forty-eight

(gen. -ar; pl. -ir, acc. -u), m. a ten, decade, = tegr, tøgr, togr, tugr; tíu tigir manna, one hundred men; hálfan fjórða tøg skipa, thirty-five ships; sex ins fimta tigar, forty-six; vetri fátt í fjóra tigu, thirty-nine years.

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tegr, also tögr, togr, tugr, m., gen. tigar, pl. tigir, acc. tigu (tögo, tugu), later tigi, Band. 36, Fb. iii. 578; [a Goth. tigus is suggested by the adj. -tigjus; A. S. tig, teg; O. H. G. zic, zuc; Germ. zebn; Dan. ty; Engl. ten.]

A. A ten, decade. The ancient Scandinavians and Teutons had no indeclinable numeral adjectives from twenty to a hundred; the word tigr (like hundrað and þúsund) being a regular substantive. The ancient way of counting is therefore complex and curious; e. g. forty-one was called ‘four tens and one’ or ‘one of the fifth decade;’ forty-eight was called ‘four tens and eight,’ or by counting back, ‘five tens short of two,’ cp. the Lat. un-de-viginti, duo-de-triginta: forty-five was called ‘half the fifth ten,’ and so on, as will best be seen from the references below; and so it goes on to ‘one hundred and twenty,’ for in Icel. a hundred means the duodecimal hundred. In the 14th century (in deeds) ‘tigr’ began to lose its character of a substantive, eg. þrjátigir, fimtigir …, or þrjátigi, fimtigi (used inclecl.), whence at last came the mod. þrjátíu, fjörutíu, fimtíu …, the tíu being a contracted form from the acc. pl. tigu. At the same time hundrað and þúsund became indecl. adjectives, e. g. þrjátiu, brjúhundruð, þrjuþúsund skipum, for the old þrem tiguin hundruðum, þúsundum skipa.

B. REFERENCES: þessi vetr fylidi annan tög aldrs Magnúss konungs, this winter completed the second ten, i. e. the twentieth year, of king Magnus’ life, Fms. vi. 90; þat skipti tögum, it amounted to tens, several tens, ii. 32; þrjá tigu manna, three tens of men, Eg. 41; á þrem tigum daga, on three tens of days, 656 A. ii. 14; þrír tigir hundraða, Dipl. v. 2; níu tigu manna, Eg. 62; þrettán tigi aura, Band. 36; nær fjórum tigum faðma töðu, well-nigh four tens of fathoms, i. e. forty, Dipl. v. 18; fjóra togo dægra, 655 iii. 3; sex togo hundraða, D.I. i. 350; sex tigir manna, Grág. ii. 194; sex tigir þúsunda manna, Post.; sex tigu hundraða, six tens of hundreds, i. e. sixty hundred, i. e. six thousand, Orkn. 416 old Ed.; tíu tigir manna, ten tens of men, i. e. one hundred, Nj. 191; tíu tigo fjár, K. Þ. K. 140; tíu tigum ásauðar, a hundred sheep, Dipl. v. 19; tíu tegu bæja, Fms. viii. 203: ellifu tigir vætta skreiðar, eleven tens, i. e. one hundred and ten, 655 iii. 4; even, þrettán tigi aura, thirteen tens, i. e. one hundred and thirty, Band. 36; fimtán tigum sinna, fifteen tens, i. e. one hundred and fifty, Dipl. ii. 14: repeating, fjóra tigi vetra ok fjóra vetr, four tens of winters and four winters, i. e. forty-four years, ÓH. (pref.); með tveim skipum ok átta togum skipa, Fms. x. 394; sex tigi vetra ok fjóra vetr, Ó. H. (pref.); þrjá tigi ára ok sex ár, three tens of years and six years, Bs. i. 30; eitt skip ok sjau tigu skipa, i. e. seventy-one, Fms. x. 344; hálfan fjórða tög vetra, half the fourth decade, i. e. thirty-five, vi. 430; hálfan fjórða tög skipa, i. 76; hálfr fimti tugr kúgilda, half the fifth decade, i. e. forty-five, Dipl. v. 18; hálfr þriði tögr manna, Ísl. ii. 387, Ld. 292; hálfr átti tögr kirkna, seventy-five, Clem.; á einu ári ins fimmta tigar konungdóms Hákonar, on the first year of the fifth ten, i. e. forty-first, Sturl. iii. 308; hann hafði vetr ens sétta tigar, one winter of the sixth ten, i. e. fifty-one, Fms. ix. 534; á öðru ári ens fjórða tigar, i. 67; annann vetr ens fjórða tigar konungdóms hans, Fms. x. 33, Bs. i. 74; fjóra vetr ens tíunda tegar, Ó. H. (pref.); sex ens fjórða tigar, i. e. thirty-six, Thorodd; vikur tvær ens sétta tegar, i. e. fifty-two, Íb. 7; hann hafði sjau vetr ens sjaunda tigar, i. e. sixty-seven, Ld. 330; á enum sjaunda vetri ens sjaunda tugar aldrs síns, Eb. 125 new Ed.; á enum sétta vetri ens átta tugar aldrs síns, Sturl. ii. 187; Þorkell hafði átta vetr ens fimta tigar þá er hann druknaði, i. e. forty-eight, Ld. 326; átta dagar ens níunda tegar, i. e. eighty-two, 1812. 49; átta aurar ens fimta tigar, Grág. ii. 144; á níunda ári ens sjaunda tigar ens tíunda hundraðs, in the ninth year of the seventh ten of the tenth hundred (i. e. 969 A. D.), Fms. i. 67; þá var Egill á níunda tigi, then was Egil in the ninth ten ( between eighty and ninety years of age), Eg. 764; vetri fátt í fjóra tigu, one year short of four tens, i. e. thirty-nine, Fms. x. 2, v. l.; lítið fátt í fimm tigi vetra, iii. 60; einu ári fátt í fimm tigi, i. e. forty-nine, … vetri einum fátt í níu tigi ára gamall, i. e. aged eighty-nine, Fb. iii. 578: curious is the phrase, af-tig gamall, = Lat. unde-viginti, aged ‘lacking twenty,’ i. e. nineteen years old, Fms. vii. 84 (in a verse); the context and chronology shew that this is the sense, and not as explained in Lex. Poët. s. v. afstigr: níu tigir ok tvau ár (elliptically dropping gen. ára), Dipl. v. 3; whence lastly as adj., þrítigir álnir (sic) lérepts, id.; fjöre-tiger manns, Bs. i. 867. As this method was somewhat unwieldy, the counting by twenty was also resorted to, cp. Gramm. xxi, sex merkr ok tuttugu; spænir þrír ok tuttugu, … sjautján merkr ok tuttugu, Bs. i. 874 (Laur. S.), or the word tigr was altogether discarded, and replaced by skor or sneis (Engl. score, Dan. snees). ☞ As in vellums the numbers are mostly represented by Roman figures, and abbreviations used, the editions cannot in these cases be implicitly relied on; the same is the case with old texts preserved in mod. paper transcripts.

m. heathen priest; chief (in Iceland during the republic).

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a, m. [Ulf, renders ἱερεύς by gudja (ufar-gudja, ahumista-gudja, etc.), ἱερατεία by gudjinassus, ἱερατεύειν by gudjinôn; an Icel. gyði, gen. gyðja, would answer better to the Goth. form, but it never occurs, except that the fem. gyðja = goddess and priestess points not to goði, but to a masc. with a suppressed final i, gyði; a word coting occurs in O. H. G. glossaries, prob. meaning the same; and the form guþi twice occurs on Danish-Runic stones in Nura-guþi and Saulva-guþi, explained as goði by P. G. Thorsen, Danske Runem.; (Rafn’s explanation and reading of Nura-guþi qs. norðr á Gauði, is scarcely right): with this exception this word is nowhere recorded till it appears in Icel., where it got a wide historical bearing]:—prop. a priest, sacerdos, and hence a liege-lord or chief of the Icel. Commonwealth.

A. HISTORICAL REMARKS.—The Norse chiefs who settled in Icel., finding the country uninhabited, solemnly took possession of the land (land-nám, q. v.); and in order to found a community they built a temple, and called themselves by the name of goði or hof-goði, ‘temple-priest;’ and thus the temple became the nucleus of the new community, which was called goðorð, n.:—hence hof-goði, temple-priest, and höfðingi, chief, became synonymous, vide Eb. passim. Many independent goðar and goðorð sprang up all through the country, until about the year 930 the alþingi (q. v.) was erected, where all the petty sovereign chiefs (goðar) entered into a kind of league, and laid the foundation of a general government for the whole island. In 964 A. D. the constitution was finally settled, the number of goðorð being fixed at three in each þing ( shire), and three þing in each of the three other quarters, (but four in the north); thus the number of goðar came to be nominally thirty-nine, really thirty-six, as the four in the north were only reckoned as three, vide Íb. ch. 5. On the introduction of Christianity the goðar lost their priestly character, but kept the name; and the new bishops obtained seats in the Lögrétta (vide biskup). About the year 1004 there were created new goðar (and goðorð), who had to elect judges to the Fifth Court, but they had no seats in the Lögrétta, and since that time the law distinguishes between forn ( old) and ný ( new) goðorð;—in Glúm. ch. 1 the word forn is an anachronism. It is curious that, especially in the 12th century, the goðar used to take the lesser Orders from political reasons, in order to resist the Romish clergy, who claimed the right of forbidding laymen to be lords of churches or to deal with church matters; thus the great chief Jón Loptsson was a sub-deacon; at last, about 1185, the archbishop of Norway forbade the bishops of Icel. to ordain any holder of a goðorð, unless they first gave up the goðorð, fyrir því bjóðum vér biskupum at vígja eigi þá menn er goðorð hafa, D. I. i. 291. In the middle of the 13th century the king of Norway induced the goðar to hand their power over to him, and thus the union with Norway was finally brought about in the year 1262; since that time, by the introduction of new codes (1272 and 1281), the name and dignity of goðar and goðorð disappeared altogether, so that the name begins and ends with the Commonwealth.

B. DUTIES.—In the alþingi the goðar were invested with the Lögrettu-skipan (q. v.), that is to say, they composed the Lögrétta (the Legislative consisting of forty-eight members—on the irregularity of the number vide Íb. ch. 5), and were the lawgivers of the country; secondly, they had the dómnefna (q. v.), or right of naming the men who were to sit in the courts, vide dómr:—as to their duties in the quarter-parliaments (vár-þing) vide Grág. Þ. Þ. and the Sagas. The authority of the goðar over their liegemen at home was in olden times somewhat patriarchal, vide e. g. the curious passage in Hænsaþ. S. ch. 2; though no section of law relating to this interesting part of the old history is on record, we can glean much information from the Sagas. It is to be borne in mind that the goðar of the Saga time (10th century) and those of the Grágás and Sturlunga time (12th and 13th centuries) were very different; the former were a kind of sovereign chiefs, who of free will entered into a league; the latter had become officials, who for neglecting their duties in parliament might be fined, and even forfeit the goðorð to their liegemen, vide Grág. Þ. Þ. Neither þing (q. v.) nor goðorð was ever strictly geographical (such is the opinion of Konrad Maurer), but changed from time to time; the very word goðorð is defined as ‘power’ (veldi), and was not subject to the payment of tithe, K. Þ. K. 142. The goðorð could be parcelled out by inheritance or by sale; or they might, as was the case in the latter years of the Commonwealth, accumulate in one hand, vide esp. Sturl. passim, and Grág. The liegemen (þingmenn) were fully free to change their lords (ganga í lög með goða, ganga ór lögum); every franklin (þingmaðr) had in parliament to declare his þingfesti, i. e. to name his liegeship, and say to what goði and þing he belonged, and the goði had to acknowledge him; so that a powerful or skilful chief might have liegemen scattered all over the country. But the nomination to the courts and the right of sitting in the legislative body were always bound to the old names, as fixed by the settlement of the year 964; and any one who sought the name or influence of a goði had first (by purchase, inheritance, or otherwise) to become possessor of a share of one of the old traditionary goðorð; see the interesting chapter in Nj. The three goðar in one þing ( shire) were called sam-goða, joint-goðar; for the sense of allsherjar-goði vide p. 17.

C. NAMES.—Sometimes a chief’s name referred to the god whom he especially worshipped, as Freys-Goði, Hrafn., Gísl., whence Freys-gyðlingar, q. v.; (the ör-goði is dubious); more frequently the name referred to the liegemen or county, e. g. Ljósvetninga-Goði, Tungu-Goði, etc.; but in the Saga time, goði was often added to the name almost as a cognomen, and with some, as Snorri, it became a part of their name (as Cato Censor in Latin); hann varðveitti þá hof, var hann þá kallaðr Snorri Goði, Eb. 42; seg, at sá sendi, er meiri vin var húsfreyjunnar at Fróðá en Goðans at Helgafelli, 332. Names on record in the Sagas:—men living from A. D. 874 to 964, Hallsteinn Goði, Landn., Eb.; Sturla Goði, Landn. 65; Jörundr Goði and Hróarr Tungu-Goði, id.; Ljótólfr Goði, Sd.; Hrafnkell Freys-Goði, Hrafn.; Oddr Tungu-Goði, Landn.; Þormóðr Karnár-Goði, Vd.; Áskell Goði, Rd.; Úlfr Ör-goði, Landn.; Grímkell Goði, Harð. S.; Þorgrímr Freys-goði, Gísl. 100, 110:—964 to 1030, Arnkell Goði, Landn., Eb.; Þorgrímr Goði, Eb.; Geirr Goði, Landn., Nj.; Runólfr Goði, id.; Þóroddr Goði, Kristni S.; Þormóðr Allsherjar-Goði, Landn.; Þorgeirr Goði, or Ljósvetninga-Goði, Nj., Landn.; (Þorkell Krafla) Vatnsdæla-Goði, Vd.; Helgi Hofgarða-Goði, Landn., Eb.; Snorri Hlíðarmanna-Goði, Lv.; Þórarinn Langdæla-Goði, Heiðarv. S.; and last, not least, Snorri Goði:—in the following period goði appears, though very rarely, as an appellative, e. g. Þormóðr Skeiðar-Goði (about 1100):—of the new goðar of 1004, Höskuldr Hvítaness-Goði, Nj.:—used ironically, Ingjaldr Sauðeyja-Goði, Ld.

2. goðorð mentioned by name,—in the south, Allsherjar-goðorð, Landn. (App.) 336; Dalverja-goðorð, Sturl. ii. 48; Lundarmanna-goðorð, i. 223; Reykhyltinga-goðorð, 104, iii. 166, 169; Bryndæla-goðorð, Kjaln. S. 402: in the north, Ljósvetninga-goðorð, Lv. ch. 30; Möðruvellinga-goðorð, Bs. i. 488; Vatnsdæla-goðorð, Fs. 68; Fljótamanna-goðorð, Sturl. i. 138: in the west, Snorrunga-goðorð, 55; Jöklamanna-goðorð, iii. 166; Rauðmelinga-goðorð, Eb. 288; Reyknesinga-goðorð, Sturl. i. 9, 19; Þórsnesinga-goðorð, 198: the new godords of the Fifth Court, Laufæsinga-goðorð, Nj. 151; Melamanna-goðorð, id., Band., Sturl. i. 227. Passages in the Sagas and Laws referring to goðar and goðorð are very numerous, e. g. Íb. ch. 5, Nj. ch. 98, Grág., Lögréttu-þáttr, and Þ. Þ. passim, esp. ch. 1–5, 17, 35, 37, 39, 44, 58, 60, 61, Lv. ch. 4 (interesting), Vd. ch. 27, 41 (in fine), and 42, Vápn., Hrafn. ch. 2, Eb. ch. 10, 56, Sturl. iii. 98, 104, passim; for the accumulation of godords, see i. 227 (3, 22), Bs. i. 54; for the handing over the godords to the king of Norway, D. I. i; and esp. article 3 of the Sáttmáli, D. I. i. 631, 632. The godords were tithe-free, ef maðr á goðorð, ok þarf eigi þat til tíundar at telja, vald er þat en eigi fé:, K. Þ. K. 142.

COMPDS: goðakviðr, goðalýrittr, goðaþáttr.

II. = goð, i. e. good genius, in the Icel. game at dice called goða-tafl, with the formula, heima ræð eg goða minn bæði vel og lengi, … og kasta eg svo fyrir þig, cp. also ást-goði.

u, f.

I. ‘law-mending,’ an ordinance; þat væri góð lögrétta er konungrinn gaf um konunglega refsing, Sks. 670.

II. as a law term, the name of the legislature of the Icel. Commonwealth, either from rétta lög, to make the law right, or perh. better from rétt, a fence, qs. a law-fence, law-yard, law-court, from being held within the sacred circle, called vé-bönd; for the word is used of the place as well as of the body sitting there, e. g. ganga til lögréttu, to proceed to the l., Nj. 150.

2. in the Norse law, as also in Iceland after the union with Norway, lögrétta was the public court of law held during the general assembly (þing), and presided over by the lagman; the members (lögréttu menn) were delegated from all the counties represented in the assembly, see N. G. L. ii. 10 sqq., as also Jb. Þingfara-balk, ch. 2.

3. in the Icel. Commonwealth the lögrétta was the legislative held during the althing on the lögbergi (q. v.), and consisted of the forty-eight Goðar (see goði); it was presided over by the lögsögu-maðr (see lögmaðr), and controlled all laws and licences (ráða lögum ok lofum), and was the supreme power in the land; for its power, composition, and duties, see esp. Íb. ch. 5, Grág. passim, esp. the Lögréttu-þáttr or section of the lögrétta, the Þingskapa-þáttr, the Njála, and the Sagas passim; of mod. writers, Maurer’s Beiträge, Dasent’s Introduction to Burnt Njál.

COMPDS: lögréttufé, lögréttumaðr, lögréttuseta, lögrettuskipan, lögréttuþáttr.

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older umb, prep. with acc. and dat.

I. with acc.

1) around (slá hring um e-n);

2) about, all over (hárit féll um hana alla); um allar sveitir, all over the country; mikill um herðar, large about the shoulders, broad-shouldered; liggja um akkeri, to ride at anchor;

3) of proportion; margir voru um einn, many against one; um einn hest voru tveir menn, two men to each horse;

4) round, past, beyond, with verbs denoting motion (sigla vestr um Bretland); leggja um skut þessu skipi, to pass by this ship; ríða um tún, to pass by a place;

5) over, across, along (flytja e-n um haf); kominn um langan veg, come from a long way off; ganga um gólf, to cross the floor (but also to walk up and down the floor); slá, er lá um þvert skipit, a beam that lay athwart the ship; um kné sér, across the knee; e-t er hœgt um hönd, gives little trouble, is ready to hand;

6) of time, during, in the course of (um messuna, um þingit, um sumarit); þat var um nótt, by night; um nætr sem um daga, by night as well as day; lengra en fara megi um dag, in the course of one day;

7) at a point of time (hann kom at höllinni um drykkju); um þat, at that time, then; um þat er, when (um þat, er vér erum allir at velli lagðir);

8) of, about, in regard to a thing; bera um e-t, dœma um e-t, to bear witness, judge about; tala um e-t, to speak of; annast um e-t, to attend to; sviðr um sik, wise of oneself; hvárr um sik, each for himself; var mart vel um hann, he had many good qualities;

9) e-m er ekki um e-t, one does not like (var honum ekki um Norðmenn); with infin., honum er ekki um at berjast í dag, he has no liking to fight to-day; er þér nökkut um, at vér rannsökum þik ok hús þín, have you any objection that we …?; e-m er mikit (lítil) um e-t, one likes it much, little (Guðrúnu var lítil um þat); sá, er mönnum væri meira um, whom people liked better; e-m finnst mikit um e-t, one is much pleased umwith, has a high opinion of (konungi fannst mikit um list þá ok kurteisi þá, er þar var á öllu);

10) because of, for; öfunda e-n um e-t, to envy one for a thing; verða útlagt um e-t, to be fined for a transgression; um sakleysi, without cause;

11) beyond, above; margir fengu eigi hlaupit um röst, more than one mile; hafa vetr um þrítugt, to be thirty-one; e-m um afl, um megn, beyond one’s strength, more than one can do (þetta mál er nökkut þér um megn); kasta steini um megn sér, to overstrain oneself; um of, too much, excessive (þótti mörgum þetta um of); um alla menn fram or um fram alla menn, above all men (hón unni honum um alla menn fram); e-m er e-t um hug, one has no mind for, dislikes (ef þér er nökkut um hug á kaupum við oss);

12) over, across; detta, falla um e-t, to stumble over (féll bóandinn um hann);

13) by; draugrinn hafði þokat at Þorsteini um þrjár setur, by three seats;

14) about; þeir sögðu honum, hvat um var at vera, what it was about, how matters stood; hvat sem um þat er, however that may be; eiga e-t um at vera, to be troubled about a thing (lætr sem hann eigi um ekki at vera); var fátt um með þeim, they were not on good terms;

15) ellipt., ef satt skal um tala, if the truth must be told; þannig sem atburðr hefir orðit um, as things have turned out;

16) as adv., gekk um veðrit, veered round, changed; ríða (sigla) um, to ride (sail) by; langt um, far beyond, quite; fljótit var langt um úfœrt (úreitt), quite impassable; um liðinn, passed by, of time; á þeirri viku, er um var liðin, in the past umweek;

II. with dat.

1) over, esp. poet.; sitja um borðum = sitja yfir borðum; sá es um verði glissir, he that gabbles over a meal;

2) of time, by; um dögum, um nóttum, by day, by night; um sumrum, haustum, vetrum, várum, in the summer, etc.; um vetrum ok sumrum, both winter and summer.

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umb, of, prep. (sounded umm); umb is used in the oldest vellums (the Eluc., Greg., Miracle-book, Jb.), and occurs now and then in later vellums (e. g. Orkn. 218, Fms. x. 378, xi. 63, 64), perh. from being a transcript of an old vellum; in rhymes, umb, tr umbu, Fms. viii. (in a verse of A. D. 1184); for of see ‘of’ at p. 462, col. 2: [A. S. ymbe; Germ. um; um and yfir (q. v.) are identical.]

WITH ACC.

A. Around; silki-hlað um höfuð, Ld. 188; um höfuð henni, 36; hafa um sik belti, Nj. 91, 184; um herðar sér, Ld. 56; leggja linda umb kistu, leggja lindann umb enn vanheila mann, Bs. i. 337; gyrða um sik, Sks.; beta strengi um ásenda … festa endana um steina, Nj. 115; vefjask um fótinn, Fms. iv. 335; upp um herðarnar, Eg. 580; göra garð of engi, Grág. ii. 288; lykja um akra ok eng, Eg. 529; skjóta um hann skjaldborg, Nj. 274; slá hring um e-n, 275, Eg. 88; fara í hring um skipit, Ld. 56; taka um hönd e-m, Ó. H. 176; þar var poki um útan, Ld. 188; honum vefsk tunga um höfuð, Nj. 160; vefsk tunga um tönn (see tönn) … strjúka dúki um augu, Fms. v. 326, Fs. 114 (in a verse); sjó, er fellr um heim allan, Róm. 193: Aðils jarl féll ok mart manna um hann, Eg. 297; tjalda um skip sín, Fms. xi. 63; hafa um sik ( about oneself) fjölmenni, Eg. 12, 38; selit var gört um einn ás, Ld. 280.

II. about, all over, denoting the surface; manna-ferð um héraðit, Ld. 257; fylgja þeim um einn skóg, Karl. 348; hann hafði goðorð suðr um Nesin, Ísl. ii. 207; herja um Skotland, Írland, Fms. i. 23; næfrum var þakt um ræfrit, Eg. 90; dæma för úmögum um þat þing, Grág. i. 127; flýja hingað ok þangat um eyjarnar, Fms. vii. 43; um allar sveitir, all over the country, Boll. 362; kunnigt er mér um allt Ísland, Nj. 32; of allan Noreg, Fms. x. 118; um alla Svíþjóð, Ó. H. 17; um allt ríki sitt, Eg. 278; sitja um mitt landit, about the midland, Fms. i. 26; um miðjan skóginn er smáviði, Eg. 580; sjá um alla veröld, Ó. H. 202; kominn um langan veg, come a long way off, Stj. 366, Skv. 8; of lopt ok um lög, Hkv. 1. 21; fátt kom um lengra, farther off, Fb. ii. 303; hárit féll um hana alla, Landn. 151, Fas. i. 244; hárit hékk ofan um bringu, Fas. ii. 518: mikill um herðar, large about the shoulders, broad-shouldered, Nj. 200; þykkr um bóga, þeim manni er beit á of garðinn, Grág. ii. 286; skalat hann verja um bóstað hans, 222; kveðja um þann vetvang, 106; kveðja búa heiman um þann stað, i. 130, 355: liggja um strengi, Ld. 76; or liggja um akkeri, to ride at anchor, Eg. 261, 374, Fms. ii. 5, ix. 45, x. 351.

2. of proportion; margir vóru um einn, too many against one, Ld. 156; þar vóru fjórir of einn ( four to one) mót Hákoni, Fms. x. 382; eigi minni liðs-munr, en sex mundi vera um Hákonar mann einn, i. 43; um einn hest vóru tveir menn, two men to each horse, vii. 295; sex menn sé um sáld, Grág. ii. 402: Hrafn var mjök einn um sitt, kept for himself, Fs. 29; malit hefi ek mitt of leiti? Gs. 16.

III. off, past, beyond (cp. yfir), with verbs denoting motion; fara … suðr um Stað, Eg. 12; norðr um Stað, Fms. vii. 7; sigla vestr um Bretland, Nj. 281; er þeir kómu fram um Bjarkey, Ó. H. 137; norðr um Jaðar, 182; austan um Foldina, Eg. 81; út um Eldey, Eb. 108; austr um búðina, Nj. 231; ríða um þá þrjá bæi, Grág. i. 432; hann hljóp um þá, ok í fjall upp, passed them by, Landn. 89; sigla svá um oss fram, Orkn. 402; leggja um skut þessu skipi, to pass by this ship, Fms. x. 346; leita langt um skamt fram, Nj. 207 (cp. Lat. quod petis hic est); vaða jörð upp um klaufir, Ld. 336; fram um stafn, Landn. 29; aptr um stafn, Fms. x. 266; honum var úhægt at höggva um bríkina, Sturl. iii. 219; ríða um tún, to pass by a place, Ísl. ii. 252; neðan um sáðlandit, Nj. 82; fara of engi manns, Grág. ii. 277; fara um góð héruð, Landn. 37; ganga upp um bryggjuna, Eg. 195; ganga um stræti, by the road, Korm. 228; róa út um sund, Eg. 385; kominn um langan veg, 410; þeim dropum er renna um þekjuna, Fms. i. 263.

2. over, across, along; sá er annan dregr um eldinn, Fms. i. 305; skyldi ganga um gólf at minnum öllum, to cross the flood, Eg. 253; but also to walk up and down the floor, 247; bera öl um eld, to bear the ale across the fire, Fms. vi. 442; slá um þvert skipit, Nj. 44; sigla vestr um haf, Fms. i. 22; ríða vestr um ár, austr um ár, Nj. 10, 99; suðr um sæ, Eg. 288; flytja e-n um haf, Nj. 128; austan um Kjöl, Ó. H.; sunnan um fjall, Fms. x. 3; suðr um fjall, Eg. 476; um þvera stofu, Fms. vi. 440; um þvera búð, Grág. i. 24; um þvert nesit, Fms. xi. 65; um öxl, round or across the shoulder, Ld. 276; um kné sér, across the knee, Eg. 304: the phrase, mér er e-ð um hönd, difficult to lay hand on, hard, not easy; and again, hægt um hönd, giving little trouble, easy to lay hand on; ykkr er þat hægst um hönd, easiest for you, Nj. 25; þegar eg vil er hægt um hönd, heima á Fróni at vera, Núm.; kastaði (the mail) um söðul sinn, across the saddle, Grett. 93 A.

IV. with adverbs denoting direction, upp um, út um, niðr um, ofan um, inn um, fram um, with acc. or ellipt.; sær féll út ok inn of nökkvann, Edda 36; loginn stóð inn um ræfrit, Eg. 239; hann var kominn upp um ský, Fms. i. 137; út um bringuna, Ld. 150; hann gékk út of Miðgarð, Edda 35; ganga út um dyrr, Eg. 420; fara út um glugg, Fms. ix. 3; út um glugginn, Ld. 278; láta sér um munn fara, to pass out of the mouth, Háv. 51; ferr orð er um munn líðr, Sturl. i. 207.

B. Temp. during, in the course of, cp. Engl. that spring, that summer; um messuna, Fms. x. 109; um þingit, Eg. 765; um sex ár, Stj.; um vetrinn, Eg. 168; of sumarit, Fms. x. 93; um sumarit, Nj. 4; um várit, Eg. 42; um nótt, Grág. i. 115; þat var um nótt, by night, Ld. 152; hann mátti eigi sofa um nætr, Nj. 210; sofa um nóttina, 7; vera þar um nóttina, 252; lengra enn fara megi um dag, in the course of one day, Grág. i. 89; um daginn, for the rest of the day, Ld. 42; um morna, Landn. (in a verse), Ó. H. 44; um nætr sem um daga, by night as well as day, Sks. 20 new Ed.; um allar aldir, Edda; um alla daga, all day long, Skm. 4; um alla sína daga, all his days, Hom. 114; allt um hans æfi, Eg. 268; um aldr, for ever, passim; um tíma, for a while, Mar.; um hríð, um stund, for a while, see stund, hríð; um … sakar, a while, see sök (A. III. 2); um samt, altogether, Sks. 113 B.

2. above, beyond; standa um várþing, Grág. i. 103; um hálfan mánuð, Fms. ix. 526, v. l.; um viku, above a week.

3. at a point of time, at; hann kom at höllinni um drykkju, Nj. 269; of matmál, at meal time, Grág. i. 261; um dagmál, um náttmál, einnhvern dag um þingit, Ld. 290; eitt hvert sinn um haustið, Nj. 26; þat var of vár, Fms. x. 389; um várit urðu mikil tíðendi, 2; þeir höfðu verit á sundi um daginn, Ld. 130; opt um daga, Edda 39; um daginn, the other day: um þat, when; um þat er þrír vetr eru liðnir, Ld. 146; um þat þessir eru bættir, Eg. 426; um þat lýkr, when the end is there, in the end, Fas. ii. 361; ef ek kom eigi aptr um þat, then, at that time, Fms. ii. 58; um þat er vér erum allir at velli lagðir, Eg. 426; um sinn, once, see sinni B, p. 530; um síðir, at last, see síð (II); um leið, at the same time; hér um bil, about so and so; um allt, of allt, always; Kristinn dóin má um allt sækja, at all times, N. G. L. ii. 154; nokkrum sinnum, ok hefir mér ofallt íllt þótt, Fms. v. 205 (see ávallt, p. 47, col. 2).

C. Metaph. usages, of, about, in regard to a thing, Lat. de; halda vörð á um e-t, Eg. ch. 27; annask um e-t, to attend to, Nj. 75, Glúm. 342, Kormak; gefa gaum at um e-t, to give heed to, Ó. H. 215; bera um e-t, dæma um e-t, to bear witness, judge about, Nj. 100; tala um e-t, to speak of, 40; þræta um e-t, to quarrel about; spyrja um e-t, to speer or ask about, 110; göra, yrkja um e-n, Fms. x. 378; halda njósn um e-t, Eg. 72; nefna, búa um mál, Nj. 86; um alla ráða-görð, 101; stefna e-m um e-t, Grág. i. 175, 313, Nj. 87; vera til eptir-máls um e-t, passim; frækinn um allt, in everything, 89; bera gæfu til um e-t, Eg. 76; kappsamr of allt, þeir hyggja þat lög um þat mál, Grág. i. 9; eitt ráð myndi honum um þat sýnask, Nj. 79; kunna hóf at um ágirni sína, Ó. H. 131; þat er um þat átan, er …, N. G. L. i. 19; þau tíðendi er görzk höfðu um ferðir Egils ok stórvirki, Eg. 686; stór úfarar görask of menn þessa, Fms. xi. 151; aumligt er um e-t, Hom. 159 (Ed.); seinkaðisk of svörin, 623. 16; mikit er um fyrirburði slíka, Nj. 119; þá var hvíld á um bardagann, 248; hann telzk undan um förina, Fms. xi. 69; ruðning um kviðinn, Nj.; misfangi um mark, a mistake as to a mark, Grág.; binda um heilt, to bind up a sound limb, Ld. 206: gróa um heilt, to become sound, be healed, Fms. xi. 87, Al. 120; ganga um beina, to attend; leita e-s í um mein hennar, Eg. 565; veita tilkall um arf, Eg.; leita um sættir, grið, Nj. 92; selja laun um liðveizlu, 214: in inscriptions of chapters, um so and so, = Lat. de; um viðrtal Njáls ok Skarphéðins, um misfanga ok um mark, um bæjar bruna, Nj., Grág., Fms.; göra mikit um sik, to make a great fuss, Fb. i. 545; görði mikit um sik ok var sjálfhælinn, Grett. 133 A: vera vel um sik ( of good quality) ok vinsæll, Fms. xi. 118; mey er ok vissa vænsta ok bezt um sik, 104; at hón væri í engum hlut verri um sik, Hkr. ii. 129; sviðr um sik, wise of oneself, Hm. 102; auga blátt ok snart ok vel um sik, Mag. 7; hvárr um sik, each for himself, one by one, Dipl. ii. 11; vér staðfestum þessa articulos hvern um sik ok sér hverja, 13; þykki mér þat undarligt um svá vitran mann, of a man so wise, Eg. 20; var mart vel um hann, he had many good qualities, Rb. 364; þat mátti vera um röskvan mann, Fms. vii. 227.

2. ganga um sýslur manna, to go about or upon men’s business, as an overseer. Eg. 2; ganga um beina, to attend, see beini.

3. e-m er mikit (ekki) um e-t, to like, dislike; Guðrúnu var lítið um þat … lítið ætla ek þeim um þat bræðrum, at …, Ld. 246, 264, Fms. ii. 81; var honum ekki um Norðmenn, Hkr. i. 128; Þórði kvaðsk ekki vera um manna-setur, Ld. 42; er þér nökkut um ( hast thou any objection?), at vér rannsakim þik ok hús þin, Gísl. 53; sá er mönnum væri meira um, whom people liked more, Fms, ix. 36; ef þór er mikit um ráða-hug við mik, if thou art much bent on it, xi. 4.

4. búa um eitt lyndi, to be of one mind, Jb. 396; búa um nægtir, grun, skoll, búa um heilt, see búa (A. II); búa um hvílu, to make a bed; búa um okkr, Nj. 201 (see búa B. I. 2. γ); setjask um kyrt, to settle oneself to rest, take rest, Fas. ii. 530; or sitja um kyrt.

II. because of, for, Lat. ob; öfunda e-n um e-t ( invidere a-i a-d), Nj. 168; reiðask um e-t, um hvat reiddusk goðin þá, Bs. i. 22; telja á e-n of e-t, to blame one for a thing, Nj. 52; berja e-n íllyrðum um slikt, 64; lágu margir á hálsi honum þat, Fms. xi. 336; týna aldri um óra sök, Skv. 3. 49; verða útlagr um e-t, to be fined for a transgression, Grág. i. 16; dæmdr fjörbaugs-maðr um spellvirki, 129; maðr vegr mann um konu, if a man slays a person for [ violating] his wife, 61; um sakleysi, without cause, Nj. 106, 270, Bs. i. 19.

III. beyond, above; fimm hundruð gólfa ok um ( plus) fjórum togum, Gm. 24; kistan var eigi um vættar höfga, Bs. i. 712; margir fengu eigi hlaupit um röst, Karl. 351; lítið um tuttugu menn, Sturl. i. 183; hann var ekki um tvítugan, Róm. 327; hafa vetr um þrítugt, to be one beyond thirty, i. e. thirty-one, Sturl. i. 183: freq. in mod. usage, hafa tvo um þrítugt ( thirty-two), átta um fertugt ( forty-eight), tvo um fimtugt ( fifty-two), einn um áttrætt ( eighty-one); sá dagr, sem um vikur fullar er í árinu, Rb. 128: at yðr verði þat ekki um afl, beyond your strength, more than one can do, Band. 21 new Ed.; um megn, id., Fms. viii. 62; þetta mál er nökkut þér um megn, vi. 18; kasta steini um megn sér, to overstrain oneself: um of, excessive; þótti mörgum þetta um of, Vígl. 18: um fram (q. v.), beyond; um alla menn fram, above all men, Ld. 20, Fms. v. 343; um alla hluti fram, above all things; um þat fram sem ykkr var lofat, Sks.: um hug; vera e-t um hug, to have no mind for, dislike; ef þér er nökkut um hug á kaupum við oss, Nj. 24.

IV. turned over, in exchange; skipta um, snúa um, venda um, see skipta III and snúa A. III.

V. over, across; detta, falla um e-t, to stumble over; hverr féll um annan, of heaps of slain. Eg. 24; fÉll bóandinn um hann, Nj. 96; detta um stein, þúfu, to stumble over a stone, mound; glotta um tönn, see tönn.

VI. by; draugrinn hafði þokat at Þorsteini um þrjár setur, by three seats, Fb. i. 417; hefja upp of faðm saman, by a fathom, Grág. ii. 336; minka um helming, to decrease by one half; hverr um sik, each by himself, Rétt. 114.

VII. about; eiga e-t um at vera, to be troubled about a thing; þeir sögðu honum hvat um var at vera, what it was about, Hrafn. 18; sem engi ótti væri um at vera, no danger, Fms. iv. 57; eiga ekki um at vera, iii. 156; or, eiga um ekki at vera, Gísl. 30; eiga vandræði, fjölskyldi um at vera, Fms. vi. 378, xi. 78; hann segir honum um hvat vera er, what was the matter? Gísl. 36; þann sagði þvílíkt er hann hafði um at vera, Krok.; var fátt um með þeim, they were on cold terms, Nj. 2; var þá ekki lítið um, there was no little fuss about it, Bárð. 174; mikit er um þá maðrinn býr, mart hefir hann að hugsa, a ditty.

VIII. ellipt., til marks um, Nj. 56; þykkir honum vænkask um, Fms. xi. 135; þann mála-búnað at hann verðr sekr um, Nj. 88; ef satt skal um tala, 105; mér hefir tvennt um sýnzk, 3; menn ræddu um at vánt væri skip hans, 282; hér má ek vel svara þér um, 33; hann brá dúki um, Fms. x. 382; enda er þá djöfullinn um (about, lurking) at svíkja þann mann, Hom. 159; þannig sem atburðr hefir orðit um, as things have turned out, Fms. xi. 64; ekki er við menn um at eiga, this is no dealing with men (but with trolls or devils), Nj. 97.

IX. with adverbs; í hring útan um, all round, Eg. 486; gékk um Veðrit, veered round, changed, Bs. i. 775; ríða um, to ride by, Eg. 748; sigla um, to sail by, Fms. x. 23; er konungr færi norðan ok suðr um, Eg. 53; langt um, far beyond, quite; fljótið var langt um úfært, quite impassable, Nj. 63, 144; þessi veðr eru langt um úfær, Grett. 181 new Ed.; cp. mod. það er langt um betra, by far better; kring-um, all around, see A.V.

2. um liðinn, passed by, of time; á þeirri viku er um var liðin, in the past week, Ísl. ii. 332.

WITH DAT.

A. Local, over, Lat. super; but almost entirely confined to poets, sitja um matborði (of Hkr. iii. 109) = sitja yfir matborði, Fms. viii. 51; um verði, over the table, Hm. 30; sitja of (= yfir) skörðum hlut, Ó. H. 150; sá er tvá húskarla á, ok um sjálfum sér, two house-carles besides himself, Grág. (Kb.) i. 10; um alda sonum, Fm. 16; er ek hafðak veldi of héruðum þessum, Clem. 35; hár söngr of svírum, Hornklofi; nema þér syngi um höfði, Hkv. 2; sitja um sínum ver, Vsp.; er ek sat soltin um Sigurði, Gkv. 2. 11; opin-spjallr um e-u, … þagmælskr um þjóðlygi (dat.), Ad. 1; um styrkum ættar stuðli, 12; ægis-hjálm bar ek um alda sonum, meðan ek um menjum lák, Fm. 16; gól um hánum, Vsp.; úlfr þaut um hræfi, Ó. H. (in a verse); see ‘of,’ prep., p. 462, col. 2, and yfir.

B. Of time, by; um dögum, by day, Fms. vi. 98, ix. 48; um nóttum, by night, vii. 166; um haustum, in the autumn, Eb. 216; bæði um haustum ok várum, both in autumn and spring, Sks. 235 B; um sumrum, Fms. vi. 255; um sumrum herjuðu þeir í Noreg, Eb. 3; þakt með ísum um vetrum ok sumrum, both winter and summer, Sks. 181 B; opt um vetnim, Eg. 4; þeir liggja úti hvert sumar, en um vetrum eru þeir heima, Fms. xi. 97. This use with dat. is obsolete in mod. prose.

f., or þveiti, n. [the root is found in A. S. þwîtan, pret. þwât = to chop; North. E. thwaite; Chaucer to thwite; cp. also Dutch duit, whence Engl. doit, Germ. deut, Dan. döit = a bit]:—prop. a ‘cut-off piece,’ but occurs only in special usages:

1. a piece of land, paddock, parcel of land, it seems orig. to have been used of an outlying cottage with its paddock; þær jarðir allar, bú ok þveiti, all the estates, manor and ‘thwaite,’ where bú and þveiti are opp. to one another, D. N. ii. 81; séttungs þ., áttungs-þ., id.; öng-þveiti, a narrow lane, strait.

2. freq. in local names in Norway and Denmark, tvæt, Dan. tvæde (whence Dan. Tvæde as a pr. name); and in North. E. Orma-thwaite, Braith-thwaite, Lang-thwaite, and so on, names implying Danish colonisation: Þveit, Þveitar, f., Þveitin, n., Þveitini (qs. Þveit-vin), Þveitar-ruð, n., Þveitar-garðr, m., Þveitar-fjall, n., D. N. passim; in Icel. local names it never occurs, and is there quite an obsolete word.

II. a unit of weight; þveiti mjöls, Boldt; þveitis-leiga, a rent amounting to a þ.; þveitis-ból, a farm of the value or the rent of a þ.; tveggja þveitna (thus a gen. pl. as if from þveita) toll, þveitis toll, D. N. iii. 465; hálf þveit smœrs, Boldt 114.

III. [Dutch duit, etc.], a kind of small coin, a doit, a subdivision of an ounce (= a fraction, cut-off piece); in weregild the baugþak was counted thus, sex aurar ok þveiti átta ens fimta tigar, i. e. six ounces and forty-eight doits; hálf mörk ok þveiti tvau ens fjórða tegar, a half mark and thirty-two doits; þrír aurar ok þveiti tuttugu ok fjögur, three ounces and twenty-four doits; tveir aurar ok þveiti sextan, two ounces and sixteen doits, Grág. (Kb.) i. 193; ef maðr stelr minna enn þveiti þá skal heita hvinn, N. G. L. i. 253, cp. B. K. 8–11, 28, 29; þar eru þveiti tuttugu ok þrjú at höfuðbaugi, … átta þveiti, ok þriðjungr ens fimta þveitis, ok hálft fjórða þveiti ok þriðjungr ens þriðja þveitis ok hálft annat þveiti, Grág. (Kb.) i. 202.

* * *

1) a means off passage, ship; bjarga fari á floti, to save a vessel qflaat; in compds., a trading vessel (Íslands-far, Englands-far);

2) passage; taka (fá, ráða) sér fari or far, to take a passage in a ship; beiðast fars, to ask for a passage; synja e-m fars, to deny one a passage; banna e-m f., to forbid one to sail (cf. farbann);

3) trace, print, track (Sveinki rak lömb sín til fjöru í förin); villast hundarnir farsins, the hounds lose the track; of et sama f., on the same subject;

4) life, conduct, behaviour; í fari konungsins in the king’s character;

5) state, condition (gefa þeir eigi gaum um hennar far) f. veðranna, the course of the winds; at fornu fari, of yore, of old.

* * *

f. [Dan. faar], a sheep, D. N. ii. 312, Boldt 165; vide fær.

n. [A. S. fær; Hel. fâr = dolus; Germ. fahr = treason, gefahr = danger; Engl. fear = terror; cp. also Germ. furcht:—but in the old Scandin. languages the word does not rightly mean either fear or danger; the mod. Dan. fare and Swed. fara are borrowed from Germ.]

1. evil passion, bale, harm, mischief; fár ok fjandskapr, Gísl. 125; eigi standa orð þín af litlu fári, baleful words, Fas. i. 195; lesa fár um e-n, to speak foul calumnies of one, Hm. 23; af fári, from evil passion, Og. 12. Hm. 151; er þú felldir mér fár af höndum, that thou brakest my spell, Og. 10; flytjandi fárs, bringing mischief, Am. 4; ef ek vissa þat fár fyrir, if I could foresee that bale, Skv. 2. 7; halda kvið til fárs e-m, to withhold the verdict to the injury of the other party, Grág. i. 58; verða e-m at fári, to be one’s bale, Korm. 12 (in a verse); full skal signa ok við fári sjá, i. e. make a sign over the cup to prevent harm in it, Sdm. 8; þat er fár mikit (‘tis a bad omen), ef þú fæti drepr, Skv. 2. 24; þá er hann réttlauss ef hann þiggr fár á sér, if he receives bodily harm, N. G. L. i. 255.

2. plague, esp. of animals; hunda-fár, sickness among dogs; kúa-fár, nauta-fár, cattle plague, cp. heljar-fár, morð-fár, murderous pestilence; urðar-fár, a weird plague, Sturl. ii. 213 (in a verse); feikna-fár, deadly pain, Pass. 2. 11; vera í fári, to be in an extremity; í dauðans fári, in the death-agony, etc.

β. of men, a dangerous illness; lá hann í þessu fári nær viku, Bs. i. 761; cp. fár-veikr, dangerously ill; fár er nokkurs-konar nauð, Edda 110, cp. far B.

γ. wrath; fár er reiði, Edda 110; vera í íllu fári (vide far B), to be bent on doing mischief.

3. as a law term, fraud, such as selling sand or dirt instead of flour or butter, defined N. G. L. i. 24; kaupa fals, flærð eða fár, 324.

COMPDS: fárhugr, fárleikr, fárliga, fárligr, fárramr, fárreiðr, fárskapr, fársótt, fársumar, fárveikr, fárverkr, fárviðri, fáryrði, fárskona, fársmaðr, fárssótt.

fem. fá, neut. fátt; dat. fám; acc. fá ( paucos and paucam); fán (paucum); fár ( paucae and paucas), but in mod. usage dissyllabic, fáum, fáa, fáan, fáar: gen. pl. fára, mod. fárra:—compar. færi, mod. færri with a double r; superl. fæstr, in books of last century sometimes spelt færstr,—a form warranted neither by etymology nor pronunciation: færst, however, occurs in the old MSS. Arna-Magn. 132. Ld. 210: [Lat. paucus; Ulf. faus; A. S. feá Engl. few; Hel. fáh; O. H. G. foh; lost in mod. Germ.; Dan. and Swed. få or faa]

I. few; Margr við Mývatn, en Fár í Fiskilækjar-hverfi (a pun), Rd. 311, Glúm. 361; með fá liði, with few men, Eg. 51; færa sauðfé, fewer sheep, Grág. (Kb.) 159; færi sauði, i. 423; í fám orðum, in few words, Stj. 29; við fá menn, Fms. i. 35; við fára manna vitni, Ld. 260; færi öfundarmenn, 204; fleiri … færi, Grág. i. 38; fáir einir, only a few; fá eina menn, Sturl. iii. 3; hjón fá ein, Eg. 573, vide einn.

2. used as noun, few, in the sense of few or none, none at all; fáir hafa af því sigrask, Nj. 103; þeir kváðu fá fúnað hafa fyrir honum, 263.

β. esp. in old sayings; e. g. fár er fagr ef grætr, Fb. i. 566; fár veit hverju fagna skal, Kvöldv. i. 47; fár bregðr hinu betra ef hann veit hit verra, Nj. 227: fár er hvatr er hrörask tekr ef í bernsku er blauðr, Fm. 6; fár er full-rýninn, Am. 11; fár hyggr þegjanda þörf, Sl. 28; fás er fróðum vant, Hm. 107; fátt er of vandlega hugat. Kvöldv. ii. 198; fátt veit sá er sefr, Mork. 36; fátt er svo fyrir öllu íllt að ekki boði nokkuð gott; fátt segir af einum, Volks. 62; fátt er ramara en forneskjan, Grett. 144; fátt er sköpum ríkra, Fs. 23; fár gengr of sköp norna, Km. 24; fátt er betr látið en efni eru til, Band. 2; fár er vamma vanr, Mirm. 68; fátt veit fyrr en reynt er, Fms. vi. 155; fátt gat ek þegjandi þar, Hm. 104. Many of these sayings are household words, and this use of the word is typical of the dry northern humour.

II. metaph. dismal, cold, reserved; Sigurðr konungr hafði verit nokkut fár (dismal, in low spirits) öndverðan vetr, en nú var hann glaðr ok spurall, Fms. iv. 82; varð hann fyrst fár ok úkátr, 192; vóru menn allir fáir við þá, v. 307; Vigdis varð fá um, Vigdis became silent about it, i. e. disliked it much, Sturl. iii. 180; var þá Gunnarr við hana lengi fár, for a long time G. was cold to her, Nj. 59.

2. neut. fátt, coldness, coolness; fátt var með þeim Rúti um samfarar, there was coolness between R. and his wife, Nj. 11; var fátt um með þeim bræðrum, 2, Eg. 199; var et fæsta með þeim, Ld. 234; verið hefir fátt með okkr, Gísl. 100: fátt kom á með þeim Gretti, Grett. 99.

III. neut., konungr svarar fá (dat.), Ó. H. 94; Guðrún talaði hér fæst um, Ld. 210; var eigi boðit færa en hundraði, not fewer than a hundred, Nj. 17; fátt af þeirra mönnum, only a few of their men, Fms. v. 290; fátt eina, only a few, Ld. 328: with gen., fátt manna, few men, Nj. 130; fátt góðs, but little good, Hom. 38; fátt einna hverra hluta, few of things, i. e. few things, Fms. iv. 175: þeir ugðu fátt at sér, they heeded them but little, Fms. vii. 201; hlutask til fás, Hrafn. 17.

β. as adv., in the phrases, sofa fátt, to sleep but little, be wakeful; leika fátt, to play but little, i. e. be in a dismal humour; tala fátt, to speak but little; syrgja fátt, to sorrow but little, i. e. to be gay, cp. Lex. Poët.

γ. with numerals, less than, short of, minus, save; vetri fátt í fjóra tigu, i. e. forty years save one, i. e. thirty-nine, Fms. x. 2, v. l.; tveimr ertogum fátt í átta merkr, eight marks less two ortogs, B. K. 84; lítið fátt í fimm tigi vetra, little short of fifty years, Fms. iii. 60; hálfum eyri fátt á átta merkr, eight marks less half an ounce; þremr mörkum fátt á laup, a bushel less three marks, B. K. 84, 11: at fæstu, the fewest, least, the minimum; tveir et fæsta, two at least, Grág. i. 9; sex menn et fæsta, 378; cp. the neut. afl-fátt, svefn-fátt, dag-fátt, q. v.

(pl. hundruð), n. hundred; tírœtt h. = 100; tólfrœtt h. = 120; hundruðum, by (in) hundreds; as value, one hundred and twenty ells of the stuff wadmal; h. frítt, a hundred paid in cattle; tólf hundruð mórend, twelve hundred in dark-striped wadmal; hundrað silfrs, ? the silver value of 120 ells (= 20 ounces).

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n. pl. hundruð; the form hund- (q. v.) only occurs in a few old compd words: [Goth. hunda, pl.; A. S. hund; O. H. G. hunt; the extended form in Hel. and old Frank, hundered; Germ. hundert; Dan. hundrede; Swed. hundra; the inflexive syllable is prob. akin to - ræðr in átt-ræðr]:—a hundred; the Scandinavians of the heathen time (and perhaps also all Teutonic people) seem to have known only a duo-decimal hundred (= 12 × 10 or 120); at that time 100 was expressed by tíu-tíu, cp. Ulf. taihun-taihund = ten-teen; Pal Vídalín says,—hundrað tólfrætt er sannlega frá heiðni til vor komið, en hið tíræða er líkast að Norðrlönd hafi ekki vitað af fyrr en Kristni kom hér og með henni lærdómr þeirrar aldar, Skýr. s. v. Hundrað (fine): but with the introduction of Christianity came in the decimal hundred, the two being distinguished by adjectives,—tólfrætt hundrað = 120, and tírætt hundrað = 100. But still the old popular duodecimal system continued in almost all matters concerned with economical or civil life, in all law phrases, in trade, exchange, property, value, or the like, and the decimal only in ecclesiastical or scholastic matters (chronology, e. g. Íb. ch. 1, 10). At the same time the word in speech and writing was commonly used without any specification of tírætt or tólfrætt, for, as Pal Vídalín remarks, every one acquainted with the language knew which was meant in each case; even at the present time an Icel. farmer counts his flocks and a fisherman his share (hlutr) by the duodecimal system; and everybody knows that a herd or share of one hundred and a half means 120 + 60 = 180. In old writers the popular way of counting is now and then used even in chronology and in computation, e. g. when Ari Frode (Íb. ch. 4) states that the year consists of three hundred and four days (meaning 364); the census of franklins given by the same writer (where the phrase is hundruð heil = whole or full hundreds) is doubtless reckoned by duodecimal, not decimal hundreds, Íb. ch. 10; and in the census of priests and churches taken by bishop Paul (about A. D. 1200) ‘tíræð’ is expressively added, lest duodecimal hundreds should be understood, Bs. i. 136. The Landn. (at end) contains a statement (from Ari?) that Iceland continued pagan for about a hundred years, i. e. from about 874–997 A. D. In the preface to Ólafs S., Snorri states that two duodecimal hundreds (tvau hundruð tólfræð) elapsed from the first colonisation of Iceland before historical writing began (i. e. from about A. D. 874–1115): levies of ships and troops are in the laws and Sagas counted by duodecimal hundreds, e. g. the body-guard of king Olave consisted of a hundred hirð-men, sixty house-carles and sixty guests, in all ‘two hundred’ men, i. e. 240, Mork. 126; the sons of earl Strút-Harald had a hundred men, of whom eighty were billetted out and forty returned, Fms. xi. 88, 89; hálft hundrað, a half hundred = sixty, Mork. l. c.

2. a division of troops = 120; hundraðs-flokkr, Fms. vi. (in a verse).

II. in indef. sense, hundreds, a host, countless number, see hund-, as also in the adverb, phrase, hundruðum, by hundreds (indefinitely), Fms. vi. 407, Þiðr. 275, 524: in mod. usage as adjective and indecl., except the pl. in -uð, thus hundruð ásauðum, Dipl. iv. 10.

B. As value, a hundred, i. e. a hundred and twenty ells of the stuff wadmal, and then simply value to that amount (as a pound sterling in English). All property, real as well as personal, is even at present in Icel. taxed by hundreds; thus an estate is a ‘twenty, sixty, hundred’ estate; a franklin gives his tithable property as amounting to so and so many hundreds. As for the absolute value of a hundred, a few statements are sufficient, thus e. g. a milch cow, or six ewes with lambs, counts for a hundred, and a hundrað and a kúgildi (cow’s value) are equal: the charge for the alimentation of a pauper for twelve months was in the law (Jb. 165) fixed to four hundred and a half for a male person, but three hundred and a half for a female; cp. also the phrase, það er ekki hundrað í hættunni, there is no hundred at stake, no great risk! In olden times a double standard was used,—the wool or wadmal standard, called hundrað talið = a hundred by tale, i. e. a hundred and twenty ells as stated above, and a silver standard, called hundrað vegit, a hundred by weight, or hundrað silfrs, a hundred in silver, amounting to two marks and a half = twenty ounces = sixty örtugar; but how the name hundred came to be applied to it is not certain, unless half an örtug was taken as the unit. It is probable that originally both standards were identical, which is denoted by the phrase, sex álna eyrir, six ells to an ounce, or a hundred and twenty ells equal to twenty ounces (i. e. wadmal and silver at par); but according as the silver coinage was debased, the phrases varied between nine, ten, eleven, twelve ells to an ounce (N. G. L. i. 80, 81, 387, 390, passim), which denote bad silver; whereas the phrase ‘three ells to an ounce’ (þriggja álna eyrir, Sturl. i. 163, passim, or a hundred in wadmal equal to half a hundred in silver) must refer either to a double ell or to silver twice as pure: the passage in Grág. i. 500 is somewhat obscure, as also Rd. 233: the words vegin, silfrs, or talin are often added, but in most cases no specification is given, and the context must shew which of the two standards is there meant; the wool standard is the usual one, but in cases of weregild the silver standard seems always to be understood; thus a single weregild (the fine for a man’s life) was one hundred, Njála passim.

2. the phrases, hundrað frítt, a hundred paid in cattle, Finnb. 236; tólf hundruð mórend, twelve hundred in dark striped wadmal, Nj. 225; hundrað í búsgögnum ok í húsbúningi, Vm. 65; hundraðs-gripr, hestr, hross, kapall, hvíla, sæng, rekkja, psaltari, etc., a beast, a horse, a bed, etc., of a hundred’s value, Am. 2, 10, Vm. 25, 39, 60, 153, Jm. 3, 30; hundraðs-úmagi, a person whose maintenance costs a hundred, Vm. 156; hundraðs virði, a hundred’s value, 68. For references see the Sagas and laws passim, and for more information see Mr. Dasent’s Essay in Burnt Njal.

C. A hundred, a political division which in olden times was common to all Teut. nations, but is most freq. in old Swedish laws, where several hundreds made a hérað or shire; cp. the A. S. and Engl. hundred, Du Cange hundredum; old Germ. hunderti, see Grimm’s Rechts Alterthümer; the centum pagi of Caesar, Bell. Gall. iv. ch. 1, is probably the Roman writer’s misconception of the Teut. division of land into hundreds; this is also the case with Tacit. Germ. ch. 12: cp. the Swed. local names Fjaðrunda-land, Áttundaland, and Tíunda-land, qs. Fjaðr-hunda land, Átthunda land, Tíhunda land, i. e. a combination of four, eight, ten hundreds. The original meaning was probably a community of a hundred and twenty franklins or captains. This division is not found in Icel.