he's+nearly+four

(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.

(öll, allt), a.

1) all, entire, whole;

hón á allan arf eptir mik, she has all the heritage after me;

af öllum hug, with all (one’s) heart;

hvítr allr, white all over;

bú allt, the whole estate;

allan daginn, the whole day;

í allri veröld, in the whole world;

allan hálfan mánuð, for the entire fortnight;

with addition of ‘saman’;

allt saman féit, the whole amount;

um þenna hernað allan saman, all together;

2) used almost adverbially, all, quite, entirely;

klofnaði hann allr í sundr, he was all cloven asunder, kváðu Örn allan villast, that he was altogether bewildered;

var Hrappr allr brottu, quite gone;

allr annarr maðr, quite another man;

3) gone, past;

áðr þessi dagr er allr, before this day is past;

var þá óll þeirra vinátta, their friendship was all over;

allt er nú mitt megin, my strength is exhausted, gone;

4) departed, dead (þá er Geirmundr var allr);

5) neut. sing. (allt) used. as a subst. in the sense of all, everything;

eigi er enn þeirra allt, they have not yet altogether won the game;

þá var allt (all, everybody) við þá hrætt;

hér er skammætt allt, here everything is transient;

with a compar. all the more (því öllu þungbærri);

with gen., allt missera (= öll misseri), all the year round;

allt annars, all the rest;

at öllu annars, in all other respects;

alls fyrst, first of all;

alls mest, most of all;

in adverbial phrases: at öllu, in all respects, in every way;

í öllu, in everything;

með öllu, wholly, quite;

neita með öllu, to refuse outright;

6) pl. allir (allar, öll), as adj. or substantively, all (þeir gengu út allir);

ór öllum fjórðungum á landinu, from all the quarters of the land;

allir aðrir, all others, every one else;

flestir allir, nearly all, the greatest part of;

gen. pl. (allra) as an intensive with superlatives, of all things, all the more;

nú þykkir mér þat allra sýnst, er, all the more likely, as;

allra helzt, er þeir heyra, particularly now when they hear;

allra sízt, least of all.

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öll, allt, and alt, adj. [Ulf. alls = πας, άπας, όλος; A. S. eall; Engl. and Germ. all].

A. In sing. as adj. or substantively, cunctus, totus, omnis:

I. all, entire, the whole; hón á allan arf eptir mik, she has all my heritage after me, Nj. 3; um alla þingsafglöpun, every kind of þ., 150; gaf hann þat allt, all, 101; at öllum hluta, in totum, Grág. i. 245; allr heilagr dómr, the whole body of Christians, ii. 165; á öllu því máli, Fms. vii. 311; allu fólki, thewhole people, x. 273; hvitr allr, white all over, 655 xxxii. 21; bú allt, thewhole estate, Grág. i. 244; fyrir allt dagsljós, before any dawn of light, Hom. 41: with the addition of saman = άπας—Icel. now in fem. sing. and n. pl. say öll sömun, and even n. sing. allt samant; in old writers saman is indecl.,—the whole, Germ. sänmtlich, zusammen; allt saman féit, thewhole amount, entire, Grág. ii. 148; þenna hernað allan saman, all together, Fms. i. 144; fyrir allan saman ójafnað þann, Sd. 157. Metaph. in the phrase, at vera ekki allr þar sem hann er sénn (séðr), of persons of deep, shrewd characters, not to be seen through, but also with a feeling of something ‘uncanny’ about them, Fms. xi. 157 (a familiar phrase); ekki er oil nótt úti enn, sagði draugrinn, the night is not all over yet, said the ghost, ‘the Ides are not past’ (a proverb), v. Ísl. Þjóðs.

2. all, entire, full; allan hálfan mánuð, for the entire fortnight, Nj. 7; þar til er Kjartani þykir allt mál upp, until Kjartan thought it was high time, of one nearly (or) well-nigh drowned, Hkr. i. 286.

II. metaph. past, gone, dead, extinct; perh. ellipt., vera allr í brottu, quite gone, Eb. 112 new Ed.; var Hrappr þá allr í brottu, Nj. 132; then by an ellipsis of ‘brottu,’ or the like, allr simply = past, gone:

α. past, of time; seg þú svá fremi frá því er þessi dagr er allr, when this day is past, Nj. 96, Fms. ii. 38, 301; var þá öll þeirra vinátta, their friendship was all gone, Fms. ix. 428; allt er mi mitt megin, my strength is gone, exhausted, Str.

β. dead; þá er Geirmundr var allr, gone, dead, Landn. (Hb.) 124; síz Gunnarr at Hlíðarenda var allr, since G. of Lithend was dead and gone (v. l. to lézt), Nj. 142; sem faðir þeirra væri allr, after his death, Stj. 127; þá er Nói var allr, 66; en sem hann var allr, 100; eptir þat er Sara var öll, after all Sara’s days were over, 139, 140, 405; á vegum allr hygg ek at at ek verða munu, that I shall perish on the way, Gg. verse 5; með því at þú ert gamlaðr mjök, þá munu þeir eigi út koma fyr en þú ert allr, Háv. 57; still freq. in Swed., e. g. blifwa all af bekumring, be worn out with sorrow; vinet blev alt, fell short; tiden er all, past.

III. used almost adverbially, when it may be translated by all, quite, just, entirely; klofnaði hann allr í sundr, was all cloven asunder, Nj. 205; er sá nú allr einn í þínu liði er nú hefir eigi höfuðs, ok hinn, er þá eggiaði hins versta verks er eigi var fram komit, where it seems, however, rather to mean one and the same … or the very same …, thus, and he is now one and the same man in thy band, who has now lost his head, and he who then egged thee on to the worst work when it was still undone, or the very same, … who, Nj. 213; vil ek at sú görð häldist öll, in all its parts, 256; kváðu Örn allan villast, that he was all bewildered, Ld. 74.

IV. neut. sing. used as a subst. in the sense of all, everything, in every respect; ok for svá með öllu, sem …, acted in everything as…, Nj. 14, Ld. 54; ok lát sem þú þykist þar allt eiga, that you depend upon him in all, Fms. xi. 113; eigi er enn þeirra allt, they have not yet altogether won the game, Nj. 235: í alls vesöld, in all misery, Ver. 4; alls mest, most of all, especially, Fms. ii. 137 C, Fs. 89 (in a verse); in mod. usage, allra mest, cp. below. The neut. with a gen.; allt missera, all the year round, Hom. 73; allt annars, all the rest, Grág. ii. 141; at öllu annars, in all other respects, K. Þ. K. 98; þá var allt (all, everybody) við þá hrætt, Fas. i. 338. In the phrases, at öllu, in all respects, Fms. i. 21, Grág. i. 431; ef hann á eigi at öllu framfærsluna, if he be not the sole supporter, 275: úreyndr at öllu, untried in every way, Nj. 90; cp. Engl. not at all, prop. not in every respect, analogous to never, prop. not always: fyrir alls sakir, in every respect, Grág. ii. 47, Fas. i. 252: í öllu, in everything, Nj. 90, 228: með öllu, wholly, quite, dauðr með öllu, quite dead, 153; neita með öllu, to refuse outright, Fms. i. 35, 232, Boll. 342: um allt, in respect of everything, Nj. 89; hence comes the adverb ávalt, ever = of allt = um allt, prop. in every respect, v. ávalt.

V. the neut. sing. allt is used as an adv., right up to, as far as, all the way; Brynjólfr gengr allt at honum, close to him, Nj. 58; kómu allt at bænum, 79; allt at búðardyrunum, right up to the very door of the booth, 247; allt norðr urn Stað, all along north, round Cape Stad, Fms. vii. 7; suðr allt í Englands haf, iv. 329; verit allt út í Miklagarð, as far out as Constantinople, ii. 7, iv. 250, 25; allt á klofa, Bárð. 171.

2. everywhere, in all places; at riki Eireks konungs mundi allt yfir standa í Eyjunum, might stretch over the whole of the Islands, Eg. 405; Sigröðr var konungr allt um Þrændalög, over all Drontheim, Fms. i. 19; bjoggu þar allt fyrir þingmenn Runólfs goða, the liegemen of R. the priest were in every house, ii. 234 ( = í hverju húsi, Bs. i. 20); allt norðr um Rogaland, all the way north over the whole of R., Fms. iv. 251; vóru svirar allt gulli búnir, all overlaid with gold, vi. 308; hafið svá allt kesjurnar fyrir, at ekki megi á ganga, hold your spears everywhere (all along the line) straight before you, that they (the enemy) may not come up to you, 413; allt imdir innviðuna ok stafnana, vii. 82.

3. nearly = Lat. jam, soon, already; vóru allt komin fyrir hann bréf, warrants of arrest were already in his way, Fms. vii. 207; var allt skipat liðinu til fylkingar, the troops were at once drawn up in array, 295; en allt hugðum vér ( still we thought) at fara með spekt um þessi héruð, Boll. 346.

4. temp. all through, until; allt til Júnsvöku, Ann. 1295; allt um daga Hákonar konungs, all through the reign of king Hacon, Bs. i. 731.

5. in phrases such as, allt at einu, all one, all in the same way, Fms. i. 113. In Icel. at present allt að einu means all the same: allt eins, nevertheless; ek ætla þó utan a. eins, Ísl. ii. 216; hann neitaði allt eins at…, refused all the same, Dipl. iii. 13; allt eins hraustliga, not the less manly, Fms. xi. 443. The mod. Icel. use is a little different, namely = as, in similes = just as; allt eins og blómstrið eina (a simile), just as the flower, the initial words of the famous hymn by Hallgrim.

6. by adding ‘of’ = far too …, much too …, Karl. 301 (now freq.)

7. with a comparative, much, far, Fms. vi. 45 (freq.)

VI. neut. gen. alls [cp. Ulf. allis = όλως; A. S. ealles], used as an adv., esp. before a negative (ekki, hvergi), not a bit, not at all, no how, by no means; þeir ugðu alls ekki at sér, they were not a bit afraid, Nj. 252; hræðumst vér hann nú alls ekki, we do not care a bit for him, 260; á hólmgöngu er vandi en alls ekki ( none at all) á einvigi, Korm. 84; en junkherra Eiríkr þóttist ekki hafa, ok kallaði sik Eirík alls ekki (cp. Engl. lackland), Fms. x. 160; alls hvergi skal sök koma undir enn þriðja mann, no how, in no case, by no means, Grág. i. 144: sometimes without a negative following it; ær alls geldar, ewes quite barren, Grág. i. 502; hafrar alls geldir, id.; alls vesall, altogether wretched, Nj. 124; alls mjök stærist hann nú, very much, Stj.; a. mest, especially, Fs. 89, Fms. ii. 137. In connection with numbers, in all, in the whole; tólf vóru þau alls á skipi, twelve were they all told in the ship, Ld. 142; tíu Íslenzkir menn alls, 164; alls fórust níu menn, the slain were nine in all, Ísl. ii. 385; verða alls sárir þrír eða fleiri, Grág. ii. 10; alls mánuð, a full month, i. 163; þeir ala eitt barn alls á aefi sinni, Rb. 346.

β. with addition of ‘til’ or ‘of’ = far too much; alls of lengi, far too long a time, Fms. i. 140; hefnd alls til lítil, much too little, vi. 35.

B. In pl. allir, allar, öll, as adj. or substantively:

1. used absol. all; þeir gengu út allir, all men, altogether, Nj. 80; Síðan bjoggust þeir heiman allir, 212; Gunnarr reið ok beir allir, 48; hvikit þér allir, 78, etc.

2. as adj., alla höfðingja, all the chiefs, Nj. 213; ór öllum fjórðungum á landinu, all the quarters of the land, 222; at vitni guðs ok allra heilagra manna, all the saints, Grág. ii. 22; í allum orrostum, in all the battles, Fms. x. 273; Josep ok allir hans ellifu bræðr, Stj., etc.

3. by adding aðrir, flestir, etc.; allir aðrir, all other, everyone else, Nj. 89, Fms. xi. 135: flestir allir, nearly all, the greatest part of, v. flestr; in mod. use flestallir, flest being indecl.: allir saman, altogether, Nj. 80.

4. adverb., Gregorius hafði eigi öll fjögr hundruð, not all, not quite, four hundred, Fms. vii. 255.

5. used ellipt., allir ( everybody) vildu leita þér vegs, Nj. 78.

6. gen. pl. allra, when followed by superl. neut. adj. or adv., of all things, all the more; en nú þyki mér þat allra sýnst er …, all the more likely, as …, Ld. 34; allra helzt er þeir heyra, particularly now when they hear, Fms. ix. 330; allra helzt ef hann fellr meir, all the rather, if …, Grág. ii. 8; allra sízt, least of all, 686 B. 2; bæn sú kemr til þess allra mest, especially, Hom. 149: very freq. at present in Icel., and used nearly as Engl. very, e. g. allra bezt, the very best; a. hæst, neðst, fyrst, the very highest, lowest, foremost, etc.

C. alls is used as a prefix to several nouns in the gen., in order to express something common, general, universal.

COMPDS: allsendis, allsháttar, allsherjar, allsherjarbúð, allsherjardómr, allsherjarfé, allsherjargoði, allsherjarlið, allsherjarlýðr, allsherjarlög, allsherjarþing, allskonar, allskostar, allskyns, allsstaðar, allsvaldandi, allrahanda, allraheilagra.

1) half-past three o’clock, p. m. (var þat nær e. dags);

2) time of three hours (þá er þógn hafði verit nær hálfa e.).

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eykð, f. three or half-past three o’clock P. M.; many commentaries have been written upon this word, as by Pal Vídalín Skýr., Finn Johnson in H. E. i. 153 sqq. note 6, and in Horologium, etc. The time of eykð is clearly defined in K. Þ. K. 92 as the time when the sun has past two parts of the ‘útsuðr’ (q. v.) and has one part left, that is to say, half-past three o’clock P. M.: it thus nearly coincides with the eccl. Lat. nona (three o’clock P. M.); and both eykt and nona are therefore used indiscriminately in some passages. Sunset at the time of ‘eykð’ is opposed to sunrise at the time of ‘dagmál,’ q. v. In Norway ‘ykt’ means a luncheon taken about half-past three o’clock. But the passage in Edda—that autumn ends and winter begins at sunset at the time of eykt—confounded the commentators, who believed it to refer to the conventional Icel. winter, which (in the old style) begins with the middle of October, and lasts six months. In the latitude of Reykholt—the residence of Snorri—the sun at this time sets about half-past four. Upon this statement the commentators have based their reasoning both in regard to dagmál and eykt, placing the eykt at half-past four P. M. and dagmál at half-past seven A. M., although this contradicts the definition of these terms in the law. The passage in Edda probably came from a foreign source, and refers not to the Icel. winter but to the astronomical winter, viz. the winter solstice or the shortest day; for sunset at half-past three is suited not to Icel., but to the latitude of Scotland and the southern parts of Scandinavia. The word is also curious from its bearing upon the discovery of America by the ancients, vide Fb. l. c. This sense ( half-past three) is now obsolete in Icel., but eykt is in freq. use in the sense of trihorium, a time of three hours; whereas in the oldest Sagas no passage has been found bearing this sense,—the Bs. i. 385, 446, and Hem. l. c. are of the 13th and 14th centuries. In Norway ykt is freq. used metaph. of all the four meal times in the day, morning-ykt, midday-ykt, afternoon-ykt (or ykt proper), and even-ykt. In old MSS. (Grág., K. Þ. K., Hem., Heið. S.) this word is always spelt eykð or eykþ, shewing the root to be ‘auk’ with the fem. inflex. added; it probably first meant the eke-meal, answering to Engl. lunch, and thence came to mean the time of day at which this meal was taken. The eccl. law dilates upon the word, as the Sabbath was to begin at ‘hora nona;’ hence the phrase, eykt-helgr dagr (vide below). The word can have no relation to átta, eight, or átt, plaga coeli. At present Icel. say, at eykta-mótum, adv. at great intervals, once an eykt, once in three hours.

I. half-past three; þá er eykð er útsuðrs-átt er deild í þriðjunga, ok hefir sól gengna tvá hluti en einn ógenginn, K. Þ. K. 92; net skal öll upp taka fyrir eykð, 90; helgan dag eptir eykð, 88; ef þeir hafa unnit á eykð, 94; enda skal hann undan honum hafa boðit fyrir miðjan dag en hinn skal hafa kosit at eykþ, Grág. i. 198; ok á maðr kost at stefna fyrir eykþ ef vill, 395; í þat mund dags er tók út eyktina, Fms. xi. 136; eptir eykt dags, rendering of the Lat. ‘vix decima parte diei reliqua,’ Róm. 313; þeir gengu til eyktar, ok höfðu farit árla morguns, en er nón var dags, etc., Fs. 176; at eykð dags þá kómu heim húskarlar Barða. Ísl. ii. 329; nú vættir mik at þar komi þér nær eykð dags, 345; var þat nær eykð dags, 349; var hón at veraldligu verki þangat til er kom eykð, þá fór hón til bænar sinnar at nóni, Hom. (St.) 59.

COMPDS: eykðarhelgr, eyktarstaðr, eykðartíð.

II. trihorium; en er liðin var nær ein eykt dags, Bs. i. 446; at þat mundi verit hafa meir en hálf eykt, er hann vissi ekki til sín, 385; þessi flaug vanst um eina eykð dags, Hem. (Hb.)

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1) year; at ári, next year; telja árum, to count time by years;

2) plenty, abundance, fruitfulnes (þá var ár um öll lönd);

3) the name of the Rune A.

f. oar; draga skip á árum, to pull the boat with oars; þungr undir árum, heavy to pull; draga árar um e-t, to contend for; koma eigi ár sinni fyrlr borð, to be under restraint.

n. first beginning; ár var alda, in times of yore; at morgins ári, um morguninn í ár = árla um morguninn, early in the morning.

1) anciently, of yore;

2) early (ár um morguninn).

from á, river.

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n. [Goth. jêr; A. S. gear; Engl. year; Germ. jabr; the Scandin. idioms all drop the j, as in ungr, young; cp. also the Gr. ωρα; Lat. hora; Ulf. renders not only ετος but also sometimes καιρός and χρόνος by jêr].

I. a year, = Lat. annus, divided into twelve lunar months, each of 30 days, with four intercalary days, thus making 364 days; as the year was reckoned about the middle of the 10th century (the original calculation probably only reckoned 360 days, and made up the difference by irregular intercalary months). About the year 960 Thorstein Surt introduced the sumarauki (intercalary week), to be inserted every seventh year, thus bringing the year up to 365 days. After the introduction of Christianity (A. D. 1000) the sumarauki was made to harmonize with the Julian calendar; but from A. D. 1700 with the Gregorian calendar; v. the words sumarauki, hlaupár, mánuðr, vika, etc., Íb. ch. 4, Rb. 6, Fms. i. 67; telja árum, to count the time by years, Vsp. 6; í ári, used adverb., at present, as yet, Ó. H. 41, 42 (in a verse).

II. = Lat. annona, plenty, abundance, fruitfulness; the phrase, friðr ok ár, Fms. vii. 174, Hkr. Yngl. ch. 8–12; ár ok fésæla, Hkr. l. c.; þá var ár urn öll lönd, id.; létu hlaða skip mörg af korni ok annarri gæzku, ok flytja svá ár í Danmörku, Fms. xi. 8, Sks. 323, Fas. i. 526, Hom. 68; gott ár, Eg. 39; blota til árs, Fms. i. 34.

III. the name of the Rune RUNE (a), Skálda 176; in the A. S. and Goth. Runes the j has the name jêr, gêr, according to the Germ. and Engl. pronunciation of this word; vide p. 2, col. 1.

COMPDS: áratal, ársbót.

I. Lat. olim [Ulf. air = παλαί; Engl. yore], used nearly as a substantive followed by a gen., but only in poetry; in the phrase, ár var alda, in times of yore, in principio, Vsp. 3, Hkv. 2. 1: also, ár var þaz (= þat es), the beginning of some of the mythical and heroical poems, Skv. 3. i, Gkv. 1. 1; cp. árdagar.

II. Lat. mane [A. S. ær; O. H. G. êr; cp. Gr. ηρι-, Engl. early, Icel. árla], rare, (the prolonged form árla is freq.); it, however, still exists in the Icel. common phrase, með morgunsárinu (spelt and proncd. in a single word), primo diluculo; elsewhere poet, or in laws, ár of morgin, early of a morning, Hðm. verse 1, Grág. ii. 280; rísa ár, to rise early, Hm. 58, 59; ár né um nætr, Hkv. 2. 34, etc.; í ár, adverb. = early, Ísl. ii. (Hænsa Þór. S.) 161; snemma í ár, Ld. 46, MS., where the Ed. um morgininn í ár, Fas. i. 503: it also sometimes means for ever, svá at ár Hýmir ekki mælti, for an age he did not utter a word, remained silent as if stupefied, Hým. 25, Lex. Poët.; ara þúfu á skaltu ár sitja, Skm. 27; cp. the mod. phrase, ár ok síð og allan tíð, early and late and always. In compds = Lat. matutinus.

f. [A. S. ár; Engl. oar; Swed. åre], an oar, old form of nom., dat., acc. sing. ́r; dat. ́ru or áru, Eb. 60 new Ed., but commonly ár; pl. árar, Eg. 221, 360, Fms. viii. 189, 417: metaph. in the phrases, koma eigi ár sinni fyrir borð, to be under restraint, esp. in a bad sense, of one who cannot run as fast as he likes, Eb. 170; vera á árum e-s = undir ára burði e-s, v. below; draga árar um e-t, to contend about a thing, the metaphor taken from a rowing match, Fær. 159; taka djúpt í árinni, to dip too deep, overdo a thing.

COMPDS: árarblað, áraburðr, áragangr, árakló, áralag, árarhlumr, árarhlutr, árarstubbi, árartog, árartré.