i+still...

I) adv.

1) yet, though, nevertheless, still (þeir vóru síð búnir ok sigldu þó í haf);

2) connected with other particles; ok þó, and besides, and even, to boot (í Nóregi er lítil bygð ok þó sundrlaus); mörgum mönnum ófróðum ok þó óvitrum, ill-informed and unwise as well; er þó, since yet, considering that (kvazt hjá bóndum skyldu vera, er þó buðu þeir honum svá góða kosti);

3) conj., þó at, contracted þót, þótt, although, even though, with subj. (hann rengdi til augum, þó at úskygn væri); halda máttu þessu sæti, þótt hón komi sjalf til, though she comes herself into the hall; dropping the ‘at’; þó þú sért lítillar ættar, although thou art of low extraction.

II) from þvá.

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conj. [Goth. þau or þau-h = ἄν, ni-þau = οὐκ ἄν; A. S. þeah; Engl. though; O. H. G. doh; Germ. doch; Dan. dog; the Icel. being a contracted form; this particle was originally pronominal, the h being a suffix; see Grimm’s Gramm. iii. 176, 177.]

A. Though, yet, but yet, nevertheless; hefir mér þó tvennt um sýnzt, … en þó hefi ek í einum stað á stofnat, Nj. 3; þeir vóru síð búnir, ok sigldu þó á haf, 281; en þó vil ek mik eigi frá kjósa, Fms. vi. 10; ok fengit þó minna hlut, vii. 256; en ef eigi náir þeim, þá er þó rétt, at…, Grág. i. 207; svá þó ( yet so) at biskup væri skaðlauss, Dipl. v. 2; en ef þeir setja lík niðr þó at hváru, nevertheless, N. G. L. i. 347; eigi var skegglauss Þorvaldr bóndi þinn, ok réttú þó honum bana, Nj. 52; ok vartú þó vetri ellri, Fms. vii. 119.

II. connected with other particles:

1. er þó, ‘as though,’ considering that, yet after all, or the like; er þó hafði hann tekit við Birni, Eg. 166; er þér þreytið þetta mál þó svá mjök, Fms. vii. 169; er þó buðu þeir honum svá góða kosti, ix. 398; þú hrópar sonu Njáls ok sjálfan hann er þó er mest vert, Nj. 68: dropping the particle ‘er,’ þó hefir hann at sjálfvilja sínum farit þingat á fund yðvarn, Eg. 424; biðja vil ek henni friðar, þó hefir hón mitt traust sótt, Mork. 204; fari á land heiðit, þó vill hann eigi Kristinn vera, N. G. L. i. 341; eigi mun ek drepa þik, þó biðr þú miskunnar, Sks. 740.

2. ok þó, and even; en Símon læzk Guð vera, er hann er maðr ok þó íllr, S. says he is a god, being a man, and even a bad one. Post. 656 C. 28; mörgum mönnum ófróðum ok þó óvitrum, ill-informed and unwise to boot, Bs. i. 59; sagði þeim öngan frama at drepa fá menn ok þó áðr ílla leikna, Fms. ix. 47; væri þat mönnum skyldugt ok þó nauðsynligt, Sks. 45 B; rjúf aldri sætt … ok þó sízt á þvi máíi, Nj. 85.

B. þó-at, and contr. þótt, although, even though:

I. separated, þo … at, þó er rétt at nýta, at hann sé fyrr skorinn, it is still right …, even though, even in case that …, K. Þ. K. 134.

II. þó at, although; heimsku mæla skaltu, þó at þú vel hvat vitir, thou speakest vain, ‘although thou knowest all well,’ Em. 3; hann rengði til augum, þó at úskygn væri, Fms. ii. 59; þeir máttu eigi vita hvárt hann var á lífi eðr eigi, þó at hann færi þaðan vetr-gamall, i. 185; at oss Íslendingum kippi á kyn, þó at vér gangim heldr fyrir blíðu en stríðu, ii. 34: somewhat irregular is the usage in, munu vér því eigi várkynna öðrum, þó at hér skatyrðisk, we will not excuse others for using bad words, Ísl. ii. 384; eigi vanntú framarr en þú áttir, þó at þú hefndir föður þíns, thou didst not more than what was right when thou didst avenge thy father, Sd. 190.

2. dropping the ‘at;’ en Sverri studdi hvárki fé né frændr þó (at) hann kæmi ungr ok einmana ok öllum ókunnigr inn í landit (coming as he did young, etc.), Fms. viii. 3; eigi met ek þat til óvirðingar þó ek fóstra honum barn, vi. 5; þó þeir sé svá miök þrengðir at, although they be so oppressed that …, Hom. 38; þó þú sért lítillar ættar, Fms. vi. 10; þó ek gefi yðr frjálsa, id.

III. contracted þótt = þóat, although; with subj., þótt hón hafi …, Grág. i. 228; varðar þat skóggang, þótt þat verði fjörbaugs-garð, ef þat færi eitt saman, ii. 10; halda máttú þessu sæti, þótt hón komi sjálf til, Nj. 6; þetta væri at vísu lög, þótt fáir kunni, 237: þó ( yet still) hafa húsfreyjur verit góðar, þótt ( although) eigi hafi staðit í mannráðum, 53 (repeating the particle þó); er ek hirði aldri þótt drepizk, 85; en létir hann eigi gjalda, þótt hann hefndi bróður síns, Eg. 174; at Eríkr konungr léti sér óþokka í, þótt Hákon konungr léti brenna Vermaland, that king H. had burned W., Fms. x. 27; engi maðr skal banna för fjörbaugs-manni, þótt fé eigi at þeim, Grág. i. 90:—special usages, at hann væri at vísu mestr laga-maðr, þótt reyna þyrfti, even if that should be tried, Nj. 237; nær ætla ek þat lögum Íra, þótt þeir kalli fé þetta vágrek, Ld. 76.

2. as a Latinism with no verb following; gef þú mér þó at óverðugri, da mihi quamvis indignae, Stj.; dreifðum vér guðs úvini þótt með drápi ranglátra, Már.

3. ef tveir menn eigu bú saman ok hafa þeir öngan griðimann ok er þótt ( nevertheless) réttr annarr þeirra í kvöð, Grág. ii. 44; better þó (but this is very rare); skorti þar eigi mjólk, þótt hann hefði vitað hvers við þurfti, as if he had known, Finnb. 234.

4. suffixing -tú (i. e. thou), although thou; ekki fer ek at, þóttú hafir svelt þik til fjár, Nj. 18; muntú þykkja röskr maðr, þóttú hafir ratað í stórvirki þetta, 257.

(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.

or -AT or -T, a negative suffix to verbs, peculiar to Iceland and a part, at least, of Norway. Occurs frequently in old Icelandic poetry and laws, so as almost to form a complete negative voice. In the 1st pers. a personal pronoun k (g) = ek is inserted before the negative suffix, in the 2nd pers. a t or tt. As a rule the pron. as thus repeated; má-k-at-ek, non possum; sé-k-at-ek, non video; hef-k-at-ek, non habeo; skal-k-at-ek; vil-k-at-ek, nolo; mon-k-at-ek, non ero, etc.: 2nd pers. skal-t-at-tu; mon-t-at-tu; gaf-t-at-tu, non dabas: and after a long vowel a tt, mátt-at-tu, sátt-at-tu; so almost invariably in all monosyllabic verbal forms; but not so in bisyllabic ones, máttir-a-þú, non poteras: yet in some instances in the 1st pers. a pronominal g is inserted, e. g. bjargi-g-a-k, verbally servem ego non ego; höggvi-g-a-k, non cædam; stöðvi-g-a-k, quin sistam; vildi-g-a-k, nolui; hafði-g-a-k, non babui; mátti-g-a-k, non potui; görði-g-a-k, non feci: if the verb has gg as final radical consonants, they change into kk, e. g. þikk-at-ek = þigg-k-at-ek, nolo accipere. In the 3rd pers. a and at or t are used indifferently, t being particularly suffixed to bisyllabic verbal flexions ending in a vowel, in order to avoid an hiatus,—skal-at or skal-a, non erit; but skolo-t, non sunto: forms with an hiatus, however, occur,—bíti-a, non mordat; renni-a, ne currat; skríði-a, id.; leti-a, ne retardet; væri-a, ne esset; urðu-a, non erant; but bíti-t, renni-t, skríði-t, urðu-t are more current forms: v. Lex. Poët. The negative suffix is almost peculiar to indic., conj., and imperat. moods; the neg. infin. hardly occurs. Nothing analogous to this form is to be found in any South-Teutonic idiom; neither do there remain any traces of its having been used in Sweden or Denmark. A single exception is the Runic verse on a stone monument in Öland, an old Danish province, now Swedish, where however the inscriptions may proceed from a Norse or Icel. hand. The Runic inscriptions run thus, sa’r aigi flo, who did not fly, old Icel. ‘flo-at,’ Baut. 1169. Neither does it occur in any Norse prose monuments (laws): but its use may yet be inferred from its occurrence in Norse poets of the 10th century, e. g. the poets Eyvind and Thiodolf; some of which instances, however, may be due to their being transmitted through Icel. oral tradition. In Bragi Gamli (9th century) it occurs twice or thrice; in the Haustlöng four times, in Ynglingatal four times, in Hákonarmál once (all Norse poems of the 10th century). In Icel. the suffixed negation was in full force through the whole of the 10th century. A slight difference in idioms, however, may be observed: Völuspá, e. g., prefers the negation by né (using vas-at only once, verse 3). In the old Hávamal the suffix abounds (being used thirty-five times), see the verses 6, 10, 11, 18, 26, 29, 30, 34, 37–39, 49, 51, 52, 68, 74, 88, 113–115, 126–128, 130, 134, 136, 147, 149, 151, 153, 159. In Skírnismál, Harbarðsljóð, Lokasenna—all these poems probably composed by the same author, and not before the 10th century—about thirty times, viz. Hbl. 3, 4, 8, 14, 26, 35, 56; Skm. 5, 18, 22; Ls. 15, 16, 18, 25, 28, 30, 36, 42, 47, 49, 56, 60, 62. Egil (born circa 900, died circa 990) abounds in the use of the suffixed neg. (he most commonly avails himself of -at, -gi, or né): so, too, does Hallfred (born circa 968, died 1008), Einar Skálaglam in Vellekla (circa 940–995), and Thorarin in the Máhlíðingavísur (composed in the year 981); and in the few epigrams relating to the introduction of Christianity in Icel. (995–1000) there occur mon-k-að-ek, tek-k-at-ek, vil-k-at-ek, hlífði-t, mon-a, es-a; cp. the Kristni S. and Njala. From this time, however, its use becomes more rare. Sighvat (born circa 995, died 1040) still makes a frequent but not exclusive use of it. Subsequent poets use it now and then as an epic form, until it disappeared almost entirely in poetry at the middle or end of the 13th century. In the Sólarljóð there is not a single instance. The verses of some of our Sagas are probably later than the Sagas themselves; the greatest part of the Völsungakviður are scarcely older than the 11th century. In all these -at and conj. eigi are used indifferently. In prose the laws continued to employ the old forms long after they were abolished in common prose. The suffixed verbal negation was used,

α. in the delivering of the oath in the Icel. Courts, esp. the Fifth Court, instituted about the year 1004; and it seems to have been used through the whole of the Icel. Commonwealth (till the year 1272). The oath of the Fifth (High) Court, as preserved in the Grágás, runs in the 1st pers., hefka ek fé borit í dóm þenna til liðs mér um sök þessa, ok ek monka bjóða, hefka ek fundit, ok monka ek finna, hvárki til laga né ólaga, p. 79; and again p. 81, only different as to ek hefka, ek monka (new Ed.): 3rd pers., hefirat hann fé; borit í dóm þenna ok monat hann bjóða, ok hefirat hann fundit, ok monat hann tinna, 80, 81; cp. also 82, and Nj. l. c. ch. 145, where it is interesting to observe that the author confounds the ist and 3rd persons, a sign of decay in grammatical form.

β. the Speaker (lögsögumaðr), in publicly reciting and explaining the law, and speaking in the name of the law, from the Hill of Laws (lögberg), frequently employed the old form, esp. in the legal words of command es and skal (yet seldom in plur.): erat in the dictatorial phrases, erat skyldr (skylt), non esto obligatus; erat landeigandi skyldr, Grág. (Kb.) i. 17; erat hinn skyldr, 21; yngri maðr era skyldr at fasta, 35; enda erat honum þá skylt at …, 48; erat þat sakar spell, 127; era hinn þá skyldr at lýsa, 154; erat hann framar skyldr sakráða, 216; ok erat hann skyldr at ábyrgjask þat fé, 238; ok erat hann skyldr, id.; ok erat sakar aðili ella skyldr, ii. 74; erat hinn skyldr við at taka, 142; erat manni skylt at taka búfé, 143; enda erat heimting til fjár þess, 169; era hann þá skyldr at taka við í öðru fé nema hann vili, 209; ok erat þeim skylt at tíunda fé sitt, 211; ok erat hann skyldr at gjalda tíund af því, 212; erat kirkjudrottinn þá skyldr, 228; ef hann erat landeigandi, i. 136. Skalat: skalat maðr eiga fó óborit, i. 23; skalat homum þat verða optar en um siun, 55; skalat maðr ryðja við sjálfan sik, 62; skalat hann þat svá dvelja, 68; skalat hann til véfangs ganga, 71; skalat aðilja í stefnuvætti hafa, 127; ok skala hann gjalda fyrir þat, 135; ok skalat hann með sök fara, 171; enda skalat hann fleirum baugum bœta, 199; skalat hann skilja félagit, 240; skalat hann meiri skuld eiga en, ii. 4; skalat þeim meðan á brott skipta, 5; skalat hann lögvillr verða, svá, 34; skalat hon at heldr varðveita þat fé, 59; í skalat enn sami maðr þar lengr vera, 71; ok skala honum bæta þat, 79; skalat fyl telja, 89; skalat hann banna fiskför, 123; skalat hann lóga fé því á engi veg, 158; skalat drepa þá menn, 167; skalat svá skipta manneldi, 173; skalat maðr reiðast við fjórðungi vísu, 183. Plur.: skolut menn andvitni bera ok hér á þingi, i. 68; skolut mál hans standast, 71; skolut þeir færi til vefangs ganga en, 75, etc. etc. Other instances are rare: tekrat þar fé er eigi er til (a proverb), i. 9; ok um telrat þat til sakbóta, ok of telrat þá til sakbóta ( it does not count), 178; ef hann villat ( will not) lýsa sár sitt, 51; ok ræðrat hann öðrum mönnum á hendr þann úmaga, 248; ræðrat sá sínum ómögum á hendr, ii. 18; verðrat honum at sakarspelli and verðrat honum þat at s., i. 63; verðrat honum þat at sakarvörn, 149; kömrat hann öðru við, ii. 141; þarfat hann bíða til þess, i. 70; ok skilrat hann frá aðra aura, ii. 141, i. 136. Reflexive form: kömskat hann til heimtingar um þat fé, he loses the claim to the money, ii. 180, etc. All these instances are taken from the Kb. (Ed. 1853). Remarkable is also the ambiguity in the oath of Glum (see Sir Edm. Head, Viga-Glum, pp. 102, 103, note, I. c.), who, instead of the plain common formal oath—vask-at-ek þar, vák-at-ek þar, rauðk-at-ek þar odd ok egg—said, vask at þar, vák at þar, rauðk at þar. He inverted the sense by dropping the intermediate pronominal ek between the verb and þar, and pronouncing ‒ ‒́ instead of ‒́ ⏑. It further occurs in some few proverbs: varat af vöru, sleikði um þvöru, Fs. 159; veldrat sá er varir, Nj. 61 (now commonly ekki veldr sá er v., so in Grett.); erat héra at borgnara þótt hœna beri skjöld, Fms. vii. 116; era hlums vant kvað refr, dró hörpu á ísi, 19: also in some phrases, referred to as verba ipsissima from the heathen age—erat vinum líft Ingimundar, Fs. 39; erat sjá draumr minni, Ld. 128. Thorodd employs it twice or thrice: því at ek sékk-a þess meiri þörf, because í do not see any more reason for this, Skálda 167; kannka ek til þess meiri ráð en lítil, I do not know, id.; mona ( will not) mín móna ( my mammy) við mik göra verst hjóna, 163. In sacred translations of the 12th century it occurs now and then. In the Homilies and Dialogues of Gregory the Great: monatþu í því flóði verða, thou shalt not; esa þat undarligt þótt, it is not to be wondered at; hann máttia sofna, he could not sleep; moncaþ ek banna, I shall not mind, Greg. 51, 53; vasal kall heyrt á strætum, was not, Post. 645. 84; nú mona fríðir menn hér koma, Niðrst. 623. 7. In later writers as an archaism; a few times in the Al. (MS. A. M. 519), 3, 5, 6, 44, 108; and about as many times in the MS. Eirspennill (A. M. 47, fol.) [Etymon uncertain; that at is the right form may be inferred from the assimilation in at-tu, and the anastrophe in t, though the reason for the frequent dropping of the t is still unexplained. The coincidence with the Scottish dinna, canna is quite accidental.]

(en, et), the oldest form of the def. art., = inn, hinn.

1) yet, still (hann er enn ungr ok bernskr);

2) with compar., enn betri, verri, still better, worse.

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art. the, = hinn.

v. en.

I) (older form es), rel. part. in old poems and in law phrases ‘es’ is suffixed to a demonstrative or interrogative word, pron. or adv., as s: sás, sús, þats, þeims, þærs; þars, þás, þegars, síðans, hveims, hvars, &c., = sá es, sú es, þar es, þá es, &c.

I. used as a rel. pron., indecl., who, which, that;

1) Mörðr hét maðr, er (nom.) kallaðr var gígja;

grös fögr, er (acc.) hón hafði í hendi;

aðra hluti þá, er (gen.) menn vildu visir verða;

þann einn son, er (dat.) hann ann lítit;

2) with a prep. placed at the end of the sentence;

land, er hann kom frá, the land he came from;

jötunn, er ór steini var höfuðit á (viz. honum), whose head was of stone;

3) ellipt., the prep. being understood;

ór þeim ættum, er mér þóttu fuglarnir fljúga (viz. ór), from the quarter that I thought the birds flew from;

þeir hafa nú látit líf sitt, er mér þykkir eigi vert at lifa (viz. eptir), whom I think it is not worth while to outlive;

4) a personal or demonstr. pron. may be added to the rel. part., er þú, er þik; er hann, er hón, er hana, er hans, er hennar, er þeim, er þeiri, er þeira, etc.;

œrr ertu, Loki, er þú (who) yðra telr ljóta leiðstafi;

sá maðr, er hann vill, that man who wishes;

nema ein Goðrún, er hón æva grét, who never wept;

ekkja heitir sú, er búandi hennar (whose husband) varð sóttdauðr;

þann konung, er undir honum eru skatt-konungar, that king under whom are tributary kings;

5) in the fourteenth century added to the int. pron., hverr;

þat herbergi, í hverju er hann ( in which = er hann í því) hefir sitt ráð ok ræðr;

II. as a conj. and adv.

1) local, er, þar er, there where;

hann sá á eldinum fölskann, er netit hafði brunnit, where the net had been burnt;

Ó. gekk þar til, er H. lá, to the spot where H. lay;

2) of time, er, þá er, when;

ok er, and when;

en er, but when;

þar til er, until;

í því er, just when;

eptir (þat) er, when;

þegar er, as soon as (þegar er lýsti, stóð konungr upp);

síðan er, since;

meðan er, while;

næst er vér kómum, next when we came;

þá lét í hamrinum, sem er reið gengr, as when it thunders;

3) = at, that;

ok fannst þat á öllu, er hón þóttist vargefin, that she thought she was thrown away;

ek em þess sæll, er okkart félag sleit, I am happy that;

skyldi fara fyrst leyniliga, en þó kom þar, er allir vissu, but it came to this, that every one knew of it.

II) from vera.

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pl., and it, dual, spelt ier, Ó. H. 147 (twice), 205, 216 (twice), 227; [Goth. jus = ὑμεις; A. S. ge; Engl. ye, you; Germ. ihr; Swed.-Dan. I]:—ye, you. That ér and not þér is the old form is clear from the alliteration of old poems and the spelling of old MSS.: allit., ér munuð allir eiða vinna, Skv. 1. 37; it (σφώ) munut alla eiða vinna, 31; hlaðit ér jarlar eiki-köstinn, Gh. 20; lífit einir ér þátta ættar minnar, Hðm. 4; æðra óðal en ér hafit, Rm. 45 (MS. wrongly þér); ér sjáið undir stórar yðvars Græðara blæða, Lb. 44 (a poem of the beginning of the 13th century). It is often spelt so in Kb. of Sæm.; hvers bíðit ér, Hkv. 2. 4; þó þykkisk ér, Skv. 3. 36; börðusk ér bræðr ungir, Am. 93; urðu-a it glíkir, Gh. 3; ef it, id.; en ér heyrt hafit, Hým. 38; þá er ( when) ér, ye, Ls. 51; er it heim komit, Skv. 1. 42: ér knáttuð, Edda 103 (in a verse): in very old MSS. (12th century) no other form was ever used, e. g. er it, 623. 24: þat er ér ( that which ye) heyrit, 656 A. 2. 15; ér bræðr …, mínnisk ér, ye brethren, remember ye, 7; treystisk ér, 623. 32; hræðisk eigi ér, 48. In MSS. of the middle of the 13th century the old form still occurs, e. g. Ó. H., ér hafit, 52; ér skolu, 216; þegar er ér komit, so soon as ye come, 67; sem ér mynit, 119; ér hafit, 141; til hvers er ér erot, that ye are, 151; ef ér vilit heldr, 166; ér erot allir, ye are all, 193; sem ér kunnut, 196; sem ier vilit, 205; sem ér vitoð, as ye know, 165; ef ér vilit, 208; þeim er ér sendoð, those that ye sent, 211: the Heiðarv. S. (MS. of the same time)—unz ér, (Ísl. ii.) 333: ef ér þurfut, 345; er it farit, 346 (twice); allz ér erut, id.; er ér komið, as ye come, id.; en ér sex, but ye six, 347; ok ér, and ye, 361; ér hafit þrásamliga, 363; eða it feðgar, 364: Jómsvík. S.—ef ér, (Fms. xi.) 115, 123: Mork. 9, 63, 70, 98, 103, 106, passim. It even occurs now and then in Njála (Arna-Magn. 468)—ér erut, ye are, 223; hverrar liðveizlu ér þykkisk mest þurfa, 227: ér ertuð hann, Skálda 171; Farið-a ér, fare ye not, Hkr. i. (in a verse). It is still more freq. after a dental ð, t, þ; in old MSS. that give þ for ð it runs thus—vitoþ ér, hafiþ ér, skoluþ ér, meguþ er, lifiþ ér, etc., wot ye, have ye, shall ye, may ye, live ye, etc.; hence originates by way of diæresis the regular Icel. form þér, common both to old and mod. writers; vide þú, where the other forms will be explained.

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(held; hélt, héldum; haldinn), v.

I. with dat.

1) to hold fast (Gunnarr var kyrr svá at honum hélt einn maðr);

to keep back, restrain (Hrafn fekk eigi haldit henni heima);

2) to withhold (héldu bœndrgjaldinu);

3) to keep, retain (þú skalt jafhan þessu sæti halda);

to preserve (halda virðingu sinni, lífi ok limum);

halda vöku sinni, to keep oneself awake;

4) to hold, keep one’s stock;

also ellipt. (vetr var illr ok héldu menn illa);

5) phrases, halda njósnum, to keep watch, to spy (= halda njósnum til um e-t);

halda (hendi) fyrir auga, to hold (the hand) before the eyes, shade the eyes;

halda hendi yfir e-m, to protect one;

6) to hold, stand, steer, ellipt., þeir héldu aptr (held back again) um haustit;

þeir héldu út eptir fírði, they stood out the firth;

halda heim, to steer homewards;

7) to graze, put in the field (halda fé til haga);

8) impers. to continue, last (hélt því lengi um vetrinn);

II. with acc.

1) to hold in possession, a fief, land, estate (þeir héldu alla hina beztu staði með sjónum);

2) to hold, keep, observe, a feast, holiday (í hvers minning heldr þú þenna. dag?);

3) to keep (halda orð sín, eið, sættir, frið);

to observe (halda guðs lög ok landsins);

4) to uphold, maintain, support (halda vini sína, halda e-n til ríkis);

5) halda sik, to comport oneself (kunna halda sik með hófi);

halda sik ríkmannliga, to fare sumptuously;

halda sik aptr af e-u, to abstain from;

6) to hold, consider, deem (hón hélt engan hans jafningja);

7) to hold, keep up;

halda varnir, to keep up a defence;

halda vörð, to keep watch;

8) to hold, compel, bind (heldr mik þá ekki til útanferðar);

þó heldr þik várkunn til at leita á, thou hast some excuse for trying;

III. with preps.:

halda á e-u, to hold, wield in the hand (halda á sverði);

to hold to a thing, go on with it, be busy about (halda á drykkju, á ferð sinni, á sýslu);

halda e-t af e-m, to hold (land, office) from or of one (þeir er höfðu haldið land af Danakonungi);

halda mikit af e-m, to make much of one;

halda eptir e-m, to pursue one;

halda e-u eptir, to keep back;

halda sik frá e-u, to keep oneself back from, refrain from;

halda e-u fram, to uphold, support;

halda e-u fyrir e-u, to withhold from one;

to protect against (héldu engar grindr fénu fyrir birninum);

halda e-n fyrir e-t, to hold, consider one to be so and so (síðan hélt konungr Erling fyrir tryggvan vin);

halda í e-t, to hold fast, grasp (þú skalt halda í hurðarhringinn);

halda til e-s, to be the cause of, be conducive to;

heldr þar margt til þess, there are many reasons for this;

hélt til þess (conduced to it) góðgirni hans;

halda til e-s, to be bent on, fond of (halda mjök til skarts, til gleði);

halda til jafns við e-n, to bear up against one, to be a match for one;

halda um e-t, to grasp with the hand (= halda hendi um e-t);

halda barni undir skírn, to hold at baptism;

halda e-u upp, to hold aloft, lift (halda upp höndum);

halda upp árum, to hold up the oars, cease pulling;

to uphold, maintain, support (halda upp hofum, kristninni);

to keep going (halda upp bardaga);

to discharge (halda upp kostnaði, bótum);

halda upp bœnum fyrir e-m, to pray for one;

halda e-u við, to maintain a thing;

halda við e-m, to stand against (hvar sem harm kom fram, hélt ekki við honum);

impers. to be on the point of;

hélt þá við atgöngu (acc.), they were near coming to fight;

heldr nú við hót, it is little short of threats;

IV. refl., haldast.

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pret. hélt (= Goth. haihald), 2nd pérs. hélt, mod. hélzt, pl. héldum; pres. held, pl. höldum; pret. subj. héldi; part. haldinn; imperat. hald and haltú: [Ulf. haldan = βόσκειν, ποιμαίνειν, whereas he renders to keep, hold by other words; Hel. haldan = alere, fovere, colere, which thus seems to be the primitive sense of the word, and to be akin to Lat. cŏlo; again, A. S. healdan, Engl. hold, O. H. G. haltan, Germ. halten, Swed. hålla, halda, Dan. holde, are all of them used in a more general sense]:—to hold.

A. WITH DAT. to hold to:

I. to hold fast by; with the notion of restraint or force, tók Gizurr förunaut Ögmundar ok hélt honum, Sturl. i. 150; Gunnarr var kyrr svá at honum hélt einn maðr, Nj. 92; ef maðr heldr manni …, varðar fjörbaugs-garð, Grág. ii. 110; h. e-m undir drep, 17; h. skipum ( to grapple the ships) með stafnljám, Fms. ii. 315: to keep back, Hrafn fékk eigi haldit henni heima þar, Ísl. ii. 249; ok halda þeim veðr í enni sömu höfn, Grág. i. 92; h. (sér) í e-t, to hold oneself fast by, grasp, þú skalt h. í hurðar-hringinn, Dropl. 29; heldr sér í faxit, Sd. 177.

β. so in the phrases, halda barni (manni) undir skírn, vatn, primsignan, biskups hönd, eccl. to hold a bairn ( man) at baptism, prima signatio, confirmation, Grág. i. 29; h. vatni (tárum), to hold one’s tears, 623. 56, Fms. viii. 232, vi. (in a verse); halda munni, to hold one’s tongue, be silent, vii. 227; halda tungu sinni, Þórð.

2. to withhold; þá megu þeir h. tíundum hans í móti, K. Þ. K. 62; h. vætti, Grág. i. 42; h. gögnum, 56; ef goði heldr tylftar-kvið, er hann heldr kviðnum, 58; halda matinum fyrir honum, 47; h. sköttum fyrir e-m, Nj. 8; h. skógar-manni fyrir e-m, Finnb. 334; um þat er hann hefir konunni haldit, Grág. i. 313; héldu bændr gjaldinu, Fms. vii. 302; hélt ek því (i. e. the money) fyrir honum, i. e. paid it not, Ísl. ii. 244.

II. to hold, of a rope or the like; sá maðr hugði h. mundu er festi, … ok h. mundu í slíku veðri, Grág. ii. 361; reip þau tíu er tveggja manna afli haldi hvert, id.; skal hann svá göra at haldi fyrir fyrnsku, 268.

β. to hold, hold out, last; optast halda þar íllviðri litla hríð, Sks. 212; sunnudags-helgi ríss upp á laugardegi, ok heldr ( lasts) til mánadags, N. G. L. i. 138.

III. to keep, retain, Germ. behalten; fá-ein skip héldu seglum sinum, Fms. x. 143; þú skalt jafnan þessu sæti h., Nj. 6; h. bústað sínum, Ld. 26; h. ríki sínu, Al. 58, Fms. i. 13; h. öllum Noregi, viii. 155; h. frelsi ok eignum, vi. 40; h. hlut sínum, to uphold one’s right, Eg. passim; halt sömum vinum sem ek hefi haft, Fas. i. 375; h. hreinleik sínum, Al. 58.

β. to hold, keep safe, preserve; h. hlut sínum, Ld. 54; h. heilsu, Grág. i. 145; h. virðingu sinni, Ld. 16; þá heldr hann kosti sínum, Grág. ii. 209; h. tíma ( honour) sínum, Al. 59; h. lífi ok limum, Eg. 89; h. lífinu, Nj. 111; h. trúnaði sínum, 109; vináttu sinni, Ld. 200; einorð sinni, Fb. ii. 265; h. sér réttum, to keep oneself right, Ld. 158; h. e-m heilum, Odd. 30; h. ríki fyrir e-m, Fms. v. 279; h. manna-forræði fyrir e-m, Hrafn. 19; h. réttu máli fyrir e-m, Fms. vii. 64.

2. to continue to keep, keep all along; h. teknum hætti, Fms. iv. 254; h. vöku, to keep oneself awake, Ld. 152; but h. vöku fyrir e-m, to keep another awake; halda sýslu sinni, Fs. 36; h. högum, to keep grazing, Eb. 104, Ld. 148.

3. to hold, keep one’s stock; ellipt., vetr var íllr ok héldu menn ílla, the winter was cold and it was ill to keep live stock, Sturl. ii. 143, (cp. fjár-höld); hann hélt vel svá at nær lifði hvat-vetna, Hrafn. 22: metaph., ílla hefir þinn faðir þá haldit, Fms. xi. 144; öld hefir ílla haldit, the people have had a sad loss, vi. (in a verse); h. fangi, and also ellipt. halda, of sheep and cattle, opp. to ‘to go back.’

4. phrases, halda njósnum, to keep watch, to spy, Fms. viii. 146, Nj. 113; hann hélt njósnum til Önundar, Landn. 287; hélt konungr njósnum til, ef …, Fms. vii. 128; hann skyldi h. njósnum til ok gera orð konungi, i. 54; h. njósnum til um e-t, iv. 119, Nj. 93; halda njósn (sing.) um skip þat, Eg. 74; þér haldit njósnum nær færi gefr á Arnkatli, Eb. 186; hann lét h. njósnum uppi á landi, Fms. vii. 316; hann hélt fréttum til, ef …, iv. 349.

β. halda (hendi) fyrir auga, to hold ( the hand) before the eyes, shade the eyes, Nj. 132, Fms. v. 196; h. fyrir munn e-m, to hold ( the hand) over one’s mouth; h. hendi yfir e-m, to hold the hand over one, protect one, Nj. 266, Fbr. 22, Korm.; h. hendi um háls e-m, to clasp the hands around one’s neck, Fms. i. 9; h. skildi fyrir e-n, to hold the shield for one as a second in a duel, Ísl. ii. 257, passim; h. e-m til náms, to hold one to the book, make one study, K. Þ. K. 56; h. e-m til virðingar, Ld. 98.

IV. ellipt. (liði, skipi, för, stefnu, etc. understood), to hold, stand in a certain direction, esp. as a naut. term; þeir héldu aptr ( stood back again) um haustið, Eg. 69; treystisk hann eigi á haf at halda, Eb. 6; héldu þeir vestr um haf, id.; stigu þeir á skip sín, ok héldu út ( stood out) eptir firði, Fms. i. 63; þeir héldu þat sama sumar til Íslands, Ld. 6; hann hélt upp eptir hinni eystri kvísl, Fms. vii. 55; h. heim, to hold one’s course, stand homewards, Odd. 30; h. á braut, Grág. i. 92; Hrútr hélt suðr til Eyrar-sunds, Nj. 8; h. eptir e-m, to pursue one, 7; h. undan, to fly, Fms. x. 396, Nj. 98 (on land); kom móti þeim sunnan-veðr með myrkri, ok urðu þeir fyrir at h., to lay one’s course for the wind, A. A. 271; h. útleið, to stand on the outer tack, Eg. 78; h. til, to turn against, attack (on sea), Fms. xi. 72; hélt hann liði sínu suðr á Mæri, i. 62; þeir héldu liði sínu norðr til Þrándheims, id.; Haraldr konungr hélt norðan liði sínu, Eg. 32; héldu þeir skipi því suðr með landi, 69; skipi því lét hann halda vestr til Englands, id.; Unnr hélt skipinu í Orkneyjar, eptir þat hélt Unnr skipi sínu til Færeyja, Ld. 8.

β. to graze, put in the field, of sheep, cattle; þykkir mér þat miklu skipta at þeim sé vel til haga haldit, Eg. 714; hvert Steinarr hafði látið nautum sínum halda, 715; ok bað hann h. nautunum annan veg, 716.

γ. phrases, halda kyrru fyrir, to hold still, remain quiet, Ld. 216, Þórð. 30 new Ed., Nj. 223, 258; Hallr heldr nú til fangs ( went fishing) sem áðr, Ld. 38.

V. with prep.; halda á e-u, to hold, wield in the hand, freq. in mod. usage, h. á bók, penna, fjöðr, hníf, skærum, nál, etc.; hafði hverr þat er hélt á, Nj. 279; h. á sverði, Fb. i. 33; hann tók við öxinni ok hélt (viz. á), ok sá á, Eg. 180: to hold fast, heldr nú maðr á manni, Fas. i. 12; eigi máttu helvítis byrgi h. á honum, 656 C. 6; ef hann heldr á fénu ( withholds it), Grág. i. 427.

β. [Germ. anhalten], to hold to a thing, go on with, be busy about; h. á sýslu, to be busy, Rm. 14; h. á keri, qs. halda á drykkju, to go on drinking, carousing, Hm. 18: h. á hinni sömu bæn, Stj. 417; h. á fyrirsátrum við e-n, Þórð. 51 new Ed.; h. á búnaði sínum, Ld. 164; hélt hann þá á búnaði sínum sem skjótligast, Fms. ix. 215, x. 119, Sturl. ii. 245; þogar á bak Jólum hélt Ólafr konungr á búningi, Fms. v. 41; hann heldr nú á málinu, Nj. 259; nú heldr Þórðr á málinu ok verðr Oddný honum gipt, Bjarn. 11, Konr. (Fr.); h. á tilkalli, Fms. i. 84; h. á þessum sið, xi. 41; h. á för, to go on with one’s journey, Sighvat; gengu síðan brott ok héldu á ferð sinni, and went on their journey, Sturl.;—whence the mod. phrase, halda áfram, to go on, which seems not to occur in old writers.

2. halda e-u fram, to hold up, make much of; bróðir minn mun mér mjök hafa fram haldit fyrir ástar sakir, Nj. 3.

β. to hold on doing, (hence fram-hald, continuation); halda fram upp-teknu efni, Fms. i. 263; slíku hélt hann fram meðan hann lifði, iv. 254; hélt hann (fram) teknum hætti um veizlurnar, id., Grett. 14.

3. halda saman, to hold together, Eluc. 6, Fms. vii. 140, Rb. 340.

4. halda e-u upp, to hold aloft, Yngvarr hélt upp vísu þeirri, Eg. 152; steinninn heldr upp annarr öðrum, Rb. 390; h. upp árum, to hold up the oars, cease pulling, Fas. ii. 517, N. G. L. i. 65.

β. to uphold, maintain, support; halda upp hofi, Landn. 64, Eb. 24; h. upp hofum ok efla blót, Fms. i. 91; h. upp kirkju, K. Þ. K. 52; h. upp Kristninni, Fms. i. 32: to keep going, h. upp bardaga, orrostu, xi. 66, 188, 340.

γ. to discharge; h. upp féráns-dómi, Grág. i. 120; h. upp lögskilum, 145; h. upp svörum, Ó. H. 174; h. upp kostnaði, Eg. 77; h. upp gjaldi, Grág. i. 384; gjöldum, Fms. i. 81; h. upp bót, Grág. ii. 182; bótum, Eb. 100, 162, N. G. L. i. 311; ef hann heldr upp yfirbót ( penance) þeirri, Hom. 70; h. upp bænum fyrir e-m, to pray for one, Fms. xi. 271; hélt hann því vel upp sem vera átti, discharged it well, x. 93.

δ. halda sér vel upp, to hold oneself well up, Sturl.

ε. metaph., skal-at hann lögvillr verða, svá at honum haldi þat uppi (i. e. went unpunished), Grág. i. 316; ok heldr honum þat uppi ( that will save him), ef hann er rétt-hafi at orðinn, ii. 242.

5. halda e-u við, to maintain a thing, Hkr. i. 195.

VI. impers.,

1. to continue, last; hélt því nokkura stund dags, Fms. x. 125: hélt því lengi um vetrinn, Ld. 288; regni hélt haustnótt gegnum, Fms. vi. 83.

2. with prep. við, to be on the brink of; hélt þá við atgöngu, they were within a hair’s breadth of coming to fight, Hkr. i. 143; hélt þá við vandræði, Fms. ix. 434; heldr við bardaga, vi. 8; heldr nú við hót, it is little short of a threat, i. 305; hélt við blót, x. 106; ok hélt við flótta, i. 174; hélt við meiðingar, Nj. 21, Sd. 143; henni hélt við, at hón mundi drepa hana, Nj. 118; þeim hélt við váða sjálfan, Ó. H. 168; konungi hélt við, hvárt hann mundi standask eðr eigi, Mag. 100; honum hélt við kafnan, Bs. i. 18; hélt þó við at þeir mundi berjask, Fs. 53.

B. WITH ACC. to hold:

I. to hold in possession, a fief, land, estate, office, or the like; þeir héldu alla hina beztu staði með sjónum, Fms. xi. 131; þeir er áðr höfðu haldit land af Dana-konungi, i. 232; Eirekr skyldi h. land af Aðalsteini konungi, 23; Vemundr hélt Firða-fylki, Eg. 12; hélt hann þat ríki undir Knút konungi, Ísl. ii. 242; í þeirri borg héldu þeir langfeðgar fimmtán konungdóma, Ver. 37; h. land sem leigu-land, Grág. ii. 278; konungrinn heldr af Guði nafnit, Sks. 599 B; prestar er kirkjur halda, H. E. i. 486; sá prestr er heldr Pétrs-kirkju, N. G. L. i. 312; presta þeirra er kirkju halda, 346; skal sá maðr ráða er kirkju heldr, K. Þ. K. 60; Ólafs kirkju þá er Væringjar halda (the parish church of W.), Hkr. iii. 408.

2. halda ábyrgju, ábyrgð á e-n, to have the responsibility of a thing, Grág. ii. 399, K. Þ. K. 66; h. grip, to be in the possession of, Grág. i. 438, ii. 190; h. skóla, to keep a school, Mar.; h. fylgð, to perform, Fms. ix. 279; eiga vandræði at h., to be in a strait, difficulty, Eb. 108.

II. to hold, keep, observe, a feast, holiday, or the like; halda kirkju-dag, K. Þ. K. 42; í hvers minning heldr þú þenna dag? Nj. 157; h. helgan þvátt-dag hvern, Pr. 437; h. helga daga, Sl.; h. Jóla-dag, Páska, Hvíta-sunnu, Rb. 134; minnstú að h. helgan hvíldar-daginn Drottins Guðs þíns (the Fourth Commandment in the Icel. version); h. heilagt, to keep holiday, Dipl. ii. 14; í dag þá hátíð höldum vér til himna sté vor Herra, Hólabók 54; er Júdar héldu hátíðligt, Stj. 110; (hence forn-haldinn, time-honoured): of the day-marks (vide dagr, p. 95), er þaðan haldinn miðr-morgin, Hrafn. 9.

2. to keep; halda orð sín, to keep one’s word, Fms. x. 95; höldum öll einka-mál vár, vii. 305; h. sættir, Nj. 57; gerðú svá vel, félagi, at þú halt vel sætt þessa, 111, Sturl. iii. 153, Fs. 65, Gullþ. 20; hann kvaðsk vilja hafa svardaga af þeim ok festu, at halda, Nj. 164; h. eið, Sturl. iii. 153; h. frið, to keep peace, Greg. 7; ef þú vilt nokkura hluti eigi h. þá er ek hefi á lagt við þik, Eg. 738: to observe faith, law, rite, etc., halda átrúnað, Fms. i. 34, x. 277; h. Guðs lög ok landsins, vii. 305; h. lands lög, viii. 155; h. ein lög, 625. 52; hafa ok halda þau lög, Fms. i. 34; h. Kristilega trú, K. Á. 74; h. mál (orð) e-s, Greg. 17; h. alla hluti með athugasamlegu minni, Sks. 439.

3. to keep, tend; halda geitr, Hkv. 2. 20 (exactly as in Gothic).

III. to uphold, maintain, support; þykkir mér þér sé nú ísjár-vert, hvárt þú munt fá haldit þik eðr eigi, Nj. 155; munu vér þó ekki einhlitir at h. oss eptir þessi verk, Háv. 50; at hón mætti með valdi h. sik ok menn sína, Fas. i. 375; þat væri nokkurr várkunn, at þú héldir frænda þinn eðr fóstbróður, en þetta er alls engi (at) halda útlaga konungs, Ó. H. 145; enda ætla ek lítinn viljann til at h. vini þína, Fms. vii. 244; því at Eysteinn konungr kenndi Inga konungi, at hann héldi þá menn, 248; ef þú heldr hann ( upholdest him) til þess at ganga á vini mína, Eg. 339; viljum vér allir fylgja þér ok þik til konungs halda, Fms. i. 34; Stephanus skyldi h. hann til laga ok réttinda, Sks. 653; h. e-n til ríkis, Fb. i. 236; vinsæld föður hans hélt hann mest til alþýðu vináttu, Fms. vii. 175; þeir sem upp h. ( sustain) þenna líkama, Anecd. 4.

β. phrases, halda e-m kost, borð, to keep at board, entertain, Fms. ix. 220, x. 105, 146, Nj. 6; or, halda e-n at klæðum ok drykk, Ó. H. 69; h. stríð, bellum gerere (not class.), Fms. x. 51; h. úfrið, Fas. ii. 539.

2. halda sik, to comfort oneself, Sks. 281, Hom. 29; kunna sik með hófi at h., Sturl. iii. 108; h. sik ríkmannliga, to fare sumptuously, Ld. 234; hann hélt betr húskarla sína en aðrir, Fms. vii. 242; h. mjök til skarts, to dress fine, Ld. 196; þar var Hrefna ok hélt allmjök til skarts, id.; hann var hægr hvers-dagliga, ok hélt mjök til gleði, Sturl. iii. 123; hélt hann hér mjök til vinsælda ok virðinga, he enjoyed much popularity and fame, Ld. 298.

β. ellipt. (sik understood), at h. til jafns við e-n, to bear up against one, to be a match for one, Ld. 40; ef þér hefir eigi til þess hug eðr afl at h. til jafns við e-n húskarl Þorsteins, Eg. 714; h. til fullnaðar, to stand on one’s full rights; ef þær taka eigi fullrétti, eðr h. eigi til fullnaðar, Grág. ii. 109; h. fullara, to hold one above other men, Ó. H. (in a verse); lét konungr þá h. mjök til ( make great preparations) at syngja messu hátíðliga, Hkr. i. 287.

3. to hold forth, put forward; at þeim inyiidi þungbýlt vera í nánd honum, ef þeir héldi nokkurn annan fyrir betra mann en hann, Ld. 26; síðan hélt konungr Erling fyrir tryggvan mann, Fms. ix. 399.

β. to hold, deem, be of opinion; the old writers seem not to use the word exactly in this sense, but near to it come such phrases as, hón hélt engan hans jafningja innan hirðar hvárki í orðum né öðrum hlutum, i. e. she held him to be above all men, Ld. 60; halda menn hann fyrir konung, Fb. i. 216; still closer, halda menn at Oddný sé nú betr gipt, Bjarn. 12 (but only preserved in a paper MS.): this sense is very freq. in mod. usage, to hold, mean, eg held það; eg held ekki, I think not; (hence hald, opinion.)

γ. phrases, halda mikit upp á e-n, to hold one in much esteem, love, Stj. 33; halda af e-m, id., Fas. i. 458, ii. 63, 200, iii. 520, esp. freq. in mod. usage, (upp-á-hald, af-hald, esteem.)

4. to hold on, keep up; halda varnir, to keep up a defence, Sks. 583; halda vörð, to keep watch, Eg. 120, Grág. i. 32, 264; halda njósn, Eg. 72, 74, Fms. xi. 46; halda tal af e-m, to speak, communicate with one, ii. 88.

5. to hold, be valid, be in force, a law term; á sú sekt öll at halda, Grág. i. 89; á þat at h. allt er þeir urðu á sáttir, 86; enda á þat at h. með þeim síðan, ii. 336.

IV. to hold, compel, bind (with the notion of obligation or duty); heldr mik þá ekki til utan-ferðar, Nj. 112; þó heldr þik várkunn til at leita á, i. e. thou art excused, thou hast some excuse in trying, 21; var auðsætt hvat til hélt um sættir, Bjarn. 70; þik heldr eigi hér svá mart, at þú megir eigi vel bægja héraðs-vist þinni, Eb. 252; þar mælir þú þar, er þik heldr várkunn til at mæla, Nj. 227; ek mun vera vinr hans, ok alla þá, er at mínum orðum láta, halda til vináttu við hann, i. e. I will be his friend, and all those who lend ear to my words I will hold to friendship with him, Eg. 18.

2. halda sik frá e-u, to keep oneself from, to refrain from a thing, Sks. 276 B; h. sik frá munaðlífi, Post. 656 A. ii. 16, Hom. 53, 135; h. sik aptr af e-u, to abstain from, Hkr. i. 512.

V. absol. to be the cause of, be conducive to a thing; heldr þar margt til þess, there are many reasons for this, Nj. 192; vildim vér vita hvat til heldr, Fms. vii. 106; en hann vissi eigi hvat til hafði haldit, er hann kom eigi, xi. 11; margir hlutir héldu til þess, Eg. 38; þat hélt til þess, at …, Al. 94; hélt til þess ( conduced to it) góðgirnd hans, stórmennska ok vitsmunir, Fs. 29; hefir þat mjök til haldit, er ek hefi svá lengi dvalizt, at ek ætlaða, Ld. 32; hann lét bæði til h. vingan ok mágsemd, Fs. 24; heldr þat mest til at þá var komit útfall sjávar, Ld. 56; hélt þat mest til þess, at hann gafsk bezt í öllum mannraunum, 60; þat eitt hélt til, at þeir fóru eigi málum á hendr Þórði, at þeir höfðu eigi styrk til, 138.

VI. to hold, comprise; sólar-öld heldr tuttugu ok átta ár, Rb. 510; h. skor (of weight), Grág. i. 500.

☞ In some instances the use of dat. and acc. wavers, e. g. halda húsum, to keep up the houses, Grág. ii. 278, 335; h. hliði, to keep the gate in repair, 265; but halda hlið (acc.), 332: to keep, observe, h. lögum, griðum, boðorðum, Glúm. 333, Grág. i. 357, ii. 166, 623. 28; hélt hann þessu sumu, Fms. x. 416 (Ágrip); halda ílla orðum, vii. (in a verse); þeir er því þingi áttu at h., Glúm. 386; h. sáttum, St. 17; h. eiðum, Bkv. 18; Gizuri þótti biskup h. ríkt ( protect strongly) brennu-mönnum, Sturl. i. 201 C; Guð er sínum skepnum heldr (keeps, protects) ok geymir, Mar.; þá hélt engi kirkju mönnum, … kept no man safe, Fms. ix. 508; h. njósn (acc.) um e-t, Eg. 74; h. til njósn, 72; njósnir, Fms. xi. 46. In most of these instances the acc. is the correct case, and the dat. is due either to careless transcribers or incorrect speaking: in some instances an enclitic um has been taken for a dative inflexion, thus e. g. sáttum haldi in Stor. l. c. is to be restored to sátt um haldi; eiðum haldit in Bkv. l. c. to eið (for eiða) um haldit; in others the prep. um has caused the confusion, as ‘halda njósn um at’ has been changed into halda njósnum at. But in the main the distinction between the use of dat. and acc. is fixed even at the present time: the acc. seems to represent the more primitive usage of this verb, the dat. the secondary.

C. REFLEX.:

I. to hold oneself, to stay; héldusk þeir þá ekki fyrir norðan Stað, Fms. i. 63; mátti hann eigi þar haldask, Landn. 246; h. á baki, to keep oneself on horseback, keep one’s seat, Grág. ii. 95; munu þeir skamma stund hér við haldask, Nj. 247: to be kept, remain, þá skal hann h. með Helju, Edda 39: to resist, megu vér ekki við h. fyrir ofreflis-mönnum þessum, Nj. 254; hélzk þá ekki við honum, Eg. 289; mann er svá hefir haldisk við höfuð-syndum, Hom. 157.

β. to hold out, last, continue; ok hélzk ferillinn, Eg. 579; hélzk undr þetta allt til dags, Nj. 272 (twice); hélzk konungdómr í kyni hans, Rb. 394; lengi síðan hélzk bruna-öld með Svíum, Yngl. S.; lengi hélzk þat í ætt þeirri, at …, Eg. 770; hélzk vinátta með þeim, Nj. 66; þat hefir enn haldizk í ætt hans, Fms. iv. 8; ok hefir þat haldizk ( it has continued to be so) síðan er ek hefi hann séð, Ld. 174; honum haldisk (imperat.) sigr ok langt líf, Ver. 57; betr þætti mér, at hún héldisk þér, that it (the luck) would hold out for thee, Fb. ii. 74; ef hann helzk í útrú sinni, if he perseveres in his untruth, 623. 26.

γ. to be kept safe and sound; menn allir héldusk ( all bands were saved) ok svá fé, Ld. 8, Fs. 143; þar héldusk menn allir ok mestr hluti fjár, Eg. 405; hafði fé vel haldizk, has been well kept, done well, Ld. 34.

δ. to be valid, stand; eigu þau handsöl hennar at haldask, Grág. i. 334; engi má haldask dómr hans, Edda 15; skyldu þau (the truce) haldask um þingit, Nj. 348.

2. impers., mér helzk, e-m helzk vel, ílla, á e-u, to have a good hold, have luck with a thing; mér helzk lítt á sauða-mönnum, Grett. 110 A.

3. recipr., haldask á, to hold or pull one against another, wrestle, (hence á-höld); var sagt Magnúsi, at þeir héldisk á úti, that they were fighting outside, Sturl. ii. 44.

II. part. pass. haldinn, [Dan. holden], so ‘holden,’ in such and such a state; vel haldinn, in good condition, faring well, well to do, Eg. 20, 234; hugðusk þar ok haldnir ( safe) mundu vera, Ver. 34; þungliga h., very sick, Eg. 565, Hkr. ii. 199; vel haldinn, doing well; tak heldr annat fé, svá mikit, at þú þykisk vel haldinn af, i. e. fully satisfied, having got full redress, Boll. 350; Sveinn sagði, at hann vill hafa tvá hluti fjárins, Hrani sagðisk ekki af því haldinn ( satisfied) vera, Fms. iv. 31: in the phrase, heilu ok höldnu, safe and sound, Bs. i. 191, Fms. xi. 376, Hkr. i. 319; með höldnu hljóði, preserving the sound, Skálda 175.

2. ok mun þykkja sér misboðit ef þú ert haldinn (kept, protected), Finnb. 344.

β. kept, observed, Fms. xi. 99.

γ. held in custody, in prison, Bs. i. 419, Sturl. i. 151.

III. gerund., haldandi, holding good, valid; sá dómr er eigi haldandi, is not valid, K. Á. 304; af öllu afli er friðr haldandi, Hom. 5.

2. part. act., með upp haldandi höndum, with uplifted hands, Bs. i. 684.

n. heathen temple.

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n. [in A. S., Hel., and O. H. G. hof means a hall, Lat. aedes, (whence mod. Germ. hof = a farm, answering to Icel. bær or Norse ból,) and spec. the court or king’s household, (in the old Scandin. languages this sense is unknown); Ulf renders ναός and ἱερόν by alhs; in Danish local names -vé prevails, but in Norse and Icel. Hof still survives in many local names, Hof, Hof-garðr, Hof-staðir, Hofs-fell, Hofs-teigr, Hofs-vágr, Landn., Munch’s Norg. Beskriv.; and as the temple formed the nucleus of the old political life (see goði and goðorð), all these names throw light on the old political geography; cp. Hofland near Appleby in Engl.]:—a temple; distinction is made between hof, a temple ( a sanctuary with a roof), and hörgr, an altar, holy circle, or any roofless place of worship: passages referring to hof and worship are very numerous, e. g. for Norway, Hkr. Yngl. S. ch. 12, Hák. S. Aðalst. ch. 16, Ó. T. ch. 76 (by Odd Munk ch. 41), Ó. H. (1853) ch. 113–115, O. H. L. ch. 36, Fær. ch. 23, Nj. ch. 88, 89, Fas. i. 474 (Hervar. S.); for Iceland, Landn. 1. ch. 11, 21, 2. ch. 12, 3. ch. 16 (twice), 4. ch. 2, 6 (interesting), 7, 5. ch. 3 (p. 284), 8 (interesting), 12, Eb. ch. 3, 4, 10, Glúm. ch. 25, Harð. ch. 19, 37, Vd. ch. 15, 17, Hrafn. ch. 2, Eg. ch. 87, Gullþ. ch. 7, Vápn. pp. 10, 11, Dropl. pp. 10, 11, Kristni S. ch. 2, etc.; cp. also Vsp. 7, Vþm. 38, Hkv. Hjörv. 4: poët., orð-hof, the word’s sanctuary = the mouth, Stor.

2. a hall (as in Germ. and Saxon), Hým. 33 (απ. λεγ.)

COMPDS:

I. with gen., hofs-dyrr, n. pl. temple-doors, Fms. i. 97. hofs-eiðr, m. a temple-oath, Glúm. 388. hofs-goði, a, m. = hofgoði, Eg. 754. hofs-helgi, f. = hofhelgi. hofs-hurð, f. a temple-door ( janua), Fms. i. 302. hofs-höfðingi, a, m. a temple-lord, Post. 645. 90. hofs-mold, f. temple-earth, holy mould, see Landn. 254. hofs-teigr, m. a strip of temple-land, glebe, Landn. 241.

II. hof-garðr, m. a temple-yard, a local name, Landn. hof-goði, a, m. a temple-priest (see goði), Landn. 254, Hkr. i. 6, Eb. 12, 14, 16 new Ed. hof-grið, n. pl. asylum in a sanctuary, Landn. 80, v. l. hof-gyðja, u, f. a priestess, Vápn. 10, Landn. 265, v. l. hof-helgi, f. a temple-holiday, feast; halda h., Ísl. ii. 15: the sanctity of a hof, Bret. 38, Eg. 251. hof-prestr, m. a temple-priest, Stj. hof-staðr, m. a ‘temple-stead,’ sanctuary, Eb. 26, Fms. ii. 73. hof-tollr, m. a temple-toll, rate, Vápn. 10, Eb. 6, 12 new Ed., Bs. i. 6, Gullþ. 11, answering to the modern church-rate.

B. A court, almost solely in compds, and not earlier than the 14th century, from Romances: hof-ferð, f. pride, pomp, Bs. ii. 122. hof-ferðugr, adj. proud. hof-fólk, n. pl. courtiers, Thom. 322, 479, Grett. 161, Karl. 51, Pass. 21. 8. hof-frakt, n. pomp, Fas. i. 46, Snót 86. hof-garðr, m. a lordly mansion, Thom., Bév., Rétt. hof-list, f. pomp, Thom. 479. hof-lýðr, m. = hoffólk, Clar. hof-maðr, m. a courtier; in pl. hofmenn, lords; hertogi greifi ok aðrir hofmenn, Ann. 1303; gentry, chiefly in the ballads of the Middle Ages, Ungan leit eg hofmann, Fkv. In the old dancing parties the leader of the gentlemen was styled hofmann (cp. Germ. Hoffmann). Before dancing began, men and maids having been drawn up in two rows, he went up to the ladies, and the following dialogue ensued: Hér er Hofmann, hér eru allir Hofmanns sveinar.—Hvað vill Hofmann, hvað vilja allir Hofmanns sveinar?—Mey vill Hofmann, mey vilja allir Hofmanns sveinar. Then each dancer engaged his lady for the dance; það var hlaup, og það var hofmanns hlaup, Safn i. 689. A plain in the neighbourhood of the alþingi, where the people met, is still called Hofmanna-flöt, f. ‘Gentry’s Lea.’ hof-móðugr, adj. haughty, Pass. 18. 5. hof-tyft, f. urbanity, Clar. hof-verk, n. a great feat, Safn i. 71. hof-þénari, a, m. a court servant, Fas. iii. 408.

(-s, -ar), m. heathen place of worship, cairn or altar of stone (hörg hann mér gørði hlaðinn steinum).

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m., never f., for the form hörg (Landn. 111) is merely an error; [A. S. hearg; O. H. G. haruc]:—a heathen place of worship. Distinction is to be made between hof ( temple) and horg; the hof was a house of timber, whereas the horg was an altar of stone (the hátimbraðr in Vþm. is not literal) erected on high places, or a sacrificial cairn (like haugr), built in open air, and without images, for the horg itself was to be stained with the blood of the sacrifice; hence such phrases as, to ‘break’ the horgs, but ‘burn’ the temples. The horg worship reminds one of the worship in high places of the Bible. The notion of a ‘high place’ still remains in the popular Icel. phrase, það eru ekki uppi nema hæstu hörgar, only the highest horgs jut out, when all lies under a deep snow. In provincial Norse a dome-shaped mountain is called horg (Ivar Aasen). The worship on horgs seems to be older than that in temples, but was in after times retained along with temple worship, and then, it seems, specially reserved for the worship of the goddesses or female guardians (dísir), Hervar. S. ch. 1, Hdl. l. c., Edda l. c., cp. also Hörga-brúðr, f. the bride of the horgs, see Hölgi. Many of the old cairns and hows are no doubt horgs or high places of worship of the heathen age. A third way of worshipping is recorded, viz. a portable booth or tabernacle in which the god was carried through the land, mentioned in Tacit. Germ. ch. 40; traces of this ancient worship were still found in Sweden at the close of heathendom, see the interesting tale of Gunnar Helming in Fms. ii. 73–78.

II. references; hörg hann mér görði hlaðinn steinum, nú er grjót þat at gleri orðit, etc., Hdl. 10; hofum ok hörgum, Vþm. 38; þeir er hörg ok hof hátimbruðu, Vsp. 7; hof mun ek kjósa, hörga marga, Hkv. Hjörv. 4; hátimbraðr h., Gm. 16; hamra ok hörga, skóga, vötn ok tré, Fms. v. 239; brjóta ok brenna hof ok hörga, Fms. i. 283, ii. 41; Oddr brenndi hof ok hörga braut, Fas. ii. 288 (in a verse); hauga né hörga, en ef maðr verðr at því kunnr eða sannr, at hann hleðr hauga, eðr gerir hús, ok kallar hörg, eða reisir stöng, N. G. L. i. 430, cp. ii. 496; höfðu frændr hennar síðan mikinn átrúnað á hólana, var þar görr hörg(r) er blót tóku til, trúðu þeir at þeir dæi í hólana, Landn. 111; þar vóru áðr blót ok hörgar, Kristni S. ch. 11; eitt haust var gört dísablót mikit hjá Álfi konungi, gékk Álfhildr at blótinu, en um nóttina er hón rauð hörginn …, Fas. (Hervar. S.) i. 413; þat var hörgr er gyðjurnar áttu, Edda 9, a paraphrase of the passage in the Vsp. l. c.; blóthús ok hörga, Rekst.

2. poët., brúna-hörgr, the ‘forehead-horg’ or peak = the horns of a steer, Ýt.; gunn-hörgr, a ‘war-horg’ = a helmet (not a shield), Hkr. i. 135 (in a verse); hörga herr, the host of the horgs = the heathen host, Knytl. S. (in a verse).

III. in Icel. local names, but not so freq. as Hof; Hörg-á and Hörgár-dalr, in the north; Hörga-eyrr, in the west; Hörgs-dalr and Hörgs-land, in the east; Hörgs-holt and Hörgs-hlíð, in the west, Landn., Kristni S., map of Icel.; Hörgs-hylr, Dipl., Ísl. Hörg-dælir, m. the men from Hörgárdalr, Sturl. In Norway, Hörg-in, Hörga-setr, Munch’s Norg. Beskr.

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(dat. katli, pl. katlar), m. kettle, pot, cauldron (í eldahúsinu var eldr mikill ok katlar yfir).

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m., dat. katli, pl. katlar, [Goth. katils = Mark vii. 4; A. S. cytel; Engl. kettle; O. H. G. kezil; Germ. kessel; Swed. kettel; Dan. kjædel]:—a kettle, cauldron, Eb. 198; í elda-húsinu var eldr mikill ok katlar yfir, Eg. 238, Bs. i. 342, ii. 135, B. K. 52, Fms. vi. 364, Edda 28; elda undir katli, kljúfa við undir ketil, Fbr. 72 new Ed., Fs. 150; var honum goldinn k. mikill ok góðr, Þorst. Siðu H. 171; búðar-k., Eb. 198; eir-k., Eg.; járn-k., stein-k., an iron, an earthen kettle, Ó. H. 223: in old usage as a general name for every kettle, boiler, cauldron; in mod. usage, esp. of a kettle of a certain shape or of a small kettle, kaffe-k., a coffee kettle; but pottr = cauldron; the same distinction is made in Dipl. v. 4.—sex katlar, tíu pottar: katla-máls skjóla, a measure, Grág. i. 501: the phrase, e-m fellr allr ketill í eld, one’s kettle falls into the fire, of consternation.

2. the earliest northern eccl. law prescribed as an ordeal for a woman to take hot stones out of a boiling kettle, whereas a man had to take up hot iron; ganga til ketils, taka í ketil, Gkv. 3. 7, (the ordeal being called ketil-tak, n.); beri karlmaðr járn en kona taki í ketil, N. G. L. i. 152; karlmaðr skal ganga til arins-járns en kona til ketiltaks, 389; eðr berr hón járn eðr tekr hón í ketil, Grág. i. 381.

II. as a pr. name of men, Ketill, Ketil-björn; of women, Katla, Ketil-ríðr: but chiefly used as the latter part in compd names of men, contr. into ‘kel,’ As-kell, Arn-kell, Grím-kell, Hall-kell, Stein-kell, Úlf-kell, Þór-kell, Vé-kell: of women, Hall-katla, Þór-katla. In poets of the 10th century the old uncontracted form was still used, but the contracted form occurs in verses of the beginning of the 11th century, although the old form still occurs now and then. The freq. use of these names is no doubt derived from the holy cauldron at sacrifices, as is indicated by such names as Vé-kell, Holy kettle; cp. Ketilby in Yorkshire.

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(lifl, lifða, lifat), v.

1) to be left (er þriðjungr lifði nætr); meðan öld lifir, while the world stands;

2) to live; meðan hann lifði, while he lived; at sér lifanda, in his life-time; lifa eptir e-n, to survive one (verðr maðr eptir annan at l.); l. við e-t, to live on, feed on (þeir lifðu nú við reka ok smádýri);

3) to burn, of fire (lifði þar eldr í skála).

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pres. lifi; pret. lifði; imperat. lif, lifðú, an older form lifi, 655 iv. 1, Stj. 445; neut. part. lifat, masc. lifðr, Hm. 69: there was a strong verb lifa, leif, lifu, lifinn, of which leifa is the causal, but of this word nothing now remains except the part. acc. lifna ( vivos), Hkv. 2. 27, and dat. lifnum ( vivo), 45: [Ulf. lifan = ζην; A. S. lifan; Engl. live; O. H. G. leban; Germ. leben; Swed. lefva; Dan. leve; a word common to all Teut. languages, the original sense of which was to be left, and so akin to leifa, = Lat. superstes esse, which sense still remains in some Icel. phrases; cp. also lifna.]

A. To be left; þóat einn hleifr lifi eptir, although one loaf ‘lives’ behind, i. e. is left, N. G. L. i. 349; skal þat atkvæði þeirra vera í hverju máli sem þá lifir nafnsins eptir, er ór er tekinn raddar-stafr ór nafninu, Skálda (Thorodd); þá er þat atkvæði hans í hverju máli sem eptir lifir nafnsins, er ór er tekinn raddar-stafr ór nafni hans, id.

2. of the day, night, or season; þá er þriðjungr lifir dags, when a third of the day is left, N. G. L. i. 9; þá er ellefu nætr lifðu eptir Aprilis mánaðar, 655 iii. 3; laugar-daginn áðr lifa átta vikur sumars, Grág. i. 122, K. Þ. K. 70; er mánuðr lifir vetrar, Grág. (Kb.) ii. 186; fóru þeir brott er mikit lifði nætr, Fms. i. 99; en er þriðjungr lifir nætr, mun hringt at Bura-kirkju, Fb. i. 204; en er þriðjungr lifði nætr, vakti Þorsteinn upp gesti sína, Fms. i. 70.

3. in old sayings this sense is still perceptible, to remain, endure; atkvæði lifa lengst, Ísl. ii. (in a verse); lifa orð lengst eptir hvern, Fms. viii. 16: as also in old poems, hvat lifir manna (what of men will be left?), er hinn mæra fimbul-vetr líðr? Vþm. 44; meðan öld lifir, while the world stands, Vsp. 16; lifit einir ér, ye alone are left to me, Hðm. 4; otherwise this sense has become obsolete.

B. To live; this sense has almost entirely superseded the old. The primitive word denoting life or to live in the Teut. languages was from the root of kvikr (q. v.), of which the verbal form has been replaced by lifa; meðan lifir, whilst he lives, Hm. 9, 53; meðan hann lifði, while he lived, Nj. 45; hann hélt vel trú meðan hann lifði, Fms. xi. 418; meðan þeir lifði (subj.) báðir, vi. 27; ek hefi lifat ok verit kallaðr bóndi nokkurra konunga æfi, 192; at sér lifanda, Lat. se vivo, Íb. 18, Grág. i. 202; lifa langan aldr, Nj. 62; the saying, þeir lifa langan aldr (mod. lengst) sem með orðum eru vegnir, = Engl. words break no bones, 252: lifi konungr, long live the king! (cp. Lat. vivat rex), Stj. 445; lifi heill þú, konungr! 655 iv. 1.

2. lifa við, to live on, feed on; lifa við vín, Gm. 19; þat eina er vér megim lifa við, Al. 133; ok lifðu nú viðr reka, smádýri ok íkorna, Fs. 177: mod., lifa á e-u, to feed on, live on.

3. in a moral sense, to live, conduct one’s life; hafði hann ok lifat svá hreinliga sem þeir Kristnir menn er bezt eru siðaðir, Landn. 38; lifa dýrligu lifi, Hom. 147; lifa vel, ílla, to live a good, bad life, passim: lifa eptir e-m, to indulge a person, 656 C. 37, 42.

4. also used of fire, to live, be quick; svá at þar mátti lifa eldr, Fas. ii. 517, freq. in mod. usage, the Icel. say, eldrinn lifir, ljósið lifir; (cp. also, drepa ljósit, to kill, quench a fire, a light; eldrinn er dauðr, ljósit er dautt, the fire, the light is dead; eldrinn lifnar, is kindled;) for this interesting usage cp. also kvikr and kveykja, denoting life and fire.

II. part. lifandi and lifandis, indecl. living; lifandis maðr, Mar.; lifandis sálar, Stj. 31; lifandis manna, 39; lifandis skepnu, 57; lifandis hlut, 75; but better, lifandi, pl. lifendr, alive, as also the living; í lifanda lifi, in one’s living life, opp. to a deyjanda degi (on one’s dying day) at vér sém dauðir heimi en lifendr Guði, Hom. 79; lifendra (mod. gen. pl.) og dauðra, the living and the dead; dæma lifendr og dauða (‘the quick and the dead,’ in the Creed).

2. part. lifðr; betra er lifðum en sé úlifðum, better to be living than lifeless, i. e. while there is life there is hope, Hm. 69; úlifðan, deceased, Hkv. 2.

m. flame, blaze; brenna loga (dat.), to burn strongly, be ablaze; þá var enn l. á eldinum, the fire was still aflame.

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a, m. [Germ. lohe; Dan. lue], a lowe, flame; brenna loga (dat.), to stand in a bright lowe, Gm. 29; brennandi logi, hár logi, Hm. 84, Am. 15, Ls. 65; Surta-logi, the flame of Surt, Vþm. 50; fundu eigi fyrr en loginn stóð inn um ræfrit, Eg. 239; svá var at sjá í fjallit upp sem í loga sæi, er roðaði af skjöldunum, Fms. viii. 210; reyk ok loga, Ó. H. 121; þá var enn logi á eldinum, there was still a lowe in the fire, 153.

II. a pr. name; of a mythical king, Logi, Ýt.; cp. Há-logi; Loga-dís, Logi’s sister, id.

and mánaðr, m., mónoðr with umlaut, Íb. 376; gen. mánaðar, nom. acc. pl. mánuðr (like vetr); mod. mánuðir, acc. mánuði, which form occurs in vellums of the 15th century; thus, mánaði (acc. pl.), Bs. i. 825, 896; even mánuðu (acc. pl.), 837, Fb. i. 205: [from máni: cp. Ulf. mênoþs; A. S. mônað; Old Engl. moneth; Engl. month; O. H. G. mânod; Germ. monat; Dan. maaned; Swed. månad; Lat. mensis; Gr. μήν]:—a month; á mánaði, for a month, Hm. 73; mánuðr níu, Rm. 6, 18, 30, Hom. 127; mónoðr tólf þritög-náttar, Jb. 376; þrjá mánaðr þrjátigu nátta, K. Þ. K. 164, Fms. ix. 239; aðra tvá mánoðr, Grág. ii. 261; tveir mánaðr, i. 420; sjau mánaðr, fimm mánaðr, ii. 393: tólf mánuðr, a twelvemonth, year; á hverjum tólf mánuðum, every twelvemonth, Hom. 149; ok hann hefir tólf mánuðr at gjöldum eðr handsölum, Grág. i. 196; halda þær tólf mánaðr þaðan frá er kona var föstnuð, 378; hvárt þat var af hinum tuttugustum tólf mánuðum, the twentieth year, Grett. 173 new Ed.; kaupa þeir nú enn saman um tólf mánuðr, Fb. ii. 124. The old heathen year consisted of twelve months, each of thirty days, so that a pentad (fimmt) added to that number made the year complete. For the names of the economical months see Edda 103 (gor-m., frer-m., hrút-m., ein-m., sól-m., and sel-m., kornskurðar-m.); tví-mánaðr (q. v.), the ‘double month;’ út-mánuðir, the last months of the winter (of Þorri, Gói, Ein-mánuðr), það er komið fram á út-mánuði; see also the Icel. Almanack, where the old months are still marked. Of the Julian Calendar we have Martius mánaðar, 623. 37, Rb. passim; but that computation never came into household use in Iceland, where the old calendar (of Þorri, Gói, Ein-m., etc.) still prevails for all domestic affairs: astron., tungl-m., a lunar month; sól-m., a solar month. In popular usage, as elsewhere, a month often means four weeks, and hálfr mánuðr, half a month = a fortnight; hálfum mánaði eptir mitt sumar, Nj. 4; á hálfs mánaðar fresti, within half a month, a fortnight, Fms. x. 411; á hálfum mánaði, Grág. i. 152.

COMPDS: mánaðarbeit, mánaðardagr, mánaðarfrest, mánaðarmata, mánaðamót, mánaðarrekstr, mánaðarró, mánaðarstefna, mánaðartal, mánaðartími.

* * *

(mín, mitt), pron. my, mine.

* * *

f., mín, n., mitt, poss. pron.:—in the possessive pronouns minn, þinn, sinn (meus, tuus, suus), mod. usage pronounces i long (í) before one consonant, but short (i) before a double consonant, and accordingly all modern editions of old writers make a distinction in the root vowel, thus, minn, minnar, minni, minna, but mín, mínir, mínar, mínum; whereas the ancients pronounced í throughout, as is seen from Thorodd, who distinguishes between the short i in minna ( memorare) and the long í in mínna (meorum), Skálda 163; and still more clearly from rhymes, mítt and hvíti, Bjarn. 63; m ínn ( meum) and sína, Arnór (Orkn. 104); m ítt, f rítt, and m ítt, sítt, Völs. R. 136, 137. As late as the 14th century, in the corrections by the second hand of the Flatey-book, mijtt = mítt; the older vellums do not distinguish between i and í; cp. also the cognate languages: [Goth. meins; A. S. and O. H. G. mîn; Engl. mine; Germ. mein; Dan. mîn.]

B. Mine and my = Lat. meus, in countless instances: the possessive pronoun is usually put after the noun, bróðir minn, faðir minn; for the sake of emphasis only can it stand before, minn hamar, Þkv. 3; minn dróttinn, Skm. 3; minn Sigurðr, Gkv. 1. 18; míns málvinar, 20; mínu bölvi, id.; mínir bræðr, 2. 3; minn herra, Fms. vii. 197; mínar eru sorgirnar þungar sem blý, Sturl. (in a verse): in eccl. writers, perhaps influenced by Luther’s Bible, this use has increased, and is freq. in the N. T., Pass., Vídal.; in popular speech, however, the old usage still holds good, (cp. Engl. mother mine, etc.)

2. in addressing, my dear! Jón minn! Sigríðr mín! móðir mín! barnið mitt! etc.

II. as neut. subst. mitt; [Gr. το ἐμόν; Lat. meum]:—mine, my part; skal ek ekki mitt til spara, mine, all I have, Nj. 3; malit hefi ek mitt, I have done my share, Gs. 16.

III. ellipt. usage; eru slíkar mínar, such are mine (viz. affairs), Ísl. ii. 245.

f. (nepst), [Swed. näfst], a penalty, chastisement; undir Heilagrar kirkju nefst ok refsing, Munk. 72, D. N. v. 785: en er verra, þat er vita þykkjumk, niðja stríð um nept, my mind bodes me still worse things, a sore retribution to thy sons (a bitter fratricidal strife), Skv. 2. 8, for this must be the true sense of this contested passage; nept for nepst may be right by analogy of heipt and heipst; the word is altogether obsolete in Iceland, but is still in use in Sweden.

* * *

(gen. nætr, pl. nætr), f. night, = nátt; at miðri nótt, of miðja nótt, about midnight; um nóttina, through the night, during the night; um nóttina áðr, the preceding night; í nótt, tonight (eigi mun hann láta drepa Egil í nótt); the last night (ek ók í nótt eptir viði); nætr ok daga, both by day and by night; nóttin helga, the holy night, Christmas night.

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f., gen. nætr, pl. nætr; the old writers mostly spell this word thus (not nátt), agreeably with its mod. sound and form; this, however, is not a real ó, but a remains of the old umlaut ́ (n́tt); nom. nótt, Sdm. 26, Hkv. 1. 2, Vþm. 24, 25, Gkv. 2. 12, Skm. 42, Alm. 29, 30, Sks. 50 new Ed.: acc. nótt, Hm. 112; miðja nótt, Grág. (Kb.) i. 36 (four times), 32, 37; þvátt-n́tt, id.: dat. nótt, Ó. H. 187, Vsp. 6; nóttina, Ó. H. 62, 72, 115, 118 (twice), 187, Íb. 12, Edda 28, 29, 89, Fb. ii. 381: dat. pl. nóttom, Vkv. 6, Hkv. 2. 51; so also in old rhymes, nótt, óttu, Fms. vi. (in a verse): the spelling with á chiefly occurs in Norse MSS. or in writers influenced by the Norwegians, dag ok nátt, Stj. 15, and so rhymed in Skíða R. 194; náttinni, Stj. 15, 16: gen. nætr, passim; náttar only in a few compds: pl. nætr, but næternar (irreg.), Kb. i. 33, 36. In most kindred Teut. languages with á, not ó: [Goth. nahts; A. S. and Engl. night; O. H. G. naht; Germ. nacht; Swed. natt; Lat. noct-is; Gr. νύξ, νυκτ-ός.] ☞ A dat. sing. nóttu is used in mod. poets, e. g. Bs. ii. 479 (in a poem of 1548); eg var að ráða árið um kring það Egill kvað á nóttu, in a ditty of Björn á Skarðsá; and even in acc., þessa nóttu þegar í óttu, það til bar, Hallgr. Pétr; but in old vellums this form is not attested; for the Jd. 39, line 8 (sáttir á einni nóttu), is a mod. conjectural addition, as the vellum (Cd. Reg.) ceases at line 7 of that verse.

B. The night; en at miðri nótt, Ó. H. 187, Edda 29; of miðja nótt, id.; nótt ok degi, Sks. 54; nótt með degi, day and night, Gísl. 14; í alla nótt, all night long, Eg. 418; um nóttina, through the night, Fms. vi. 16; þá nótt, that night, Grág. ii. 322; nótt ok dag, night and day; í nótt, to-night, Eg. 283, 416: the last night, 564, Ísl. ii. 156; í alla nátt Skíða R.; um nætr sakir, for one night, Bjarn. 53: in some phrases the plur. only is used, bæði um nætr ok um daga, both by day and by night, Sks. 63 new Ed.: so also, bjóða góðar nætr ! to bid good night,—Guð gefi þér góðar nætr ! Jóla-nótt, Yule night, Grág. (Kb.) passim; haust-nótt, an autumn night; hý-nott, the bridal night; nótt ina helgu, the holy night = Germ. weih-nachten = Christmas night, Gþl. 295, 297. The years of one’s age were counted by the Yule nights, N. G. L. i. 31, 32, see the remarks to Jól:—sayings, nótt skal nema nýræða til = ἐν νυκτι βουλή, Spenser’s ‘night, they say, gives counsel best,’ Hrafnag. 22; það er tjaldað til einnar nætr, a tent raised for one night, i. e. brief and shifty; láta þar nótt sem nemr, see nema; það er ekki öll nótt úti enn. Time was (and still is) counted, not by days, but by nights (as years are by winters); eigi síðarr en nótt sé af þingi, Grág. i. 101; enda skal eigi Leið vera fyrr en fjórtán nætr eru frá alþingi, 122; tveggja nátta Leið, id.; sjau nóttum fyrir sumar, ii. 244; þá er sextán nætr eru liðnar frá þingi, 80; nefna féránsdóm fjórtán nóttum eptir vápna-tak, 81; fám nóttum siðarr, Bs. i. 321; hann var eigi lengr á Leið en þrjár nætr, Fms. ix. 267; níu nóttum síðarr, Edda 23; þrjátigi nóttum síðar, Bs.: hence, mánuðr þritog-náttar, a calendar month, Íb. 7, K. Þ. K., cp. ein-nættr, etc.; an infant is in Iceland said to be so many ‘nights’ old, tíu nátta gamalt, einnar nætr. So Tacitus tells us that the Germans of his day, nec dierum numerum ut nos sed noctium computant, Germ. ch. 11; it still survives in Engl. ‘fort-night:’—in poetry the winter is called bear’s night (bjarnar-nótt, húns-nótt), Edda, Fas. i. (in a verse), Rekst.

II. mythical, Nótt, the giantess Night, daughter of Nörfi and the mother of Earth and Day, Edda, Sdm., Vþm.

C. COMPDS:

I. náttar-: náttar-lega, u, f. night-quarters, Boldt 169. náttar-tal, n. a tale or number of nights, Mar. náttar-tími, a, m. = nætrtími, Stj. 16, 71, Fas. ii. 371. náttar-þel, n., in the phrase, á náttarþeli, at dead of the night, Fms. vii. 57, x. 413, Rd. 284, Orkn. 74, Bs. i. 139, N. G. L. i. 62.

II. nætr-: nætr-björg, f. help through the night, Bjarn. 43. nætr-elding, f. the ‘eld of night,’ i. e. the end of night (see elding), Fms. iv. 263, xi. 241, Hrafn. 20, Stj. 787. nætr-ferðir, f. pl. night wanderings, Fas. iii. 478. nætr-friðr, m. peace, truce during the night, Fbr. 98, v. l. nætr-frost, n. a night frost. nætr-fyllr, f. one night’s fill, N. G. L. i. 144. nætr-gagn, n. a chamber-pot. nætr-gali, a, m. [from the Dan. nattergal, Germ. nachtigall], the nightingale, (mod.) nætr-gamall, adj. one nigbt old, Rb. 522. nætr-gestr, m. a night guest, one who stays the night, Gullþ. 30. nætr-gisting, f. the staying a night. nætr-greiði, a, m. a night’s entertainment, Fas. i. 94. nætr-greiðing, f. = nætrgreiði, Fas. iii. 209, 219. nætr-göltr, n. a roving about by night. nætr-kuldi, a, m. night-cold, Stj. 97. nætr-langt, n. adj. night-long. Fas. i. 77. nætr-ligr, adj. nocturnal, Sks. 627. nætr-skemtan, f. night-enjoyment (euphem. = cohabitation), Fas. iii. 210. nætr-staðr, m. = náttstaðr; in the saying, einginn ræðr sínum nætrstað. nætr-tími, a, m. night-time. nætr-vist, f. night-quarters, Fms. i. 69.

m. Olave, an old and favourite pr. name; the oldest form seems to have been Áleifr, from Anleifr, as seen from rhymes, e. g. Áleifr is made to rhyme with reifum, kleif, or the like, Hallfred passim; and, on the other hand, Áláfr with stála, hála, Eg. (in a verse), Fms. vi. (in a verse): then the ei was changed into á, Áláfar frið gálu, Sighvat: then the initial á into ó, and Óláfr is made to rhyme with sól in a poem of the end of the 11th century: lastly, the medial á into a, Ólafr. This Norse name is rendered by Anlâf in the Saxon Chron., and by Amlabh in the Irish Chroniclers; thus Righ Amlabh = king Olave the White in Dublin, see pref. p. iv: in local names, Ólafs-dalr, -fjörðr, -vík, Landn.: Ólafs-dælir, m. pl. the men from Olave-dale, Gullþ. The answering fem. pr. name is Álöf (the still older Áleif, qs. Anleif, is not recorded), mod. Ólöf, Landn.

2. compds referring to St. Olave; Ólafs-gildi, -kirkja, -messa, -dagr, -vaka, = St. Olave’s guild, church, mass, day, vigil, Sturl. i. 23, ii. 99, Vm. 24, Fms. ix. 8, 341, x. 14; Ólafs korn, sáð, skot, tollr, a tithe in corn to St. Olave, N. G. L. i. 142, 346, 460; Ólafs minni, see minni, ii. 445; Ólafs Saga, St. Olave’s Saga, Vm. 20; Ólafs skript, 21; Ólafs súð, the name of a ship, Ann. 1360. (St. Olave’s Church, Bridge, etc., still exist in London, Norfolk, and Suffolk.)

I) n. large house (margt er þat í karls húsi, er eigi er í konungs ranni).

II) from renna.

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n., pl. rönn, Ó. H. 23 (in a verse), Hkr. iii. 43, 74 (in a verse); gen. pl. ranna, Gm. 24: [Ulf. razna = οἰκία; A. S. ræsn; this ancient word is obsolete in prose, but remains in the Engl. law term ransack, prop. ‘house-search’]:—a house; ossum rönnum í, Skm. 14; at háfu Heljar ranni, Vtkv. 3; rymr varð í ranni, Fas. i. 492 (in a verse); styrr varð í ranni, Hðm. 24; sköptum er rann rept, Gm. 9; í væru ranni, 13; ranna þeirra er ek rept vita, 24; í ranni Randvés, Bragi: in prose, in the saving, opt er þat í karls húsi, er ekki er í konungs ranni, Fas. iii. 155:—poët., sólar rann, éla rann, the sun-hall, tempest-hall = the sky; aldar rann, man’s abode = the earth; óðar rann, the mind’s house = the breast; Sörla rann, Reifnis rann = a shield, Lex. Poët.; and in compds, ský-rann, glygg-rann, há-rann, hregg-rann, þey-rann, the sky-hall = heavenly vault; hval-rann, a whale’s home = the sea; fjör-rann, life’s house = the breast; dverg-rann, a dwarf’s house = the rocks; leg-rann, the bed’s room = the house; mjoð-rann, mead’s hall = a drinking-hall; auð-rann, a treasury; böl-rann, bale’s abode = death, etc., Lex. Poët. The word is still used by Icel. poets, but is masc. rannr, though it is still neut. in poems of the 16th century, heilagt rann, … rannið friða, Bs. ii. 309 (a poem of 1540); it is freq. even in mod. hymns, í heimsins rann, Hallgr.; sælu-ranns, Pass. 25. 10.

II. in a pr. name, Rann-veig, Landn., and perh. Rann-verr, also spelt Rand-verr.

1) sitting (nú varð setan löng); hvat merkir s. sjá, what means this sitting still?;

2) seat = sess( hann var hár í setunni); bjóða búum í setu, to call on the neighbours to take their seats;

3) body of men (assembled for defence); eptir þat höfðu hvárirtveggja setu, after that both kept men assembled.

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n, f. a sitting; nú varð setan löng, Fms. vii. 126: a remaining, staying, þótti þeim seta hans þar úvarlig svá nærri Ljótólfi, Sd. 182; þótti þeim seta sín íll ok úfrelsi, Ó. H. 141: hvat merkir seta sjá, what means this sitting still? Fb. ii. 122; nátt-setur, a sitting up at night, Fms. vii. 126.

2. a seat; hann var hár í setunni (= hár í sessi), Fms. viii. 447; í innstu setu, … í yztu setu, Fb. i. 416:—as a law term, bjóða búum í setu, to call on the neighbours to take their seats, Nj. 87; vóru dómendr komnir í setur sínar, Grág. i. 68; þeir menn er þar eigu setur, 5: a sitting, of a judge, seta hans er dæming um fólksins verðleik, Skálda 211.

3. a body of men assembled for defence as a garrison; seta eru sextán, sixteen make a seta, Edda 108; nú hefir Barði skipat liði sínu í setu, Ísl. ii. 355; eptir þat höfðu hvárir-tveggju setu, after that both kept men assembled, as in open hostility, Landn. 104, Gullþ. 6l; senda þeir mann til Egilstaða, at seta mikil væri at Hofi, Vápn 24; þá kom Brandr biskup vestan ok fýsti þá at hafa eigi setur. Sturl. i. 170; höfðu þeir setu fjölmenna, Grett. 120, Eb. 22, 108.

COMPDS: setuefni, setugarðr, setugrið, setuhús, setumenn, setupallr, setuprestr, seturúm.

B. seta = sæta (q. v.), a kind of bondwoman, N. G. L. i. 70.

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1) hut, shed (put up for temporary use);

2) hall, room (cf. drykkjuskáli, eldaskáli, forskáli, kvennaskáli), esp. sleeping-hall.

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a, m. [cp. Scot. shieling; Ivar Aasen skaale = shieling]:—prop. a hut, shed, put up for temporary use; this is the earliest Norse sense, and it is still so used in Norway; þar sér enn skála-tópt þeirra ok svá hrófit, Landn. 30; skála vist at Rauðabjörgum, of a fisherman’s hut, Vm. 147; skála búi, a hut dweller = a robber, Fs.; hence, leik-skálar, play-shielings, put up when people assembled for sports; gufu-skálar, ‘steam-shieling’ a local name, of bathing-sheds (?), Landn.; fiski-skálar, fishing shielings; it also remains in local names as Skála-holt. II. a hall (höll is only used of the king’s hall), see Orkn. ch. 18, 70, 115, Gísl. 29, Dropl. 18, 28, Fms. i. 288–292, Korm. 58, Bs. i. 41, Fbr. ch. 13 new Ed, Nj. ch. 78, Gunnl. S. ch. 11; in Landn. 1. ch. 2, 2. ch. 13, the skáli is a detached building; drykkju-s., a drinking hall; svefn-s., a sleeping hall. In Grág. i. 459 distinction is made between eldhús and skáli; in the Sturl. skáli is distinguished from stofa; and it seems that the men were seated in the former, the women in the latter. At still later times, and so at present, the skáli is an apartment near the entrance, a kind of for-skáli, q. v.; til þess er sér mann ór skála-dyrum ór fjöru í Nesdal, Vm. 87.

III. compds, skála-búnaðr, the hangings of a skáli, Glúm. 325; skála-dyrr, -endi, -gluggr, -gólf, -hurð, the doors, end, window, floor, hurdle of a skali, Fms. i. 292, iii. 81, Vm. 87, Nj. 201, Landn. 154 (cp. Nj. 114), Krók. 39 C; skála-görð, -smíð, the building a skáli, Vm. 87, Fms. i. 290, Ld. 138, Rd. 245; skála-tópt, -veggr, -viðr, the quadrangle, wall, timber of a skáli, Landn. 30, 136, Ld. 252, Hrafn. 20, Nj. 282.

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(er; var, várum or vórum; verit), v.

1) to be, exist; þeir menn vóru, er, there were men who;

2) to be, happen; þat var, at hón fór brott, so it was that she went away; en er váraði, var þar búskortr, there was scarcity in the household; hvat er henni, what is the matter with her! þat var einn dag, at, it happened one day that; kann (má) v., at, it is possible, it may be that;

3) to last; meðan þingit væri, while the Thing lasted;

4) láta e-n v., to leave one alone (lát mik v. ok ger mér ekki illt); bað hann láta v., begged him to leave it undone, not to do it;

5) to dwell, stay; hann bað hana vera í búð sinni, he asked her to stay in his booth; hann var á Höskuldsstöðum um nótt, he passed a night at H.;

6) with infin., hlymr var at heyra, a clattering was to be heard; þar var at sjá, there was to be seen; v. at gera e-t, to be doing a thing; kvað hann v. at telja silfr, said he was counting the money; denoting necessity, a thing about to happen, or to be done; nú er þeim út at ganga öllum, er leyft er, now all those must go out to whom leave is given; er nú eigi Kára at varast, now there is no need to beware of K.; nú er þar til máls at taka, at, now it is to be told that; nú er at segja frá Skamkatli, now we must tell of S.;

7) with a predicate (noun, a., or adv.); v. konungr, Jarl, biskup, to be king, earl, bishop; v. glaðr, sæll, hryggr, ungr, gamall, to be glad, happy, sad, young, old; v. vel, illa til e-s, to be well, ill-disposed towards one; þat er illa, it is sad; vera spakliga í heraði, to behave gently; orð kvað þá Vingi þats án veri, words which he had better not have said;

8) impers., e-m er varmt, heitt, kalt, one is warm, cold;

9) with past participles in passive sense; v. kallaðr, sagðr, tekinn, to be called, said, taken;

10) with preps., v. af e-u, to be off, out of (v. af klæðum); v. at e-u, to be busy at; verkmenn váru at arningu, they were ploughing; to be present (þar varstu at); ek var at ok vafk, I was about weaving; þeir höfðu verit at þrjú sumur, they had been busy at it for three summers; v. eptir, to be left, remain (A. kvazt vilja v. eptir ok hvílast); v. fyrir, to lead ( see fyrir); v. til, to exist; v. um, undir, see um, undir.

1) stay, sojourn; ef hann á sér í vá veru, if he has a corner to stay in;

2) comfort (slíkt er válaðs v.).

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older form vesa, the verb substantive; pres. em, ert, er, pl. erum, eruð, eru: pret. var, vart (mod. varst), var, pl. váru or vóru; a obsolete óru occurs, Sæm. (once), Orkn. 426. l. 11, Nj. 81, Thom. 28, 90, 102, 116, 150, 196, Ísl. ii. 482: pres. subj. sé, sér (Vþm. 4, 7), sé; the older form is sjá, en ek sjá, Clem. 138. l. 14; at ek sjá, … ok sé mér eigi reiðr, 145, Fms. viii. 299, x. 384, xi. 124, Eg. 127; for the forms sják, sjákk, see below: the mod. forms are sé, sért, sér (eg sé, þú sért; s ert and ert make a rhyme in Pass. 34. 5): imperat. ver, vertú; see Gramm. p. xxiii: there also occurs a subj. pres. verir, veri, Sdm. 22, Ls. 54; þatz án veri, Am. 36; skósmiðr þú verir, Hm. 126, but rarely.

A. CHANGES AND FORMS.—Vera is an anomalous verb, which has undergone several changes:

I. by changing s to r; of the older form there occur, the infin. vesa, pres. es, pret. vas, vast (vastu), vas; pres. subj. vesi; imperat. ves, MS. 623. 25. l. 14, 645. 6l. l. 33, 677. 40. l. 38; vestu, 623. 25, Post. (Unger) 129. l. 27, 229. l. 12; vesum, Hom. (Arna-Magn. 237) p. 214. l. 8; pres. indic. 2nd pers. est, Glúm. 372; 3rd pers. es: but no traces remain of the older form in pret. plur. indic. and subj. (váru væri, never vásu væsi). Rhymes in poets and the spelling of the oldest extant poems shew that the s form alone existed in Icel. down to about the end of the 12th century, the time of Snorri Sturluson, when the modern forms crept in probably from Norway, for there the change seems to have taken place a century or so earlier; the old Norse vellums (written in Norway or by Norsemen) are distinguished from the Icel. by their constant use of the r: the phrase ‘at upp vesandi sólu’, in N. G. L. i. 4, being the only instance of the s form in all the Norse vellums. The earliest instances extant of a rhyme to the r form are, the Ht. of Rögnvald, earl of the Orkneys; he was a native of Norway, born about A. D. 1100, and the poem was composed about A. D. 1145; another instance is ‘vara, fara’ in Fms. vii. 185, in a poem about A. D. 1140, written by an Icelander who had lived in Norway the greater part of his life, the rhyme is therefore a Norwegianism. The first instance in an Icel. poem is in the Ht. of Snorri, A. D. 1222. Instances from poets, Hallfred, Sighvat, Arnórr, and coeval poets; vesa, vísi; sás með Sygna ræsi; þági vas sem þessum; vask til Róms í háska; vastu, kosta; vas fyrir Mikkjals- messu; nú es um verk þau er vísi; bráskat þat dægr háski: from A. D. 1100–1150, Geisli, Pd., etc., svás, ræsir; esat, risnu; vasa, tysvar; vestu. freistni; vestu, traustla: on the other hand, in the poem of earl Rögvald, vera, skera; gera, vera; var, skar (twice): from later Icel. poems it is sufficient to note, erðu, fyrðum; ertú, h jarta; verðú, f orðast, Leiðarv. etc. This may sometimes serve as a test, e. g. var ek nær viðr-eign þ eirra, Grett., and skap-kers saman vera, Gísl., are impossible in the mouth of poets of the early Saga time; the verses of both these Sagas are a later composition.

2. as to the spelling of the MSS.,—the oldest (the Arna-Magn. 677, the Eluc. 674, the Íb. etc.) use the s throughout: vellums of the next period, about A. D. 1200 (e. g. Arna-Magn. 623 and 645), use the later form sparingly, even the second hand in the Reykholts máldagi gives ‘es,’ not ‘er.’ Again, in the vellums of the middle of the 13th century, such as the Cod. Reg. of the Sæm., the Grág., and the Mork., the mod. spelling has entirely got the better of the old, and an ‘es’ only creeps in, as if unawares, from an older copy. Of the poetical literature, the Pd. alone has been preserved in a copy old enough to retain the s; all the rest have the modernised spelling, even in the rhymed syllables quoted above; such too is the case with the Cod. Reg. of the Sæm. Edda; but had that vellum been but fifty or sixty years older, the forms vesa, es, vas, etc. would now be the established spelling in Editions of these poems.

3. on Danish and Swedish Runic stones, the 3rd pers. pret. sing. is a word of frequent occurrence; the best Danish monuments have vas, e. g. ias vas farinn vestr, Thorsen 93 and 101 (on a stone of the reign of Sweyn, died A. D. 1014). In Sweden the great majority present the later form: the so-called Ingvar stones are chronologically certain, being of the middle of the 11th century (Ingvar died A. D. 1039); there we read, ‘vas’ (twice), ‘varinn’ (once), ‘var’ (thrice, being twice spelt with ᛦ, once with ᚱ): this shews that about this time in Sweden the later or more modern form had begun to be used, but that the old was still remembered.

II. suffixed personal pronoun or suffixed negation; em’k (tautologically ek em’k = I-am-I), emk, Ad. 1, Vþm. 8, Fms. xi. 91; ek emk, Mork. 89. l. 13, 104. l. 23, Clem. 136. l. 20, 138. l. 13; vask, I was, 133. l. 25, Mork. 89. l. 16; vark, Post. 225, v. l. 15; ek vark, Ls. 35; vestu, be thou, Clem. 129. l. 27; es þú, art thou, l. 30, 130. l. 11; sjá’k ( may I be), ek sják, Mork. 134; at sják, 189. l. 29; ek sják, Hbl. 9, Hkv. 1. 20; at ek gjarn sják, Stor.; with double kk, þó at ek sjákk, Mork. 89.

2. a medial form, erumk, erumz, or apocopated erum, Stor. 1, Ad. 16, Hkv. 1. 25, Korm. ch. 5. 2, Ls. 35, Bragi (see senna); leið erum-k fjöll, Edda (in a verse); várumk, were to me, Am. 78.

3. suff. neg. eru-mk-a, it is not to me, Stor. 17, Eg. (in a verse); emkat-ek, am I not I, i. e. I am not, Hbl. 34, Skm. 18, Ó. H. 192 (in a verse): er-at, es-at, or er-a, es-a, is not, passim; eru-ð, are not, Skv. 1. 42; ert-attu, thou art not, Vtkv.; vart-attu, thou wast not, Gs., Eg. (in a verse); veri-a, be not, Mork. 37. l. 8.

4. sá’s = sá es, that is, Hallfred (Fs. 95); svá’s = svá es, so is, Fms. vii. (in a verse).

III. the plur. eru when suffixed to words ending in r drops the initial e, and is suffixed; this spelling, which agrees with mod. Icel. pronunciation, was afterwards disused; þeir-ro, they are, Gm. 34; margir-ro, many are, Hkv. 2. 11; Æsir-ro, the Ases are, Vsp. 49; skildir-ro, shields are, 44; torogætir-ro, rare are, Korm. (in a verse); hverjar-ro, which are, Vþm. 48; langir-ro, long are, Gg.; tveir-ro, þrír-ro, fjórir-ro, two, three, four are, Edda 108; báðir-ro, both are, Mork. 169; hér-ro, here are, 234; þér-ro, ye are, MS. 686 B. 1; hryggvir-ro, id.; hver-ro, who are, Mork. 96; úvar-ro, wroth are, Gm. 53; værrom, vérrom, we are, Edda i. 526, Fms. x. 421; hverrtu [cp. North. E. wh’art’ou, lad] (hverrtú karl, who art thou, carle?), Frissb. 256. l. 8; ir-rot, ye are, Ó. H. 151.

IV. the pres. 1st pers. em [Engl. am] has changed into er (eg er, þú ert, hann er), making the 1st and 3rd pers. uniform; this new form appears in vellums about the end of the 13th century, but the word being usually abbreviated (ē = em, eͬ = er), it is often hard to distinguish. In the Icel. N. T. and in hymns the old ‘em’ still remains in solemn language, em eg, Matth. xxvii. 24; eigi em eg, John xviii. 17; eg em hann, 5, 8, xi. 25, xv. 1, 5, Matth. xiv. 27; em eg eigi postuli, em eg eigi frjáls, 1 Cor. ix. 1; em eg orðinn, 20, 22, and passim.

B. USAGE.—To be:

I. to be, exist; þær sakir skal fyrst dæma, ef þær eru, if such there are, Grág. (Kb.) i. 73; eigi vóru hans jafningjar, Eg. 1; Rachel grét sonu sína, … þvi at þeir eru eigi, Hom. 49; þeir menn vóru, er þess gátu, there were men who, Nj. 90.

2. to be, happen; þat var, at hón for brott, Nj. 51; él eitt mun vera, 198; þess sem vera vill, that which is to be, 186; ok er (is) Vagn þá fimtán vetra gamall, er þetta er, when this came to pass, Fms. xi. 97; at þessi orrosta hafi verit á öðrum degi viku, iii. 11; í þann tið var úfriðr Kristnum mönnum, Ver. 43; hvat er henni, what is the matter with her? Fms. ii. 290; hvat er þér, Atli? er þér hryggt í hug, Gkv. 3.

3. to last; meðan þingit væri, Nj. 12; hirðit eigi at óttask píslir þeirra—þvíat stund eina eru, 623. 32; meðan líf hans var, Bret. 100; þykkir eigi vera mega svá búit, Fms. xi. 62: to remain, leave alone, láttu það vera, let that be, Flóv.

4. to be, dwell, stay, sojourn; vask til Róms, I was at Rome, Sighvat; hann bað hana vera í búð sinni, Nj. 12; Gunnarr var á Höskuld-stöðum um nótt, passed a night there, 34, N. G. L. i. 347: so the phrase, biðja að lofa sér að vera, to ask for night-quarters, of a stranger or traveller; lofa honum að vera, to take a stranger in; honum var boðit at vera, Vápn. 23; hefi ek hér verit síðan, Nj. 45; Hallkell var þar með Otkatli, 73; þeir vildu eigi vesa hér við heiðna menn, Íb. 4; vera samvistum við e-n, Grág. ii. 80; vera við e-t, to be present at, Hom. 129: vera at, to be present; vark at þar, Glúm.: vera brottu, to be away, absent, Nj. 113; meðan ek em í brautu, 52: sagðisk eigi vita hvar þau væri, were to be found, Dipl. ii. 20; hvar ertu? slá ein var um þvert skipit, Nj. 44; hygg ek at þar hafi verit Bolli, Ld. 274; er þér hér nú minja-griprinn, Nj. 203: as with the notion of ‘towards’ a place, an irregular construction, vartú á land upp, Fas. ii. 174; meðan þeir vóru til Danmerkr, Fms. x. 104; Ribbungar höfðu ekki verit út í landit, ix. 359; verit eigi til orrostu, vii. 263, v. l.; vera á fund hans, Eg. 26.

5. with prepp.; vera at, to be busy at (see ‘at’ A. II, p. 26, col. 2): vera fyrir, to lead (see fyrir): vera til, to exist (see til IV); eiga fjölskyldi, vandræði, um at vera, to be in straits (see um C. VII); e-m er mikit, lítið, ekki um e-t (see um C. I. 3); vera við (see við B. VIII).

II. with a predicate:

1. with a noun, to be so and so; vera bróðir, systir, faðir, sonr, dóttir … e-s, vera konungr, jarl, biskup …, passim; hvers son ertú?—Ek emk Kattarson, Mork. 104; ek skal þer Mörðr vera, Nj. 15: followed by a gen. ellípt., er þat ekki karla, that is not men’s (affair), 75; er þat ekki margra, ‘that is not for many,’ few are equal to that (cp. Lat. ‘non cuivis homini,’ etc.), 48.

2. with adjectives, to be so and so, of a state or condition; vera kunnigr, Fms. x. 370; vera glaðr, sæll, hryggr, dauðr, lifandi, … ungr, gamall, to be glad …, young, old, passim; þó at ek sjákk ótignari, Mork. 89; nema ek dauðr sják, Hbl. 9; þótt ek sják einn, Mork. 134; vera kominn, to be come: so too with adverbs, vera vel, ílla … til e-s, er við e-n, to be, behave well, ill … to one, passim; or also, þat er ílla, it is sad, Nj. 70, 71; ílla er þá, fyrr væri ílla, 75, 260; drengr góðr, þar sem vel skyldi vera, when it was to be, i. e. when she wished, 147; vera spakliga í heraði, to behave gently, Sturl. iii. 143; at þú frændr þína vammalaust verir, to behave blamelessly, Sdm. 22; orð kvað hann þats án veri, words which he had better not have said, Am. 36.

3. impers., e-t er skylt, it is incumbent, Grág.; e-m er varmt, heitt, kalt, one is warm, cold, Nj. 95; er auðit, q. v.

4. with participles, in a passive sense; vera kallaðr, vera sagðr, tekinn, elskaðr, etc., to be called, said, taken, loved.

5. with infin.; hlymr var at heyra, was to hear, i. e. to be heard, Am.; þar var at sjá, there was to be seen, passim.

6. ellipt., dropping a noun or the like, denoting futurity, necessity, a thing at hand, about to happen, or to be done; ok er hér at þiggja, Hrafn, þann greiða sem þú vill, and it is now for thee, Rafn, to partake of what food thou wilt, Ísl. ii. 262; nú er þeim út at ganga öllum, er leyft er, now it is for them to go out, Nj. 200; nú er at verja sik, 83; er nú eigi Kára at varask, now there is no need to beware of K., 259; nú er at segja frá, now is to be told, 75, 259; er nú ekki fyrr frá at segja en þeir koma …, 21; er ekki um hans ferðir at tala fyrr en …, 215.

III. irregular usages:

1. ellipse of the infin. vera; ek skal þér Hrútr, I will [be] Hrútr to thee, Nj. 15; Gunnarr segir sér þat alvöru, G. says it [ is to be] his earnestness, 49; vil ek þá lauss máls þessa, 76; bað hann alla metta at miðri nótt, he begged all eating [ to be over] at midnight, Fms. ix. 353; þá þótti hverjum gott þar sem sat, Nj. 50; at skamt skyli okkar í meðal, 114; mun þín skömm lengi uppi, mun hans vörn uppi meðan landit er bygt, 116, 117: or also ‘var,’ ‘er’ may be understood, hann hafði hjálm á höfði, og gyrðr sverði, 70; sá ek glöggt hvat títt var,—barn at aldri, en vegit slíka hetju, a bairn in age, and to have slain such a champion! Glúm. 382: the dropping of the infin. vera is esp. freq. after the reflex. forms kveðsk, segjask, látask, þykkjask, virðask, sýnask when followed by a part. pret. or by an adjective, as also after the verbs munu, skulu,—thus, hann sagðisk kominn, he said he was come; hann lezt búinn, he made as if he was ready; hann þóttisk staddr, he thought that he was …; skal þat á þínu umdæmi, Fms. xi. 89; þess eins er mér þykkir betr, … til hvers þykkjast þessir menn færir, Hrafn. 17; mun þat harðla lítið, 21; at fátt muni manna á fótum, 20; þú virðisk okkr vaskr maðr, 23; þessi hestr sýnisk mér eigi betri en aðrir, id.

2. an irregularity, occurring now and then, is the use of the sing. ‘er’ for plur. eru; mannföll þessi er sögð, Gullþ. 71; nú er fram komin sóknar-gögn, Nj. 242.

IV. recipr., erusk, vórusk; viðr-gefendr ok endr-gefendr erosk lengst vinir, Hm. 40; þeir er í nánd erusk, those who are neighbours, 655 xxi. 3; þótt þau sésk eigi hjóna, though they be not man and wife, K. Þ. K. 158; ok városk góðir vinir, were good friends, Fms. xi. 39, 89; ok várusk þeir fóstbræðr, 55.

V. as to the poët. medial form, erumk, várumk (see ek C), the following instances are from the poems of Egil: grimmt várumk hlið, the breach was cruel to me, Stor.; erumk-a leitt, it is not to me, Eg. (in a verse); erumka þokkt þjóða sinni, see sinni II; mærðar-efni erumk auð-skæf, Ad.; mjök erum(k) tregt tungu at hræra, it is hard for me to move the tongue, Stor. 1; (hence one might correct the end verse of that poem into nú ‘erumk’ torvelt, for the modernised nú ‘er mér’ torvelt); blautr erumk bergi-fótar borr, Eg. (at the end); to which add, þat erumk sennt, it is told us, Bragi; lyst várumk þess, I had a longing to, Am. 74; ván erumk, ‘a hope is to me,’ I hope, Fagrsk. 122; the phrase, títt erumk, ‘tis ready to me, Eb. (in a verse).

VI. part., allir menn verandi ok eptir komandi, Dipl. i. 3; æ-verandi, everlasting, Hom. 107; hjá-verandi, being present, Vm. 47; nær-verandis, present; engi nær-verandis maðr, öllum lýð nær-verandis, Th. 77; klerkar ok nær-verandi leikmenn, Mar.; at upp-vesandi sólu, at sunrise, N. G. L. i. 4; verandi eigi úminnigr, being not unmindful, Fms. v. 230.