as+a+present

rs, m. [ár = annona], gener. a year, season, = árferð; also the produce of the earth brought forth in a year (season), which is at present in the east of Icel. called ársali, v. árferð; skapaðist árangrinn eptir spásögu Jóseps, 655 vii. 4; ok at liðnum þeim vetrum tók á. at spillast, Gþl. 77; mun batna á. sem várar, Þorf. Karl. (A. A.) 111: the mod. use is only metaph., effect, result; so e. g. árangrs-laust, n. adj. without effect, to no effect.

n. inundation of a river, Bs. ii. 37; at present used of a s hallow ford in a river.

f. a charge of cavalry, Hkr. iii. 162, Fms. vii. 56: an invasion of horsemen, x. 413: at present a law term, a visitation or inspection by sworn franklins as umpires, esp. in matters about boundaries.

* * *

1) the act of binding or settling, opp. to lausn;

fig., lausn ok band allra vandamála, the decision in all difficult cases;

2) band, cord (mjótt band);

3) in pl.:

a) bonds, fetters (hafa e-n í böndum);

b) bond, confederacy (ganga í bönd ok eið);

c) poet., the gods, cf. höpt;

blóta bönd, to worship the gods;

at mun banda, at the will of the gods.

* * *

n. pl. bönd, [binda; Ulf. bandi, f. δεσμός; O. H. G. pfand, whence the mod. Dan. pant; N. H. G. band; Engl. band and bond; Dan. baand.]

I. prop. in sing. any kind of band; mjótt band, a thin cord, Edda 20, Grág. ii. 119.

β. a yarn of wool, v. bandvetlingar.

γ. metaph. a bond, obligation; lausn ok b. allra vandamála, Fms. v. 248, Bs. i. 689.

II. in pl. also,

1. bonds, fetters, Lat. vincula; í böndum, in vinculis, Bs. i. 190, Fms. ii. 87, 625. 95: theol., synda bönd, 656 A; líkams bönd, Blas. 40.

2. a bond, confederacy; ganga í bönd ok eið, to enter into a bond and oath, Band. 22; cp. hjónaband, marriage; handaband, a shaking of hands, etc.

3. poët. the gods, cp. hapt; of providence ruling and uniting the world, Hkm. 10; banda vé, the temples, Hkr. i. 204; at mun banda, at the will of the gods, 210; vera manu bönd í landi, the gods (i. e. lares tutelares) are present in the land, Bs. i. 10; gram reki bönd af löndum, Eg. (in a verse); blóta bönd, to worship the gods; vinr banda, the friend of the gods; bönd ollu því, the gods ruled it, Haustl.; vide Lex. Poët., all the instances being taken from heathen poems. Egilsson suggests a reference to the imprisoning of the three gods, Odin, Hænir, and Loki, mentioned Edda 72; but bönd is that which binds, not is bound; (band means vinculum not vinctus.)

4. metric. a kind of intricate intercalary burden (klofastef). This seems to be the meaning in the word Banda-drápa, where the burden consists of five intercalary lines occurring in sets of three verses | Dregr land at mun banda || Eiríkr und sik geira | veðrmildr ok semr hildi || gunnblíðr ok réð síðan | jarl goðvörðu hjarli; but as this metrical term is nowhere else recorded, the name of the poem may have come from the word ‘banda’ (gen. pl. deorum), Hkr. i. 210 sqq.

COMPDS: bandadagr, bandamenn, bandaríki, bandaþing.

(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.

1) beard (rare);

2) brim, of a hat or helmet;

3) the beak or armed prow of ships (of war), stem; róa fyrir barð e-m (= róa fyrir stafn e-m), to thwart one.

* * *

n. [identical in etymology but not in sense to Lat. barba, Engl. beard, Germ. bart; the Scandin. dialects all call the beard skegg; Swed. skägg; Dan. skjæg; barð in the sense of barba is quite alien from the Scandin. idioms; the passages, Edda 109 (skegg heitir barð) and höggva börðum í gras, Íd. 12, a poem of the end of the 13th century, are isolated instances: bart in Dan. is a mod. word]:—Lat. ora, margo:

α. a brim of a helmet or hat (hjálmbarð, hattbarð), Fas. iii. 341.

β. the verge, edge of a hill (holtbarð, túnbarð, brekkubarð, hólbarð, etc.), freq. in local names of farms in Icel.

γ. the wing or side fin of some fishes, e. g. whales, cp. barðhvalr; of flat fishes, raja pastinaca (skötubarð).

δ. the beak or armed prow of ships, esp. ships’ of war, [cp. A. S. barda, a beaked ship]; so barded, of a horse in armour; hence Barði or Járnbarði is the name of a sort of ram in olden times, e. g. the famous Járnbarði ( Iron Ram) of carl Eric, described, Fms. ii. 310; cp. also Fb. i. 280: the stem, Gr. στείρη, Jb. 398; róa fyrir barð e-rn, to thwart one, Gþl. 519, Eg. 386, Fms. vii. 195; skulu vér binda akkeri fyrir barð hverju skipi, xi. 66, ii. 273, Lex. Poët.

ε. several compds are used in Icel. referring to parts of the head, e. g. hökubarð, kinnbarð, kjálkabarð, ora genae, maxillae, but without any notion of ‘beard,’ cp. Isid. granos et cinnabar Gothorurn, 19. 23; the cinnabar and the present Icel. kinnabarð seem to be etymologically identical.

* * *

(að), v.

1) to improve, get better;

2) impers., e-m batnar, one recovers (after sickness); the disease is added in gen. (e-m batnar síns meins, sjúkleika).

* * *

að, [v. bati; Ulf. gabatnan], to improve, get better, Nj. 52, Grág. i. 206.

2. impers. medic. term; e-m batnar, one recovers, Fms. iv. 369, v. 22; the disease is added in gen., e-m b. síns meins, sjúkleika, sóttar, Bs. i. 343, Hkr. ii. 312, Eb. 280: at present also with nom.: proverb, batnanda manni er bezt að lifa.

(-s, -ar), m.

1) ring, armlet (of gold or silver) worn on the wrist, esp. the sacred ring (stallahringr) on the altar in heathen temples, cf. baugeiðr;

2) in olden times, before minted gold or silver came into use, such rings were commonly used as a medium of payment; hence ‘baugr’ simply means money;

3) fine of varying amount for manslaughter, weregild;

4) gaff-hook?

5) in the phrase, eiga (kost) á baugi, to have a (single) chance left; ef sá væri á. baugi, if there were no other chance; þú munt eiga slíkan á baugi brátt, thou wilt soon have the very same chance or lot (viz. death);

6) the painted circle on a round shield.

* * *

m. [the root bjúg—baug—bog; A. S. beág; O. H. G. pouc = armilla; lost in N. H. G. and in Engl.]

I. a ring, armlet, esp. in olden times to be worn on the wrist plain, without stones:

α. the sacred temple ring (stallahringr) on the altar in heathen temples; all oaths were’ to be made by laying the hand upon the temple ring; at sacrificial banquets it was to be dipped in the blood, and was to be worn by the priest at all meetings. The ring was either of gold or silver, open (mótlaus), its weight varying between two, three, and twenty ounces (the last is the reading of Eb. new Ed. p. 6, v. 1., the classical passages in the Sagas are—Eb. l. c. (and cp. 44), Glúm. 388, Landn. (Hb.) 258, Þórð. S. 94 (Ed. 1860); cp. also the note at the end of the new Ed. of Eb., referring to an interesting essay of the Norse Prof. Holmboe upon the matter, Christiania, A. D. 1864.

β. baugr is at present in Icel. used of a spiral ring without a stone (e. g. a wedding ring); the third finger is called baugfingr, transl. from Lat. digitus annuli, for the wearing of wedding rings is not in use in Icel. (unless as a Dan. imitation). Icel. also say einbaugr, tvibaugr, a single or double spiral ring.

II. metaph. in olden times, before minted gold or silver came into use, the metals were rolled up in spiral-formed rings, and pieces cut off and weighed were used as a medium of payment; hence, in old times, baugr simply means money, used in the poets in numberless compounds; hringum hreytti, hjó sundr baug, Rm. 35; cp. baugbroti, baugskyndir, baugskati, baughati, one who breaks, throws, hates gold, epithets of princes, etc., v. Lex. Poët. A. S. poetry abounds in epithets such as, beaggeafa, dator auri; the Heliand speaks of ‘vunden gold.’ In the law the payment of weregild is particularly called baugr, v. the compounds: baugatal is the Icel. section of law treating of the weregild, Grág. ii. 171–188; höfuôbaugr, lögbaugr ( a legal baug, lawful payment). In the Norse law vide esp. N. G. L. i. 74 sqq., 184 sqq.

2. the painted circle on the round shield (clypeus); á fornum skjöldum var títt at skrifa rönd þá er b. var kallaðr, ok er við þann baug skildir kendir, Edda 87, Eg. 699; often embellished with scenes from the mythical age. Some poems arc preserved or on record, describing such shields, two Berudrápur by Egil (bera, a shield), Haustlöng by Thjodolf, Ragnarsdrápa by Bragi Gamli (of the 9th and 10th centuries). Some of these poems were among the chief sources used by Snorri in composing the Edda. The shield is metaph. called baugr, Edda (Gl.)

3. a fish-hook; man eigi þú draga Leviathan á öngli eðr bora kiðr hans með baugi (very rare, if not an απ. λεγ.), Post. 686 C. 2.

4. the phrase, eiga (kost) á baugi, to have (a single) chance left; þótti þat vera et mesta hætturáð at berjast, en sá mun á baugi, ef eigi er sæzt, there will be no other chance unless we come to terms, Sturl. iii. 244; þú munt eiga slíkan á baugi brátt, thou wilt soon have the very same chance (viz. death), the turn will come to thee, Nj. 58; nú mun ek eiga þann á baugi, at …, there will be no other chance for me, than …, Orkn. 46; cp. einbeygðr kostr, dira necessitas, 58; kvaðst þá heldr vilja liggja hjá henni, ef sá væri á baugi, if there were no other chance, Fas. ii. 150. The explanation of this metaphor is doubtful, cp. Vkv. verses 5 and 7 (?), or is the metaphor taken from the weregild?

5. baugr also occurs in mod. usage in many compds, astron. and mathem., spor-baugr, the ecliptic; hádegisbaugr, a meridian.

COMPDS: baugabrot, baugamaðr, baugatal, baugshelgi.

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.

1) help, benifit;

2) esp. hospitable entertainment, hospitality (vinna, veita e-m beina); ganga um beina, to wait upon the guests.

* * *

m. help, but exclusively used of hospitable entertainment, kind treatment, hospitality; vinna, veita, e-m beina, Eb. 268; þykir yðr eigi sá b. beztr, at yðr sé borð sett ok gefinu náttverðr ok síðan fari þér at sofa, Eg. 548; ofgörr er beininn, too much trouble taken, too much attendance, Lv. 38 (Ed. badly ‘beinan’); höfðu þar blíðan beina, Fms. ii. 248, iv. 336; mikit er nú um beina þinn, what hospitable treatment! Ísl. ii. 155, Bjarn. 53–55, Fas. i. 79: ganga um beina, to wait upon the guests, in old times (as at present in Icel.) an honourable task; in great banquets the lady or daughter of the house, assisted by servants, did this office; Þórhildr (the daughter) gékk um beina, ok báru þær Bergþóra (the mother) mat á borð, Nj. 50, cp. Lv. l. c., Fms. xi. 52; Hít (the hospitable giantess) gékk um b., Bárð. 174; Þiðrandi (the son of the house) gékk um beina, Fms. ii. 194;—but it is added, ‘because he was humble and meek,’ for it was not regarded as fit work for a man; cp. þá er konur gengu um b. um dagverð, Sturl. i. 132.

COMPDS: beinabót, beinamaðr, beinaspell, beinaþurfi.

(gen. -s or -jar, pl. -ir), m. bench; œðri bekkr, the upper bench (along the north side of the hall, looking towards the sun); úœðri bekkr, the lower (inferior) bench (along the southern side); breiða, strá bekki, to cover, strew the benches (in preparation for a feast or wedding).

(gen. -s or -jar, pl. -ir), m. beck, brook (poet.).

* * *

jar, m. pl. ir, gen. pl. ja, dat. jum, [A. S. benc; Engl. bench, bank; Germ. bank; Dan. bænk; Icel. per assimil. kk; the Span. banco is of Teut. origin]

1. a bench, esp. of the long benches in an old hall used instead of chairs; the north side of a hall (that looking towards the sun) was called æðri bekkr, the upper bench (Gl. 337, Ld. 294); the southern side úæðri bekkr, the lower (inferior) bench, Nj. 32, Eg. 547, Fms. iv. 439, xi. 70, Glúm. 336, Ld. l. c.; thus sitja á enn æðra or úæðra bekk is a standing phrase: the placing of the benches differed in Icel. and Norway, and in each country at various times; as regards the Icel. custom vide Nj. ch. 34, Sturl. i. 20, 21, the banquet at Reykhólar, A. D. 1120, ii. 182, the nuptials at Flugumýri, Lv. ch. 13, Ld. ch. 68, Gunnl. S. ch. 11, Ísl. ii. 250, cp. Nj. 220: á báða bekki, on both sides of the ball, Ísl. ii. 348, cp. Gísl. 41 (in a verse), etc.: as to foreign (Norse) customs, vide esp. Fagrsk. ch. 216, cp. Fms. vi. 390, xi. (Jómsv. S.) 70, Glúm. ch. 6, Orkn. ch. 70, Sturl. ii. 126; see more minutely under the words skáli, öndvegi, pallr, etc.; breiða, strá bekki, is to strew or cover the benches in preparing for a feast or wedding; bekki breiði (imper. pl., MS. breiða), dress the benches! Alvm. 1; bekki at strá, Em. verse 1; standit upp jötnar ok stráit bekki, Þkv. 22; brynjum um bekki stráð, the benches (wainscots?) covered with coats of mail, Gm. 44: in these phrases bekkir seems to be a collective name for the hall, the walls of which were covered with tapestry, the floor with straw, as in the Old Engl. halls. The passage Vtkv. 10—hveim eru bekkir baugum sánir—is dubious (stráðir?); búa bekki, to dress the benches; er Baldrs feðr bekki búna veit ek at sumblum, Km. 25; breitt var á bekki, brúðr sat á stól, Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 466; vide brúðarbekkr.

COMPDS: bekkjarbót, bekkjargjöf.

2. as a law term, cp. Engl. bench; the benches in the lögrétta in Icel. were, however, usually called pallr, v. the Grág.

3. the coloured stripes in a piece of stuff.

s, and jar, m. [North. E. beck; Germ. bach; Dan. bæk; Swed. bäck], a rivulet, brook. In Icel. the word is only poët. and very rare; the common word even in local names of the 10th century is lækr (Lækjar-bugr, -óss, etc.); Sökkva-bekkr, Edda, is a mythical and pre-Icel. name; in prose bekkr may occur as a Norse idiom, Fms. vi. 164, 335, viii. 8, 217, Jb. 268, or in Norse laws as in Gþl. 418. At present it is hardly understood in Icel. and looked upon as a Danism. The phrase—þar er (breiðr) bekkr á milli, there is a beck between, of two persons separated so as to be out of each other’s reach—may be a single exception; perhaps the metaphor is taken from some popular belief like that recorded in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, note to 3. 13, and in Burns’Tam o’ Shanter—‘a running stream they dare na cross;’ some hint of a like belief in Icel. might be in Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 356. It is now and then used in poetry, as, yfir um Kedrons breiðan bekk, Pass. 1. 15.

COMPDS: bekkjarkvern, bekkjarrás.

s, m., pl. ir: [the etymology of this word has been much contested; some—upon the authority of Snorri, hans menn fóru ‘brynjulausir,’ Hkr. i. 11—derive it from ‘berr’ ( bare) and ‘serkr’ [cp. sark, Scot. for shirt]; but this etymology is inadmissible, because ‘serkr’ is a subst. not an adj.: others derive it from ‘berr’ (Germ. bär = ursus), which is greatly to be preferred, for in olden ages athletes and champions used to wear hides of bears, wolves, and reindeer (as skins of lions in the south), hence the names Bjálfi, Bjarnhéðinn, Úlfhéðinn, (héðinn, pellis,)—‘pellibus aut parvis rhenonum tegimentis utuntur,’ Caes. Bell. Gall. vi. 22: even the old poets understood the name so, as may be seen in the poem of Hornklofi (beginning of 10th century), a dialogue between a Valkyrja and a raven, where the Valkyrja says, at berserkja reiðu vil ek þik spyrja, to which the raven replies, Úlfhéðnar heita, they are called Wolfcoats, cp. the Vd. ch. 9; þeir berserkir er Úlfhéðnar vóru kallaðir, þeir höfðu vargstakka ( coats of wild beasts) fyrir brynjur, Fs. 17]:—a ‘bear-sark,’ ‘bear-coat,’ i. e. a wild warrior or champion of the heathen age; twelve berserkers are mentioned as the chief followers of several kings of antiquity, e. g. of the Dan. king Rolf Krake, Edda 82; a Swed. king, Gautr. S. Fas. iii. 36; king Adils, Hrólf. Kr. S. ch. 16 sqq.; Harald Hárfagri, Eg. ch. 9, Grett. ch. 2, Vd. l. c. (Hornklofi, v. above); the twelve sons of Arngrim, Hervar. S. ch. 3–5, Hdl. 22, 23; the two berserkers sent as a present by king Eric at Upsala to earl Hakon of Norway, and by him presented to an Icel. nobleman, Eb. ch. 25. In battle the berserkers were subject to fits of frenzy, called berserks-gangr (furor bersercicus, cp. the phrase, ganga berserksgang), when they howled like wild beasts, foamed at the mouth and gnawed the iron rim of their shields; during these fits they were, according to popular belief, proof against steel and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy; but when the fever abated they were weak and tame. A graphical description of the ‘furor bersercicus’ is found in the Sagas, Yngl. S. ch. 6, Hervar. S. l. c., Eg. ch. 27, 67, Grett. ch. 42, Eb. ch. 25, Nj. ch. 104, Kristni S. ch. 2, 8 (Vd. ch. 46); cp. also a passage in the poem of Hornklofi | grenjuðu berserkir, | guðr var þeim á sinnum, | emjaðu Úlfhéðnar | ok ísarn gniiðu—which lines recall to the mind Roman descriptions of the Cimbric war-cry. In the Icel. Jus Eccles. the berserksgangr, as connected with the heathen age, is liable to the lesser outlawry, K. Þ. K. 78; it is mentioned as a sort of possession in Vd. ch. 37, and as healed by a vow to God. In the Dropl. S. Major (in MS.) it is medically described as a disease (v. the whole extract in the essay ‘De furore Bersercico,’ Kristni S. old Ed. in cake); but this Saga is modern, probably of the first part of the 17th century. The description of these champions has a rather mythical character. A somewhat different sort of berserker is also recorded in Norway as existing in gangs of professional bullies, roaming about from house to house, challenging husbandmen to ‘holmgang’ ( duel), extorting ransom (leysa sik af hólmi), and, in case of victory, carrying off wives, sisters, or daughters; but in most cases the damsel is happily rescued by some travelling Icelander, who fights and kills the berserker. The most curious passages are Glúm, ch. 4, 6, Gísl. ch. 1 (cp. Sir Edm. Head’s and Mr. Dasent’s remarks in the prefaces), Grett. ch. 21, 42, Eg. ch. 67, Flóam. S. ch. 15, 17; according to Grett. ch. 21, these banditti were made outlaws by earl Eric, A. D. 1012. It is worth noticing that no berserker is described as a native of Icel.; the historians are anxious to state that those who appeared in Icel. (Nj., Eb., Kr. S. l. c.) were born Norse (or Swedes), and they were looked upon with fear and execration. That men of the heathen age were taken with fits of the ‘furor athleticus’ is recorded in the case of Thorir in the Vd., the old Kveldulf in Eg., and proved by the fact that the law set a penalty upon it. Berserkr now and then occurs as a nickname, Glúm. 378. The author of the Yngl. S. attributes the berserksgangr to Odin and his followers, but this is a sheer misinterpretation, or perhaps the whole passage is a rude paraphrase of Hm. 149 sqq. In the old Hbl. 37 berserkr and giant are used synonymously. The berserkers are the representatives of mere brute force, and it therefore sounds almost blasphemous, when the Norse Barl. S. speaks of Guðs berserkr (a ‘bear-coat’ or champion of God), (Jesus Kristr gleymdi eigi hólmgöngu sins berserks), 54, 197. With the introduction of Christianity this championship disappeared altogether.

* * *

a. compar., better;

þeim þótti betra at, they thought it better to.

* * *

betra, compar., and BEZTR, baztr, batztr, the superl. to ‘góðr,’ which serves as the posit.:—in the compar. the primitive a becomes e; thus old poets of the beginning of the 11th century, as Sighvat, rhyme betri—setrs; the old form batri however occurs, 655 xx. 4: in the superl. the a was kept till the end of the 12th century. Sighvat rhymes, last—bazti; old vellum MSS. now and then still spell with a (bazt, baztr …), Glúm. 371, Heið. S. Ísl. ii. 324, Grág. ii. 165, 252, Fms. xi. 214, 220, Hm. 13, 26, 47, Hkv. Hjörv. 39, Lb. 12, Pd. 11, Ýt. 27, 625. 42, Fms. x. (Ágrip) 418; baþztra (baztra), gen. pl., 398, 401 (but betþt, 385); bazta (acc.), Eluc. 36: sing. fem. and neut. pl. bözt, with a changed vowel, bözt heill, n. pl., Skv. 2. 19; böztu (böþtu), pl., Fms. x. 401, 403, 415: it is spelt with z, tz (in Ágrip even þt), or zt, in mod. spelling often s, as in mod. Engl., and pronounced at present as an s, [Goth. batizo, superl. batisto; A. S. batra and betsta, besta; Engl. better and best; Germ. besser and beste]:—better, best; meira ok betra, Nj. 45, 193; betri, Dipl. v. 18; beztr kostr, Nj. 1, Eg. 25; beztr bóndi, Ld. 22.

β. kind, friendly towards one; with dat., er honum hafði baztr verit, 625. 42; er mér hefir beztr verit, Fms. vii. 274: er þér fyrir því bezt …, it is best for thee, thou doest best to accept it, Nj. 225; því at þinn hlutr má eigi verða betri en góðr, 256; betra byr ok blíðara, 625. 4: with gen., meðan bezt er sumars, during the best part of the summer, Sks. 29, etc. etc., v. góðr.

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(-s, -ar), m.

1) bishop;

2) the Jewish high-priest.

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m., in very old MSS. spelt with y and o (byskop), but commonly in the MSS. contracted ‘bp̅,’ so that the spelling is doubtful; but biscop (with i) occurs Bs. i. 356, byscop in the old fragm. i. 391–394; biskup is the common form in the Edd. and at present, vide Bs. i. ii, Sturl. S., Íb. [Gr. επίσκοπος; A. S. biscop; Engl. bishop; Germ. bischof]:—a bishop. Icel. had two sees, one at Skalholt, erected A. D. 1056; the other at Hólar, in the North, erected A. D. 1106. They were united at the end of the last century, and the see removed to Reykjavik. Biographies of ten of the bishops of the 11th to the 14th century are contained in the Bs., published 1858, and of the later bishops in the Biskupa Annálar (from A. D. 1606), published in Safn til Sögu Íslands, vol. i. and Bs. ii, and cp. farther the Biskupaæfi, by the Icel. historian Jón Halldórsson (died A. D. 1736), and the Hist. Eccl. (H. E.). by Finn Jonsson (Finnus Johannæus, son of the above-mentioned Jón Halldórsson). During two hundred years of the commonwealth till the middle of the 13th century, the bishops of Skalholt and Hólar were elected by the people or by the magnates, usually (at least the bishops of Skalholt) in parliament and in the lögrétta (the legislative council), vide the Hungrv. ch. 2 (valinn til b. af allri alþýðu á Íslandi), ch. 5, 7, 13, 16, Sturl. 2, ch. 26, Kristni S. ch. 12, Íb. ch. 10, Þorl. S. ch. 9, Páls. S. ch. 2, Guðm. S. ch. 40, Jóns S. ch. 7 (þá kaus Gizurr biskup Jón prest Ögmundarson með samþykki allra lærðra manna ok úlærðra í Norðlendinga fjórðungi). Magnús Gizurarson (died A. D. 1237) was the last popularly elected bishop of Skalholt; bishop Gudmund (died A. D. 1237) the last of Hólar; after that time bishops were imposed by the king of Norway or the archbishop.

COMPDS: biskupabúningr, biskupafundr, biskupaþáttr, biskupaþing, biskupsbrunnr, biskupsbúr, biskupsdómr, biskupsdóttir, biskupsdæmi, biskupsefni, biskupsfrændi, biskupsgarðr, biskupsgisting, biskupskjör, biskupskosning, biskupslauss, biskupsmaðr, biskupsmark, biskupsmágr, biskupsmessa, biskupsmítr, biskupsnafn, biskupsríki, biskupssekt, biskupsskattr, biskupsskip, biskupsskrúði, biskupssonr, biskupsstafr, biskupsstofa, biskupsstóll, biskupssýsla, biskupstign, biskupstíund, biskupstíundarmál, biskupsvatn, biskupsveldi, biskupsvígsla.

in the word bjarkeyjar-réttr, m. town-law, used as opposed to landslög or landsréttr, county-law, Sks. 22; sökin veit til landslaga en eigi til bjarkeyjarréttar, Fms. vii. 130; vide N. G. L. i. 303–336. It is an illustration of this curious word, that the Danes at present call a justice ‘birkedommer,’ and the district ‘birk;’ cp. local names, as in Sweden,—in Birchâ civitate regiâ, Johann. Magnus 542 (Ed. 1554); civitas Birchensis, 556; in Birchâ civitate tum maxima, 541; in Norway, Bjarkey is one of the northern islands, whence the famous Norse family Bjarkeyingar took their name; v. Munch, the pref. to Norge’s Beskrivelse. Etym. uncertain; hedged in with birch (?).

a, m. the beaming or radiance of light, not the light itself; sólar-bjarmi, dags-bjarmi; very freq. in mod. usage; no instances from old writers are on record; akin to brími, bjartr, etc.

II. pl. Bjarmar (and Bjarmaland n., bjarmskr adj.), name of a people or tribe of the Russian empire, the Perms of the present day; vide K. Alfred’s Orosius i. 1, 14 sq., Ó. H. ch. 122, Fas. ii. 511 sqq.

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(gen. bjarnar, pl. birnir, acc. björnu), m. bear (hvítabjörn, the white bear; híðbjörn, skógbjörn, urðbjörn, viðbjörn, the black bear).

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m., gen. bjarnar; dat. birni, pl. n. birnir; acc. björnu, mod. birni, [an enlarged form, cp. Goth, biari, by which word Ulf. renders the Gr. θηρίον, Titus i. 12; A. S. bera; Engl. bear; Germ. bär; but Swed. and Dan. björn]:—a bear; hvíta-björn, the white bear or ice-bear; and skóg-björn, híð-björn, við-björn, the black bear or wood-bear, Germ. wald-bär; the ice-bear was unknown in Europe till the discovery of Iceland at the end of the 9th, and Greenland at the end of the 10th century. The very first ice-bear was brought to Europe by Ingimund the Old as a gift to the king of Norway about A. D. 900, Landn., Fs. (Vd.) 27; Isleif, the first bishop of Iceland, also brought one as a present to the German emperor about A. D. 1050, Bs. i. 61, Hv. ch. 2; cp. the little story of Audun in Fms. vi. 297–307, Sks. 186, Sturl. iii. 82, Grág. ii. 181, Am. 17, where a hvítabjörn is mentioned, Fs. (Flóam. S.) 148; as to the black bear, vide esp. Grett. ch. 23, Finnb. ch. 11, Glúm. ch. 3, Fas. i. 50; cp. an interesting paper, ‘Waldbär und Wasserbär,’ by Konrad Maurer, upon this subject; winter is called ‘the bear’s night;’ hence the saying, ‘löng er bjarnar-nótt;’ cp. langar eigu þeir bersi nætr, Mkv. Björn and Bjarni are freq. pr. names; also in compd. names, Þorbjörn, Ásbjörn; and as a prefix, Bjarngrímr, Bjarnhéðinn, etc.; vide Landn. (Gl.)

COMPDS: bjarnarbroddr, bjarnarhamr, bjarnarhíð, bjarnarhold, bjarnarhrammr, bjarnarslátr.

m. a black man, negro, i. e. an Ethiopian, Al. 51, Orkn. 364 (referring to A. D. 1152), distinguished from the Saracens and Arabians; three ‘blámenn’ were sent as a present to the German emperor Frederic the Second, Fms. x. 3: in romances blámenn are mentioned as a kind of ‘berserkers,’ q. v., Finnb. ch. 16, Kjalnes. S. ch. 15; cp. Scott’s Ivanhoe, note B.

(að), v. to bless (blezaði guð þá hinn sjaunda daginn); also with dat. (guð blezaði bæði fuglum ok fiskum).

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bletza, mod. blessa, að, [A. S. bletzian; Engl. bless; akin to blót, blóta, denoting worship]:—to bless; an English word, which came to Icel. and Norway along with the Gospel; in Norway it never took root, and soon died out, and is at present unknown in Scandinavia; whilst in Icel. it grew from a term of worship into a household word of endearment and affection; the guest or traveller is met with a ‘Guð blessi þig,’ God bless thee, in reply to his greeting, ‘hér sé Guð,’ when entering a house; it is also the reply to one returning thanks. The Norseman, Swede, and Dane say, ‘Gud signe dig’ (cp. Germ. segnen), whilst ‘signa’ ( signare) in Icel. usage only means to make the sign of the cross. Bleza is used as a standing epithet of the sun, blessuð sólin, the blessed sun: so also the alliterative phrase, blessað barnið, the blessed bairn; blessaðr, blessuð, in addressing, cp. Engl. bless you! In old writers it answers to Lat. benedicere:

α. with acc., Stj. 28, 655 ix, ‘benedictus’ þýðir b., xxi, Fms. i. 230, K. Á. 120.

β. with dat., rare and now unusual; Guð b. fiskum ok fuglum, Stj. 18, Eluc. 40, Blas. 40; blessuð ertú á meðal kvenna, N. T. Luke i. 28.

2. reflex. to give good luck, succeed.

f. [Swed. bolyxa], a pole-axe; in present usage opp. to skaröxi, a carpenter’s axe, Stj. 401. Judg. ix. 48, Fms. ix. 357, Fbr. 179, Thom. 343, Ingv. 24, Vápn.