before+a+vowel

(acc. málgan), a. talkative, communicative, loquacious (þeir vóru málgir mjök, því at þeir voru úvitrir).

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adj., in old writers contr. before a vowel, málgir, málgan, but mod. málugan, etc.:—talkative, communicative, ok sem hann var áðr m. varð hann þögull, Karl. 338; minnigr ok m., Hm. 102; hann (the boy) var brátt m. ok orðvíss, Eg. 147; verit eigi málgir í kirkju, be not talkative in church, Hom. (St.); en vér munum nú þess iðrask er vér várum of málgir, too rash in speaking, Hrafn. 9; þat er rétt at kennimenn görisk málgir ( that they speak out) um þörf þeirra manna er þeir skulu varðveita, Hom. 35.

2. loquacious, chattering, in a bad sense, and so in mod. usage; konungr svarar heldr styggt, verþú svá m. sem þú vill en lát mik ná at þegja fyrir þér, Fms. vii. 119; þeir vóru málgir mjök því at þeir vóru úvitrir, Nj. 15; þeir görask dauða-druknir … málgir mjök ok kátir, Fms. xi. 109; druknir af miði, þeir vóru málgir, viii. 81:—as a nickname, Þórhalla in málga, Th. the chatterbox, Ld.

(acc. máttkan), a. mighty.

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adj., in old poets contr. before a vowel, and changing the g into k, máttkar, máttkan, máttkir; compar. máttkari, máttkastr, mod. máttugri, máttugastr; [Ulf. mahetteigs = δυνατός; Engl. mighty; Germ. mächtig]:—mighty; máttkar meyjar, Gs. 1; sá inn máttki munr, Hm. 93; máttkan moldþinur, Vsp. 59; með máttkom Kristi, Lex. Poët.; fjögur konunga-ríki hafa máttkust verit, Ver. 35:—able, máttugr afspring at geta, Stj. 26: al-máttugr, almighty; ú-máttugr, weak; á-máttigr, q. v. (p. 43, col. 2), perhaps, however, these words are rather akin to Ulf. anamahtjan = βιάζειν, and thus to mean overbearing, and then = hideous, horrible, as an epithet of trolls and giants.

(mið, mitt), a. middle, lying in the middle; nær miðri veröldinni, near the middle of the world; G. leggr í móti atgeirinum ok kom á hann miðjan, and struck him in the middle; áin var opin um mitt, in the middle; mið nótt, midnight (þá var mið nótt); m. dagr, midday (þat var nær miðjum degi, er þeir fundust); m. aptann, six o’clock p. m.; m. morginn, six o’clock a. m.; at miðjum vetri, um miðjan vetr, at midwinter; mitt sumar, midsummer; miðrar brautar, in the middle of the road.

adv. = minnr, less.

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mið, mitt, adj. with a suppressed radical j, which appears before a vowel, miðjan, miðja, miðjar, miðjum; [Ulf. midjis = μέσος; A. S. medel; cp. Engl. mid, midst, middle; Hel. middi; O. H. G. mitti; etc.; Lat. medius; Gr. μέσος]:—the middle; á miðjum pöllum, Nj. 150; nær miðri inni vestri bygð, Landn, 105; kóm á hann miðjan, hit him in the middle ( in the pit of the stomach), Nj. 96; í mitt lær, Fs. 53; áin var opin um mitt, in the middle, 52; þeir stefndu mitt leiðar-sundit, Fms. viii. 131.

2. in a temp. sense: mið nótt, midnight; þá var mið nótt, Edda 30; at miðri nótt, … of miðja nótt, 29; þá er dró at miðri nótt, Grett. 140: miðjan dag, midday, Vsp.; nær miðjum degi, about midday, Ó. H. 223; allt til dögurðar máls eða miðs dags, Sks. 20: miðr aptan, ‘mid-eve,’ six o’clock P. M., Fb. ii. 128, Hrafn. 9; miðs aptans tíð, 625. 177: miðr morgun, ‘mid-morning,’ six o’clock A. M.; milli miðs morguns og dagmála; sofa fram yfir miðjan morgun: mitt sumar, midsummer, Nj. 4; at miðju sumri: miðr vetr, midwinter, miðs vetrar nótt, a midwinter night, Fms. i. 33; miðs vetrar blót, Fb. ii; um miðjan vetr, at midwinter; at miðjum vetri, Ó. H. 104.

3. a kind of local gen.; miðrar brautar, ‘midways,’ in the middle of the road, Rm.; miðra fletja, miðra skutla, miðrar rekkju, in the middle of the bed, table, benches, id.

II. in local names, Mið-á, Mið-berg, Mið-dalir, Mið-engi, Mið-fell, Mið-garðr, Mið-fjörðr (whence Mið-firðingar, m. pl.), Mið-hóp, Mið-hús, Mið-jökull, Mið-skáli, etc., Landn.; Mið-bæli, D. I.

B. COMPDS: miðaptann, miðbik, miðbreytis, miðbyrði, miðbær, miðdagr, miðdegi, miðdigr, miðdægri, miðfasta, miðfirðis, miðfylking, miðgarðr, miðheimr, miðherðar, miðhjalli, miðhlíðis, miðhlutr, Miðjarðarhaf, miðjarðarsjór, miðkafli, miðkvísl, miðlangr, miðleiðis, miðlektia, miðmessa, miðmjór, miðrmorgun, miðmundi, miðnætti, miðpallr, miðskammr, miðskeið, miðskip, miðskipa, miðsumar, miðsumarsvaka, miðsyndis, miðuppnám, miðveröld, miðrvetr, miðsvetrarblót, miðvika, miðvikudagr, miðþriðjungr, miðþröngr.

(mjó, mjótt), a.

1) thin, slender, slim; mjótt band, a slender cord;

2) pointed (m. knífsoddr);

3) narrow, opp. to breiðr( þar var mjótt sund ok djúpt).

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adj., fem. mjó, neut. mjótt, with a characteristic v, which reappears before a vowel, thus mjóvan, mjóvar, mjóvir, mjóvum; often spelt with f, mjófan, etc.; in mod. usage by elision, mjóan, etc. The forms vary in three ways, mjór, mjár, mær, analogous to sjór, sjár, sær, α. mjár, mjá, mjátt; mjá (acc. n. pl.), Stj. 201, and foot-note 21; mjár farvegr, Fms. ix. 366, v. l.; mjátt, Js. 55, Thom. 153; miaua (= mjáva) vatni, D. N. i. 81. β. mær; mævar skeiðir, the slim, narrow ships, Fms. i. 170 (in a verse),—certainly thus, not as explained in Lex. Poët. p. 567, col. 1; as also mævar hlaupsíldr, the slim herrings, in Eyvind’s verse (Hkr. i. 185); in me-fingr = mæ-fingr = mjó-fingr, taper-fingered, epithet of a lady, Hðm.: af þeim meiði er mer (i. e. mær) sýndisk, of the twig which was slim to behold, Vsp.; in the spelling of Cod. Reg. of Sæm. Edda e, ę, or æ are freq. all written with the letter e, so that mér ( mihi) and mær ( tenuis) would all be spelt alike; this reading was suggested as early as by Rask in the edition of 1818, see Bugge’s remarks in Philol. Tidsskr. 6th vol.: in Mæv-eið (= the narrow isthmus) in Shetland, Mk. 98, called Mawid in a Videsse of 1516 A. D.; at present Mawie or Mavis-grind, as opp. to another isthmus called Brae, i. e. Breið-eið = the Broad isthmus; cp. also Moorness = the little ness, in Shetl.

II. compar., an older form mjóvari, mjávari, Ýt.; superl. mjóvastr, but obsolete, and replaced by a contracted mjóri, mjóstr, in mod. usage mjórri, mjóstr.

B. Thin, slim, taper; svá mjó, so slim in the waist, Bs. ii. 168; mjórar konu, Bjarn. (in a verse); mjóva mey, Korm.; mjótt band, Edda 20; mjór kvistr, Fas. iii. 33; með mjófu járni, Fær. 238; mjór Mistilteinn, Vsp.; mjófum knífsoddi, Fs. 144; mjófum fléttingum, Karl. 335; yxn mjá ok mjök visin, Stj. 201; þar sem hann var mjóstr, Fms. vii. 264:—of cloth, stiku breið en eigi mjóri, Grág. i. 498; jaðarflá vara eðr mjó, 499; sitja mjótt, Band. 38 new Ed.: sayings, mjór er mikils vísir, Fms. v. 176 (in a verse); mjótt er mundangs-hóf, Bs. i. (in a verse), Js. 55 (mjátt).

2. narrow; stigrinn var mjór ok þröngr, Fær. 48; skipit var heldr mjótt, Fms. ii. 50; mjótt sund, Grett. 83; mjór farvegr, Fms. ix. 366; grafir djúpari ok mjóri, Sks. 426: a nickname, Mjóvi, the Slim, or en Mjóva. II. in local names, Mjóvi-dalr, Mjóvi-fjörðr, Mjóva-nes, Mjó-sund or Mý-syndi, Dan. Mysunde in Slesvig; Mæv-eið, Munch’s Norg. Beskr.

C. COMPDS: mjó-beina or mjó-beinn, adj. slim leg, a nickname, Landn., Korm. mjó-eygr, adj. narrow-eyed, of one whose eyes are set close together, Eb. 258, see the remarks s. v. auga. mjóf-dœlingr, m. a man from Mjóvidalr, Landn. mjó-fingraðr, adj. taper-fingered, Rm. (Bugge), of a lady. mjó-hljóðaðr, adj. thin-voiced. mjó-hryggr, m. the small of the back. mjó-hundr, m. [Dan. mynde], a greyhound, Sks. 81. mjó-leitr, adj. narrow-faced, referring to the distance between the eyes, Bergb.-þ. 124, Fas. ii. 118. mjó-nefr, adj. thin nose, a nickname for a close man, Ó. H. 31. mjó-skíð, n. the slim wand, for this must be the true reading in the verse in Bjarn., the miðskipa of the MSS. = miôsciþa; and mjóskið rökra = the slim twilight wand, = a taper, is a poët. circumlocution of a lady’s name, Ey-kyndill (= Island-taper), mjó-slegin, part. beaten thin. Fas. ii. 581. mjó-syndi, n. a narrow sound, straight lane, see above.

(acc. myrkan, -van, -jan), a.

1) dark, murky (um kveldit, er myrkt var); myrkt var af nótt, the night was dark; gørði-myrkt, it grew dark;

2) dark, obscure in meaning, hard to understand (myrkt þykki mér þat mælt at kalla skáldskap með þessum heitum).

n. darkness (m. var mikit).

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adj., myrk, myrkt, or myrt, Ó. H. 216; with a characteristic v before a vowel, myrkvan, myrkva, myrkvir; compar. myrkvari; superl. myrkvastr; later, as also in mod. usage, the v was dropped, which form occurs in later vellums of the 14th century, thus myrkar, Stj. 30; myrkari, Fms. vi. 229 (Hulda): j for v, myrkjar, Róm. 373: [A. S. myrc; Hel. mirki; Old Engl. and Scot. mirk; Engl. murky; Dan.-Swed. mörk]:—mirk, murky, dark; myrkvar grímr, Fas. i. 519 (in a verse); myrkvan veg, Rm. 34; inn myrkvan við, through the mirk-wood, Og. 25; myrkvan vafurloga, Skm. 8, 9; myrkt er úti, ’tis dark outside, Skm. 10; um kveldit er myrkt var orðit, Bs. i. 544; þeir biðu nætr, en er myrkt var, Eg. 80; myrkt var í stofunni, 215; görði myrt, Ó. H. 216; myrkt, 218; um kveldit er myrkt var, Hkr. i. 61; aldri varð svá myrkt af nótt, at eigi væri ærit ljóst þar er hann fór, Edda 70, Þiðr. 326; þá var sem myrkvast nætr, Fb. iii. 410, Fms. ix. 484; görði stundinn daginn svá myrkjan sem nótt væri, Róm. 373; of aptan er myrkt var, Ó. H. 139; í myrkri stofu, Bs. i. 508; myrk augu, dim eyes, Pr. 473: neut., gengu þeir þann dag allan til myrks, Edda 28: of colour, var vant kvígu þrévetrar myrkrar, hón hét Mús (but perh. read mýskrar or the like), Ísl. ii. 401.

II. metaph. dark, obscure, hard to read; myrkvar kenningar, Gd. 78; myrk orð, dark sayings, riddles; myrkr stafr, þat verðr mörgum manni at um myrkvan staf villisk, of spell Runes with hidden powers, Eg. (in a verse); þá mælti Ægir, myrkt þykki mér þat mælt, at kalla skáldskap þessum heitum, Edda 48; hér hefr upp ok segir frá því er flestum er myrkt, N. G. L. i. 184; bækr myrkvar ok úskiljanligar, Stj. 30; þat mun ek sýna jafnan at ek em eigi myrkr í skapi, Nj. 179; myrkari ok kaldari ráð, Fms. vi. 229.

III. local names, Myrk-á, Landn.; Myrk-viðr, Fms. xii, Gl.

(pl. óðul), n. ancestral property, patrimony, inheritance (in land); family homestead; native place; flýja óðul sín, to abandon one’s home, go into exile.

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n., pl. óðul; in Norse MSS. it is usually contracted before a vowel (whence arose the forms öðli eðli), and owing to a peculiarity in the Norse sound of ð an r is inserted in contracted forms, örðla, orðlom, N. G. L. passim: [akin to aðal, öðli, eðli, = nature; öðlask = adipisci; oðlingr, q. v.; A. S. êðel = patrimony; it is also the parent word of Germ. edel, adel, = noble, nobility, for the nobility of the earliest Teut. communities consisted of the land-owners. From this word also originated mid. Lat. allodium, prob. by inverting the syllables for the sake of euphony (all-od = od-al); oðal or ethel is the vernacular Teut. form, allodium the Latinised form, which is never found in vernacular writers; it may be that the transposition of syllables was due to the th sound in oðal; and hence, again, the word feudal is a compd word, fee-odal, or an odal held as a fee or feif from the king, and answering to heið-launað óðal of the Norse law (heið = fee = king’s pay), N. G. L. i. 91.]

B. Nature, inborn quality, property, = aðal, eðli, öðli, q. v.; this seems to be the original sense, þat er eigi at réttu mannsins óðal, Sks. 326 B; þat er helzt byrjar til farmanns óðals, a seaman’s life, 52; þat er kaupmanna óðal (= mercatorum est), 28; jörlum öllum óðal batni, Gh. 21.

II. a law term, an allodium, property held in allodial tenure, patrimony. The condition which in the Norse law constitutes an oðal was either an unbroken succession from father to son (er afi hefir afa leift) through three or more generations, N. G. L. i. 91, 237, Gþl. 284; or unbroken possession for thirty or more years, N. G. L. i. 249; or sixty years, Gþl. 284; or it might be acquired through brand-erfð (q. v.), through weregild, barn-fóstr (q. v.); and lastly heið-launað óðal, an allodial fief, was granted for services rendered to the king, see N. G. L. i. 91: the oðal descended to the son, and was opp. to útjarðir ( out-lands), and lausa-fé ( movables), which descended to the daughter, Gþl. 233; yet even a woman, e. g. a baugrygr (q. v.), could hold an oðal, in which case she was called óðals-kona, 92, jörð komin undir snúð ok snældu = an estate come under the rule of the spindle, N. G. L. i. 237; the allit. phrase, arfr ok óðal, 31, Gþl. 250: brigða óðal, N. G. L. i. 86; selja óðal, to sell one’s óðal, 237. The oðal was in a certain sense inalienable within a family, so that even when parted with, the possessor still retained a title (land-brigð, máldagi á landi). In the ancient Scandin. communities the inhabited land was possessed by free oðalsmen (allodial holders), and the king was the lord of the people, but not of the soil. At a later time, when the small communities were merged into great kingdoms, through conquest or otherwise, the king laid hold of the land, and all the ancient oðals were to be held as a grant from the king; such an attempt of king Harold Fairhair in Norway and the earls of Orkney in those islands is recorded in Hkr. Har. S. Hárf. ch. 6, Eg. ch. 4, cp. Ld. ch. 2, Orkn. ch. 8, 30, 80 (in Mr. Dasent’s Ed.); cp. also Hák. S. Goða ch. 1. Those attempts are recorded in the Icel. Sagas as acts of tyranny and confiscation, and as one of the chief causes for the great emigration from the Scandinavian kingdoms during the 9th century (the question of free land here playing the same part as that of free religion in Great Britain in the 17th century). The attempt failed in Norway, where the old oðal institution remains in the main to the present day. Even the attempts of king Harold were, according to historians (Konrad Maurer), not quite analogous to what took place in England after the Conquest, but appear to have taken something like the form of a land-tax or rent; but as the Sagas represent it, it was an attempt towards turning the free odal institution into a feudal one, such as had already taken place among the Teutons in Southern Europe.

III. gener. and metaph. usages, one’s native land, homestead, inheritance; the land is called the ‘oðal’ of the reigning king, á Danr ok Danpr dýrar hallir, æðra óðal, en ér hafit, Rm. 45; eignask namtú óðal þegna, allan Noreg, Gauta spjalli, Fms. vi. 26 (in a verse); banna Sveini sín óðul, St. Olave will defend his óðal against Sweyn, 426 (in a verse); flýja óðul sín, to fly one’s óðal, go into exile, Fms. iv. 217; flýja óðul eðr eignir, vii. 25; koma aptr í Noreg til óðala sinna, 196; þeim er þar eru útlendir ok eigi eigu þar óðul, who are strangers and not natives there, Edda 3; öðlask Paradísar óðal, the inheritance of Paradise, 655 viii. 2; himneskt óðal, heavenly inheritance, Greg. 68; njóta þeirra gjafa ok óðala er Adam var útlægr frá rekinn, Sks. 512: allit., jarl ok óðal, earl (or franklin) and odal, Gh. 21.

2. spec. phrase, at alda óðali, for everlasting inheritance, i. e. for ever and ever, D. N. i. 229: contr., at alda öðli, id., Grág. i. 264, D.I. i. 266; til alda óðals, for ever, iii. 88: mod., frá, alda öðli, from time immemorial.

C. COMPDS: óðalsborinn, óðalsbréf, óðalsbrigð, óðalsjörð, óðalskona, óðalsmaðr, óðalsnautr, óðalsneyti, óðalsréttr, óðalsskipti, óðalstuptir, óðalsvitni.

(acc. röskvan), a. vigorous, doughty, brave (röskr maðr).

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adj., with a v before a vowel, röskvan, röskvar, röskvir, röskva; compar. röskvari, röskvastr; prop. vraskr, yet in the Am. rhyming with r, röskr ræða, 51, 56, 88: [akin to Ulf. wrisqan; Dan. rask; Germ. rasch; Engl. rash (with change of sense)]:—prop. ripe, mature, but only used metaph. vigorous, doughty, brave. Am. 51, 56, 88; röskr maðr, a valiant man, Nj. 106; röskr maðr ok einarðr, 223; hann var röskvastr maðr með Flosa einnhverr, 205; mikill skaði er þat um svá röskvan mann, Grett. 155; hann þótti því röskvari sem meirr leið á æfi hans, Fms. vi. 218; mannvali því er röskvast var innan lands, Fas. iii. 292; verða eigi röskvari menn en þessir at minni raun, Bs. i. 581; hyggr ek at fáar konur muni finnask jafn-röskvar, Fms. xi. 229; svá röskr at viti, so ripe in understanding, Grág. ii. 68.

(acc. saurgan), a. filthy, dirty (hafa hendr mjök saurgar).

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adj., before a vowel contr. saurgan, etc., but not so in mod. usage:—filthy, dirty, Sks. 527, 539, Korm. 118, Fs. 51, Karl. 320; saurga myki-kvísl, Fms. i. 75; myklar ok saurgar hendr, vi. 207.

2. metaph. filthy, foul, Fms. ix. 223, passim.