in the metre

the negative prefix un-. See ‘ú-’.

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or ú-, the negative prefix before nouns and verbs, [Goth., Engl., and Germ. un-; Dan. and Swed. û-, the nasal being absorbed.] The Icel. at a very early date changed this ú into ó, for the very oldest and best vellums use ó, not only the Greg., Eluc., Íb., the Miracle-book (Bs. i. 333 sqq.), but also the Grág., the Cod. Reg. of the Sæm. Edda, etc.; in later vellums of the better kind ú and ó are used promiscuously; till about the union with Norway the ú prevailed, and is chiefly used in vellums of the 14th century; but in the 15th the ó again took its old place, and has been retained ever since, agreeably with the usual pronunciation. The ó is therefore the proper Icel. form, e. g. ó-vitr = Engl. un-wise; that it was sounded thus even in the 12th century is also shewn by the treatise of the second grammarian (Gramm. p. i, col. 1),—ó eðr ú þat skiptir orðum, svá sem er satt eðr ó-satt (ú-satt), Skálda 171. This change of spelling in the MSS. about (or a little before) the union with Norway cannot have been owing to any change in pronunciation, but was simply a Norwegianism, as were many other cases, e. g. the dropping the h before liquids, contrary to the Icel. pronunciation. On the other hand, as for the rest of Scandinavia, the ú has been retained in Denmark and in the east of Norway; but ó in the west and north of Norway (see Ivar Aasen’s Dict.), as also in mod, Swed. (e. g. o-möjlig = Germ. un-möglich). In early Swed. (in the laws) u and o are used indifferently. The Orkneys seem to have followed the Icel., to judge from a rhyme in the poem Jd. composed by bishop Bjarni (died A. D. 1222), a native of the Orkneys,— ó-teitan mik sútar, the metre of which requires a half rhyme, a rule followed strictly throughout that poem.

B. Of the compds with ú- or ó-, all but a few words are from un-; these exceptional words appear to be contractions, either,

α. from ör-, where we have such double forms as ör-sekr and ó-sekr, N. G. L. i. 379; ör-viti and ó-viti, ó-verðr and ör-verðr, ó-vænn and ör-vænn, ör-hæfi and ú-hæfa, ör-keypis and ó-keypis, ú-dæmi qs. ör-dæmi (?), ó-bóta qs. ör-bóta (?), ó-birgr and ör-birgr; perh. also ú-helgi qs. ör-helgi, ú-heilagr qs. ör-heilagr; cp. also such words as ú-megin and ör-megna, ú-synja qs. ör-synja (?).

β. from of-, esp. before a labial or dental; thus, of-vægr and ó-vægr, ó-frýnn qs. of-frýnn, ó-sköp = of-sköp (?), ó-freskr qs. of-freskr, ó-fyrirsynju qs. of-fyrirsynju (?), ó-hljóð or ú-hljóð qs. of-hljóð (?), of-dæll and ó-dæll, of-ljóss and ó-ljóss. In some of these instances doubt may arise, for a double set of compds might have sprung up. On the other hand, the great number of compds with ur-, er- in German and Saxon, and the scarcity of such words in the Norse tongue, lead to the conclusion that many of these compds in the course of time have been lost or replaced by ú-; cp. also of-allt and á-valt, (of-saka and á-saka, of-brýði and á-brýði, of-munir and á-munr, af-vöxtr and á-vöxtr, af-burðr and of-burðr?). Since in most Editions the spelling with ú- has been adopted in these classes of words, they must be sought for under that head.

adj. (-kvæði, n.), in the heroic metre, the metre used in the drápas (q. v.) or poems which were recited before a king and the king’s men (drótt), whence the name probably comes; dróttkvæðr is opp. to kviðu-háttr, the epic, narrative metre, and ljóða-háttr, the metre of didactic poems or poems in the form of dialogues, Edda (Ht.)

mod. dans, n. a word of for. origin; [cp. mid. Lat. dansare; Fr. danser; Ital. danzare; Engl. dance; Germ. tanz, tanzen.] This word is certainly not Teutonic, but of Roman or perhaps Breton origin: the Icel. or Scandin. have no genuine word for dancing,—leika means ‘to play’ in general: the word itself (danza, danz, etc.) never occurs in the old Sagas or poetry, though popular amusements of every kind are described there; but about the end of the 11th century, when the Sagas of the bishops (Bs.) begin, we find dance in full use, accompanied by songs which are described as loose and amorous: the classical passage is Jóns S. (A. D. 1106–1121), ch. 13. Bs. i. 165, 166, and cp. Júns S. by Gunnlaug, ch. 24. Bs. i. 237—Leikr sá var kær mönnum áðr en hinn heilagi Jón varð biskup, at kveða skyldi karlmaðr til konu í danz blautlig kvæði ok rægilig; ok kona til karlmanns mansöngs vísur; þenna leik lét hann af taka ok bannaði styrkliga; mansöngs kvæði vildi hann eigi heyra né kveða láta, en þó fékk hann því eigi af komið með öllu. Some have thought that this refers to mythical (Eddic) poetry, but without reason and against the literal sense of the passage; the heathen heroic poems were certainly never used to accompany a dance; their flow and metre are a sufficient proof of that. In the Sturl. (Hist. of the 12th and 13th century) dancing is mentioned over and over again; and danz is used of popular ballads or songs of a satirical character (as those in Percy’s ballads): flimt ( loose song) and danz are synonymous words; the Sturl. has by chance preserved two ditties (one of A. D. 1221, running thus—Loptr liggr í Eyjum, bítr lunda bein | Sæmundr er á heiðum, etr berin ein. Sturl. ii. 62, and one referring to the year 1264—Mínar eru sorgirnar þungar sem blý, Sturl. iii. 317) sufficient to shew the flow and metre, which are exactly the same as those of the mod. ballads, collected in the west of Icel. (Ögr) in the 17th century under the name of Fornkvæði, Old Songs, and now edited by Jon Sigurdsson and Svend Grundtvig. Danz and Fornkvæði are both of the same kind, and also identical with Engl. ballads, Dan. kæmpeviser. There are passages in Sturl. and B.S. referring to this subject — færðu Breiðbælingar Lopt í flimtun ok görðu um hann danza marga, ok margskonar spott annat, Sturl. ii. 57, cp. 62; Danza-Bergr, the nickname of a man (Stud, ii), prob. for composing comic songs; danza-görð, composing comic songs; fylgðar-menn Kolbeins fóru með danza-görð, … en er Brandr varð varr við flimtan þeirra, iii. 80; þá hrökti Þórðr hestinn undir sér, ok kvað danz þenna við raust, 317.

β. a wake, Arna S. ch. 2; in Sturl. i. 23; at the banquet in Reykhólar, 1119, the guests amused themselves by dancing, wrestling, and story-telling; þá var sleginn danz í stofu, ii. 117; í Viðvík var gleði mikil ok gott at vera; þat var einn Drottins dag at þar var danz mikill; kom þar til fjöldi manna; ok ríðr hann í Viðvík til danz, ok var þar at leik; ok dáðu menn mjök danz hans, iii. 258, 259; honum var kostr á boðinn hvat til gamans skyldi hafa, sögur eða danz um kveldit, 281;—the last reference refers to the 21st of January, 1258, which fell on a Sunday (or wake-day): in ballads and tales of the Middle Ages the word is freq.:—note the allit. phrase, dansinn dunar, Ísl. Þóðs. ii. 8: the phrases, stiga danz; ganga í danz; brúðir í danz, dansinn heyra; dans vill hun heyra, Fkv. ii. 7. Many of the burdens to the mod. Icel. ballads are of great beauty, and no doubt many centuries older than the ballads to which they are affixed; they refer to lost love, melancholy, merriment, etc., e. g. Blítt lætur veröldin, fölnar fögr fold | langt er síðan mitt var yndið lagt í mold, i. 74; Út ert þú við æginn blá, eg er hér á Dröngum, | kalla eg löngum, kalla eg til þin löngum; Skín á skildi Sól og sumarið fríða, | dynur í velli er drengir í burtu riða, 110; Ungan leit eg hofmann í fögrum runni, | skal eg í hljóði dilla þeim mér unm; Austan blakar laufið á þann linda, 129; Fagrar heyrða eg raddirnar við Niflunga heim; Fagrt syngr svanrinn um sumarlanga tíð, | þá mun list að leika sér mín liljan fríð, ii. 52: Einum unna eg manninum, á meðan það var, | þó hlaut eg minn harm að bera í leyndum stað, 94; Svanrinn víða. svanurinn syngr viða, 22; Utan eptir firðinum, sigla fagrar fleyr | sá er enginn glaður eptir annan þreyr, 110; Svo er mér illt og angrsamt því veldur þú, | mig langar ekki í lundinn með þá jungfrú, Espol. Ann. 1549. The earliest ballads seem to have been devoted to these subjects only; of the two earliest specimens quoted in the Sturl. (above), one is satirical, the other melancholy; the historical ballads seem to be of later growth: the bishops discountenanced the wakes and dancing (Bs. l. c., Sturl. iii), but in vain: and no more telling proof can be given of the drooping spirits of Icel. in the last century, than that dancing and wakes ceased, after having been a popular amusement for seven hundred years. Eggert Olafsson in his poems still speaks of wakes, as an eyewitness; in the west of Icel. (Vestfirðir) they lasted longer, but even there they died out about the time that Percy’s ballads were published in England. The Fornkvæði or songs are the only Icel. poetry which often dispenses with the law of alliteration, which in other cases is the light and life of Icel. poetry; vide also hofmaðr, viki-vakar, etc. In the 15th century the rímur (metrical paraphrases of romances) were used as an accompaniment to the danz, höldar danza harla snart, ef heyrist vísan mín; hence originates the name man-söngr ( maid-song), minne-sang, which forms the introduction to every ríma or rhapsody; the metre and time of the rímur are exactly those of ballads and well suited for dancing. An Icel. MS. of the 17th century, containing about seventy Icel. Fornkvæði, is in the Brit. Mus. no. 11,177; and another MS., containing about twenty such songs, is in the Bodl. Libr. no. 130.

f. narrative poem, ballad.

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u, f. [kveða], an epic poem, a song or ballad composed in such metre as the Völuspá, and thus opp. to mál (a didactic poem, sentences), q. v., drápa ( heroic), q. v., and ríma ( modern ballads), q. v.: the name of several old songs, Hýmis-kviða, Sæm. 105 (Bugge); Þryms-k., 124; Völsunga-k., 193; Helga-k., 112 (Möbius); í þessi kviðu, 241 (Bugge); Guðrúnar-k. in forna, 241, 242; Sigurðar-k. in Skamma, 246 (Fas. i. 197); kviða Sigurðar, Sæm. 247; k. Guðrúnar, 274; Atla-k. in Grænlenzka, 282; Hákonar-k., Fms. ix; Glælungs-k., v. 100, 108; í kviðunni, Grett. 105 new Ed. kviðu-háttr, m. the metre of a kviða, the epic metre such as that of the Völuspá, Beowulf, and the like, opp. to ljóða-háttr and mál; þvíat þá þykkir betr hljóða þessar samstöfur í kviðu-hætti, Skálda 182 (Olave Hvíta-skáld); the word also occurs in the Háttatal Rögnvalds, verse 3, and is a more correct name than the usual fornyrðalag, which has no old authority, except in a lemma from a later hand in one of the verses of the Háttatal by Snorri.

u, f., or rún-hending, f., is the name of the metre with end-rhymes, consecutive, not alternate; the word is now obsolete, and in ancient writers it only occurs in two places, the Ht. R. verse 24 and in Edda (Ht.), where the Cod. Reg. gives rún-, Edda i. 696 sqq. (the foot-notes); but one is tempted to suspect that this is corrupt, and that the true form was rim-, as im and un can hardly be distinguishedin MSS.; rím- would yield good sense, whereas rúm- is meaningless. The metre itself is evidently of foreign origin, borrowed from the A. S.: the first poem in this metre was the Höfuðl. of Egil, who had lived in England; it was little used throughout the 10th and the following centuries, and the few poems and fragments composed in it can be traced to Egil’s poem as their prototype. The single verse in Eg. ch. 27 is prob. a later composition.

f. [A. S. heaðu- in several poët. compds; cp. Sansk. çatru and çâtayâmi; Lat. caedo; Gr. κότος]:—war, slaughter, but only in compd pr. names, Höð-broddr, Fb.; Höð, f. the name of a Valkyria (also Geira-höð), Gm.: as also of a woman, but mythical, Fas.: the name of an island in Norway: Höðr, m., gen. Haðar, dat. Heði, the name of the blind brother and ‘slayer’ of Baldr, the ‘fratricide’ or ‘Cain’ of the Edda, Vsp. 37, Vtkv. 9, Edda 17, 56: also the name of a mythol. king, whence Heðir, pl. a Norse people; and Haða-land, the county, Fb. iii. Haðar-lag, n. the metre of Höd, a kind of metre, Edda.

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from stela.

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n. [a common Teut. word; O. H. G. stahal], steel; sterkasta stáli, Karl. 285, Fms., x. 172, passim: phrases, sverfa til stáls, to file to the very steel, to fight to the last, vii. 244, Gullþ. 69.

2. plur., of weapons: er stálin mættusk. Art., Lex. Poët. passim.

3. a part of a ship, the beak; þeir höfðu raskótt fyrir stálinu, Fms. viii. 199; kjalar, stála, súða, Edda 66, Lex. Poët.

II. metaph., from steel wrapped in soft iron before being fused in the forge:— the inside of a hay-stack or rick (= staði); hann tók laust hey ór stálinu. Njarð. 378; ef maðr á korn falt í stáli eðr hey, N. G. L. ii. 111 (v.r. to staði), freq. in mod. usage.

2. an intercalary sentence in a verse, much used by the ancient poets, esp. in the metre dróttkvætt, Edda i. 618; thus in Haustl. 13 the words ‘sveipr varð í för’ is a stál. In the old poems of the metre dróttkvæð the strophes are interwoven with such intercalary sentences; in some editions these sentences are marked by [ ] or by ():—as a gramm. term, embolismus, köllum var þat gört á stál ef á meðal verðr hendinga, Skálda ii. 106.

COMPDS: stálbroddr, stálgaddr, stálgörr, stálhanzki, stálharðr, stálhattr, stálhjálmr, stálhúfa, stálnagli, stálpík, stálslá, stálsleginn, stálsorfinn.

n. the metre of the Lilja, the mod. name for the ancient hrynhenda (q. v.), in which metre the Lilja was composed, whence the name.

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(-tta, -ttr), v.

1) to change, alter (breyta átrúnaði);

refl., breytast; hafa þau eigi breyzt síðan, they have not changed since;

2) to vary; breyta háttum, to vary the metre; breyta hári sínu, to dress one’s hair; réttr ok breyttr, plain and artificial;

3) absol. to condiuct oneself, do, act; munum við báðir í brott komast, ef við breytum svá, if we do so; breyta eptir em, to imitate; breyta til es, to attempt.

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tt, [braut, via], to alter, change: bregða implies the notion of breach, breyta simply denotes change: with dat.; b. farveg (of a river), to form a new channel, Grág. i. 350, Nj. 4, Ld. 158, Fms. ii. 158, Fb. i. 292; flestar Þjóðir þurfa at b. ( transform) nafni hans til sinnar tungu, Edda 14; þá vóru snjóvar miklir ok breyttir (changed, become impassable) vegir allir, Eg. 543, Rb. 262 (where the acc. is wrong;).

β. reflex., hafa þau ekki breyzk síðan, they have not changed since, Fms. viii. 5.

γ. to vary; b. háttum, to vary the metre, Edda 121; b. hári sínu, to dress the hair, Greg. 45; b. málum, to speak rhetorically, dress one’s words, Fms. vi. 392; réttr ok b., plain and artificial, Edda 120; úbreyttr, plain.

II. metaph., absol. without case, to conduct oneself, act, do, behave; ef við breytum svá, if we do so, Nj. 202, Ísl. ii. 181, Fms. i. 150; b. eptir e-m, to imitate, Symb. 15; b. til e-s, to attempt, Grág. ii. 94.

2. in mod. use chiefly in moral sense, to behave, conduct oneself; b. vel, illa, kristilega, cp. breytni, N. T., Vidal., Pass.

u, f. a drápa composed in a special metre, called toglag, for specimen see Edda (Ht. 68–70), and the fragments in Ó. H.; togdrápu-háttr, -lag, the metre of a togdrápa, Edda (Ht.), 137, 138.

(gen. jarðar, dat. jörðu; pl. jarðir), f.

1) earth, opp. to himinn( hvárt býr guð á himni eða jörðu?);

2) the surface of the earth, ground (féll hann þá dauðr til jarðar);

3) mould;

4) land, estate.

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f., gen. jarðar; dat. jörðu, mod. also jörð; pl. jarðir; in old writers dat. and acc. are carefully distinguished; in mod. prose and conversation the apocopated dative is mostly used, whereas the poets use either form, as is most convenient for the flow of the verse and the metre, as in the Passion hymns,

α. the full form; og hindra gjörðu, | Guðs dýrðarljós svo lýsi mér á lifandi manna jörðu, 9. 9; merk að úr jörðu mátti ei neinn, 46. 10; hróp og háreysti gjörðu … | kringum krossinn á jörðu, 39. 7; nakinn Jesum á jörðu … | með heiptar sinni hörðu, 33. 4; Lausnarinn niðr á jörðu, 34. 1; blóðsveitinn þinn eg bið mér sé, | blessan og vernd á jörðunni, 3. 12; eins hér á jörðu upp frá því, 21. 10; þó leggist lík í jörðu … | hún mætir aldrei hörðu, Hallgr.

β. the apocopated form; en Jesú hlýðni aptr hér, allri jörð blessan færir, Pass. 24. 6; heiðr, lof, dýrð á himni og jörð | hjártanleg ástar þakkar-gjörð, 3. 18; þó heiðarleg sé hér á jörð | holdi útvaldra líkför gjörð, 49. 14; ef hér á jörð er hróp og háð, 14. 16; hvað göra þeir sem hér á jörð | hafa að spotti Drottins orð, 10: [Goth. airþa; A. S. eorde; Hel. ertha; old Scot. yearthe; Engl. earth: O. H. G. erda; Germ. erde; Dutch aarde; Fris. irth; Swed.-Dan. jord.]

A. The earth; jörð ok himin, Nj. 194; jörð ok upphimin, Vsp. 3; jörð iðja-græna, 58; íllt er á jörð of orðit, Glúm. (in a verse), Hm. 138, and prose passim; jarðar yfirbragð er böllótt, Rb. 460, 465; jarðar bugr, böllr, hringr, hvel, mynd, endi, bygð, the earth’s bight, ball, ring, wheel, shape, end, habitation, 440, 466, 472: for the mythol. genesis of the earth see Vsp. l. c., Vþm. 20, 21, Gm. 40: as a mythical goddess, the Earth was daughter of Ónar (Ónars-dóttir) and Nótt (the night), and sister of Day on the mother’s side, Edda 7: Thor was the Earth’s son, Jarðar-sonr, m., Haustl.

II. the surface of the earth, earth; falla til jarðar, Nj. 64; koma til jarðar, to throw down, Fms. v. 348; falla frjáls á jörð, N. G. L. i. 32, Grág. ii. 192; á jörðu ok í jörðu, Finnb. 290; bíta gras af jörðunni, Fms. xi. 7; skeðja jörðu, K. Þ. K. 22; jörð eða stein, Sks. 88; erja jörð, to ‘ear’ the earth, plough, Rb. 100; flestir menn séru jarðir sínar, Fms. i. 92: jarðar aldin, ávöxtr, blómi, dupt, dust, dýr, kvikendi, skriðdýr, etc., the earth’s fruit, produce, blossom, dust, deer, beasts, reptiles, etc., H. E. ii. 188, Grág. ii. 347, Ver. 17, Fas. iii. 669, Sks. 527, 628, Stj. 18, 77.

2. pasture; görði kulda mikla með snjóum ok íllt til jarðar, Grett. 91 A; taka til jarðar, to graze, Skm. 15: freq. in mod. usage, góð jörð, lítil jörð, jarð-leysi, jarð-laust, jarð-bann, q. v.

3. mould, Lat. humus; jörð sú er á innsigli er lögð, Lækn. 472: soil, sand-jörð, sandy soil; leir-jörð, clayey soil, etc.

COMPDS: jarðarber, jarðarför, jarðarmegin, jarðarmen.

B. Land, an estate, very freq. in Icel., answering to Norse bol, Dan. gaard; thus, túlf, tuttugu, sextíu, … hundraða jörð, land of twelve, twenty, sixty, … hundreds value; byggja jörð, to lease a farm; búa á jörð, to live on a farm; leigja jörð, to hold land as a tenant (leigu-liði); góð bú-jörð, good land for farming; harðbala-jörð, barren, bad land; plógs-jörð, land yielding rare produce, eider-down or the like; land-jörð, an inland estate, opp. to sjóvar-jörð, land by the sea side; Benedikt gaf sira Þórði jarðir út á Skaga hverjar svá heita …, Dipl. v. 27.

COMPDS: jarðar-, sing. or jarða-, pl.: jarðarbrigð, jarðarbygging, jarðareigandi, jarðarhefð, jarðarhelmingr, jarðarhundrað, jarðarhöfn, jarðarflag, jarðarkaup, jarðarleiga, jarðarlýsing, jarðarmark, jarðamat, jarðamáldagi, jarðarmáli, jarðarmegin, jarðarpartr, jarðarrán, jarðarreitr, jarðaskeyting, jarðarskipti, jarðaskipti, jarðarspell, jarðatal, jarðarteigr, jarðarusli, jarðarverð, jarðarvígsla, jarðarþjófr.

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(að, rarely -ta, -t), v. to show, point out, indicate;

vísa e-m leið, to show one the way;

vísa augum í e-n, to direct, fix the eyes on one;

vísa hundi at mann í, to set a hound on a person;

vísa e-m til sætis, to show one where to sit;

vísa e-m til landskostar, to direct one to the best of the land;

þeir vísuðu honum til Kols, they showed him the way to Kol, told him where he was to be found;

vísa e-m til vegar, to show one the road;

vísa e-m frá, to send one away, reject an application;

vísa á e-t, to point at, indicate (fleiri eru þau tíðindi, er kvæðit vísar á);

vísa svá til, at, to indicate (vísa ok svá til enskar bœkr, at);

impers., vísar svá til í sögu Bjarnar, it is indicated, referred to, in the story of B.;

with infin., vísa e-m at gera e-t, to tell, prompt one to do a thing.

f. verse, strophe, stanza (hann orti kvæði ok eru þessar vísur í).

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u; f. [Germ. weise; Dan. vise], a strophe, stanza; kveða vísu, Nj. 12; hann orti kvæði ok eru þessar vísur í, Fms. v. 108; vísu lengd, the length of a stanza, Edda (Ht.) i. 606, 656: referring to the repetition of verses as a means of measuring time (minutes), Fs. (Vd. ch. 26); lausa-vísa, a ditty; níð-vísa, söng-visa; höldar danza harla snart, þá heyrist vísan min, a ditty: as the names of shorter poems, as, Nesja-vísur, Austrfarar-vísur, by Sighvat; Vísna-bók, a book of lays. Unlike the old Greek epics, as well as the poems of the Saxon Beowulf, all ancient Northern poetry is in strophic lays. Four sets of alliteration make a verse (vísa), two a half strophe, vísu-helmingr, Edda (Ht.) i. 610, or half vísa, Grág. ii. 148; one set a quarter of a vísa (vísu-fjórðungr); each alliterative set being again divided into two halves, called vísu-orð, a word or sentence, Edda (Ht.) i. 596, cp. Hallfr. S. ch. 6 (Fs. 96, 97); thus ‘fastorðr skyli fyrða | fengsæll vera þengill’ is an alliterative set. ☞ The vellums give verses in unbroken lines, but in modern print each alliterative set is divided into two lines: this may do for metres of the drótt-kvæð kind, with two rhyming syllables in each vísu-orð; but in the brief kviðu-háttr (the metre of the Vsp.) each alliterative set should, for the sake of the flow of the verse, be printed in one line, thus, Hljóðs bið ek allar helgar kindir | meiri ok minni mögu Heimdalar; for a pause only follows between each pair of sets, but none between the sub-staves and the head-stave. This plan is that advocated by Jacob Grimm: the other, commonly followed in the Editions, chops the verse into—hljóðs bið ek allar | helgar kindir | meiri ok minni | mögu Heimdalar.

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m. squirrel.

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a, m. a squirrel. This word is undoubtedly, as Grimm suggests (s. v. eichhorn), not of Teut. origin, but a popular corruption of the Gr. σκί-ουρος (= shade-tail), from which word all mod. European languages have borrowed the name of this animal; A. S. âcvern; early Dutch êncoren; Dutch eekhoren, eikhoren, inkhoren; O. H. G., mid. H. G., and Germ. eichorne, eichorn; Dan. egern; Swed. ickorn, ekorre: in the Romance languages, old Fr. escuriere; Fr. ecureuil; Ital. schiriuolo; whence Engl. squirrel. The word íkorni occurs in the heathen poem Gm., but the word is outside the metre, spoiling the flow of the verse, and was no doubt added afterwards; therefore, instead of ‘Rata-töskr heitir íkorni | er renna skal,’ read ‘Rata-töskr heitir | er renna skal.’ Perhaps the ancient Scandin. name of the animal was töskr, akin to Engl. tusk, A. S. tux, from its sharp teeth, and then Rati (= the climber?) would in the verse be the pr. name, töskr the appellative of that animal; and thus Rata-töskr would stand for Ratitöskr = Rati the squirrel; see also Edda, Ó. H. 85, Sks. 115, Gþl. 448.

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older form snimma, adv.

1) quickly, soon (hann var snemma mikill ok sterkr);

2) early (ganga snemma at sofa); snemma um morgininn, early in the morning; with gen., snemma dags, morgins, early in the day, morning; snemma orrostunnar, in the beginning of the battle.

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adv., older form snimma; the Cod. Reg. of Sæm. spells it with e and a double m, see the references below (from Bugge); fimm sn emma, Jd. 5 (skothending, according to the metre of that poem); but fimm hundraða snimma (aðalhending), Kormak; fimr snimma, Ht. R. 29; the compar. snemr (snimr) and superl. snemst are obsolete: [A. S. sneome]:— early = árla, q. v.

1. gener. of time; borinn snemma, Vsp. 32; hve ér yðr s. til saka réðut, Skv. 3. 34; sáttir þínar er ek vil snemma hafa, Alm. 6; veðr mun þar vaxa verða ótt snemma, Am. 17; þat erumk sennt at s., sonr Aldaföður vildi freista …, Bragi; sá sveinn var snemma mikill ok fríðr sýnum, Fms. i. 14; görðisk þegar iþróttamaðr snemma, Hkr. i. 72; snemma fullkominn at afli, Eg. 146; s. mikill ok sterkr, Fs. 86; systir fann þeirra snemst, she was the first who saw them, Akv. 15; snemr enn þú hyggir, sooner than thou thinkest, Skv. 3. 54; hón var snemr ( ere) numin lífi. Edda (in a verse); hvé snemst ( how soonest) vér fám snekkjur búnar, Fas. i. 268 (in a verse); urðu snemst barðir, Bragi; þeirrar mildi ok góðvilja er hann téði oss nú enn snimst ( lately) er hann var í Níðarósi, D. N. ii. 87.

2. of the day, early; snemma kallaði seggr annan, Vkv. 23; ganga snemma at sofa, Hm. 19; mikilsti snemma, 66; síð eða snemma, Þiðr. 57; síð ok snemma, Fms. x. 277; í nótt eða snemma á myrgin, viii. 397, v. l.; snemma um morguninn, Nj. 23; þriðja dag snimma, Ld. 266; Álfr konungr gékk opt snimma sofa, Hkr. i. 28.

3. with gen., snimma orrostunnar, Fms. viii. 388; einn aptan snimma Jólanna, vii. 268; þat var ok snemma orrostu er Óláfr konungr féll, x. 399; snemma dags, Am. 67.

adj. part. (metric.) an apocopate (hneppt) species of the metre dróttkvætt w ith masculine rhymes, v. hnept and hálfhnept. Thus defined, Edda (Ht.), verse 78; it is called alhneppt, where all the rhymes are masculine; but hálfhneppt, where feminines and masculines are used alternately.

adj. composed in the metre hrynhenda, Edda (Ht.)

adj. in the metre liðhenda, Edda 131.

adj. written in the metre oddhending, Edda 139.

adj. in the metre riðhenda, Edda 135, Skálda 192.

adj. in the metre rúnhenda, Edda (Ht.); see above.