single combat

u, f. ‘holm-gang, holm-going,’ a duel or wager of battle fought on an islet or ‘holm,’ which with the ancients was a kind of last appeal or ordeal; and wherever a Thing (parliament) was held, a place was appointed for the wager of battle, as the holm in the Axe River in the alþingi. The hólmganga differed from the plain einvígi or duel, as being accompanied by rites and governed by rules, whilst the latter was not,—þvíat á hólmgöngu er vandhæfi en alls eigi á einvígi, Korm. 84. The ancient Icel. Sagas abound in wagers of battle, chiefly the Korm. S. ch. 10 and passim: some champions were nicknamed from the custom, e. g. Hólmgöngu-Bersi (Korm. S.), Hólmgöngu-Starri, Hólmgöngu-Máni, Hólmgöngu-Hrafn, Landn. About A. D. 1006 (see Tímatal), the hólmganga was abolished by law in the parliament, on account of the unhappy feud between Gunnlaug Snake-tongue and Skald-Hrafn, Gunnl. S. ch. 11, cp. Valla L. ch. 5 (þá vóru af tekin hólmgöngu-lög öll ok hólmgöngur), referring to about A. D. 1010; a single instance however of a challenge in the north of Icel. is recorded after this date (about the year 1030–1040), but it was not accepted (Lv. S. ch. 30); the wager in Lv. ch. 17 was previous (though only by a few years) to the fight between Gunnlaug and Rafn. It is curious that Jón Egilsson, in his Lives of Bishops (written about A. D. 1600, Bisk. Ann. ch. 36, Safn i. 64), mentions a wager of battle between the parties of the two bishops, Jón Arason and Ögmund, on the old holm in the Axe River A. D. 1529; but the whole is evidently a mere reproduction of the tale of the Horatii in Livy. Maurer thinks that the two important acts of legislation, the institution of the Fifth Court in 1004 and the abolition of the ordeal of hólmganga a few years later, are closely connected, as the institution of the new court of appeal made the decision by battle superfluous. In Norway, if we are to believe Grett. S. ch. 21 (þá tók Eirekr af allar hólmgöngur í Noregi), the hólmgöngur were abolished about the year 1012. It is very likely that the tournaments of the Norman age, fought in lists between two sets of champions, sprang from the heathen hólmganga, though this was always a single combat. For separate cases see the Sagas, Korm. S. l. c., Gunnl. S. l. c., Eg. ch. 57, 67, Nj. ch. 24, 60, Landn. 2. ch. 13, 3. ch. 7, Rd. ch. 1, 19, Gísl. init., Glúm. ch. 4, Valla L. l. c., Hallfr. S. ch. 10. A curious kind of duel in a tub is recorded in Flóam. S. ch. 17, called kerganga, perhaps akin to the mod. Swed. fight in a belt. For England see Sir Edmund Head’s interesting notes to Glúm.

COMPDS: hólmgönguboð, hólmgöngulög, hólmgöngumaðr, hólmgöngustaðr, hólmgöngusverð.

n. [A. S. ânvig], a single combat; distinction is made between the hólmganga (q. v.) and einvígi, the rules of einvígi being plain, cp. the curious passage in Korm, 84; Edda 18, Nj. 33, Fms. vii. 229.

COMPD: einvígismaðr.

m. one who fights in single combat, Fms. x. 88.

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(að), v.

1) to chafe, rub, gall (jarnin skoruðu mjök at beini);

2) to make a score or incision in (sumir ganga at með boløxar ok skora fœti á filunum); s. e-t sundr, to cut asunder;

3) to challenge; s. e-m (or e-n) á hólm (til hólmgöngu, til hólms, til einvígis), to challenge to a duel;

4) s. á e-n, to call upon, request strongly (þeir skoruðu á hann fast); s. á e-n til e-s, to call upon one for a thing (s. á. e-n til liðveizlu, fulltings); s. á e-n til hólmgöngu, to challenge one to fight;

5) to urge insist upon (fast skorar þú þat); s. e-t mál við e-n, to broach a matter to one (konungr skorar þá þetta mál við hana sjálfa);

6) s. e-t í, to stipulate (Þ. skoraði þat í, at);

7) to score, count by tallies (hann lét þá s. liðit).

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að, (but skorðu, Gs. 14), [Engl. to score], to make a score, incision; járnin skoruðu mjök at beini, Fms. xi. 288; af annan fótinn en skoraði mjök annan, Sturl. ii. 158; þar skorðu vit ( we scored) blóð ór benjum, Gs. 14; þeir skora sundr vegginn með bolöxum, Al. 148; skora sundr í miðju, Fas. iii. 343; þeir skoruðu af spjótskapti ( scored a piece off) ok görðu þar af hæl, Slurl. ii. 181; þeir skora fætr á fílunum þar til er þeir falla, Al. 143.

II. skora e-m hólm, prop. to ‘score’ or mark out a field for battle, hence to challenge to single combat, (rísta reit, to scratch the limits of a batile-fdd, see Korm. S.); skora á e-n, to challenge; s. á e-n til hólmgöngu, Dropl. 36, Fs. 137; hann skoraði á Þorfinn til landa, Landn. 80; skora á mann til e-s hlutar, Eg. 494: also, skora e-m á hólm or hólmgöngu, to challenge to fight, Nj. 15, 36, Gísl. 78: skora e-n (acc.) á hólm, Grett. 40 new Ed., is less correct.

2. to call on, summon; hann skorar á Þorgerði, Fms. xi. 134; at þú skorir á hann, at hann rétti þitt mál, Dropl. 20: to urge, fast skorar þú þat, Ld. 334; konungr skorar þetta mál við hana sjálfa, Fms. xi. 4; skaltú s. við hann fast, 113; skorar konungr til við Hákon, hvárt …, 20; þótt þessir hlutir skoraði samvizkur manna á fornum landskap, Bs. i. 733; þat skorar Búi í sættina, at …, Fms. xi. 86; einn er hlutr skoraðr til þess, 30; skoraði því Biskup þessa hluti, Bs. i. 736; Þorvaldr skoraði þat í mót.

III. to score, count by tallies; en er skorat var lið vóru nær þrettán hundruð, Fms. vii. 295; hann lét þá s. liðit, Orkn. 416, ix. 382 (v. l.); þá lét hann menn ganga undir stöng ( he made the men pass under a pole), var lið skorat, Fms. viii. 320; skoraðir vóru sex tigir hundraða, 311; var þá skorat nær fjórir tigir hundraða manna, vii. 275; þá, var skorat tuttugu hundrað manna, 324; var skorat á hana ( her, the ship) tvau hundruð manna ok átta tigir, viii. 198; þar vóru fyrst til skoraðir ( mustered out) hirðmenn, Hkr. i. 310; skolu bændr skora görðir á hendr honum, to impose a levy on them. N. G. L. i. 200; var áðr skorat at hverjum Þórðr vildi ganga, Sturl. iii. 27.

IV. reflex., skorask undan, to refuse, decline a challenge, Bárð. 179.

n. single combat, = einvígi.

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n. single combat, duel.

m. one who fights in single combat, a duellist.