five-term

1) half; hálfr mánaðr, half a month, fortnight; til hálfs by a half; hálfr annar, þriði, fjórði, &c., one, two, three and a half; hálft annat hundrað, one hundred and a half; hálfr þriði tøgr manna, twenty-five men;

2) neut. ‘hálfu’, by half, with a comparative in an intensive sense, much, far; hálfu verri, far worse; hálfu meira, far more; hálfu siðr, far less.

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adj., hálf (hlf), hálft, freq. spelt halbr, halb er öld hvar, Hm. 52; [Goth. halbs; A. S. healf; Engl. half; Hel. halba; Germ. halb; Dan. halv; Swed. half]:—half; hálfr mánuðr, half a month, a fortnight, Nj. 4; þar átti hann kyn hálft, Eg. 288; hálf stika, half a yard, Grág. i. 498; hálf Jól, the half of Yule, Fs. 151, passim: adverb. phrases, til hálfs, by a half, Eg. 258, 304; aukinn hálfu, increased by half, doubled, Grág. i. 157, Gþl. 24.

2. with the notion of brief, scant, little; sjá hálf hýnótt, that little night, Skm. 42; hálf stund, a little while; eg skal ekki vera hálfa stund að því, i. e. I shall have done presently, in a moment; cp. hálb er öld hvar, only half, Hm. 52; með hálfum hleif, with half a loaf, a little loaf of bread, 51: an Icel. says to his guest, má eg bjóða þér í hálfum bolla, í hálfu staupi, hálfan munnbita, and the like.

II. in counting Icel. say, hálfr annarr, half another, i. e. one and a half; h. þriði, half a third, i. e. two and a half; h. fjórði, three and a half; h. fimti, four and a half, etc.; thus, hálfan annan dag, one day and a half; hálft annað ár, hálfan annan mánuð, h. aðra nótt; hálf önnur stika, a yard and a half, Grág. i. 498; hálfa fimtu mörk, four marks and a half, 391; hálft annat hundrað, one hundred and a half, Sturl. i. 186; hálfr þriði tögr manna, two decades and a half, i. e. twenty-five, men, Ísl. ii. 387; hálfan fimta tög skipa, Hkr. iii. 374: similar are the compd adjectives hálf-þrítugr, aged twenty-five; hálf-fertugr, aged thirty-five; hálf-fimtugr, hálf-sextugr, -sjötugr, -áttræðr, -níræðr, -tíræðr, i. e. aged forty-five, fifty-five, sixty-five, seventy-five, eighty-five, ninety-five, and lastly, hálf-tólfræðr, one hundred and fifteen, Eg. 84, Fms. i. 148, Greg. 60, Stj. 639, Bs. i. 54, 101, Hkr. (pref.), Mar. 32, Íb. 18, Grett. 162, Fs. 160: also of measure, hálf-fertugr föðmum, Landn. (App.) 324, Fms. vii. 217; hálf-þrítugt tungl, a moon twenty-five days’ old, Rb. 26: contracted, hálf-fjórðu mörk, three marks and a half, Am. 63; hálf-fimtu mörk, four marks and a half, Jm. 36: as to this use, cp. the Germ. andert-halb, dritt-halb, viert-halb, etc., Gr. τρίτον ἡμιτάλαντον ( two talents and a half), Lat. sestertius.

III. neut. hálfu with a comparative, in an intensive sense, far; hálfu verri, worse by half, far worse; hálfu meira, far more, Fms. vi. 201; hálfu heilli! Fb. i. 180; hálfu síðr, far less, Þórð. 41 new Ed., Fb. ii. 357; fremr hálfu, much farther ago, Hðm. 2; h. lengra, Bs. ii. 48; h. betri, better by half; h. hógligra, far snugger, Am. 66; hálfu sæmri, Fb. ii. 334.

β. with neg. suff.; hálft-ki, not half; at hálft-ki má óstyrkð ór bera, Greg. 54.

IV. a pr. name, rare, whence Hálfs-rekkr, m. pl. the champions of king Half, Fas.: Hálf-dan, m. Half-Dane, a pr. name, cp. Healf-Danes in Beowulf, Fms.

B. The COMPDS are very numerous in adjectives, nouns, and participles, but fewer in verbs; we can record only a few, e. g. hálf-afglapi, a, m. half an idiot, Band. 4 new Ed. hálf-aukinn, part. increased by half, H. E. ii. 222. hálf-áttræðr, see above. hálf-bergrisi, a, m. half a giant, Eg. 23. hálf-berserkr, m. half a berserker, Sd. 129. hálf-björt, n. adj. half bright, dawning. hálf-blandinn, part. half blended, Stj. 85. hálf-blindr, adj. half blind. hálf-bolli, a, m. half a bowl (a measure), N. G. L. ii. 166. hálf-breiðr, adj. of half breadth, Jm. 2. hálf-brosandi, part. half smiling. hálf-bróðir, m. a half brother (on one side). hálf-brunninn, part. half burnt. hálf-bræðrungr, m. a half cousin, K. Á. 140. hálf-búinn, part. half done. hálf-dauðr, adj. half dead, Sturl. ii. 54, Magn. 530, Hkr. iii. 366. hálf-daufr, adj. half deaf. hálf-deigr, adj. damp. hálf-dimt, n. adj. half dark, in twilight. hálf-drættingr, m. a fisher-boy, who gets half the fish he catches, but not a full ‘hlutr.’ hálf-ermaðr, part. half sleeved, Sturl. iii. 306. hálf-etinn, part. half eaten, Al. 95. hálf-eyrir, m. half an ounce, Fms. x. 211. hálf-fallinn, part. half fallen, K. Á. 96; h. út sjór, of the tide. hálf-farinn, part. half gone. hálf-fertrugr, hálf-fimti, hálf-fimtugr, hálf-fjórði, see above (II). hálf-fífl, n. and hálf-fífla, u, f. half an idiot, Fms. vi. 218, Bs. i. 286. hálf-fjórðungr, m. half a fourth part, Bs. ii. 170. hálf-frosinn, part. half frozen. hálf-fúinn, part. half rotten. hálf-genginn, part. halving. hálf-gildi, n. half the value, Gþl. 392. hálf-gildr, adj. of half the value, N. G. L. hálf-gjalda, galt, to pay half, N. G. L. i. 174. hálf-grátandi, part. half weeping. hálf-gróinn, part. half healed. hálf-görr, part. half done, only half done, left half undone, Fms. ii. 62; litlu betr en hálfgört, Greg. 24. hálfgörðar-bóndi, a, m. a man who has to furnish half a levy, D. N. hálf-hélufall, n. a slight fall of rime, Gísl. 154. hálf-hlaðinn, part. half laden, Jb. 411. hálf-hneppt, n. adj. a kind of metre, Edda 139. hálf-hræddr, adj. half afraid. hálf-kirkja, u, f. a ‘half-kirk,’ = mod. annexía, an annex-church, district church, or chapel of ease, Vm. 126, H. E. i. 430, ii. 138, Am. 28, Pm. 41, Dipl. v. 19; distinction is made between al-kirkja, hálf-kirkja, and bæn-hús, a chapel. hálf-kjökrandi, part. half choked with tears. hálf-klæddr, part. half dressed. hálf-konungr, m. a half king, inferior king, Fms. i. 83. hálf-kveðinn, part. half uttered; skilja hálfkveðit orð, or hálfkveðna vísu = Lat. verbum sat, MS. 4. 7. hálf-launat, n. part. rewarded by half, Fms. ii. 62, Grág. i. 304. hálf-leypa, u, f. a half laupr (a measure), B. K. passim, hálf-leystr, part. half loosened, Greg. 55. hálf-lifandi, part. half alive, half dead, Mar. hálf-litr, adj. of a cloak, of two colours, one colour on each side, Fms. ii. 70, Fas. iii. 561, Sturl. ii. 32, iii. 112, Fær. 227, Bs. i. 434. hálf-ljóst, n. adj.; pá er hálfljóst var, in twilight, Sturl. iii. 193. hálf-lokaðr, part. half locked. hálf-mætti, n. ‘half might,’ opp. to omnipotence, Skálda 161. hálf-mörk, f. half a mark, Vm. 80, 126. hálf-nauðigr, adj. half reluctant, Fms. xi. 392. hálf-neitt, n. adj. ‘half-naught,’ trifling, Fas. i. 60. hálf-níð, n. half a lampoon, Fms. iii. 21. hálf-níræðr, see above (II). hálf-nýtr, adj. of half use, Rb. 86. hálf-opinn, adj. half open. hálf-prestr, m. a ‘half-priest,’ a chaplain to a hálfkirkja, Sturl. ii. 178. hálf-pund, n. half a pound, Gþl. 343. hálf-raddarstafr, m. a semivowel, Skálda 176, 178. hálf-reingr, a, m. a half scamp, Bs. i. 517. hálf-rétti, n. a law term (cp. fullrétti, p. 177), a slight, a personal affront or injury of the second degree, liable only to a half fine; e. g. hálfréttis-orð is a calumny in words that may be taken in both senses, good and bad; whereas fullréttis-orð is downright, unmistakable abuse, Grág. ii. 144; hence the phrases, mæla, göra hálfrétti við e-n, i. 156, 157, ii. 153. hálfréttis-eiðr, m. an oath of compurgation to be taken in a case of h., N. G. L. i. 352. hálfréttis-maðr, m. a man that has suffered hálfrétti, Gþl. 105, 200. hálfréttis-mál, n. a suit of a case of h., N. G. L. i. 314. hálf-róinn, part. having rowed half the way, half-way, Fms. viii. 312. hálf-róteldi, n., prob. corrupt, Fms. xi. 129. hálf-rými, n. a naut. term, half a cabin, one side of a ship’s cabin, Fms. viii. 138, ix. 33, x. 157, Hkr. i. 302. hálfrýmis-félagar, m. pl. messmates in the same h., Edda 108. hálfrýmis-kista, u, f. a chest or bench belonging to a h., Fms. viii. 85. hálf-rökit (-rökvit, -rökvat), n. adj. half twilight, in the evening, Grett. 137, 140 A; hálf-rökvat is the mod. form, which occurs in Grett. 79 new Ed., Jb. 176, Al. 54; vide rökvit. hálf-sagðr, part. half told; in the saying, jafnan er hálfsögð saga ef einn segir = audiatur et altera pars, Grett. 121. hálf-sextugr, see hálfr II. hálf-sjauræðr, adj. = hálfsjötugr, Stj. 48. hálf-sjötugr, see hálfr II. hálf-skiptr, part. = hálflitr, Fms. ii. 170, Sturl. iii. 112. hálf-sleginn, part. half mown, of a field. hálf-slitinn, part. half worn. hálf-sofandi, part. half asleep. hálf-sótt, n. part. half passed; hálfsótt haf, a half-crossed sea. hálf-systkin, n. pl. half brother and sister, cp. hálfbróðir. hálf-systur, f. pl. half sisters. hálf-tíræðr, see hálfr II. hálf-troll, n. half a giant, Eg. 1, Nj. 164 (a nickname). hálf-tunna, u, f. half a tun, Vm. 44. hálf-unninn, part. half done, Fas. ii. 339. hálf-vaxinn, part. half grown. hálf-vegis, adv. by halves. hálf-virði, n. half worth, Jb. 403, Glúm. 347, Sturl. ii. 132. hálf-visinn, part. and hálf-vista, adj. half withered, and medic. palsied on one side. hálf-viti, a, m. a half-witted man. hálf-votr, adj. half wet. hálf-vætt, f. half weight (a measure), Dipl. iv. 8, Fas. iii. 383. hálf-þrítugr, see hálfr II; spelt half-ðritogr, Js. 79. hálf-þurr, adj. half dry. hálf-þverrandi, part. half waning, Js. 732 (of the moon). hálf-þynna, u, f. a kind of small axe, Gþl. 103, 104, Lv. 35. hálf-ærinn, part. half sufficient, Fms. viii. 440. hálf-ærr, adj. half mad, Sks. 778.

II. in mod. usage hálf is freq. used = rather, e. g. hálf-kalt, adj. rather cold: hálf-feginn, adj., eg er hálffeginn, I am rather glad: e-m er hálf-íllt, hálf-bumult, hálf-óglatt, n. adj. one feels rather ill: hálf-hungraðr, hálf-svangr, hálf-soltinn, hálf-þyrstr, adj. rather hungry, rather thirsty, etc., and in endless compds.

f. number of five.

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or fimmt, f. a number of five: fimtar-tala, u, f. a set of five or multiple of five (as fifteen, fifty, etc.), Bs. i. 190.

2. [Swed. femt = a kind of court], a law phrase, a summoning before a court with a notice of five days: a standing phrase in the Norse law, so that the verb fimta means to summon: so, fimtar-grið, n. pl. a truce during a fimt, N. G. L. i. 342, 351; fimmtar-nafn, n. a citation with a fimt’s notice, 86; fimmtar-stefna, u, f. a citation before a court with a fimt’s notice, K. Á. 184: the phrase gera e-m fimt simply means to summon, N. G. L. i. 346, passim; one fimt is the shortest notice for summoning, five fimts the longest,—fimm fimtum hit lengsta, ef hann veit nær þing skal vera, 21:—the law provides that no summoning shall take place on Tuesday, because in that case the court-day would fall on Sunday, the day of summoning not being counted, N. G. L., Jb., and K. Á. passim.—This law term is very curious, and seems to be a remnant of the old heathen division of time into fimts (pentads), each month consisting of six such weeks; the old heathen year would then have consisted of seventy-two fimts, a holy number, as composed of 2 × 36 and 6 × 12. With the introduction of the names of the planetary days (vide dagr) and the Christian week, the old fimt only remained in law and common sayings; thus in Hm. 73,—‘there are many turns of the weather in five days (viz. a fimt), but more in a month,’ which would be unintelligible unless we bear in mind that a fimt just answered to our week; or verse 50,—‘among bad friends love flames high for five days, but is slaked when the sixth comes;’ in a few cases, esp. in ecclesiastical law, sjaund (hebdomad) is substituted for the older fimt, N. G. L. passim; it is curious that in Icel. law (Grág.) the fimt scarcely occurs, as in Icel. the modern week seems to have superseded the old at an early time.

COMPDS: Fimtardómr, Fimtardómseiðr, Fimtardómslög, Fimtardómsmal, Fimtardomsstefna, Fimtardómssök, fimtarþing.

(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.

m. a law term, a sort of verdict given by the inmates of a booth at the parliament, a kind of búakviðr, defined in Grág. ii. 84, 85, where it is laid down that the inmates of the booths of shopkeepers, jugglers, and beggars cannot be summoned to serve on a jury, nor the dwellers in a booth which has not at least five inmates (five being a minimum in a jury).

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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.

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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.

1) dweller, inhabitant, esp. in compds. (bergbúi, hellisbúi, einbúi);

helvítis búar, inhabitants of hell;

himna búar, inhabitants of heaven, angels;

2) neighbour = nábúi( Steinólfr búi hans);

3) a law term, neighbour acting as juror;

kveðja búa, to summon the neighbours.

* * *

a, m. [búa].

I. a dweller, inhabitant, only in compds as haug-búi, hellis-búi, berg-búi, a dweller in cairns, caves, rocks, of a ghost or a giant; ein-búi, an anchorite, a bachelor; himin-búi, an inhabitant of heaven, an angel; lands-búi, Lat. incola; ná-búi, a neighbour; í-búi or inn-búi, incola, Snót 71; stafn-búi, q. v.

II. a neighbour = nábúi; kom Steinn at máli við Þorbjörn búa sinn, Krók. 36; við Bárðr búi minn, Nj. 203; þau sýndu búum sínum úþokkasvip, Fs. 31; Steinólfr b. hans, Landn. 269; cp. búi-sifjar, búi-graðungr, búi-maðr (below), rare in this sense.

2. hence a law term in the Icel. Commonwealth, a neighbour acting as juror; the law distinguishes between neighbours of place and person; as, vetfangs-búar, neighbours of the place where (e. g.) a manslaughter was committed; or neighbours either of defendant or plaintiff, e. g. heimilis-búar, home-neighbours, opposed to dómstaðar-búar, Grág. ii. 405, and þingvallar-búar, neighbours of court or parliament: the number of the neighbours summoned was various; in slight cases, such as compensation for damage or the like, they were commonly five—sem búar fimm meta; in cases liable to outlawry they were usually nine, Grág. ii. 345; the verdict of the neighbour is called kviðr, the summoning kvöð, and kveðja búa, to summon neighbours; the cases esp. in the Grágás and Njála are almost numberless. The standing Icel. law phrase ‘sem búar meta’ reminds one of the English mode of fixing compensation by jury. According to Konrad Maurer, the jury is of Scandinavian origin, and first appears in English law along with the Normans after the Conquest; but this does not preclude an earlier usage in the Scandinavian parts of England. In the old Danish law they were called ‘nævnd,’ in Sweden ‘nämd;’ cp. esp. Nj. ch. 142 sqq. and Grág. Þ. Þ. and Vígslóði. The classical reference for this institution, Grág. i. 167, Kb. ch. 85, is quoted p. 58 s. v. bera B. I. 1.

COMPDS: búakviðburðr, búakviðr, búakvöð, búavirðing.

III. a pr. name of a man, Jómsv. S.; mod. Dan. ‘Boye’ or ‘Boy,’ hence the mod. Icel. Bogi, Feðga-æfi, 27.

* * *

(gen. pl. stefja), n.

1) term, time fixed; viku s., a week’s notice;

2) refrain (in the central portion of a drápa).

* * *

n. (root stafi), gen. pl. stefja, dat. stefjum, a summons, term, time fixed, (= stefna); viku-stef, a week’s notice, Eg. 274; var kveðit á viku stef, 394; þriggja nátta stef, a summons with three days’ notice, Grág. i. 385; bardaga stef, Al. 54.

II. a stave in a lay, burden, refrain; hann orti Hafgerðinga-drápu, þat er þetta stef í,—‘Minar bið ek,’ etc., Landn. 106; kvæðit, ok er þetta stefit í, Ísl. ii. 222; Þórarinn orti þá stef, ok setti í kvæðit, … ok er þetta stefit, Ó. H. 180, Eb. i. 210. In the old poems, called drapa, the middle part had a burden; this part was called ‘stef’ or stefja-bálkr, m. the ‘stave-balk,’ stave-section, Ó. H. 180; and consisted of several equal sets of verses, called stefja-mel or stefja-mál, n. stave-measure; the number of stanzas to each ‘stave-set’ varies in different poems (3, 4, 5, 7); the number of the sets also varies according to the length of the poem, e. g. if the stave-section were of twenty-one stanzas it would fall into seven ‘sets’ (3 x 7); if of twenty, into five (4 x 5); er rétt at setja kvæðit með svá mörgum stefjamelum sem vill, Edda (Ht.) i. 686; hef ek þar lokit stefjum, here the staves end; hefja upp stef, and so on, see the remarks s. v. slæmr. The stave or burden usually stands at the end of each ‘set;’ the burden might even be distributed among the stanzas of the stefjamel, as may be seen in the Togdrápa on king Canute in Ó. H., or in the poem Rek-stefja or Banda-dápa (Hkr. i. and Scripta Hist. Island, iii.)

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) 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.

m. a law term, a verdict of acquittal given by five neighbours for the defendant, proving an alibi or the like, and produced during the trial; the b. seems to be, in its strict sense, synonymous with heimiliskviðr or heimiskviðr, q. v., cp. Grág, i. 60, 61, where it is defined; fimm búar skulu skilja um bjargkviðu alla, heimilis-búar þess manns er sóttr er, nema …, vide also 48, 49, 53, 55, 56, etc.

* * *

card. numb. and pron.

1) one;

einn skal við einn eiga, one shall fight against one;

einn ok einn, one by one, one at a time, singly;

2) as ord. numb. = inn fyrsti (Urð hétu eina, aðra Verðandi, Skuld ina þriðju);

3) the same, one and the same (váru sveinarnir up fœddir báðir í einu þorpi);

allt í eina leið, all in one way;

einn … ok, the same as (í einu herbergi ok hinn);

allr einn, the very same, quite the same (þat er allt eitt ok himinn);

allt at einu, nevertheless, for all that (þó at þú þjónaðir illum, þó var hann allt at einu þinn herra);

4) indef. one, a certain (einn vetr, einn dag, eitt kveld);

einn vinr Þóris, a certain friend of Th.;

before numbers, about, some;

einar fimm þúsundir, some five thousand;

einir … aðrir, some … others (einir tóku dúka ok aðrir rekkjublæjur);

einn ok ýmiss, one and another (einar ok ýmissar þjóðir);

5) after a negation, any;

né eitt, not anything;

6) gen. pl. ‘einna’ used in an intensive sense;

einna manna bezt, best of all (single) men;

einna verst, by far the worst;

einna sízt, by far the least, least of all;

engi er einna hvatastr, no man is superior to all others;

7) alone (Guðrún skyldi ein ráða fyrir fé þeirra);

láta konu eina, to desert or divorce one’s wife;

with gen., hann varð einn sinna manna, he was separated from his men;

if put after the noun ‘einn’ generally denotes only, but;

segja þetta prett einn, to call this a mere trick;

vín eitt, wine only;

var þat (handklæði) raufar einar, all in holes, mere tatters;

fáir einir, only a few;

einn sér or sér einn, quite by oneself, alone (hann var einn sér);

einn saman, einn samt, quite alone;

kona eigi ein saman, not alone, with child;

at eins, only, but;

eigi at eins, not only;

því at eins, only in that case;

údauðr at eins, merely not dead, all but dead, barely alive;

at einu = at eins.

* * *

adj., pl. einir, acc. sing. einn, but also einan, esp. in the sense al-einan etc.; [Gr. εἱς, εν; Lat. ūnus, and early Lat. oinos; Ulf. ains; A. S. ân; Engl. one, in E. Engl. proncd. like stone, bone; Scot. ane; Swed. en; Dan. een]:—one.

A. Cardinal number, one; einn, tveir, þrír …, opp. to báðir, fleiri, etc.; einum eðr fleirum, Grág. i. 108; eina sök eðr fleiri, 78; unnu báðir eins verk, Fas. i. 515; einum ok einum, one by one, ii. 252; tveir menn veðmæltu um einn grip, Grág. i. 412.

2. in old poems it is used as an ordinal number; Urð hétu eina, aðra Verðandi, Vsp. 20; segðu þat it eina …, opp. to þat it annat, Vþm. 20; hjálp heitir eitt, help ranks first, Hm. 147, Vkv. 2; but this use is quite obsolete.

3. with the notion of sameness, one and the same (unus et idem;) í einu húsi, in the same house, Grág. ii. 42; ein ero lög um, hvárt sem ero naut eðr sauðir, i. 422; allt á eina leið, all one way, Fms. ii. 315; til einnar gistingar báðir, vii. 274; í einu brjósti, Alm. 36; allr einn, the very same, Nj. 213.

II. indefinite, a, an, a certain one; einn vetr, a winter, Fms. i. 57; einn dag, x. 11, Fas. i. 514; eitt kveld, Ld. 38; einn hinn versti maðr, Fær. 91; Breiðlingr einn, a man from Broaddale, Sturl. ii. 249; einn vinr Þóris, a certain friend of Thorir, Fms. vi. 277: einn as the indefinite article is hardly found in old writers; and though it is freq. in the Bible, sermons, hymns, etc., since the Reformation, it was no doubt borrowed from the German, and has never been naturalised.

β. about, before numbers; ein tvau hundruð vaðmála, about two hundred pieces, Sks. 30; einar fimm þúsudir, about three thousand, Al. 111,—obsolete, in mod. usage hérum-bil or the like.

III. alone, Gr. μόνος, Lat. solus, used both in sing. and plur.; Guðrún skyldi ein ráða, Ld. 132; Hallr tók einn upp fang, 38; láta einan, to let alone; láttu mig Drottinn einan ekki, Pass. 34. 11; as a law term, to let one’s wife alone, þá lét hann eina Guðrúnu, Fms. x. 324 (cp. einlát); Gunnarr mundi vera einn heima, Nj. 113; sjá einn hlutr, that one thing only, 112; þau ein tíðendi (plur.), only such news, 242.

β. if put after the noun, einn denotes, only, but, sheer, and is almost adverb.; segja þetta prett einn, a mere trick, Sturl. ii. 249; raufar einar, all in holes, Nj. 176; urðu borðin í blóði einu, the tables were bedabbled with blood all over, 270, Ó. H. 116; öll orðin at hvölum einum, all turned into whales, Fas. i. 372; gabb eitt ok háð, sheer mockery, Sks. 247; orð ein, mere words, Nj. 123; ígangs-klæði ein, Eg. 75; vin eitt, wine only, Gm. 19; heiptyrði ein, Fm. 9; hamingjur einar, Vþm. 49; ofsamenn einir, Ld. 158; þá nótt eina, for that one night, N. G. L. i. 240: also after an adj., lítið eina, only a little, Stj. 177; þat eina, er hann ætti sjálfr, Eg. 47, Fms. v. 303; nema góðs eina, naught but good, Eg. 63; fátt eitt, few only, but few; vilt eitt, but what is agreeable, Hm. 125; mikit eitt skala manni gefa, a proverb, ‘small gifts shew great love,’ 51; sá einn, er …, he only, who …, 17; satt eitt, sooth only, Fm. 9; the sense differs according as the adj. is placed before or after the noun, einn Guð, the one God; but, Guð einn, God only, none but God.

IV. plur. in a distributive sense, single; ein gjöld, a single weregild, opp. to tvenn, þrenn, fern, double, triple, quadruple, Grág. ii. 232; thus Icel. say, einir sokkar, skór, vetlingar, a pair of socks, shoes, gloves; einar brækr, a pair of breeches; also with nouns which have only plur., e. g. ein, tvenn, þrenn Jól, one, two, three Christmasses ( Yules); einar (tvennar) dyrr, a single … door; eina Páska, one Easter.

V. gen. pl. einna is used in an intensive sense; einna manna bezt, best of all single men, Fms. ix. 258; í mesta lagi einna manna, foremost of all single men, Bjarn. 65; fátt er svá einna hluta, at örvænt sé at hitti annat slíkt, Ó. H. 75.

β. ellipt., manna, hluta, or the like being omitted, einna becomes almost an adverbial phrase, by far, exceedingly; at engi viti einna miklogi görr (= einna manna), that no one ( no single man) shall know it much better, Grág. i. 2; einna verst, by far the worst, Orkn. 162, Nj. 38; einna sizt, by far the least, least of all, Fms. i. 37; einna mest verðr, Ld. 8; er einna var ríkastr, who was the mightiest of all, Fms. i. 297; engan rétt einna meir kunnan at göra (= einna rétta meir), Sks. 22; engi er einna hvatastr (= e. manna), there is none so mighty but be may find his match, Hm. 63: in mod. usage einna, joined with a superlative, is used adverbially, e. beztr, e. fljótastr, the best, the fleetest, but in a somewhat depreciatory sense.

VI. used adverb.:

1. gen. sing. eins,

α. eins ok, as, as if; eins ok væri hann með öllu óttalauss, Hkr. iii. 275; allt eins ok ( just as) rakkar metja með tungu, Stj. 392.

β. likewise, in the same way; mikill þorri var þat er þær sögðu eins báðar, Landn. (Hb.) 320; this use of eins is very rare in old writers, but freq. in mod. use; in the spoken language at least ‘eins’ (= as) has almost replaced the old ‘sem.’

γ. only; er ek hefi áðr spurn til eins, Fms. iv. 139 (rare).

δ. at eins, only, but, Grág. i. 235; vel at eins, ironically, well enough, Ld. 248; eigi at eins, not only, Fms. i. 266; með sínum at eins kostnaði, vii. 184; því at eins, only in that case, Nj. 228; þar at eins, Ísl. ii. 400; allt eins, not the less for that, 216: in mod. use, just as (vide allr A. V. 5).

2. dat. at einu = at eins; údauðr at einu, Ld. 242; því at einu = því at eins, Fms. iv. 195; því at einu er rétt …, Grág. i. 164; svá at einu, id., Nj. 103; sá evkr syndir sínar at einu, he but adds to his sins, Hom. 157; allt at einu, all the same, Ísl. ii. 216, v. l.: af því einu, only because, Mork. 140.

B. Joined to another pronominal adj. or adv.:

I. einn hverr, adj. pron., in old writers usually in two words and with a double declension (see below), but now and then (and in mod. usage always) in a single word, einn being indecl.; einhverja (acc. f.), Hbl. 30; einhverjum (dat. sing.), Hm. 122, Fms. x. 71; einhverjo héraði, Al. 98, Nj. 2; einhverra (gen.), Fms. iv. 75; einhverir (nom. pl.), viii. 202; einhver, einhverir, etc.: the form eins-hverr is peculiar, keeping the gen. indecl. through all the cases, nom. einshverr, N. G. L. i. 6; acc. einshverja, Stj. 156, 655 xxxii. 18, Gþl. 135; dat. einshverjum, Stj. 22, 442, 448; this form seems to be chiefly Norse, is very rare in old writers, and now quite obsolete; neut. sing. eitthvert, Vm. 73, or eitthvat, Stj. 442, the mod. usage makes a distinction, and uses eitthvert only as adj., eitthvað as subst.:

1. each one, each single one; maðr er einn hverr, Edda 108; þær eru svá margar, at ein hver má vel endask, Eg. 414; ór þeirra fjórðungi sem ór einum hverjum öðrum, Íb. ch. 5; skal einn hverr ( each) þeirra nefna sér vátta, Grág. i. 74; jafnmikinn arf sem einn hverr ( each) sona hans, Sturl. ii. 77; fátt er svá herra einhverra hluta, of any single thing, Fms. iv. 175.

β. joined to a superl. it strengthens the sense; ágætastr maðr einn hverr, one of the very first men, Nj. 282; vinsælastr höfðingi einhverr, highly popular, Fms. vii. 4; einhver drengilegust vörn, ix. 515.

2. in an indefinite sense, some, somebody, a certain one; eitthvert ríki, Sks. 350; eina hverja nótt, some night, 686 B. 4; eitthvert sinn, once, sometime, Sturl. i. 77, Nj. 79; einhverju sinni, id., 2; einhvern dag, some day, Fms. v. 177, Ísl. ii. 212; eina hverja þessa tíð, about this time, N. G. L. i. 355; til einnar hverrar stefnu, to some meeting, Fb. i. 354; eins-hverja hluti, Stj. 156; með eins-hverjum sveini, 442; at ekki sé minna vert, at hlýða prests-messu nývígðs hinni fyrstu, heldr en biskups-messu einhverri, Bs. i. 131.

β. used as subst.; einn hverr várr búandanna, Fms. i. 34; einn hvern manna hans, Eg. 258; einhverr í hverjum dal, Ld. 258, Nj. 192.

γ. einhver-staðar (eins-hver-staðar, Fms. vii. 84), adv. somewhere, Grett. 130, Fms. iv. 57, Sd. 181.

II. einn-saman, adj. ‘one together’ (vide einsamall), i. e. quite alone; maðrinn lifir ekki af einu-saman brauði, Matth. iv. 4; með einni-saman sinni sýn, með einni-saman sinni þefan, Stj. 93; ef útlegðir fara einar-saman, if it be solely a matter of outlay ( fine), Grág. i. 103; ef þat færi eitt-saman, ii. 10: of a woman, vera eigi ein-saman, to be not alone, to be with a child, Fms. iii. 109.

III. with other words; einir … ýmissir, ‘one and sundry;’ various, mixed, Stj. 88, 204; eina hluti ok ýmissa, Fb. i. 191.

β. hverr ok einn, ‘each and one,’ every one, 677. 1, H. E. i. 393, Rb. 492; fyrir hvern mun ok einn, Fas. i. 396.

γ. einn ok sér-hverr, one and all.

δ. einn sér, apart, for oneself, alone; Múspells-synir hafa einir sér fylking, Edda 41; einn sér, sole, Fms. ii. 308; sér einir, Sturl. ii. 53: metaph. singular, peculiar, ein var hón sér í lýðsku, Fs. 30.

ε. sér-hverr, adj. every one, q. v.: eins-konar, adv. of one kind, Skálda 165; mod. indef. of a certain kind, a kind of: eins-kostar, adv. particularly, Ísl. ii. 322, Mork. 81.

ζ. né einn, not one, none; in old writers usually so, but now and then contracted neinn (q. v.), and in mod. usage always so; né eina sekð, Grág. i. 136; né eitt úhreint, Stj. 409; né einu sinni, not once, Fms. xi. 13; né eins, not a single thing, 112; né eina herferð, vii. 28.

η. fáir einir, only a few, in mod. usage in one word, nom. fáeinir, dat. fáeinum, gen. fáeinna: ein-stakr, single, q. v.: al-einn, alone, q. v.: ein-mana, q. v. (cp. Gr. μόνος): einum-megin, adv. on one side, Nj. 248 (vide vegr).

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(hefi; hafða, höfðum; hafðr), v.

1) to have (þeir höfðu sjau skip ok flest stór);

hafa elda, to keep up a five;

2) to hold, celebrate (hafa vinaboð, blót, þing);

3) to keep, retain (rifu þær vefinn í sundr, ok hafði hverr þat er hélt á);

4) to use (tvau net eru rý, ok hafa eigi höfð verit);

orð þau sem hann hafði um haft, which he had made use of;

hafa fagrmæli við e-n, to flatter one;

hafa hljóðmæli við e-n, to speak secretly to one;

hafa tvimæli á e-u, to speak doubtfully of a thing;

hafa viðrmæli um e-t, to use mocking words;

hann var mjök hafðr við mál manna, much used to, versed in, lawsuits;

5) to have, hold, maintain;

hafa vináttu við e-n, to maintain friendship with one;

hafa hættumikit, to run a great risk;

hafa heilindi, to have good health;

6) to bring, carry;

hafa e-n heim með sér, to bring one home;

hann hafði lög, út hingat ór Noregi, he brought laws hither from Norway;

hafa sik (to betake oneself) til annara landa;

7) to take, carry off;

troll hafi þik, the trolls take thee;

8) to get, gain, win;

hann hafði eigi svefn, he got no sleep;

hefir sá jafnan, er hættir, he wins that ventures;

hafa gagn, sigr, to gain victor;

hafa meira hlut, to get the upper hand, gain the day;

hafa betr (verr), to get the better (worse) of it;

hafa sitt mál, to win one’s suit;

hafa tafl, to win the game;

hafa erendi, to do one’s errand, succeed;

hafa bana, to suffer death, to die;

hafa sigr, to be worsted;

hafa góðar viðtökur, to be well received;

hafa tíðindi af e-m, to get tidings of, or from, one;

hafa sœmd, óvirðing af e-m, to get honour, disgrace from one;

with gen., hafa e-s ekki, to fail to catch one (hann kemst á skóg undan, ok höfðu þeir hans ekki);

ekki munu vér hans hafa at sinni, we shall not catch him at present;

9) to wear carry (clothes, weapons);

hann hafði blán kyrtil, he wore a blue kirtle;

hafa kylfu í hendi sér, to have a club in one’s hand;

10) to behave, do, or fare, so an so esp. with an adv.;

hafa vel, illa, vetr, to behave (do) well, badly, be worse;

hafa sik vel, to behave;

hafa vel, to be well off or happy;

hafa hart, to be in a wretched plight;

11) with infin., hafa at varðveita, to have in keeping at selja, to have on sale;

lög hafið þér at mæla, you are right;

12) hafa e-n nær e-u, to expose one to (þú hafðir svá nær haft oss úfœru);

hafa nær e-u, to come near to, esp. impers.;

nær hafði okkr nú, it was a narrow escape;

svá nær hafði hausinum, at, the shot so nearly touched the head, that;

ok er nær hafði, skipit mundi fljóta, when the ship was on the point of flloating;

13) as an auxiliary verb, in the earliest time with the pp. of transitive verbs in acc.;

hefir þú hamar um fólginn, hast thou hidden the hammer?;

ek hefi sendan mann, I have sent a man;

later with indecl. neut. pp.;

hefir þú eigi sét mik, hast thou not seen me?;

14) with preps.:

hafa e-t at, to do, act;

hann tók af þér konuna, en þú hafðir ekki at, but thou didst not stir, didst take it tamely;

absol., viltu þess freista, ok vita hvat at hafi, wilt thou try and see what happens?;

hafa e-t at hlífiskildi (skotspœni), to use as a shield (as a target);

hafa e-n háði, hlátri, to mock, laugh at;

hafa e-t at engu, vettugi, to hold for naught, take no notice of;

hafa sakir á e-n have charges against one;

hafa á rás, to take to one’s heels, run off;

hafa e-t eptir, to do or repeat a thing after one;

hafa e-t fram, to produce (vápn þorgils vóru fram höfð); to carry out, hold forth;

hafa mál fram, to proceed with a suit;

var um búit, ekki fram haft, all was made ready but nothing done;

hafa e-t frammi, í frammi, to use, make use of (hafa í frammi kúgan);

ok öll lögmæt skil frammi hafa, and discharge all on official duties;

hafa e-t fyrir satt, to hold for true;

eigi em ek þar fyrir sönnu hafðr, I am not truly aimed for that, it is a false charge;

hafa e-n fyrir sökum um e-t, to charge one with;

hafa í hótum við e-n, to threaten one;

hafa e-t með höndum, to have in hand;

höfum eiai sigrinn ór hendi, let not victory slip out of our hands;

hafa ór við e-n, to behave so and so towards one (hefir þú illa ór haft við mik);

hafa e-t til e-s to use for (höfðu þeir til varnar skot ok spjót); to be a reason or ground for;

vér hyggjum þat til þess haft vera, at þar hafi menn sézt, we believe the foundation of the story is that men have been seen there;

hafa mikit (lítit) til síns máls, to have much (little) in support of one’s case;

hafa e-t til, to have at hand, possess;

orð þau, sem hann hafði um haft, the words which he had used;

keisari hafði fátt um, did not say much;

hafa e-n undir, to get one under, subdue one;

hafa e-t uppi, to take (heave) up (hafa uppi fœri, net);

Skarpheðinn hafði uppi øxina, S. heaved up the axe;

hafa flokk uppi, to raise a party, to rebel;

hafa uppi tafl, to play at a game;

hafa e-n uppi, to bring one to light;

hafa uppi rœður, to begin a discussion;

hafa e-t úti, to have done, finished (hafa úti sitt dagsverk);

hafa við e-m, to be a match for one;

hafa sik við, to exert oneself;

hafa mikit (lítit) við, to make a great (little) display;

hann söng messu ok bafði mikit við, and made much of it;

hann bad jarl leita, bann hafði lítit við þat, he did it lightly;

haf ekki slíkt við, do not say so;

haf þú lítit við at eggja sonu þina, refrain from egging on thy sons;

15) refl., hafast.

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pret. hafði; subj. hefði; pres. sing. hefi (less correctly hefir), hefir, hefir; plur. höfum, hafit, hafa: the mod. pres. sing. is monosyllabic hefr or hefur, and is used so in rhymes—andvara engan hefur | … við glys heims gálaus sefur, Pass. 15. 6, but in print the true old form hefir is still retained; the monosyllabic present is used even by old writers in the 1st pers. before the personal or negative suffix, e. g. hef-k and hef-k-a ek for hefi-g and hefig-a ek, see e. g. Grág. (Kb.) 79, 82, in the old oath formula, hef-k eigi, Hallfred; hef ek, Fms. iii. 10 (in a verse); but not so in 3rd pers., e. g. hefir-a or hefir-at, Grág. l. c.: imperat. haf, hafðu: part. pass. hafðr, neut. haft;—hafat is an απ. λεγ., Vsp. 16, and is prob. qs. hafit from hefja, to heave, lift: [Ulf. haban; A. S. habban; Engl. have; Hel. hebben; Germ. haben; Dutch hebben; Dan. have, Swed. hafva: it is curious the Lat. form habere retains the consonant unchanged, cp. the Romance forms, Ital. avere, Fr. avoir, Span. haber, etc. ☞ Hafa is a weak verb, and thus distinguished from hefja (to lift, begin), which is a strong verb, answering to Lat. capere, incipere; but in sundry cases, as will be seen below, it passes into the sense of this latter word; as also in some instances into that of another lost strong verb, hafa, hóf, to behave, and hœfa, to hit]:—to have.

A. To have; hann hafði með sér ekki meira lið, Fms. i. 39; hafði hverr hirð um sik, 52; höfðu þeir áttján skip, viii. 42; Sverrir hafði tvau hundrað manna, … þeir höfðu annan samnað á landi, 328; hann hafði mikit lið ok frítt, x. 36; þeir höfðu sjau skip ok flest stór, 102; hafa fjölmennar setur, Eb. 22; hann hafði menn sína í síldveri, Eg. 42; mun ek naut hafa þar sem mér þykkir hagi beztr, 716.

II. to hold:

1. to keep, celebrate; hafa ok halda, Dipl. i. 6; hafa átrúnað, 10; hafa dóma, 12; hafa blót, Fms. iv. 254; hafa vina-veizlu, id.; hafa vina-boð, Nj. 2; hafa Jóla-boð, Eg. 516; hafa þing, Fms. ix. 449; hafa haust-boð, Gísl. 27; hafa drykkju, Eb. 154; hafa leik, Fms. x. 201, passim.

2. to hold, observe; hlýðir þat hvergi at hafa eigi lög í landi, Nj. 149; skal þat hafa, er stendr …, Grág. i. 7; skal þat allt hafa er finsk á skrá þeirri …, id.; en hvatki es mis-sagt es í fræðum þessum, þá es skylt at hafa þat (to keep, hold to be true) es sannara reynisk, Íb. 3; ok hafða ek (I kept, selected) þat ór hvárri er framarr greindi, Landn. 320, v. l.

3. to hold, keep, retain; ef hann vill hafa hann til fardaga, Grág. i. 155; skal búandinn hafa hann hálfan mánuð, 154; ok hafði hvárr þat er hélt á, Nj. 279; hitt skal hafa er um fram er, Rb. 56; kasta í burt þrjátigi ok haf þat sem eptir verðr, 494.

4. to hold an office; hafa lögsögu, to hold the office of lögsaga, Íb. passim; hafa jarldóm, konungdóm, passim; þat höfðu haft at fornu Dana-konungar, Eg. 267; þér berit konunga-nöfn svá sem fyrr hafa haft ( have had) forfeðr yðrir, en hafit lítið af ríki, Fms. i. 52; hafa ríki, to reign, Hkr. pref.

5. phrases, hafa elda, to keep a fire, cook, Fms. xi. 129; hafa fjárgæzlu, to tend sheep, Eg. 740; hafa embætti með höndum, Stj. 204; hafa gæzlur á e-u, Fms. ix. 313; hafa … vetr, to have so many winters, be of such an age (cp. Fr. avoir … ans), Íb. 15; margir höfðu lítið fátt þúsund ára, Ver. 7: hafa vörn í máli, Nj. 93; hafa e-t með höndum, to have in hand, Fms. viii. 280, ix. 239; hafa e-t á höndum, Grág. i. 38; hafa fyrir satt, to hold for true, Fms. xi. 10; hafa við orð, to intimate, suggest, Nj. 160; hafa e-t at engu, vettugi, to hold for naught, take no notice of, Fas. i. 318.

6. with prepp. or infin.,

α. with prep.; hafa til, to have, possess; ef annarr þeirra hefir til enn annarr eigi, þá er sá skyldr til at fá honum er til hefir, Grág. i. 33; ef annarr hefir til …, id.; þér ætlið at ek muna eigi afl til hafa, Ld. 28.

β. with infin.; hafa at varðveita, to have in keeping, Eg. 500; lög hafit þér at mæla, you have the law on your tongue, i. e. you are right, Nj. 101; hörð tíðindi hefi ek at segja þér, 64; sá er gripinn hefir at halda, Grág. i. 438; hafa at selja, to have on sale, Ld. 28.

III. to use; var haft til þess sker eitt, Eb. 12; þá höfðu þeir til varnar skot ok spjót, Fms. vii. 193; er þín ráð vóru höfð, that thy advice was taken, Fs. 57; Gríss hafði þessi ráð, Fms. iii. 21; ek vil at þat sé haft er ek legg til, x. 249; þykki mér þú vel hafa ( make good use of) þau tillög er ek legg fyrir þik, xi. 61; til þess alls er jarli þótti skipta, þá hafði hann þessa hluti, 129; tvau ný (net), ok hafa eigi höfð verit ( which have not been used), haf þú ( take) hvárt er þú vilt, Háv. 46; þær vil ek hafa enar nýju, en ek vil ekki hætta til at hafa enar fornu, id.; önnur er ný ok mikil ok hefir ( has) til einskis höfð ( used) verið, id.; buðkr er fyrir húslker er hafðr, Vm. 171; gjalda vápn þau er höfð eru, N. G. L. i. 75; þat hafði hann haft ( used) fyrir skála, Edda 29; þeir vóru hafðir til at festa með hús jafnan, Nj. 118; sá hólmr var hafðr til at …, Fms. i. 218; hann skyldi hafa hinn sama eið, x. 7; orð þau sem hann hafði ( had) um haft ( used), Nj. 56; orð þau er hann hafði ( made use of) í barnskírn, K. Þ. K. 14.

2. more special phrases; hafa fagrmæli við e-n, to flatter one, Nj. 224; hafa hljóðmæli við e-n, to speak secretly to one, 223; allmikil fjölkyngi mun vera við höfð áðr svá fái gört, Edda 27; hafa mörg orð um e-t, Ld. 268; hafa tvímæli á e-u, to discuss, doubt, speak diffidently of a thing, Lv. 52; hafa viðrmæli um e-t, to use mocking words, Nj. 89; hafa nafn Drottins í hégóma, to take the Lord’s name in vain, Fms. i. 310; (hann var) mjök hafðr við mál manna, much used to, versed in lawsuits, Dropl. 8: hafa sik til e-s, to use oneself to a thing, i. e. to do a mean, paltry thing; þeir er til þess vilja hafa sik, at ganga í samkundur manna úboðit, Gþl. 200; ef hann vill sik til þessa hafa, Fms. i. 99: hafa sik við, to exert oneself; skaltú ok verða þik við at hafa um þetta mál, ef þú getr þat af þér fært, Grett. 160: hafa e-n at skotspæni, to use one as a target, Nj. 222; hafa e-n at hlífi-skildi sér, to use one as a shield, 262; hafa e-n at ginningar-fifli, auga-bragði, háði, hlátri, Hm. 133, Nj. 224, passim.

IV. to have, hold, maintain, of a state or condition; hafa vináttu við e-n, to maintain friendship with one, Sks. 662; hafa vanmátt, to continue sick, Eg. 565; hafa hættu-mikit, to run a great risk, Nj. 149; hafa vitfirring, to be insane, Grág. i. 154; hafa heilindi, to have good health, 26, Hm. 67; hafa burði til e-s, to have the birthright to a thing. Eg. 479; hafa hug, áræði, hyggindi, to have the courage …, Hom. 28; hafa vit ( to know), skyn, greind … á e-u, to have understanding of a thing; hafa gaman, gleði, skemtun, ánægju af e-u, to have interest or pleasure in a thing; hafa leiða, ógeð, andstygð, hatr, óbeit á e-u, to dislike, be disgusted with, hate a thing; hafa elsku, mætr, virðing á e-u, to love, esteeem … a thing; hafa allan hug á e-u, to bend the mind to a thing; hafa grun á e-m, to suspect one; hafa ótta, beyg af e-u, to fear a thing; and in numberless other phrases.

2. with prepp.:

α. hafa e-t frammi (fram), to carry out, hold forth; hafa frammi róg, Nj. 166; hafa mál fram, to proceed with a suit, 101; stefnu-för, 78; heitstrengingar, Fms. xi. 103; ok öll lögmælt skil frammi hafa, and discharge all one’s official duties, 232; var um búit en ekki fram haft, all was made ready, but nothing done, viii. 113; beini má varla verða betri en hér er frammi hafðr, xi. 52; hafðú í frammi ( use) kúgan við þá uppi við fjöllin, Ísl. ii. 215; margir hlutir, þó at hann hafi í frammi, Sks. 276.

β. hafa mikit, lítið fyrir e-u, to have much, little trouble about a thing; (hence fyrir-höfn, trouble.)

γ. hafa við e-m (afl or the like understood), to be a match for one, Fms. vii. 170, Lv. 109, Nj. 89, Eg. 474, Anal. 176; hafa mikit, lítið við, to make a great, little display; (hence við-höfn, display, pomp); hann söng messu ok hafði mikit við, he sang mass and made a great thing of it, Nj. 157; þú hefir mikit við, thou makest a great show of it, Boll. 351; hann bað jarl leita, hann hafði lítið við þat, he did it lightly, Nj. 141; haf ekki slíkt við, do not say so, Ld. 182.

B. To take, carry off, win, wield, [closely akin to Lat. capere]:

I. to catch, take, esp. in the phrase, hafa ekki e-s, to miss one; hann kemsk á skóg undan, ok höfðu þeir hans ekki, he took to the forest and they missed him, Nj. 130; ekki munu vér hans hafa at sinni, we sha’nt catch him at present, Fms. vi. 278; hafða ek þess vætki vífs, Hm. 101; þeygi ek hana at heldr hefik, 95: in swearing, tröll, herr, gramir hafi þik, the trolls, ghosts, etc. take thee! tröll hafi líf, ef …, Kormak; tröll hafi Trefót allan! Grett. (in a verse); tröll hafi þína vini, tröll hafi hól þitt, Nj.; herr hafi Þóri til slægan, confound the wily Thorir! Fms. vi. 278, v. l. (emended, as the phrase is wrongly explained in Fms. xii. Gloss.); gramir hafi þik! vide gramr.

II. to carry, carry off, bring; hafði einn hjartað í munni sér, one carried the heart off in his mouth, Nj. 95; hann hafði þat ( brought it) norðan með sér, Eg. 42; hafði Þórólfr heim marga dýrgripi, 4; hann hafði með sér skatt allan, 62; skaltú biðja hennar ok hafa hana heim hingat, Edda 22; fé þat er hann hafði ( had) út haft ( carried from abroad), Gullþ. 13; á fimm hestum höfðu þeir mat, Nj. 74; bókina er hann hafði ( had) út haft, Fms. vii. 156; konungr hafði biskup norðr til Björgynjar með sér, viii. 296; biskup lét hann hafa með sér kirkju-við ok járn-klukku, Landn. 42; hann hafði með sér skulda-lið sitt ok búferli, Eb. 8; hann tók ofan hofit, ok hafði með sér flesta viðu, id.; ok hafa hana í brott, Fms. i. 3; tekr upp barnit, ok hefir heim með sér, Ísl. ii. 20; hann hafði lög út hingat ór Noregi, he brought laws hither from Norway, Íb. 5; haf þú heim hvali til bæjar, Hým. 26; ok hafa hann til Valhallar, Nj. 119.

III. to take, get; hann hafði þá engan mat né drykk, he took no food nor drink, Eg. 602; hann hafði eigi svefn, he got no sleep, Bs. i. 139.

2. to get, gain, win; öfluðu sér fjár, ok höfðu hlutskipti mikit, Eg. 4; eigi þarftú at biðja viðsmjörs þess, þvíat hann mun þat alls ekki hafa, né þú, for neither he nor thou shall get it, Blas. 28; jarl vill hafa minn fund, he will have a meeting with me, 40, Skv. 1. 4: the sayings, hefir sá jafnan er hættir, he wins that risks, ‘nothing venture, nothing have,’ Hrafn. 16; sá hefir krás er krefr, Sl. 29.

3. phrases, hafa meira hlut, to get the better lot, gain the day, Nj. 90, Fms. xi. 93; hafa gagn, sigr, to gain victory, ix. 132, Eg. 7, Hkr. i. 215, Ver. 38; hafa betr, to get the better; hafa verr, miðr, to have the worst of it, Fms. v. 86, Þorst. S. St. 48, passim; hafa mál sitt, to win one’s suit, Grág. i. 7, Fms. vii. 34; hafa kaup öll, to get all the bargain, Eg. 71; hafa tafl, to win the game, Fms. vii. 219; hafa erendi, to do one’s errand, succeed, Þkv. 10, 11, Fas. ii. 517: hafa bana, to have one’s bane, to die, Nj. 8; hafa úsigr, to be worsted, passim; hafa úfrið, to have no peace; hafa gagn, sóma, heiðr, neisu, óvirðing, skömm, etc. af e-u, to get profit, gain, honour, disgrace, etc. from a thing; hafa e-n í helju, to put one to death, Al. 123; hafa e-n undir, to get one under, subdue him, Nj. 95, 128; höfum eigi, sigrinn ór hendi, let not victory slip out of our hands, Fms. v. 294.

4. to get, receive; hann hafði góðar viðtökur, Nj. 4; hón skal hafa sex-tigi hundraða, 3; skyldi Högni hafa land, 118; selja skipit, ef hann hafði þat fyrir ( if he could get for it) sem hann vildi; Flosi spurði í hverjum aurum hann vildi fyrir hafa, hann kvaðsk vildu fyrir hafa land, 259; hafa tíðindi, sögur af e-m, to have, get tidings of or from one, Ld. 28; hafa sæmd, metorð óvirðing, to get honour, disgrace from one’s hands, Nj. 101; hafa bætr, to get compensation, Grág. i. 188; hafa innstæðuna eina, id.; hafa af e-m, to have the best of one, cheat one.

IV. to carry, wear, of clothes, ornaments, weapons:

1. of clothes, [cp. Lat. habitus and Icel. höfn = gear]; hafa hatt á höfði, Ld. 28; hafa váskufl yztan klæða, … þú skalt hafa undir ( wear beneath) hin góðu klæði þín, Nj. 32; hann hafði blán kyrtil, … hann hafði svartan kyrtil, Boll. 358; hafa fald á höfði, to wear a hood; hón hafði gaddan rautt á höfði, Orkn. 304; hann hafði um sik breitt belti, he wore a broad belt, Nj. 91; hafa fingr-gull á hendi, 146: to have about one’s person, vefja saman ok hafa í pungi sínum, Edda 27; hlutir sem mönnum var títt at hafa, Fms. xi. 128.

2. of weapons, to wield, carry; spjót þat er þú hefir í hendi, Boll. 350; hafa kylfu í hendi sér, to have a club in one’s hand, Fms. xi. 129; hafa staf í hendi, to have a stick in the hand, Bárð.; Gunnarr hafði atgeirinn ok sverðit, Kolskeggr hafði saxit, Hjörtr hafði alvæpni, Nj. 93; hann hafdi öxi snaghyrnda, Boll. 358; hann hafði kesjuna fyrir sér, he held the lance in rest, Eg. 532.

V. here may be added a few special phrases; hafa hendr fyrir sér, to grope, feel with the hands (as in darkness); hafa vit fyrir sér, to act wisely; hafa at sér hendina, to draw one’s hand back, Stj. 198; hafa e-t eptir, to do or repeat a thing after one, Konr.; hafa e-t yfir, to repeat (of a lesson): hafa sik, to betake oneself; hafa sik til annarra landa, Grett. 9 new Ed.; hann vissi varla hvar hann átti at hafa sik, he knew not where ( whither) to betake himself, Bs. i. 807; hefir hann sik aptr á stað til munklífisins, Mar.

C. Passing into the sense of hefja (see at the beginning); hafa e-t uppi, to heave up, raise; hafa flokk uppi, to raise a party, to rebel, Fb. ii. 89: hafa uppi færi, net, a fisherman’s term, to heave up, take up the net or line, Háv. 46; Skarphéðinn hafði uppi ( heaved up) öxina, Nj. 144: hafa uppi tafl, to play at a game, Vápn. 29; þar vóru mjök töfl uppi höfð ok sagna-skemtan, Þorf. Karl. 406, v. l.: hafa e-n uppi, to hold one up, bring him to light; svá máttu oss skjótast uppi hafa, Fær. 42: metaph. to reveal, vándr riddari hafði allt þegar uppi, Str. 10.

2. with the notion to begin; Bárðr hafði uppi orð sín ( began his suit) ok bað Sigríðar, Eg. 26, Eb. 142; hafa upp stefnu, to begin the summons, Boll. 350; hafa upp ræður, to begin a discussion; ræður þær er hann hafði uppi haft við Ingigerði, Fms. iv. 144, where the older text in Ó. H. reads umræður þær er hann hafði upp hafit (from hefja), 59; cp. also Vsp., þat langniðja-tal mun uppi hafat (i. e. hafit) meðan öld lifir, 16, (cp. upp-haf, beginning); þó at ek hafa síðarr um-ræðu um hann, better þó at ek hafa (i. e. hefja) síðarr upp ræðu um hann, though I shall below treat of, discuss that, Skálda (Thorodd) 168; er lengi hefir uppi verit haft síðan (of a song), Nj. 135; cp. also phrases such as, hafa á rás, to begin running, take to one’s heels, Fms. iv. 120, ix. 490; næsta morgin hefir út fjörðinn, the next morning a breeze off land arose, Bs. ii. 48: opp. is the phrase, hafa e-t úti, to have done, finished; hafa úti sitt dags-verk, Fms. xi. 431; hafa úti sekt sína, Grett. 149.

D. Passing into the sense of a lost strong verb, hafa, hóf (see at the beginning), to behave, do, act:

I. with an adverb, hafa vel, ílla, or the like, to behave, and in some instances to do well or badly, be happy or unhappy,

α. to behave; en nú vil ek eigi verr hafa en þú, Fms. iv. 342; þeir sögðu at konungr vildi verr hafa en þeir, 313; hefir þú ílla ór (málum or the like understood) haft við mik, Fs. 140; ólikr er Gísli öðrum í þolinmæði, ok hefir hann betr en vér, Gísl. 28.

β. to do so and so (to be happy, unhappy); verr hafa þeir er trygðum slitu, Mkv. 3; ílla hefir sá er annan svíkr, 18; vel hefir sá er þat líða lætr, 6; vel hefir sá ( he is happy) er eigi bíðr slíkt íllt þessa heims, Fms. v. 145; hvílíkt hefir þú, how dost thou? Mar.; hafa hart, to do badly, to be wretched; at sál Þorgils mætti fyrir þær sakir eigi hart hafa, Sturl. iii. 292, Mar.; Ólafr hafði þá hölzti ílla, O. was very poorly, D. N. ii. 156; þykisk sá bezt hafa ( happiest) er fyrstr kemr heim, Fms. xi. 248; þá hefir hann bazt af hann þegir, i. e. that is the best he can do if he holds his tongue, Hm. 19; þess get ek at sá hafi verr ( he will make a bad bargain) er þik flytr, Nj. 128; úlfgi hefir ok vel, the wolf is in a bad plight, Ls. 39; mun sá betr hafa er eigi tekr við þér, id.; betr hefðir þú, ef …, thou wouldest do better, if …, Akv. 16.

γ. adding sik; hafa sik vel, to behave well, Fms. x. 415, Stj. 436.

II. with the prep. at, to do, act, (hence at-höfn, at-hæfi, act, doing); hann lét ekki til búa vígs-málit ok engan hlut at hafa, Nj. 71; en ef þeim þykkir of lítið féit tekit, þá skulu þeir hafa at hit sama, to act in the same way, Grág. ii. 267; hvatki es þeir hafa at, Fms. xi. 132; hann tók af þér konuna, en þú hafðir ekki at, but thou didst not stir, didst take it tamely, Nj. 33; bæði munu menn þetta kalla stórvirki ok íllvirki, en þó má nú ekki at hafa, but there is no help for it, 202; eigi sýnisk mér meðal-atferðar-leysi, at vér höfum eigi at um kvámur hans, i. e. that we submit tamely to his coming, Fs. 32: absol., viltú þess freista, ok vita þá hvat at hafi, wilt thou try and see how it will do? Bjarn. 27; en nú skaltú fara fyrir, ok vita hvat at hafi, Bs. i. 712.

III. phrases, hafa hátt, to be noisy, talk loud, Fms. i. 66; við skulum ekki hafa hátt ( do not cry loud) hér er maðr á glugganum, a lullaby song; hafa lágt, to keep silent; hafa hægt, to keep quiet; hafa sik á (í) hófi, to compose oneself, Ls. 36; hafa í hótum við e-n, to use threatening ( foul) language, Fb. i. 312; hafa í glett við e-n, to banter one, Fms. viii. 289; hafa íllt at verki, to do a bad deed, Ísl. ii. 184.

E. Passing into the sense of the verb hæfa (see at the beginning), to aim at, hit, with dat.:

I. to hit; svá nær hafði hausinum, at …, the shot so nearly hit the head, that …, Fms. ii. 272; þat sama forað, sem henni hafði næst váða, those very precipices from which she had so narrow an escape, Bs. i. 200, Fms. ix. 357; nær hafði nú, at skjótr mundi verða okkarr skilnaðr, Al. 124; nær hafði okkr nú, it struck near us, it was a narrow escape, Fms. viii. 281; kvaðsk svá dreymt hafa ( have dreamed), at þeim mundi nær hafa, ix. 387, v. l.; ok er nær hafði at skipit mundi fljóta, when the ship was on the point of floating, Ld. 58; ok hafði svá nær (it was within a hair’s breadth), at frændr Þorvalds mundu ganga at honum, Nj. 160; ok hafði svá nær at þeir mundi berjask, Íb. 11, cp. Bs. i. 21: the phrase, fjarri hefir, far from it! Edda (in a verse).

2. to charge; eigi em ek þar fyrir sönnu hafðr, I am not truly aimed at for that, ‘tis a false charge, Eg. 64; þeim manni er fyrir sökum er hafðr, i. e. the culprit, Grág. i. 29; cp. the mod. phrase, hafa á e-u, to make a charge of a thing; það varð ekki á því haft, they could not make a case for a charge of it.

II. metaph. to be the ground or reason for, (hence til-hæfa, reason, fact, foundation); til þess ætla vitrir menn þat haft at Ísland sé Tile (i. e. Thule) kallað, at …, learned men suppose that is the reason that Iceland is called Thule, that …, Landn. (pref.); mikit mun til haft, er einmæli er um (there must be some reason for it, because all people say so), Þorgils segir, eigi er fyrir haft ( there is no ground whatever for it), at ek mæla betr fyrir griðum en aðrir menn, Ísl. ii. 379; vér hyggjum þat til þess haft vera, at þar hafi menn sésk, we believe the substance of the story is that men have been seen there, Fms. xi. 158; hvat er til þess haft um þat (what is the truth of the matter?), hefir sundr-þykki orðit með ykkr? Boll. 364: in the saying, hefir hverr til síns ágætis nokkut, every one gets his reputation for something, Nj. 115.

2. to happen, coincide; hefir svá til, at hann var þar sjálfr, Fms. xi. 138, v. l.

β. the phrase, hafa mikit (lítið) til síns máls, to have much ( little) reason for one’s tale, i. e. to be much, little, in the right, Fms. vii. 221, xi. 138 (v. l.), Nj. 88: um þenna hefir svá stórum, it matters so much with this man, (v. l. for mun stórum skipta), Fms. xi. 311.

F. REFLEX. to keep, dwell, abide, but only of a temporary shelter or abode, cp. Lat. habitare, (cp. also höfn, a haven); hann hefsk á náttartíma niðri í vötnum, at night-time he keeps down in the water, Stj. 77: to live, þeir höfðusk mjök í kaupferðum, they spent much of their life in travelling, Hkr. i. 276; hann hafðisk löngum í bænum, Bs. i. 353.

β. with prep. við; hér mun ek við hafask ( I will stay here) en þú far til konungs, Fb. ii. 125; hafðisk hann við á skógum eðr í öðrum fylgsnum, 302; því at hann hafðisk þá á skipum við, Fms. viii. 44; hvílsk heldr ok hafsk við í því landi, rest and stay in that land, Stj. 162; Ásgeirr hafðisk við uppi í dalnum, Sd. 154; hafask lind fyrir, to cover oneself with a shield (?), Vsp. 50; hafask hlífar fyrir, to be mailed in armour, Hkm. 11.

2. hafask at, to do, behave (cp. D. above); vóru þeir þá svá móðir, at þeir máttu ekki at hafask, Fms. ii. 149; en síðan skulut þér at hafa slíkt sem ek kann fyrir segja, i. 158; þat eitt munu við at hafask, at ek mun betr göra en þú, Nj. 19; Lambi sá hvat Steinarr hafðisk at, Eg. 747.

3. hafask vel, to do well, thrive; vaxa ok vel hafask, to wax and do well, Hm. 142; nú er þat bæn mín, at þér hafisk við vel, that you bear yourself well up, Fms. ix. 497; Jungfrúin hafðisk vel við í ferðinni, x. 86; at fé hans mundi eigi hafask at betr at meðal-vetri, Grág. ii. 326.

4. recipr., hafask orð við, to speak to one another; ok er þat ósiðlegt, at menn hafisk eigi orð við, Fs. 14; þar til er þeir hafask réttar tölur við, N. G. L. i. 182.

II. part. hafandi is used in the sense of having conceived, being with child; þá verit hann varr við at hón var hafandi, 656 B. 14; hón skyldi verða hafandi at Guðs syni, id.; generally, allt þat er hafanda var lét burð sinn ok ærðisk, Fms. vii. 187; svá sem hón verðr at honum hafandi, Stj. 178; (hence barns-hafandi, being with child.)

G. The word hafa is in the Icel., as in other Teut. languages, used as an auxiliary verb with a part. pass. of another verb, whereby a compound preterite and pluperfect are formed as follows:

I. in transitive verbs with acc. the participle also was put in acc., agreeing in gender, number, and case with the objective noun or pronoun; this seems to have been a fixed rule in the earliest time, and is used so in all old poems down at least to the middle of the 11th century, to the time of Sighvat (circ. A. D. 990–1040), who constantly used the old form,—átt is an apostrophe for átta in the verse Ó. H. 81:

1. references from poets, Gm. 5, 12, 16; þá er forðum mik fædda höfðu, Vsp. 2; hverr hefði lopt lævi blandit eðr ætt jötuns Óðs mey gefna, 29; þær’s í árdaga áttar höfðu, 60: ek hafða fengna konungs reiði, Ad. 3; en Grjótbjörn um gnegðan hefir, 18; mik hefir marr miklu ræntan, Stor. 10; þó hefir Míms-vinr mér um fengnar bölva bætr, 22: gaupur er Haraldr hafi sveltar, Hornklofi: Loka mær hefir leikinn allvald, Ýt. 7; sá hafði borinn brúna-hörg, 14; jarlar höfðu veginn hann, 15: ek hef orðinn ( found) þann guðföðr (verða is here used as trans.), Hallfred; höfum kera framðan, id.: hann hefir litnar, sénar, hár bárur, Ísl. ii. 223, thus twice in a verse of A. D. 1002; göngu hefik of gengna, Korm. (in a verse); hann hafði farna för, Hkr. i. (Glum Geirason); ek hefi talðar níu orustur, Sighvat; þú hefir vanðan þik, id.; ér hafit rekna þá braut, Ó. H. 63 (Óttar Svarti); hann hefir búnar okkr hendr skrautliga, Sighvat (Ó. H. 13); þeir hafa færð sín höfuð Knúti, id.; hvar hafit ér hugðan mér sess, id.; hafa sér kenndan enn nørðra heims enda, id.; Sighvatr hefir lattan gram, id.; hefir þú hamar um fólginn, Þkv. 7, 8; þú hefir hvatta okkr, Gkv. 6; ek hefi yðr brennda, Am. 39, cp. 56; hefi ek þik minntan, 81; hefir þú hjörtu tuggin, Akv. 36; hefir þú mik dvalðan, Hbl. 51; ek hefi hafðar þrár, I have had throes, Fsm. 51; en ek hann görvan hef-k, svá hefi ek studdan, 12 (verse 13 is corrupt); hann hefir dvalða þik, Hkv. Hjörv. 29; lostna, 30; mik hefir sóttan meiri glæpr, 32; ek hefi brúði kerna, id.; þú hefir etnar úlfa krásir, opt sár sogin, Hkv. 1. 36; sá er opt hefir örnu sadda, 35; hefir þú kannaða koni óneisa, 23; þá er mik svikna höfðut, Skv. 3. 55; hann hafði getna sonu, Bkv. 8; þann sal hafa halir um görvan, Fm. 42; bróður minn hefir þú benjaðan, 25; er hann ráðinn hefir, 37; sjaldan hefir þú gefnar vargi bráðir, Eg. (in a verse).

2. references from prose; this old form has since been turned into an indecl. neut. sing. part. -it. The old form was first lost in the strong verbs and the weak verbs of the first conjugation: in the earliest prose both forms are used, although the indecl. is more freq. even in the prose writers, as Íb., the Heiðarv. S., the Miracle-book in Bs., Njála, Ó. H., (Thorodd seems only to use the old form,) as may be seen from the following references, Björn hafði særða þrjá menn, Nj. 262; hann mundi hana hafa gipta honum, 47; hann hafði þá leidda saman hestana, 264: ek hefi sendan mann, Ísl. (Heiðarv. S.) ii. 333; ek nefi senda menn, id.: hafa son sinn ór helju heimtan, Bs. (Miracle-book) i. 337; en er þeir höfðu niðr settan sveininn, 349; hann hafði veidda fimm tegu fiska, 350: er þér hefir ílla neisu gorva, Ó. H. 107: þá hefi ek fyrri setta þá í stafrófi, Skálda (Thorodd) 161; þar hefi ek við görva þessa stafi fjóra, id.; hafa hann samsettan, 167: góða fylgd hefir þú mér veitta, Þorst Síðu H. 2: sagði, at Ólafr konungr hafði sendan hann, Bs. i. 11: Þyri, er hertogi hafði festa nauðga, Fms. x. 393 (Ágrip): hefi ek þá svá signaða ok magnaða, v. 236: hefir sólin gengna tvá hluti, en einn úgenginn, K. Þ. K. 92 (Lund’s Syntax, p. 12).

β. again, neut. indecl., hana hafði átt fyrr Þoróddr, Ísl. ii. 192: hón hafði heimt húskarl sinn …, Ísl. (Heiðarv. S.) ii. 339; hann hefir ekki svá vel gyrt hest minn, 340; hefir þú eigi séð mik, 341; hve hann hafði lokkat hann. id.; gistingar hefi ek yðr fengit, 343: þeir höfðu haft úfrið ok orrostur, Íb. 12; hann hafði tekið lögsögu, 14: stafr er átt hafði Þorlákr, Bs. (Miracle-book) i. 340; er þær höfðu upp tekit ketilinn ok hafit …, 342; göngu es hann hafði gingit, 344; es sleggjuna hafði niðr fellt, 346; sem maðr hefði nýsett (hana) niðr, id.; jartein þá er hann þóttisk fingit hafa, 347; hafði prestrinn fært fram sveininn, 349: hjálm er Hreiðmarr hafði átt, Edda 73: hafa efnt sína heitstrenging, Fms. (Jómsv. S.) xi. 141: slíkan dóm sem hann hafði mér hugat, Ó. H. 176, etc. passim:—at last the inflexion disappeared altogether, and so at the present time the indecl. neut. sing. is used throughout; yet it remains in peculiar instances, e. g. konu hefi eg mér festa, Luke xiv. 20, cp. Vídal. ii. 21. ☞ This use of the inflexive part. pass. may often serve as a test of the age of a poem, e. g. that Sólarljóð was composed at a later date may thus be seen from verses 27, 64, 72, 73, 75, 79; but this test is to be applied with caution, as the MSS. have in some cases changed the true forms (-inn, -ann, and -it, -an being freq. abbreviated in the MSS. so as to render the reading dubious). In many cases the old form is no doubt to be restored, e. g. in vegit to veginn, Fm. 4, 23; búit to búinn, Hkv. Hjörv. 15; borit to borinn, Hkv. 1. 1; beðit to beðinn, Fsm. 48; orðit to orðin, Og. 23; roðit to roðinn, Em. 5; brotið to brotinn, Vkv. 24, etc.: but are we to infer from Ls. 23, 26, 33, that this poem is of a comparatively late age?

II. the indecl. neut. sing. is, both in the earliest poems and down to the present day, used in the following cases:

1. with trans. verbs requiring the dat. or gen.; ek hefi fengit e-s, hann hafði fengit konu; hafa hefnt e-s, Fms. xi. 25; sú er hafði beðit fjár, Þkv. 32; stillir hefir stefnt mér, Hkv. Hjörv. 33, and so in endless cases.

2. in the reflex. part. pass.; þeir (hann) hafa (hefir) látisk, farisk, sagsk, etc.

3. in part. of intrans. neut. verbs, e. g. þeir þær (hann, hón), hafa (hefir) setið, staðit, gengit, legit, farit, komit, verit, orðit, lifað, dáit, heitið …, also almost in every line both of prose and poetry.

4. in trans. verbs with a neut. sing. in objective case the difference cannot be seen.

☞ The compound preterite is common to both the Romance and Teutonic languages, and seems to be older in the former than in the latter; Grimm suggests that it originated with the French, and thence spread to the Teutons. That it was not natural to the latter is shewn by the facts, that

α. no traces of it are found in Gothic, nor in the earliest Old High German glossaries to Latin words.

β. in the earliest Scandinavian poetry we can trace its passage from declinable to indeclinable.

γ. remains are left in poetry of a primitive uncompounded preterite infinitive, e. g. stóðu = hafa staðit, mundu, skyldu, vildu, etc., see Gramm. p. xxv, col. 2. ☞ We may here note a curious dropping of the verb hefir, at ek em kominn hingat til lands, ok verit áðr ( having been) langa hríð utan-lands, Ó. H. 31, cp. Am. 52; barn at aldri, en vegit slíka hetju sem Þorvaldr var, Glúm. 382. On this interesting matter see Grimm’s remarks in his Gramm. iv. 146 sqq.

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(hrek; hrakta, hröktum; hrakiðr, hraktr), v.

1) to drive away, chase off (h. e-n af máli);

2) to annoy, vex, ill-treat (Sigmundr sagðist heldr vilja h. þá sem mest); h. e-n í orðum, to scold and abuse one;

3) to damage, spoil (h. mál fyrir e-m); absol., h. fyrir e-m, to do damage to one;

4) to abuse (= h. e-n í orðum).

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pret. hrakti; part. hrakiðr, Orkn. 424, mod. hrakinn, neut. hrakt, Sturl. ii. 169: [akin to Goth. vrikan, A. S. wrecan, Engl. wreak, wreck, see introduction to letter H]:—to worry, vex; h. e-n í orðum, to scold and abuse one, Fms. vii. 319, Fs. 173; þau bityrði er Skarphéðinn hrakti yðr Ljósvetninga, Nj. 223; ámæla þær honum í hverju orði ok hrekja, Finnb. 228: to confound, mér þaetti bezt við þann at eiga, er allir hrekjask fyrir áðr, by whom all people are confounded, Hrafn. 16; Sigmundr sagðisk heldr vilja h. þá sem mest, Fær. 165, Fs. 33, 129, Sturl. ii. 169, Bs. ii. 143; hann eyðir málit fyrir Erni ok hrekr hann sem mest af málinu, Fs. 125: víghestrinn hafði hrakit hrossin, Eb. 36 new Ed.

β. a naut. term, of ships driven out of their course, freq. in mod. usage; either impers., e-n hrekr, one is driven and wrecked; or reflex., þeir hröktust fimm vikur sjávar, they were driven for five miles on the sea: also of a ship, skipið (acc.) hrekr, the ship has drifted, cp. Bs. i. 817; of sheep in a snow storm.

(-ar; pl. -ir, acc. -u), m.

1) verdict (of neighbours); bera kvið um e-t, to give a verdict in a case; bera kvið á e-n, í móti e-m (af e-m), to give a verdict against (for, in favour of) one;

2) inquest, jury; kveðja e-n kviðar, to call (a neighbour) on an inquest; ryðja kviðinn, bjóða til ruðningar um kviðinn, to challenge the jury;

3) saying, word; kviðr norna, the decree of the Fates (kveld lifir maðr ekki eptir kvið norna).

(-ar; pl. -ir, acc. -u), m.

1) belly, abdomen;

2) womb.

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m., gen. kviðar, pl. kviðir, acc. pl. kviðu. [Ulf. qiss = -φημία, -λογία, as in ana-qiss = βλασφημία; þiuþi-qiss and waila-qiss = εὐλογία; missa-qiss = σχίσμα, etc.]:—prop. a saw, saying, speech, word, and hence in law a verdict given by neighbours; for the Engl. ‘verdict’ is indeed a kind of rendering of the Norse term; kviðr Norna, the word of the Norns, weird, fate, death, kveld lifir maðr ekki eptir kvið Norna, Hðm. 31; orðs-kviðr, a saw, proverb; mis-kviðr, ‘saying-amiss,’ false pleading. The old law makes a distinction between vætti ( a witness) and kviðr ( a verdict),—þar er bæði fylgir einni sök vætti ok kviðr, þá skal vætti fara fyrr fram en kviðr, Grág. i. 47: before delivering his opinion each neighbour had to take an oath,—þat er mælt, áðr kviðr sé borinn, at þeir skulu eiða vinna allir áðr at dómi, 53. The old records mention various kinds of neighbours and verdicts:

1. in Norse law,

α. the heimis-kviðr (heims-kviðr, heimilis-k.) or a ‘home-verdict,’ a verdict of neighbours, bearing some resemblance to the oath of compurgators; ten, or in lesser cases four or six, neighbours were to accompany the accused to the court, two of whom had to swear on the book, and the rest followed,—en þat er heims kviðr er tíu menn fylgja til móts, en sverja tveir menn á bók, en átta sanna þat, N. G. L. i. 311, cp. ii. 505; hafa með sér heimiliskviðar-vátta til þings, K. Á. 214; hann hafi heiman heimiliskviðar-vitni, 152; nema heimiliskviðar-vitni fylgi, Gþl. 193: þá skal með þessu heimiliskviðar-vitni sækja, N. G. L. 4. 140 (heimskviðar-vitni, 337); þá skal með þessu heimiliskviðjar-vitni sækja, at einn skal bera en tveir sanna um þriggja aura mál, en um sex aura mál skal einn sanna en fjórir sverja, en þeir skulu vera fylkis-menn, N. G. L. i. 140, 316; en ef eigi kemr saga hins sára fram á fyrsta þingi né heimiliskviðar-vitni, þá …, 160: similar were the ‘sandemænd’ ( soothmen) of the early Danish law; to this the old saw refers, hættr er heimiskviðr, nema sér góðan geti, perilous is the home-verdict, unless one gets a good one, Sdm. 25.

β. in Icel., unless the bjargkviðr (q. v.) be identical to heimis-kviðr, this sort of verdict is seldom mentioned; eigi skal heimis-kvið annan at henda, Grág. i. 361.

2. in Icel. law the tólftar-kviðr ( verdict of twelve), also called goða-kviðr ( priest verdict), Grág. i. 168, viz. a body of twelve men, of whom eleven were to be summoned by the goði of the district, and he, being the twelfth of the number, had to deliver the final verdict. The verdict of twelve was only appointed for certain cases defined in the law, K. Þ. K. 168, v. l.; nú hefir maðr tólptar-kviðar kvatt, ok skal goði nefna þriðjungs-menn sína til kviðar þess með sér, ok er honum rétt hvárz þeir eru bændr eða grið-menn, hann skal ellefu menn nefna aðra en sik, Grág. i. 57, see the whole chapter 17 in Þ. Þ., as also the Grág. passim; ella kveðja til tylptar-kviðar goða þess (þann?) er sóttr er …, en ef sjálfr er sóttr goðinn þeirri sök, þá skal kveðja samþingis-goðann tólptar-kviðar; tólptar-kviðar skal kveðja þann goða er sá er í þingi er sóttr er, Grág. i. 138; er goði er kvaddr tólptar-kviðar um þat er hann á eigi at skilja, þá …, 168, 207; nú koma menn til þings, ok málit í dóm, ok á Glúmr (in his capacity as goði) at bera tólptar-kvið, … Glúmr berr at honum kviðinn ok únýtti málit, Glúm. ch. 18: tólptar-kviðr átti um at skilja, en hvárrgi þeirra Snorra né Arnkels þótti bera mega kviðinn fyrir hleyta sakir við sækjanda ok varnar-aðilja, var þá Helgi Hofgarða-goði kvaddr tylptar-kviðar, … eptir þat bar Helgi at kviðinn, Eb. ch. 16, cp. also the passage in Lv. ch. 4, where a verdict of twelve seems to be meant.

β. but the common popular verdict was the búa-kviðr or neighbour-verdict, given by five, and in some cases by nine, neighbours (see búi), who had to be summoned either at home (kveðja búa heiman) or in certain exceptional instances in the court (á þingi); the instances in the Grág. and the Sagas, esp. the Nj., are almost endless: technical phrase, bera kvið, to give the verdict, Nj. 87, Grág. i. 57, passim; as also, bera af kviðinn, or, bera á kviðinn, to give a verdict for or against, (see bera B. I); ryðja kvið or kviðu, prop. to ‘clear the verdict,’ i. e. to challenge the neighbours, Grág. i. 29; bjóða til ruðningar um kviðinn, Nj. 87, passim.

γ. a special kind, egningar-kviðr, a kind of law quirk, Grág. i. 56: ironical, nú er getið um fyrir Þorkatli at honum þykkja ríkt bornir kviðirnir, Lv. 27. From the analogy of the Icel. customs, it can be inferred with certainty that along with the invasion of the Danes and Norsemen, the judgment by verdict was also transplanted to English ground, for the settlers of England were kith and kin to those of Iceland, carrying with them the same laws and customs; lastly, after the Conquest it became the law of the land. This old Scandinavian institution gradually died out in the mother countries, and came to an end in Icel. A. D. 1271–1281, with the fall of the Commonwealth, and the introduction of a Norse code of laws, whereas it was naturalised in England, which came to be the classical land of trial by jury.

m., gen. kviðar, pl. kviðir, acc. pl. kviðu; [Ulf. qiþus = κοιλία, μήτηρ; A. S. cwið; O. H. G. quiti; Swed. qved; Gr. γαστήρ; cp. Lat. venter]:—the womb; Ulfr reist á honum kviðinn, Nj. 275; minta styrkir kvið, Lækn.: of animals, svall allr kviðrinn á hestinum, Bs. i. 345; so water reaches, upp í kvið; éta hálfan kvið, to eat half one’s fill; fara síganda kviði, to go with a sinking belly, i. e. to limp, lag behind; get ek at þeim fari héðan af síganda kviði, Grett. 151 A; hann tók hendi sinni niðr undir miðjan kviðinn, Edda 33, Fms. iv. 385.

2. esp. the womb, Lat. uterus; konu er barn hefir kviknat í kviði, K. Þ. K. 134, Grág. ii. 69; þat barn er eigi arfgengt, er kvikt er í kviði áðr móðurinni sé frelsi gefit, i. 178; óx brúðar kviðr frá brjósti niðr, Bjarn. (in a verse), Fms. vi. 350–352, as also the N. T.,—þú munt getnað fá í kviði þínum, Luke i. 31; ok barnið spratt upp í hennar kviði, 41, 44; blessaðr er ávöxtr kviðar þíns, 42; áðr en hann var getinn í móður-kviði, ii. 21; allt karlkyns þat er fyrst opnaði sinnar móður kvið, 23; af móður-kviði fæddir, Matth. xix. 12, Gal. i. 15; sæll er sá kviðr er þig bar og þau brjóst er þú milktir, Luke xi. 27.

(gen. -ar), m. veto, interdict; verja e-t lýriti, to put a veto on, forbid by law.

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m., or better lýritr or lýrittr, gen. lyritar (but lyrits, Grág. ii. 233), dat. lyriti, plur. lyritar. N. G. L. ii. 94, Jb. 193; the quantity cannot be ascertained because the vellums do not distinguish between long and short vowels; it is spelt with one t throughout the Grág. (Kb.); the alliterative phrase lagalyritr, as also the invariable spelling in the Grágás, shew that the word had no initial h. Former attempts at an etymology, from læ and rifta (Björn á Skarðsá), hlýrar and réttir (Pal Vídal.), lygi and rift (Fritzner), must be dismissed; tiie spelling lyriftar, which once or twice occurs in Norse MSS. of the 14th century (N. G. L. i. 394, ii. 94, v. l. 19), is probably a mere corruption. Lyritr is a compd word from lög, law, and rör or reyr, a landmark, which word in the old Swed. law exactly answers to lyrit in the Norse law; lyrit is thus qs. lý-ryr-ti, by assimilation and by weakening the y into i, lyritti; the t being inflexive: its literal sense, therefore, is a lawful rör or landmark. In Sweden there were often five mark-stones, but it is added (Schlyter iii. s. v. rör)—fiuri stenar oc þri stenar mughu rör heta = four stones and even three stones may be called rör, i. e. make a ‘law-rör,’ a lawful landmark, a lyrit; this, we believe, is the etymology of this much-contested word. About the gender (masc., not fem.) there can be no doubt, from the numerous instances in the Grágás; but in the 13th century the word began to become neuter, thus we have lyritit, Grág. (Kb.) i. 103, lines 14 and 21, but lyritinn several times in the same page: nom. lyriti in Grág. (Sb.) ii. 226; and elalausu lyriti, Nj. passim.

B. SENSE:

I. prop. when the boundary of a field or estate was to be drawn, the law prescribed that a mark-stone (mark-steinn) should be raised on the spot, and three other stones laid beside it; these three stones were called landmark-stones (lyrit-steinar or lyritar); by their number and position they were distinguished from all other stones in the field, see N. G. L. ii. 94, cp. note 19 (Jb. 193).

II. metaph. in the Icel. law, a full title of possession, lawful claim to right or property; thus defined by Konrad Maurer—‘Lyrit bedeutet in der Grágás und in den ältern Sagas, das volle Eigentums-recht, oder auch den Bann, der dem Grunde gentümer zum Schutze seines Eigentumes, dem Goden aber Kraft seiner Amtsgewalt zusteht:’

1. the earliest kind was probably the land-lyrit or ‘land-ban;’ this law term was originally borrowed from the mark-stones themselves, and then came to mean a full title to land, field, pasture, or estate, Grág. ii. 224, 225:—eignar-lyritr, full lawful possession, a legal title of ownership; hafa eignar-lyrit fyrir landi, 204, 222.

2. a veto; Goða-lyritr, the veto of a Goði ( Priest), forbidding the court or neighbours to deliver a sentence or verdict in a case, and thus quashing the suit. A Goði alone, by virtue of his office, was entitled to stop a court in this way, whether personally or by one of his liegemen, so that if any one else wished thus to stop a suit, he had first to go to his liegelord (Goði) and be authorised by him to do so; cp. the phrases, taka lyrit af Goða, selja lyrit, ef Goði færir lyrit sinn sjálfr fram, and similar law phrases, Grág. i. 109–111, cp. esp. Þ. Þ. ch. 38; neglect of this was contempt of court, punishable by the lesser outlawry. The word lyritr occurs at every step in the Grágás, esp. in the phrase, verja lyriti, or verja e-t lyriti, to defend through a lyrit, i. e. to put under veto, to vindicate one’s right, forbid, or the like; eigi varðar hagabeit, nema lyriti sé varið, Grág. ii. 224; verja lyriti haga, 225; þótt maðr veri fleirum lyriti (dat.), 226, Nj.; láta lyrit koma fyrir sök, to stop on a case, Grág. i. 109; kaupa land lagn kaupi ok lyritar, to buy land by a lawful bargain and with full tide of possession, ii. 213; eptir þat nefndi Þorkéll sér vátta, ok setti (varði?) þeim lyriti, ok fyrirbauð þeim at dæma, Lv. 31; ok er únýt stefna hans eðr lyriti (lyritr?), Grág. ii. 226; hann (the Goði) skal nefna sér vátta, áðr hann færi lyrit fram, í þat vætti, at ek ver lyriti, goða-lyriti, löglyriti fullum dómendum at dæma um sök þá … enda skal hann svá verja kviðmönnum lyriti, at bera kviðu um hann, i. 111; ek ver lyriti mínum, löglyriti dómendum at dæma, id.; færa lyrit sinn fram, to utter one’s veto, id.; fara með land-lyriti, ii. 225.

COMPDS: lyritareiðr, lyritarvarzla, lyritarvörn.

1) mid-forenoon, 9 a. m. (um morgininn at undorni);

2) midafternoon, 3 p. m..

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m. (not n. as stated in Lex. Poët.), also spelt undurn and undarn, see the references below: [this word occurs in all ancient Teut. languages; Ulf. undaurni-mats or undurn-meat = ἄριστον, Luke xiv. 12; A. S. undern; Hel. undorn: O. H. G. untarn. Afterwards it was disused in writing, but in provincial dialects it still survives in all Teutonic countries, Scandinavia, Germany (Bavaria, the Rhine), England (Cumberland, Yorkshire), everywhere, except in Iceland, where, strange to say, it is unknown in speech as well as in writing; thus, Swed. undan, undarn, unden; in Norway undaaln; Bavaria untern (Schmeller); Fris. ounern; provinc. Engl. orndorns, ownder (Brocket); in all these dialects it means a middle-meal, a kind of lunch, taken either in the afternoon at three o’clock (this seems to be the prevailing sense, at least in Scandinavia), or in the forenoon at nine: even a verb has been formed, thus in Sweden sova und is to take a nap at lunch-time, at midday (Rietz); in the Rhine country ondern is said of cattle lying down at midday (Schmeller).]

B. USAGE.—In old Icel, or Norse writers the word occurs five times, thrice in poets, twice in prose; the original sense was undoubtedly a time of the day, either mid-afternoon, i. e. three o’clock P.M., or mid-forenoon, i. e. nine o’clock A.M., the sense of food being a derived one (like mál, q. v.):

1. mid-afternoon, answering to the nones of eccl. writers; morgin hétu ok miðjan dag, undorn ok aptan, they called morning and midday, ‘undorn’ and evening, Vsp. 6 (undurn, Hb. l. c.), where undorn is placed midway between noon and eve.

2. mid-forenoon; um morguninn at undurni, in the morning at undurn time, O. H. L. 65; þá hringt er til miðs-morguns, ok hafa unninn eiðinn fyrr en hringi at undurn (dat.) at Krists-kirkju, when it rings at mid-morning time, and shall have taken the oath ere the bells at Christ’s kirk ring at undurn, N. G. L. i. 308.

II. a meal; hjuggu vér undurn frekum vargi, we carved a meal for the greedy wolf, i. e. we slew many in the battle, Km. 2; örn drekkr undarn, the eagle drinks undarn, Edda 101 (in a verse of about 1030 A. D.), the various readings (undranar and undjarn) shew that the transcribers did not understand the word. ☞ In the Icel. day-marks only nón (q. v.) is of eccl. Lat. origin; may not undorn be the old heathen term which was displaced by that word? the passage in Vsp. favours this suggestion.