requires)

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(pl. -ir), f.

1) stay; hann fór til vistar til Hliðarenda, he went to stay at H.; hann var vistum með föður sínum, he stayed with his father;

2) abode (margar eru þá vistir góðar ok margar illar); veita e-m v., to lodge one;

3) food, provisions, often in pl.; ønga v. þarf hann, he requires no food; v. ok drykkr, meat and drink; Hrapp þraut vistir í hafi, H. ran short off provisions at sea.

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f. [from vera, i. e. vesa, preserving the radical s; cp. Germ. wesen, whence mod. Dan. væsen]:—an abode, dwelling, domicile; the word is, both in olden and modern times, mostly used of the domicile of servants or labourers of any kind; vera í vist, fara úr vist; hann fór til vistar til Hlíðarenda, Nj. 40; nú em ek á vist með bróður mínum, Hrafn. 13; hann skal þá fara til vista sinna enna sömu, Grág. i. 91; hann var vistum með föður sínum, Nj. 39; hann var vistum með þeim bónda er Þorlákr hét, Magn. 524; Einarr leitar til vistar við Hrafnkel, Hrafn. 5; nú hafa vistir þínar verit hér nokkurar stundir, Fms. xi. 310; ek vildi ekki hér í landi hafa vistir hans, Eg. 533; er þar góð vist ok gleðilig, … mun eigi vera hér vistin jafn-glöð sem í Noregi, Fs. 25; veita e-m vist, to lodge one, 13; fara ór griði ok hafa ekki vistar, to have no home, of a servant, Grág. (Kb.) ii. 181; vísa e-m ór vist, id.; hann ætlaði sér vist um vetrinn með Haraldi Gorms-syni, Fms. xi. 19; þú skal fara brott ok vera eigi vistum milli …, Fs. 57; at hón skipti öllum vistum með þeim er til hennar vóru sendir, Edda 18; margar eru vistir í húsi föður míns, Greg. 69 (John xiv. 2); ef þau hafa vist tvau misseri eptir húsgang, Grág. i. 301; manna-vistir, see maðr C; brott-vist, þar-vist, hirð-vist.

II. food, provisions, viands, often in plur.; önga vist þarf hann ( he requires no food), vín er honum bæði drykkr ok matr, Edda 24; settu borð ok báru á vist fyrir þá, Fms. ii. 98; brott var sópat öllum vistum, Fs. 145; hvat hefir hann at fá þeim at vistum, Edda 23; vápn ok klæði ok vistir, Hrafn. 12, Eg. 76, Ísl. ii. 341; Hrapp þraut vistir í hafi, Nj. 128: vist ok drykk, meat and drink, Fms. i. 213, x. 270, Eg. 420; vistir ok drykk, Fms. i. 11.

COMPDS: vistarbyrðingr, vistafang, vistarfar, vistafari, vistafátt, vistarferli, vistafæð, vistagjald, vistargörð, vistarlaun, vistalauss, vistarlauss, vistarmaðr, vistamalr, vistaskortr, vistataka, vistartekja, vistarveizla, vistarvera, vistaþrot.

a. Danish;

dönsk tunga, the Danish (or old Scandinavian) language.

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adj., Danir, pl. Danes; Dan-mörk, f. Denmark, i. e. the mark, march, or border of the Danes; Dana-veldi, n. the Danish empire; Dana-virki, n. the Danish wall, and many compds, vide Fms. xi. This adj. requires special notice, because of the phrase Dönsk tunga ( the Danish tongue), the earliest recorded name of the common Scandinavian tongue. It must be borne in mind that the ‘Danish’ of the old Saga times applies not to the nation, but to the empire. According to the researches of the late historian P.A. Munch, the ancient Danish empire, at least at times, extended over almost all the countries bordering on the Skagerac (Vík); hence a Dane became in Engl. synonymous with a Scandinavian; the language spoken by the Scandinavians was called Danish; and ‘Dönsk tunga’ is even used to denote Scandinavian extraction in the widest extent, vide Sighvat in Fms. iv. 73, Eg. ch. 51, Grág. ii. 71, 72. During the 11th and 12th centuries the name was much in use, but as the Danish hegemony in Scandinavia grew weaker, the name became obsolete, and Icel. writers of the 13th and 14th centuries began to use the name ‘Norræna,’ Norse tongue, from Norway their own mother country, and the nearest akin to Icel. in customs and idiom. ‘Swedish’ never occurs, because Icel. had little intercourse with that country, although the Scandinavian tongue was spoken there perhaps in a more antique form than in the sister countries. In the 15th century, when almost all connection with Scandinavia was broken off for nearly a century, the Norræna in its turn became an obsolete word, and was replaced by the present word ‘Icelandic,’ which kept its ground, because the language in the mean time underwent great changes on the Scandinavian continent. The Reformation, the translation of the Old and New Testaments into Icelandic (Oddr Gotskalksson, called the Wise, translated and published the N. T. in 1540, and bishop Gudbrand the whole Bible in 1584), a fresh growth of religious literature, hymns, sermons, and poetry (Hallgrímr Pétrsson, Jón Vídalín), the regeneration of the old literature in the 17th and 18th centuries (Brynjólfr Sveinsson, Arni Magnússon, Þormóðr Torfason),—all this put an end to the phrases Dönsk tunga and Norræna; and the last phrase is only used to denote obsolete grammatical forms or phrases, as opposed to the forms and phrases of the living language. The translators of the Bible often say ‘vort Íslenzkt mál,’ our Icelandic tongue, or ‘vort móður mál,’ our mother tongue; móður-málið mitt, Pass. 35. 9. The phrase ‘Dönsk tunga’ has given rise to a great many polemical antiquarian essays: the last and the best, by which this question may be regarded as settled, is that by Jon Sigurdsson in the preface to Lex. Poët.; cp. also that of Pál Vídalín in Skýr. s. v., also published in Latin at the end of the old Ed. of Gunnl. Saga, 1775.

= líkr.

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adj., mod. líkr; in old poems in alliteration the g is always sounded, e. g. glíkr er geira sækir | gunnsterkr …, Bjarn. 33; urðu-a it glíkir | þeim Gunnari, Gh. 3; glík skulu gjöld gjöfum, Hm. 45; Baldri glíkan bur, Ls.; but the vellum MSS. use both forms, though glík is more freq. in the older, líkr in the later; sometimes false readings arose, e. g. ólíkt ( unlike) hafa gört þeir menn, Bs. i. 140, where the sense requires glíkt, but the lower part of the g having been obliterated, the transcriber read it as o; or Fs. 22, where ugglikt ( suspicious) yields no meaning, and is to be read úglíkt (different, quite another thing): [Ulf. galeiks = ομοιος; A. S. gelîc; Engl. alike, like; O. H. G. glîk; mod. Germ. gleich; Swed. lik; Dan. lig]:—like, alike; with dat., sonr er feðr glíkari en dóttir, Eluc. 10; annarr atburðr varð enn þessum glíkr, Bs. i. 346; ekki því grjóti glíkt öðru er þar er, Eg. 142; því glíkt, as adv. such-like, in like manner, Post. 686 C. 2; lifði því líkara sem hann væri ílldýri, Ísl. ii. 481; fríðr sýnum ok mjök líkr föður sínum, Fms. i. 14, x. 265; ok er Kári öngum manni líkr, K. has no match, Nj. 265; skal ek eigi göra þik þeim líkastan er þú vill líkastr vera en þat er Óðinn, Sturl. i. 101; þat þótti mér líkara harmi en skaða, Ld. 126; landi líkari en fiski, Sks. 139; þá munu þit verða Guði lík, 503; svá sem þeir menn verða líkastir er tvíburar eru, Rb. 100; hnot eða myl, eða líkt, or the like, Edda 109; líkt ok ekki, like nothing, Gullþ. 54; er ok eigi líkt (i. e. it is beyond comparison) hvárt sannari er sú saga, eðr hin, Fms. viii. 1; cp. ok er þat úglíkt hvárt þú ferr í lofi mínu, eðr …, Fs. 22 (vide above):—at glíku (líku), adv. all the same, nevertheless; því at jarl hefir at líku líf várt, ef hann vill eptir því leita, Nj. 267; þykki mér þat at glíku, it seems to me all the same, Ísl. ii. 483: so in the phrase, leggja til líka, to settle; at þeir vildi allt til líka leggja með góðra manna ráði, Dipl. ii. 11; því-líkr, ‘that-like,’ such; ú-líkr, unlike; slíkr, qs. svá-líkr, such, Germ. solch = so like.

II. metaph. likely, probable, Fs. 4; en þó er þat líkast at hann snúisk til várrar ættar, Nj. 38; þat er líkara at fyrir öðru þurfi ráð at göra, 261; þat er ok líkast at þeir komist þar at keyptu, Eg. 64; Björn segir þat líkast at hann mundi fara af landi á brott, 156; þat var líkara, Ísl. ii. 141: neut. líkt, likely; ok líkt at þér fylgi gipta, Fms. vi. 8; hann kallaði þá líkasta til slíkra íllbragða, 379; ok líkara at hann mundi koma í Þórarinsdal, Bjarn. 6l; þá þyki mér þat líkt, at …, Sks. 52.

2. likely, promising, to the purpose; taka oss þar fari hverr sem líkast þykkir, Nj. 259; nær líkast væri til at veita atför jarli, Fms. i. 54; þá leituðusk þeir um hvar líkast var út at komask, Eg. 233; mér þykir eigi til líkt ( it looks not well) um ferð þeirra bræðra, Vígl. 25; sá hann eigi annan líkara útveg, Bs. i. 690; því at þeir sá þá sinn kost engan annan líkara, Fb. i. 405; kann vera at endirinn verði líkari ( better) en upphafit, Bs. ii. 64; at þat væri líkast til heilla sátta, Fms. iv. 139; til þeirrar stundar sem mér þyki nokkuru líkast at fram megi komask þetta eyrendi, 133.

f. sickness that requires guarding, lunacy, Grág. i. 287; að-gæzla, attention.

(-tta, -tt), v.

1) to rely on, trust, with dat. (hlítir Ástríðr ekki öðrum konum at því at þjóna honum í lauginni);

2) to rest satisfied with, be content with (var hann kvæntr, en hlítti þó eigi þeirri einni saman); eigi má því einu h., er bezt þykkir, one must put up with something short of the best; eigi mun minna við h., less than that will not do; eigi muntu því einu fyrir h., thou shalt not get off with that;

3) to submit to, abide by (h. sætt, h. órskurði, dómi, ráðum e-s).

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tt, [Dan. lide], to rely on, trust, abide by, with dat.; gakk með mér jafnan, ok hlít (imperat.) mínum ráðum, Nj. 62, Fms. i. 116, Fs. 84; ef hann vill eigi þeim váttum hlíta ( abide by) er hinir hafa, Grág. i. 114; þá skal hinn hlíta því at lögum, N. G. L. i. 346; þetta þá Guðrún ok kvaðsk hans forsjá hlíta mundu, Ld. 144, Fs. 80, Fas. iii. 70; ek mun hlíta búum mínum ok fara eigi til Hofs, Vápn. 29; hann var kvæntr, ok hlítti þó ekki þeirri einni saman, i. e. he had paramours besides, Dropl. 15; ok hlítir Ástríðr eigi öðrum konum í pvi at þjóna honum í lauginni, A. trusted not to other women, i. e. would let no one do it but herself, Fms. xi. 157; ok skal ekki öðrum mönnum nú at h. at reka nautin, i. e. I will do it myself, Eg. 720, Valla L. 224; þeir hlíttu mér ( used me) til bréfa-görða, Fms. ix. 262; ef þú mátt eigi öðrum þar til hlíta, if thou hast no one else to do it, Grett. 107: so in the saying, eigi má því einu h. er bazt þykkir, one must put up with something short of the best, Grett.

2. with prep.; en þó sýnisk mér, sem eigi muni minna við hlíta, less than that will not do, Ísl. ii. 358, Fs. 13; vér höfum skip svá mikit ok lið-skyflt, at þar má ekki litlu liði við hlíta, so large a ship that it requires no small crew, Fms. iv. 297; eigi muntu því einu fyrir hlíta, that is not a sufficient answer, thou shall not get off with that, Hkr. iii. 256; cp. einhlítr, adj.

f. legislation, Jb. (pref.), Fms. i. 33, v. 102, Orkn. 124; this word requires explanation,—in old writers it means the constitution, the fundamental laws or political constitution of a commonwealth; as Ari, the historian, says, ‘frá Íslands bygð, frá landnáms-mönnum ok lagasetning,’ of the settlement of Iceland, of her settlers and her political constitution, Íb. (pref.); where lagasetning refers to the institution of the alþing, and the other events related in Íb. ch. 2 and 3; so also, ritaði hann (viz. Ari) mest í upphafi sinnar bókar um Íslands bygð ( the settlement), ok lagasetning ( constitution), Hkr. (pref.), referring to the constitutional laws of Ulfljot recorded in ch. 2 of the Icelander Book; lagasetning here exactly answers to what Konrad Maurer, by a mod. term, calls ‘die entstehung des Isländisches staates.’ So also of the laws of king Hakon the Good (cp. the remarks s. v. þing), lagasetning Hákonar konungs, … hann (the king) var maðr stórvitr, ok lagði mikinn hug á lagasetning, hann ‘setti’ Gulaþings-lög …, Hkr. i. 135 (cp. Fms. i. 31): again, in Ó. H. 227 it answers to the mod. word legislation (of the laws of Sweyn, the son of Alfifa), and so Orkn. 24. It is to be borne in mind that ‘lög’ has a double sense, viz. law in a strict sense, and in a local-political sense = a ‘law-community,’ legally constituted state, nearly answering to Gr. πόλις.

adj. one who requires little nourishment; hann er n., opp. to neyzlu-frekr.

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.