ. λεγ. and seems even there to be a paraphrase of the wording in the poem, knátti endr | at Uppsölum | ánasótt | Ön of standa, Ýt. 13; even in the time of Snorri the word was prob. not in use in Icel.

2. the hero of the Án’s Saga, a romance of the 14th or 15th century, Fas. ii. 323–362; hence áni, a, m., means a fool, lubber.

f. = ásýn, and dat. pl. and gen. sing. used in the same way, v. above, Fms. i. 101, v. 345, x. 228, Fs. 4, Ld. 82: metaph. the face, of the earth, Stj. 29, 276.

u, f. (v. above), a bath-room, Eb. l. c., Bs. i. l. c., Þiðr. l. c., Fms. viii. l. c., Sturl. ii. 121, 167, iii. 25, 102, 176, 198.

* * *

(að), v.

1) to bake (baka brauð);

2) to warm and rub the body, and limbs, at a large fire ( see bakeldr) esp. refl. bakast (við eld);

3) to rub = strjúka; bakaði Helgi fótinn, he rubbed the (broken) leg.

* * *

að, [Gr. φώγειν, cp. also the Lat. focus; A. S. bacan; Engl. to bake; Germ. backen.]

1. prop. to bake; b. brauð, N. G. L. i. 349; b. ok sjóða, to bake and cook, Gþl. 376. In Icel. steikja is to roast; baka, to bake; but in mod. usage steikja may also be used of baking on embers, opp. to baka, baking in a pan or oven; elda ofn til brauðs ok b., Hom. 113; b. í ofni, Fas. i. 244; people say in Icel. steikja köku (on embers), but baka brauð.

2. metaph. and esp. in the reflex. bakast, to bake, i. e. to warm and rub the body and limbs, at a large open fire in the evening after day-work; v. bakeldr and bakstreldr; v. also the classical passages, Grett. ch. 16, 80, Fms. xi. 63, 64 (Jómsv. ch. 21), Orkn. ch. 34, 89, 105, Hkr. iii. 458. In Icel. the same fire was made for cooking and warming the body, Ísl. ii. 394, Eb. ch. 54, 55; hence the phrase, hvárt skal nú búa til seyðis (is a fire to be made for cooking) … svá skal þat vera, ok skaltú eigi þurfa heitara at baka, it shall be hot enough for thee to bake, Nj. 199 (the rendering of Johnsonius is not quite exact); skaltú eigi beiðast at baka heitara en ek mun kynda, Eg. 239: used of bathing, bakaðist hann lengi í lauginni, Grett. ch. 80, MS. Cod. Upsal. This ‘baking’ the body in the late evening before going to bed was a great pastime for the old Scandinavians, and seems to have been used instead of bathing; yet in later times (12th and 13th centuries) in Icel. at least bathing (v. above) came into use instead of it. In the whole of Sturl. or Bs. no passage occurs analogous to Grett. l. c. or Jómsv. S.

β. bóndi bakar á báðar kinnr, blushed, Bs. ii. 42; þanneg sem til bakat er, as things stand, Orkn. 428; bakaði Helgi fótinn, H. baked the (broken) leg, Bs. i. 425; vide eldr.

γ. (mod.) to cause, inflict; b. e-m öfund, hatr, óvild (always in a bad sense): af-baka means to distort, pervert.

II. to put the back to, e. g. a boat, in floating it, (mod.)

* * *

1) bank (of a river, lake, chasm, etc.);

2) ridge, bank (hann settist undir bakka í hrísrunni);

3) a mound on which the target is set up; setja spán í bakka, to set up a target;

4) bank of clouds above the horizon;

5) back of a knife or other cutting instrument, opp. to egg.

* * *

a, m. [Engl. and Germ. bank]

1. a bank of a river, water, chasm, etc.; árbakki, sjávarbakki, marbakki, flæðarbakki, Gísl. 54; síkisbakki, gjárbakki; út eptir áinni ef Hákon stæði á bakkanum, Fms. vi. 282, ix. 405, Nj. 158, 224: Tempsar b., banks of the Thames, Fms. v. (in a verse).

2. an eminence, ridge, bank; gengu þeir á land ok kómu undir bakka einn, Dropl. 5; hann settist undir b. í hrísrunni, Bjarn. 15; cp. skotbakki, butts on which the target is placed; setja spán í bakka, to put up a target, Fms. ii. 271.

β. heavy clouds in the horizon.

3. [= bak], the back of a knife, sword, or the like, opp. to edge; blað skilr bakka ok egg, Jónas, Grett. 110 new Ed.

COMPDS: bakkafullr, bakkakólfr, bakkastokkar.

(að), v. to make a sign by waving the hand;

banda á móti fénu, to drive away the sheep;

with dat., banda höndum; to wave the hands.

* * *

að, [cp. Ulf, bandvian = σημαίνειν and bandva, vexillum; Germ. banner; is probably alien to binda], to make a sign with the hand, esp. in the phrase, b. móti, to drive back sheep or flocks, Háv. 41, Fas. ii. 124, v. l. The chief MSS., however, spell bannaði; the word is at present freq., but only in the above phrase, or gener. to remonstrate slightly against as by waving the hand; v. benda.

I) m. a sort of ship, ‘ram’.

II) from berja.

* * *

a, m. a ship, a sort of ram, v. above, Fms. ii. 310, Edda (Gl.)

β. a sort of fish (Germ. bartfisch), Edda (Gl.)

γ. a shield, Edda (Gl.)

n. in the phrase, frá blautu b., v. above, Al. 71.

Eg. 94.; Snorri (Hkr.) constantly uses the pl. form, but bautaðarsteinn, Fagrsk. 19, and bautarsteinn, Hm. 72; m. the stone monuments of the olden age, esp. in Sweden and Denmark; the Hávamál l. c. (sjaldan bautarsteinar standa brautu nær, nema reisi niðr at nið) tells us that these stones used to be placed along the high roads, like the sepulchral monuments of old Rome; cp. the standing phrase on the Swedish-Runic stones—hér skal standa steinn ‘nær brautu;’ or, má eigi ‘brautar-kuml’ ( a road monument) betra verða; the high roads of old Sweden seem to have been lined with these monumental stones; even at the present time, after the destruction of many centuries, the Swedish-Runic stones (of the nth and 12th centuries) are counted by thousands. A great collection was made and drawings executed during the 17th century (Buræus, etc.), but only published A. D. 1750, under the name of Bautil. The etymology of this word is much contested; some render it by ‘stones of the slain’ (bauta, to slay), but this is contradicted by the passage in Hm. l. c. and by the inscriptions themselves. The bauta stones were simply monuments erected by the piety of kindred and friends without any respect to sex or manner of death, either in war, on sea, or through sickness; some were even erected to the memory of living persons. They were usually tombstones; but many of them are memorial stones for men that died in foreign lands, Greece, Russia, the British Islands, etc. Neither is Snorri right in saying (Hkr. pref.) that the bautasteinar belonged to the old burning age (brunaöld), and were replaced by the cairns (haugar) in the subsequent cairn age (haugaöld)—þá skyldi brenna alla dauða menn ok reisa eptir bautasteina, en síðan er Freyr hafði heygðr verit at Uppsölum þá görðu margir höfðingjar eigi síðr hauga en bautasteina. Svíar tóku lík hans ok var hann brendr við á þá er Skúta heitir, þar vóru settir bautasteinar hans, Hkr. Yngl. ch. 17—the passage in Hávamál and the monuments refute this statement. The great bulk of the Scandinavian bauta stones seem to be of the nth and even 12th century. In Icel. no stones of that time are on record: var hann þá her heygðr skamt frá bsenum, ok settir upp bautasteinar, þeir er enn standa her, Hkr. i. 269; hávir bautasteinar standa hjá haugi Egils ullserks, 153,—where Fagrsk. reads, í þau skip var lagðr í valrinn, ok orpnir þar haugar utan at; þar stendr ok bautaðarsteinn (= bautarsteinn in Hm.?) hár sem Egill féll, p. 19;—en eptir alla þá menn er nokkut mannsmót var at, skyldi reisa bautasteina, ok hélzt sa siðr lengi síðan, Hkr. Yngl. ch. 8. It is worth remarking that the word ‘bautasteinn’ never occurs out of Icel. literature, and there only in the above passages, viz. once in the old Hm., once in the Fagrsk., four times in the Hkr., whence it has passed over to modern writers. The word is most probably only a corruption from brautarsteinar, lapides viae, (by dropping the r); cp. the analogous Swedish word, brautarkuml, monumentum viae, which occurs in the inscriptions themselves.

f., v. above.

* * *

f. bait, esp. for fish.

(-tta, -ttr), v.

1) to ‘cause to bite’, graze, with the animals in dat. (beita nautum), the pasture in acc. (beita haga, land, engi);

absol. to pasture cattle (beita í skógi);

beita upp land, to exhaust by grazing;

beita upp ( to consume) engjum ok heyjum;

2) to handle, use a weapon (beita sverði);

3) to hunt or chase (with dogs or hawks);

beita e-n hundum, to set dogs on one;

4) fig., beita e-n brögðum, úlögum, illu, to deal cunningly, unlawfully, badly with one;

recipr., við höfum opt brögðum beizt, schemed against each other;

5) to harness (a horse, &c.) to a vehicle (beita hest fyrir vagn);

beittu enn blakka mar, saddle thy black steed;

fig., beita e-n fyrir e-t, to put one at the head of;

refl., beitast fyrir e-t or e-u, to lead the cause;

6) to furnish (a vehicle) with horses (vagn at beita);

7) to steer or sail near the wind, to cruise (beita þeir í brot, frá landinu);

fengu þeir beitt fyrir Skotland, they weathered S.

* * *

tt, [v. bita, beit, mordere], prop. mordere facere.

I. to graze, feed sheep and cattle; the animals in dat., b. svínum, Grág. ii. 231; nautum, Eg. 721: the pasture in acc., b. haga, Grág. ii. 224, 225; engi, 228; afrétt, 302, 329; land, 329, Eg. 721: absol., Grág. ii. 249: with ‘í’ and dat., b. í skógi, 299: ‘í’ with acc., b. svínum í land annars manns, 231: b. upp land (acc.), to spoil the pasture by grazing, lay it bare; beittust þá upp allar engjar, Eg. 712: with dat., b. upp ( to consume) engjum ok heyjum, Fms. vi. 104.

II. to handle, manage a (cutting) instrument; with dat., b. skutli, a harpoon, Fbr. 144; sverði, a sword, Fms. viii. 96, xi. 270; vápnum, 289.

III. a nautical term, to cruise, prop. to let the ship ‘bite’ the wind; undu þeir segl sin ok beittu út at Njcirvasundum allfagran byr, Orkn. 356; beita þeir í brott frá landinu, Ld. 76; fengu þeir beitt fyrir Skotland, they sailed round, weathered S., Eg. 405; beittu þá sem þverast austr fyrir landit, 161; b. undir veðrit, to tack, Vb. i. 511; b. í haf út, Orkn. 402: metaph., varð jafnan þeirra hlutr betri, er til hans hnigu, en hinna, er frá beittu, who steered away from him, Fms. viii. 47.

IV. a hunting term, to hunt (cp. beiða), the deer in acc., the dogs or hawks in dat.; b. e-n hundum, to set hounds on him; konungr sagði at hann skyldi afklæða, ok b. hundum til bana, Fms. ii. 173, x. 326; beita haukum, to chase with hawks, Fas. 1. 175: to chase, svá beitum vér björnuna, Hkr. ii. 369 MS. B, vide bauta; hann … hafði beitt fimm trönur, he had caught five cranes, Fagrsk. 77, where Hkr. l. c. has ‘veitt;’ svá beitu vér bjarnuna á mörkinni norðr, sagði hann, O. H. L. 70, cp. above; verðr Salomon konungr varr at dýr hans eru beitt, biðr. 231; þeir beita bar mart dýr, hjörtu ok björnu ok hindr, 232: metaph. and reflex., b. e-m, sögðu þeir mundu eigi þeim birni bcitast, at deila um mál hans við ofreflismenn slíka, they said they would not hunt that bear, Ölk. 34: metaph., b. e-n brögðum, vélum, vélræðum…, to hunt one down with tricks or schemes; þykist þér nú allmjök hafa komizt fyrir mik í viti, ok beittan brögðum í þessu, Ísl. ii. 164; vélum, 623; úlögum, Sks. 22; illu, Fas. i. 208: recipr., við höfum opt brögðum beizt, … schemed against each other, Fms. xi. 263; stundum beittust þau velræðum, i. 57.

β. to bait; the bait in dat., the angle in acc.

V. to yoke to, of horse or cattle for a vehicle, the cattle almost always in acc.; þá vóru yxn fyrir sleða beittir, Eb. 172; bjó sér vagn ok beitti hest, Fms. x. 373, Gkv. 2. 18; ok beittu fyrir tvá sterka yxn, Eb. 176, Grett. 112, Stj. 206: with dat., b. hestum, vagni, to drive; but acc., beittu, Sigurðr, hinn blakka mar, S. saddle thy black steed, Ghv. 18: metaph., b. e-n fyrir e-t, to put one at the head of it, Sks. 710: reflex., beitast fyrir e-t, to lead a cause, to manage it, Ld. 196, Fms. viii. 22, Hkr. ii. 168.

VI. to hammer iron or metal into plates, v. beit, f.