loose song

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.

1) loose, opp. to fastr, ‘bundinn’ (hon hafði laust hárit sem meyjum er títt); verða l., to get loose; eldr varð l., fire broke out; láta e-t laust, to let loose, yield up; liggja laust fyrir, to be easy to seize upon;

2) free, unimpeded, unencumbered (gakk þú l. yfir brúna); ríða l., to ride without baggage;

3) disengaged (free) from, with gen. (vit erum lausir allra svardaga);

4) void, riot binding (nú er laus veðjan okkar);

5) vacant (viljum vér gefa yðr Ólafskirkju, því at hón er nú laus);

6) light (l. svefn);

7) empty, without a cargo (sigla lausum skipum);

8) movable; lönd ok lausir aurar, lands and movable property;

9) absolved from ban;

10) in compds. mostly suffixed to a subst., often in gen., - less (mein-, sak-, vit-lauss, athuga-, auðnu-, lýta-lauss).

* * *

adj., compar. lausari, superl. lausastr; [Ulf. laus = κενός; A. S. leâs; Engl. loose, release; Germ. los; Dan. lös]:—loose, opp. to fast; fast ok laust; steinn, annarr fastr enn annarr lauss, Pm. 106; (fór) utanborðs seglit ok allt þat er laust var á búlkanum nema menn, Bs. i. 422; verða lauss, to get loose; eldr varð lauss, fire broke loose (cp. Dan. ildlös), Fms. x. 29; láta laust, to let loose, let slip, yield up, vi. 203, Nj. 58, Stj. 184; liggja laust fyrir, to sit loose, be easy to seize upon; þótti eigi svá laust fyrir liggja sem þeir ætluðu, Fms. viii. 357.

II. metaph. free, unimpeded, Germ. ledig; þar var engi maðr lauss at söðla hest konungs, Ó. H. 15; bændr ok lausir menn, Fs. 23; þessa megin skaltú láta hest þinn, ok gakk þú lauss yfir brúna, leave thy horse behind, and walk loose (i. e. unencumbered) across the bridge, Konr.; skal þat lið á móti því er laust er ok eigi er í fylkingu, Eg. 293: ríða laust, to ride (travel) unencumbered, without luggage, Hrafn. 27; lauss hestr, a led horse, Fms. v. 285.

2. disengaged, with gen.; en ek skal lauss allra mála ef hann kemr eigi svá út, Ísl. ii. 217; vit erum lausir allra svardaga, Fb. i. 232; lauss einka-mála, Ó. H. 194.

3. void, not binding; nú er laus veðjan okkar, Fms. vi. 370; laus eru öll nýmæli ef eigi verða upp sögð et þriðja hvert sumar, Grág. (Kb.) i. 37; en ef Sigvaldi kemr eigi þessu fram, sem nú var skilt með þeim, þá skulu mál þeirra öll vera laus, Fms. xi. 100; kuggrinn stár á kjölnum fast en kaup er laust, Stef. Ól.

4. vacant; viljum vér gefa yðr Ólafs kirkju, þvíat hón er nú laus, Bs. i. 800; lauss biskupsdómr, a vacant bishopric, Mar.; laust brauð, a vacant living for a priest.

5. with the notion of empty; sigla lausum kili, to sail ‘with a loose keel,’ i. e. without a cargo, Ó. H. 115; sigla lausu skipi, id., Bs. i. 518.

6. light, of sleep; hann var kominn í hvílu sína ok sofnaðr laust, Mar.; þá seig á hann svefn, ok þó svá lauss, at hann þóttisk vaka, Ó. H. 195, Vkv. 29.

7. dissolved, of a meeting (þing-lausnir); þing skal laust segja á miðjum degi, Grág. i. 116; dag þann er sóknar-þing er laust, 117.

8. loose, i. e. personal, property; lönd ok lausa aura (see lausafé, lauseyrir), Eg. 34, Js. 62; lausir penningar, loose money, cash, D. N. v. 488.

9. not lined, of a garment; þrír dúkar með rautt skinn ok enn fjórði lauss, Vm. 47; hökull lauss, stola laus, 15.

10. absolved from ban; hann söng yfir þeim miserere, ok segir þeim þó, at þá vóru þeir eigi lausari en áðr, Sturl. ii. 11.

11. loose, dissolute; lauss í sínum framferðum, Mar.: heedless, lauss ok með litlum athuga, id.

III. as the last part in compds mostly suffixed to a root word, often in gen., in a negative sense, in Icel, almost in endless instances, of which many remain in English, sak-lauss, sackless; auðnu-auss, luckless; athuga-lauss, thoughtless; mein-lauss, guileless; vit-lauss, witless, insane, etc., from which is formed the neut. subst. termination -leysi.