the whole estate

(öll, allt), a.

1) all, entire, whole;

hón á allan arf eptir mik, she has all the heritage after me;

af öllum hug, with all (one’s) heart;

hvítr allr, white all over;

bú allt, the whole estate;

allan daginn, the whole day;

í allri veröld, in the whole world;

allan hálfan mánuð, for the entire fortnight;

with addition of ‘saman’;

allt saman féit, the whole amount;

um þenna hernað allan saman, all together;

2) used almost adverbially, all, quite, entirely;

klofnaði hann allr í sundr, he was all cloven asunder, kváðu Örn allan villast, that he was altogether bewildered;

var Hrappr allr brottu, quite gone;

allr annarr maðr, quite another man;

3) gone, past;

áðr þessi dagr er allr, before this day is past;

var þá óll þeirra vinátta, their friendship was all over;

allt er nú mitt megin, my strength is exhausted, gone;

4) departed, dead (þá er Geirmundr var allr);

5) neut. sing. (allt) used. as a subst. in the sense of all, everything;

eigi er enn þeirra allt, they have not yet altogether won the game;

þá var allt (all, everybody) við þá hrætt;

hér er skammætt allt, here everything is transient;

with a compar. all the more (því öllu þungbærri);

with gen., allt missera (= öll misseri), all the year round;

allt annars, all the rest;

at öllu annars, in all other respects;

alls fyrst, first of all;

alls mest, most of all;

in adverbial phrases: at öllu, in all respects, in every way;

í öllu, in everything;

með öllu, wholly, quite;

neita með öllu, to refuse outright;

6) pl. allir (allar, öll), as adj. or substantively, all (þeir gengu út allir);

ór öllum fjórðungum á landinu, from all the quarters of the land;

allir aðrir, all others, every one else;

flestir allir, nearly all, the greatest part of;

gen. pl. (allra) as an intensive with superlatives, of all things, all the more;

nú þykkir mér þat allra sýnst, er, all the more likely, as;

allra helzt, er þeir heyra, particularly now when they hear;

allra sízt, least of all.

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öll, allt, and alt, adj. [Ulf. alls = πας, άπας, όλος; A. S. eall; Engl. and Germ. all].

A. In sing. as adj. or substantively, cunctus, totus, omnis:

I. all, entire, the whole; hón á allan arf eptir mik, she has all my heritage after me, Nj. 3; um alla þingsafglöpun, every kind of þ., 150; gaf hann þat allt, all, 101; at öllum hluta, in totum, Grág. i. 245; allr heilagr dómr, the whole body of Christians, ii. 165; á öllu því máli, Fms. vii. 311; allu fólki, thewhole people, x. 273; hvitr allr, white all over, 655 xxxii. 21; bú allt, thewhole estate, Grág. i. 244; fyrir allt dagsljós, before any dawn of light, Hom. 41: with the addition of saman = άπας—Icel. now in fem. sing. and n. pl. say öll sömun, and even n. sing. allt samant; in old writers saman is indecl.,—the whole, Germ. sänmtlich, zusammen; allt saman féit, thewhole amount, entire, Grág. ii. 148; þenna hernað allan saman, all together, Fms. i. 144; fyrir allan saman ójafnað þann, Sd. 157. Metaph. in the phrase, at vera ekki allr þar sem hann er sénn (séðr), of persons of deep, shrewd characters, not to be seen through, but also with a feeling of something ‘uncanny’ about them, Fms. xi. 157 (a familiar phrase); ekki er oil nótt úti enn, sagði draugrinn, the night is not all over yet, said the ghost, ‘the Ides are not past’ (a proverb), v. Ísl. Þjóðs.

2. all, entire, full; allan hálfan mánuð, for the entire fortnight, Nj. 7; þar til er Kjartani þykir allt mál upp, until Kjartan thought it was high time, of one nearly (or) well-nigh drowned, Hkr. i. 286.

II. metaph. past, gone, dead, extinct; perh. ellipt., vera allr í brottu, quite gone, Eb. 112 new Ed.; var Hrappr þá allr í brottu, Nj. 132; then by an ellipsis of ‘brottu,’ or the like, allr simply = past, gone:

α. past, of time; seg þú svá fremi frá því er þessi dagr er allr, when this day is past, Nj. 96, Fms. ii. 38, 301; var þá öll þeirra vinátta, their friendship was all gone, Fms. ix. 428; allt er mi mitt megin, my strength is gone, exhausted, Str.

β. dead; þá er Geirmundr var allr, gone, dead, Landn. (Hb.) 124; síz Gunnarr at Hlíðarenda var allr, since G. of Lithend was dead and gone (v. l. to lézt), Nj. 142; sem faðir þeirra væri allr, after his death, Stj. 127; þá er Nói var allr, 66; en sem hann var allr, 100; eptir þat er Sara var öll, after all Sara’s days were over, 139, 140, 405; á vegum allr hygg ek at at ek verða munu, that I shall perish on the way, Gg. verse 5; með því at þú ert gamlaðr mjök, þá munu þeir eigi út koma fyr en þú ert allr, Háv. 57; still freq. in Swed., e. g. blifwa all af bekumring, be worn out with sorrow; vinet blev alt, fell short; tiden er all, past.

III. used almost adverbially, when it may be translated by all, quite, just, entirely; klofnaði hann allr í sundr, was all cloven asunder, Nj. 205; er sá nú allr einn í þínu liði er nú hefir eigi höfuðs, ok hinn, er þá eggiaði hins versta verks er eigi var fram komit, where it seems, however, rather to mean one and the same … or the very same …, thus, and he is now one and the same man in thy band, who has now lost his head, and he who then egged thee on to the worst work when it was still undone, or the very same, … who, Nj. 213; vil ek at sú görð häldist öll, in all its parts, 256; kváðu Örn allan villast, that he was all bewildered, Ld. 74.

IV. neut. sing. used as a subst. in the sense of all, everything, in every respect; ok for svá með öllu, sem …, acted in everything as…, Nj. 14, Ld. 54; ok lát sem þú þykist þar allt eiga, that you depend upon him in all, Fms. xi. 113; eigi er enn þeirra allt, they have not yet altogether won the game, Nj. 235: í alls vesöld, in all misery, Ver. 4; alls mest, most of all, especially, Fms. ii. 137 C, Fs. 89 (in a verse); in mod. usage, allra mest, cp. below. The neut. with a gen.; allt missera, all the year round, Hom. 73; allt annars, all the rest, Grág. ii. 141; at öllu annars, in all other respects, K. Þ. K. 98; þá var allt (all, everybody) við þá hrætt, Fas. i. 338. In the phrases, at öllu, in all respects, Fms. i. 21, Grág. i. 431; ef hann á eigi at öllu framfærsluna, if he be not the sole supporter, 275: úreyndr at öllu, untried in every way, Nj. 90; cp. Engl. not at all, prop. not in every respect, analogous to never, prop. not always: fyrir alls sakir, in every respect, Grág. ii. 47, Fas. i. 252: í öllu, in everything, Nj. 90, 228: með öllu, wholly, quite, dauðr með öllu, quite dead, 153; neita með öllu, to refuse outright, Fms. i. 35, 232, Boll. 342: um allt, in respect of everything, Nj. 89; hence comes the adverb ávalt, ever = of allt = um allt, prop. in every respect, v. ávalt.

V. the neut. sing. allt is used as an adv., right up to, as far as, all the way; Brynjólfr gengr allt at honum, close to him, Nj. 58; kómu allt at bænum, 79; allt at búðardyrunum, right up to the very door of the booth, 247; allt norðr urn Stað, all along north, round Cape Stad, Fms. vii. 7; suðr allt í Englands haf, iv. 329; verit allt út í Miklagarð, as far out as Constantinople, ii. 7, iv. 250, 25; allt á klofa, Bárð. 171.

2. everywhere, in all places; at riki Eireks konungs mundi allt yfir standa í Eyjunum, might stretch over the whole of the Islands, Eg. 405; Sigröðr var konungr allt um Þrændalög, over all Drontheim, Fms. i. 19; bjoggu þar allt fyrir þingmenn Runólfs goða, the liegemen of R. the priest were in every house, ii. 234 ( = í hverju húsi, Bs. i. 20); allt norðr um Rogaland, all the way north over the whole of R., Fms. iv. 251; vóru svirar allt gulli búnir, all overlaid with gold, vi. 308; hafið svá allt kesjurnar fyrir, at ekki megi á ganga, hold your spears everywhere (all along the line) straight before you, that they (the enemy) may not come up to you, 413; allt imdir innviðuna ok stafnana, vii. 82.

3. nearly = Lat. jam, soon, already; vóru allt komin fyrir hann bréf, warrants of arrest were already in his way, Fms. vii. 207; var allt skipat liðinu til fylkingar, the troops were at once drawn up in array, 295; en allt hugðum vér ( still we thought) at fara með spekt um þessi héruð, Boll. 346.

4. temp. all through, until; allt til Júnsvöku, Ann. 1295; allt um daga Hákonar konungs, all through the reign of king Hacon, Bs. i. 731.

5. in phrases such as, allt at einu, all one, all in the same way, Fms. i. 113. In Icel. at present allt að einu means all the same: allt eins, nevertheless; ek ætla þó utan a. eins, Ísl. ii. 216; hann neitaði allt eins at…, refused all the same, Dipl. iii. 13; allt eins hraustliga, not the less manly, Fms. xi. 443. The mod. Icel. use is a little different, namely = as, in similes = just as; allt eins og blómstrið eina (a simile), just as the flower, the initial words of the famous hymn by Hallgrim.

6. by adding ‘of’ = far too …, much too …, Karl. 301 (now freq.)

7. with a comparative, much, far, Fms. vi. 45 (freq.)

VI. neut. gen. alls [cp. Ulf. allis = όλως; A. S. ealles], used as an adv., esp. before a negative (ekki, hvergi), not a bit, not at all, no how, by no means; þeir ugðu alls ekki at sér, they were not a bit afraid, Nj. 252; hræðumst vér hann nú alls ekki, we do not care a bit for him, 260; á hólmgöngu er vandi en alls ekki ( none at all) á einvigi, Korm. 84; en junkherra Eiríkr þóttist ekki hafa, ok kallaði sik Eirík alls ekki (cp. Engl. lackland), Fms. x. 160; alls hvergi skal sök koma undir enn þriðja mann, no how, in no case, by no means, Grág. i. 144: sometimes without a negative following it; ær alls geldar, ewes quite barren, Grág. i. 502; hafrar alls geldir, id.; alls vesall, altogether wretched, Nj. 124; alls mjök stærist hann nú, very much, Stj.; a. mest, especially, Fs. 89, Fms. ii. 137. In connection with numbers, in all, in the whole; tólf vóru þau alls á skipi, twelve were they all told in the ship, Ld. 142; tíu Íslenzkir menn alls, 164; alls fórust níu menn, the slain were nine in all, Ísl. ii. 385; verða alls sárir þrír eða fleiri, Grág. ii. 10; alls mánuð, a full month, i. 163; þeir ala eitt barn alls á aefi sinni, Rb. 346.

β. with addition of ‘til’ or ‘of’ = far too much; alls of lengi, far too long a time, Fms. i. 140; hefnd alls til lítil, much too little, vi. 35.

B. In pl. allir, allar, öll, as adj. or substantively:

1. used absol. all; þeir gengu út allir, all men, altogether, Nj. 80; Síðan bjoggust þeir heiman allir, 212; Gunnarr reið ok beir allir, 48; hvikit þér allir, 78, etc.

2. as adj., alla höfðingja, all the chiefs, Nj. 213; ór öllum fjórðungum á landinu, all the quarters of the land, 222; at vitni guðs ok allra heilagra manna, all the saints, Grág. ii. 22; í allum orrostum, in all the battles, Fms. x. 273; Josep ok allir hans ellifu bræðr, Stj., etc.

3. by adding aðrir, flestir, etc.; allir aðrir, all other, everyone else, Nj. 89, Fms. xi. 135: flestir allir, nearly all, the greatest part of, v. flestr; in mod. use flestallir, flest being indecl.: allir saman, altogether, Nj. 80.

4. adverb., Gregorius hafði eigi öll fjögr hundruð, not all, not quite, four hundred, Fms. vii. 255.

5. used ellipt., allir ( everybody) vildu leita þér vegs, Nj. 78.

6. gen. pl. allra, when followed by superl. neut. adj. or adv., of all things, all the more; en nú þyki mér þat allra sýnst er …, all the more likely, as …, Ld. 34; allra helzt er þeir heyra, particularly now when they hear, Fms. ix. 330; allra helzt ef hann fellr meir, all the rather, if …, Grág. ii. 8; allra sízt, least of all, 686 B. 2; bæn sú kemr til þess allra mest, especially, Hom. 149: very freq. at present in Icel., and used nearly as Engl. very, e. g. allra bezt, the very best; a. hæst, neðst, fyrst, the very highest, lowest, foremost, etc.

C. alls is used as a prefix to several nouns in the gen., in order to express something common, general, universal.

COMPDS: allsendis, allsháttar, allsherjar, allsherjarbúð, allsherjardómr, allsherjarfé, allsherjargoði, allsherjarlið, allsherjarlýðr, allsherjarlög, allsherjarþing, allskonar, allskostar, allskyns, allsstaðar, allsvaldandi, allrahanda, allraheilagra.

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a negative suffix to verbs, not;

era útmakligt, at it is not unmeet that.

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á, prep., often used elliptically, or even adverbially, [Goth. ana; Engl. on; Germ. an. In the Scandinavian idioms the liquid n is absorbed. In English the same has been supposed to happen in adverbial phrases, e. g. ‘along, away, abroad, afoot, again, agate, ahead, aloft, alone, askew, aside, astray, awry,’ etc. It is indeed true that the Ormulum in its northern dialect freq. uses o, even in common phrases, such as ‘o boke, o land, o life, o slæpe, o strande, o write, o naht, o loft,’ etc., v. the glossary; and we may compare on foot and afoot, on sleep (Engl. Vers. of Bible) and asleep; A. S. a-butan and on-butan (about); agen and ongean (again, against); on bæc, aback; on life, alive; on middan, amid. But it is more than likely that in the expressions quoted above, as well as in numberless others, as well in old as in modern English, the English a- as well as the o- of the Ormulum and the modern Scottish and north of England o- are in reality remains of this very á pronounced au or ow, which was brought by the Scandinavian settlers into the north of England. In the struggle for supremacy between the English dialects after the Conquest, the Scandinavian form á or a won the day in many cases to the exclusion of the Anglo-Saxon on. Some of these adverbs have representatives only in the Scandinavian tongues, not in Anglo-Saxon; see below, with dat. B. II, C. VII; with acc. C. I. and VI. The prep. á denotes the surface or outside; í and ór the inside; at, til, and frá, nearness measured to or from an object: á thus answers to the Gr. επί; the Lat. in includes á and i together.]

With dat. and acc.: in the first case with the notion of remaining on a place, answering to Lat. in with abl.; in the last with the notion of motion to the place, = Lat. in with acc.

WITH DAT.

A. Loc.

I. generally on, upon; á gólfi, on the floor, Nj. 2; á hendi, on the hand (of a ring), 48, 225; á palli, 50; á steini, 108; á vegg, 115; á sjá ok á landi, on sea and land. In some instances the distinction between d and i is loose and wavering, but in most cases common sense and usage decide; thus ‘á bók’ merely denotes the letters, the penmanship, ‘í’ the contents of a book; mod. usage, however, prefers ‘í,’ lesa í bók, but stafr á bók. Old writers on the other hand; á bókum Enskum, in English books, Landn. 24, but í Aldafars bók, 23 (in the book De Mensurâ Temporum, by Bede), cp. Grág. i. 76, where á is a false reading instead of at; á bréfi, the contents of a letter: of clothing or arms, mítr á höfði, sverð á hlið, mitre on head, sword on side, Fms. i. 266, viii. 404; hafa lykil á sér, on one’s person, 655 xxvii. 22; möttull á tyglum, a mantle hanging on (i. e. fastened by) laces, Fms. vii. 201: á þingi means to be present at a meeting; í þingi, to abide within a jurisdiction; á himni, á jörðu, on (Engl. in) heaven and earth, e. g. in the Lord’s Prayer, but í helviti, in hell; á Gimli, Edda (of a heavenly abode); á báti, á skipi denote crew and cargo, ‘í’ the timber or materials of which a ship is built, Eg. 385; vera í stafni á skipi, 177: á skógi, to be abroad in a wood (of a hunter, robber, deer); but to be situated (a house), at work (to fell timber), í skógi, 573, Fs. 5, Fms. iii. 122, viii. 31, xi. 1, Glúm. 330, Landn. 173; á mörkinni, Fms. i. 8, but í mörk, of a farm; á firðinum means lying in a firth, of ships or islands (on the surface of the water), þær eyjar liggja á Breiðafirði, Ld. 36; but í firði, living in a district named Firth; á landi, Nj. 98, Fms. xi. 386.

II. á is commonly used in connection with the pr. names or countries terminating in ‘land,’ Engl. in, á Englandi, Írlandi, Skotlandi, Bretlandi, Saxlandi, Vindlandi, Vínlandi, Grænalandi, Íslandi, Hálogalandi, Rogalandi, Jótlandi, Frakklandi, Hjaltlandi, Jamtalandi, Hvítramannalandi, Norðrlöndum, etc., vide Landn. and the index to Fms. xii. In old writers í is here very rare, in modern authors more frequent; taste and the context in many instances decide. An Icelander would now say, speaking of the queen or king, ‘á Englandi,’ ruling over, but to live ‘í Englandi,’ or ‘á Englandi;’ the rule in the last case not being quite fixed.

2. in connection with other names of countries: á Mæri, Vörs, Ögðum, Fjölum, all districts of Norway, v. Landn.; á Mýrum (in Icel.), á Finnmörk, Landn., á Fjóni (a Danish island); but í Danmörk, Svíþjóð (á Svíþjóðu is poët., Gs. 13).

3. before Icel. farms denoting open and elevated slopes and spaces (not too high, because then ‘at’ must be used), such as ‘staðr, völlr, ból, hjalli, bakki, heimr, eyri,’ etc.; á Veggjum, Landn. 69; á Hólmlátri, id.: those ending in ‘-staðr,’ á Geirmundarstöðum, Þórisstöðum, Jarðlangsstöðum…, Landn.: ‘-völlr,’ á Möðruvöllum: á Fitjum (the farm) í Storð (the island), í Fenhring (the island) á Aski (the farm), Landn., Eg.: ‘-nes’ sometimes takes á, sometimes í (in mod. usage always ‘í’), á Nesi, Eb. 14, or í Krossnesi, 30; in the last case the notion of island, νησος, prevails: so also, ‘fjörðr,’ as, þeir börðust á Vigrafirði (of a fight o n the ice), Landn. 101, but orusta í Hafrsfirði, 122: with ‘-bær,’ á is used in the sense of a farm or estate, hón sa á e-m bæ mikit hús ok fagrt, Edda 22; ‘í bæ’ means within doors, of the buildings: with ‘Bær’ as pr. name Landn. uses ‘í,’ 71, 160, 257, 309, 332.

4. denoting on or just above; of the sun, when the time is fixed by regarding the sun in connection with points in the horizon, a standing phrase in Icel.; sól á gjáhamri, when the sun is on the crag of the Rift, Grág. i. 26, cp. Glúm. 387; so, brú á á, a bridge on a river, Fms. viii. 179, Hrafn. 20; taka hús á e-m, to surprise one, to take the house over his head, Fms. i. 11.

III. á is sometimes used in old writers where we should now expect an acc., esp. in the phrase, leggja sverði (or the like) á e-m, or á e-m miðjum, to stab, Eg. 216, Gísl. 106, Band. 14; þá stakk Starkaðr sprotanum á konungi, then Starkad stabbed the king with the wand, Fas. iii. 34; bíta á kampi (vör), to bite the lips, as a token of pain or emotion, Nj. 209, 68; taka á e-u, to touch a thing, lay hold of it, v. taka; fá á e-u, id. (poët.); leggja hendr á (better at) síðum, in wrestling, Fms. x. 331; koma á úvart á e-m, to come on one unawares, ix. 407 (rare).

B. TEMP. of a particular point or period of time, at, on, in:

I. gener. denoting during, in the course of; á nótt, degi, nætrþeli …, Bs. i. 139; or spec. adding a pron. or an adject., á næsta sumri, the next summer; á því ári, þingi, misseri, hausti, vári, sumri …, during, in that year …, Bs. i. 679, etc.; á þrem sumrum, in the course of three summers, Grág. i. 218; á þrem várum, Fms. ii. 114; á hálfs mánaðar fresti, within half a month’s delay, Nj. 99; á tvítugs, sextugs … aldri, á barns, gamals aldri, etc., at the age of …, v. aldr: á dögum e-s, in the days of, in his reign or time, Landn. 24, Hrafn. 3, Fms. ix. 229.

II. used of a fixed recurrent period or season; á várum, sumrum, haustum, vetrum, á kveldum, every spring, summer …, in the evenings, Eg. 711, Fms. i. 23, 25, vi. 394, Landn. 292: with the numeral adverbs, cp. Lat. ter in anno, um sinn á mánuði, ári, once a month, once a year, where the Engl. a is not the article but the preposition, Grág. i. 89.

III. of duration; á degi, during a whole day, Fms. v. 48; á sjau nóttum, Bárð. 166; á því meli, during that time, in the meantime, Grág. i. 259.

IV. connected with the seasons (á vetri, sumri, vári, hausti), ‘á’ denotes the next preceding season, the last winter, summer, autumn, Eb. 40, 238, Ld. 206: in such instances ‘á’ denotes the past, ‘at’ the future, ‘í’ the present; thus í vetri in old writers means this winter; á vetri, last winter; at vetri, next winter, Eb. 68 (in a verse), etc.

C. In various other relations, more or less metaphorically, on, upon, in, to, with, towards, against:

I. denoting object, in respect of, against, almost periphrastically; dvelja á náðum e-s, under one’s protection, Fms. i. 74; hafa metnað á e-u, to be proud of, to take pride in a thing, 127.

2. denoting a personal relation, in; bæta e-t á e-m, to make amends, i. e. to one personally; misgöra e-t á e-m, to inflict wrong on one; hafa elsku (hatr) á e-m, to bear love ( hatred) to one, Fms. ix. 242; hefna sín á e-m, to take revenge on one’s person, on anyone; rjúfa sætt á e-m, to break truce on the person of any one, to offend against his person, Nj. 103; hafa sár á sér, 101; sjá á e-m, to read on or in one’s face; sér hann á hverjum manni hvárt til þín er vel eðr illa, 106; var þat brátt auðséð á hennar högum, at …, it could soon be seen in all her doings, that …, Ld. 22.

3. also generally to shew signs of a thing; sýna fáleika á sér, to shew marks of displeasure, Nj. 14, Fs. 14; taka vel, illa, lítt, á e-u, to take a thing well, ill, or indifferently, id.; finna á sér, to feel in oneself; fann lítt á honum, hvárt …, it could hardly be seen in his face, whether …, Eb. 42; líkindi eru á, it is likely, Ld. 172; göra kost á e-u, to give a choice, chance of it, 178; eiga vald á e-u, to have power over …, Nj. 10.

II. denoting encumbrance, duty, liability; er fimtardómsmál á þeim, to be subject to …, Nj. 231; the phrase, hafa e-t á hendi, or vera á hendi e-m, on one’s hands, of work or duty to be done; eindagi á fé, term, pay day, Grág. i. 140; ómagi (skylda, afvinna) á fé, of a burden or encumbrance, D. I. and Grág. in several passages.

III. with a personal pronoun, sér, mér, honum …, denoting personal appearance, temper, character, look, or the like; vera þungr, léttr … á sér, to be heavy or light, either bodily or mentally; þungr á sér, corpulent, Sturl. i. 112; kátr ok léttr á sér, of a gay and light temper, Fms. x. 152; þat bragð hafði hann á sér, he looked as if, … the expression of his face was as though …, Ld., cp. the mod. phrase, hafa á sér svip, bragð, æði, sið, of one’s manner or personal appearance, to bear oneself as, or the like; skjótr (seinn) á fæti, speedy ( slow) of foot, Nj. 258.

IV. as a periphrasis of the possessive pronoun connected with the limbs or parts of the body. In common Icel. such phrases as my hands, eyes, head … are hardly ever used, but höfuð, eyru, hár, nef, munnr, hendr, fætr … á mér; so ‘í’ is used of the internal parts, e. g. hjarta, bein … í mér; the eyes are regarded as inside the body, augun í honum: also without the possessive pronoun, or as a periphrasis for a genitive, brjóstið á e-m, one’s breast, Nj. 95, Edda 15; súrnar í augum, it smarts in my eyes, my eyes smart, Nj. 202; kviðinn á sér, its belly, 655 xxx. 5, Fms. vi. 350; hendr á henni, her hands, Gísl. (in a verse); í vörunum á honum, on his lips, Band. 14; ristin á honum, his step, Fms. viii. 141; harðr í tungu, sharp of tongue, Hallfred (Fs. 114); kalt (heitt) á fingrum, höndum, fótum …, cold ( warm) in the fingers, hands, feet …, i. e. with cold fingers, etc.; cp. also the phrase, verða vísa (orð) á munni, of extemporising verses or speeches, freq. in the Sagas; fastr á fótum, fast by the leg, of a bondsman, Nj. 27: of the whole body, díla fundu þeir á honum, 209. The pers. pron. is used only in solemn style (poetry, hymns, the Bible), and perhaps only when influenced by foreign languages, e. g. mitt hjarta hví svo hryggist þú, as a translation of ‘warumb betrübst du dich mein Herz?’ the famous hymn by Hans Sachs; instead of the popular hjartað í mér, Sl. 43, 44: hjartað mitt is only used as a term of endearment, as by a husband to his wife, parents to their child, or the like, in a metaphorical sense; the heart proper is ‘í mér,’ not ‘mitt.’

2. of other things, and as a periphrasis of a genitive, of a part belonging to the whole, e. g. dyrr á husi = húsdyrr, at the house-doors; turn á kirkju = kirkju turn; stafn, skutr, segl, árar … á skipi, the stem, stern, sail … of a ship, Fms. ix. 135; blöð á lauk, á tré …, leaves of a leek, of a tree …, Fas. i. 469; egg á sverði = sverðs egg; stafr á bók; kjölr á bók, and in endless other instances.

V. denoting instrumentality, by, on, or a-, by means of; afla fjár á hólmgöngum, to make money a-duelling, by means of duels, Eg. 498; á verkum sínum, to subsist on one’s own work, Njarð. 366: as a law term, sekjast á e-ju, to be convicted upon …, Grág. i. 123; sekst maðr þar á sínu eigini ( a man is guilty in re sua), ef hann tekr af þeim manni er heimild ( possessio) hefir til, ii. 191; falla á verkum sínum, to be killed flagranti delicto, v. above; fella e-n á bragði, by a sleight in wrestling; komast undan á flótta, to escape by flight, Eg. 11; á hlaupi, by one’s feet, by speed, Hkr. ii. 168; lifa á e-u, to feed on; bergja á e-u, to taste of a thing; svala sér á e-u, to quench the thirst on.

VI. with subst. numerals; á þriðja tigi manna, up to thirty, i. e. from about twenty to thirty, Ld. 194; á öðru hundraði skipa, from one to two hundred sail strong, Fms. x. 126; á níunda tigi, between eighty and ninety years of age, Eg. 764, v. above: used as prep., á hendi, on one’s hand, i. e. bound to do it, v. hönd.

VII. in more or less adverbial phrases it may often be translated in Engl. by a participle and a- prefixed; á lopti, aloft; á floti, afloat; á lífi, alive; á verðgangi, a-begging; á brautu, away; á baki, a-back, behind, past; á milli, a-tween; á laun, alone, secretly; á launungu, id.; á móti, against; á enda, at an end, gone; á huldu, hidden; fara á hæli, to go a-heel, i. e. backwards, Fms. vii. 70;—but in many cases these phrases are transl. by the Engl. partic. with a, which is then perh. a mere prefix, not a prep., á flugi, a-flying in the air, Nj. 79; vera á gangi, a-going; á ferli, to be about; á leiki, a-playing, Fms. i. 78; á sundi, a-swimming, ii. 27; á verði, a-watching, x. 201; á hrakningi, a-wandering; á reiki, a-wavering; á skjálfi, a-shivering; á-hleri, a-listening; á tali, a-talking, Ísl. ii. 200; á hlaupi, a-running, Hkr. ii. 268; á verki, a-working; á veiðum, a-hunting; á fiski, a-fishing; á beit, grazing: and as a law term it even means in flagranti, N. G. L. i. 348.

VIII. used absolutely without a case in reference to the air or the weather, where ‘á’ is almost redundant; þoka var á mikil, a thick fog came on, Nj. 267; niðamyrkr var á, pitch darkness came on, Eg. 210; allhvast á norðan, a very strong breeze from the north, Fms. ix. 20; þá var á norðrænt, a north wind came on, 42, Ld. 56; hvaðan sem á er, from whatever point the wind is; var á hríð veðrs, a snow storm came on, Nj. 282; görði á regn, rain came on, Fms. vi. 394, xi. 35, Ld. 156.

WITH ACC.

A. Loc.

I. denoting simple direction towards, esp. connected with verbs of motion, going, or the like; hann gékk á bergsnös, Eg. 389; á hamar, Fas. ii. 517.

2. in phrases denoting direction; liggja á útborða, lying on the outside of the ship, Eg. 354; á annat borð skipinu, Fms. vii. 260; á bæði borð, on both sides of the ship, Nj. 124, Ld. 56; á tvær hliðar, on both sides, Fms. v. 73. Ísl. ii. 159; á hlið, sidewards; út á hlið, Nj. 262, Edda 44; á aðra hönd henni, Nj. 50, Ld. 46; höggva á tvær hendr, to hew or strike right and left, Ísl. ii. 368, Fas. i. 384, Fms. viii. 363, x. 383.

3. upp á, upon; hann tók augu Þjaza ok kastaði upp á himin, Edda 47: with verbs denoting to look, see, horfa, sjá, líta, etc.; hann rak skygnur á land, he cast glances towards the land, Ld. 154.

II. denoting direction with or without the idea of arriving:

1. with verbs denoting to aim at; of a blow or thrust, stefna á fótinn, Nj. 84; spjótið stefnir á hann miðjan, 205: of the wind, gékk veðrit á vestr, the wind veered to west, Fms. ix. 28; sigla á haf, to stand out to sea, Hkr. i. 146, Fms. i. 39: with ‘út’ added, Eg. 390, Fms. x. 349.

2. conveying the notion of arriving, or the intervening space being traversed; spjótið kom á miðjan skjöldinn, Eg. 379, Nj. 96, 97; langt upp á land, far up inland, Hkr. i. 146: to reach, taka ofan á belti, of the long locks of a woman, to reach down to the belt, Nj. 2; ofan á bringu, 48; á þa ofan, 91.

III. without reference to the space traversed, connected with verbs denoting to go, turn, come, ride, sail, throw, or the like, motion of every kind; hann kastar honum á völlinn, he flings him down, Nj. 91; hlaupa á skip sitt, to leap on board his ship, 43; á hest, to mount quickly, Edda 75; á lend hestinum, Nj. 91; hann gengr á sáðland sitt, he walks on to his fields, 82: on, upon, komast á fætr, to get upon one’s legs, 92; ganga á land, to go a-shore, Fms. i. 40; ganga á þing, vii. 242, Grág. (often); á skóg, á merkr ok skóga, into a wood, Fb. i. 134, 257, Fms. xi. 118, Eg. 577, Nj. 130; fara á Finnmörk, to go travelling in Finmark, Fms. i. 8; koma, fara á bæ, to arrive at the farm-house; koma á veginn, Eg. 578; stíga á bát, skip, to go on board, 158; hann gékk upp á borg, he went up to the burg (castle), 717; en er þeir komu á loptriðið, 236; hrinda skipum á vatn, to float the ships down into the water, Fms. i. 58; reka austr á haf, to drift eastwards on the sea, x. 145; ríða ofan á, to ride down or over, Nj. 82.

IV. in some cases the acc. is used where the dat. would be used, esp. with verbs denoting to see or hear, in such phrases as, þeir sá boða mikinn inn á fjörðinn, they saw great breakers away up in the bight of the firth, the acc. being due perhaps to a motion or direction of the eye or ear towards the object, Nj. 124; sá þeir fólkit á land, they saw the people in the direction of land, Fas. ii. 517: in phrases denoting to be placed, to sit, to be seated, the seat or bench is freq. in the acc. where the dat. would now be used; konungr var þar á land upp, the king was then up the country, the spectator or narrator is conceived as looking from the shore or sea-side, Nj. 46; sitja á miðjan bekk, to be seated on the middle bench, 50; skyldi konungs sæti vera á þann bekk … annat öndvegi var á hinn úæðra pall; hann setti konungs hásæti á miðjan þverpall, Fms. vi. 439, 440, cp. Fagrsk. l. c., Sturl. iii. 182; eru víða fjallbygðir upp á mörkina, in the mark or forest, Eg. 58; var þar mörk mikil á land upp, 229; mannsafnaðr er á land upp (viewed from the sea), Ld. 76; stóll var settr á mótið, Fas. i. 58; beiða fars á skip, to beg a passage, Grág. i. 90.

V. denoting parts of the body; bíta e-n á barka, to bite one in the throat, Ísl. ii. 447; skera á háls, to cut the throat of any one, Nj. 156; brjóta e-n á háls, to break any one’s neck; brjóta e-n á bak, to break any one’s back, Fms. vii. 119; kalinn á kné, frozen to the knees with cold, Hm. 3.

VI. denoting round; láta reipi á háls hesti, round his horse’s neck, 623. 33; leggja söðul á hest, Nj. 83; and ellipt., leggja á, to saddle; breiða feld á hofuð sér, to wrap a cloak over his head, 164; reyta á sik mosa, to gather moss to cover oneself with, 267; spenna hring á hönd, á fingr, Eg. 300.

VII. denoting a burden; stela mat á tvá hesta, hey á fimtán hesta, i. e. a two, a fifteen horse load, Nj. 74: metaph., kjósa feigð á menn, to choose death upon them, i. e. doom them to death, Edda 22.

B. TEMP.

I. of a period of time, at, to; á morgun, to-morrow (í morgun now means the past morning, the morning of to-day), Ísl. ii. 333.

II. if connected with the word day, ‘á’ is now used before a fixed or marked day, a day of the week, a feast day, or the like; á Laugardag, á Sunnudag …, on Saturday, Sunday, the Old Engl. a-Sunday, a-Monday, etc.; á Jóladaginn, Páskadaginn, on Yule and Easter-day; but in old writers more often used ellipt. Sunnudaginn, Jóladaginn …, by dropping the prep. ‘á,’ Fms. viii. 397, Grág. i. 18.

III. connected with ‘dagr’ with the definite article suffixed, ‘á’ denotes a fixed, recurring period or season, in; á daginn, during the day-time, every day in turn, Grett. 91 A.

IV. connected with ‘evening, morning, the seasons,’ with the article; á kveldit, every evening, Ld. 14; á sumarit, every summer, Vd. 128, where the new Ed. Fs. 51 reads sumrum; á haust, every autumn, Eg. 741 (perh. a misprint instead of á haustin or á haustum); á vetrinn, in the winter time, 710; á várit, every spring, Gþl. 347; the sing., however, is very rare in such cases, the old as well as mod. usage prefers the plur.; á nætrnar, by night, Nj. 210; á várin, Eg. 710; á sumrin, haustin, á morgnana, in the morning (á morgin, sing., means to-morrow); á kveldin, in the evening, only ‘dagr’ is used in sing., v. above (á daginn, not á dagana); but elliptically and by dropping the article, Icelanders say, kveld og morgna, nótt og dag, vetr sumar vor og haust, in the same sense as those above mentioned.

V. denoting duration, the article is dropped in the negative phrase, aldri á sinn dag, never during one’s life; aldri á mína daga, never in my life, Bjarn. 8, where a possess. pron. is put between noun and prep., but this phrase is very rare. Such phrases as, á þann dag, that day, and á þenna dag, Stj. 12, 655 xxx. 2. 20, are unclassical.

VI. á dag without article can only be used in a distributive sense, e. g. tvisvar á dag, twice a-day; this use is at present freq. in Icel., yet instances from old writers are not on record.

VII. denoting a movement onward in time, such as, liðið á nótt, dag, kveld, morgun, sumar, vetr, vár, haust (or nóttina, daginn …), jól, páska, föstu, or the like, far on in the night, day …, Edda 33; er á leið vetrinn, when the winter was well on, as the winter wore on, Nj. 126; cp. áliðinn: also in the phrase, hniginn á inn efra aldr, well stricken in years, Ld. 68.

C. Metaph. and in various relations:

I. somewhat metaphorically, denoting an act only (not the place); fara á fund, á vit e-s, to call for one, Eg. 140; koma á ræðu við e-n, to come to a parley with, to speak, 173; ganga á tal, Nj. 103; skora á hólm, to challenge to a duel on an island; koma á grið, to enter into a service, to be domiciled, Grág. i. 151; fara á veiðar, to go a-hunting, Fms. i. 8.

β. generally denoting on, upon, in, to; bjóða vöxtu á féit, to offer interest on the money, Grág. i. 198; ganga á berhögg, to come to blows, v. berhögg; fá á e-n, to make an impression upon one, Nj. 79; ganga á vápn e-s, to throw oneself on an enemy’s weapon, meet him face to face, Rd. 310; ganga á lagið, to press on up the spear-shaft after it has passed through one so as to get near one’s foe, i. e. to avail oneself of the last chance; bera fé á e-n, to bribe, Nj. 62; bera öl á e-n, to make drunk, Fas. i. 13; snúinn á e-t, inclined to, Fms. x. 142; sammælast á e-t, to agree upon, Nj. 86; sættast, verða sáttr á e-t, in the same sense, to come to an agreement, settlement, or atonement, 78, Edda 15, Eb. 288, Ld. 50, Fms. i. 279; ganga á mála, to serve for pay as a soldier, Nj. 121; ganga á vald e-s, to put oneself in his power, 267; ganga á sætt, to break an agreement; vega á veittar trygðir, to break truce, Grág. ii. 169.

II. denoting in regard to, in respect to:

1. of colour, complexion, the hue of the hair, or the like; hvítr, jarpr, dökkr … á hár, having white, brown, or dark … hair, Ísl. ii. 190, Nj. 39; svartr á brún ok brá, dark of brow and eyebrow; dökkr á hörund, id., etc.

2. denoting skill, dexterity; hagr á tré, a good carpenter; hagr á járn, málm, smíðar …, an expert worker in iron, metals …, Eg. 4; fimr á boga, good at the bow: also used of mastership in science or arts, meistari á hörpuslátt, a master in striking the harp, Fas. iii. 220; fræðimaðr á kvæði, knowing many poems by heart, Fms. vi. 391; fræðimaðr á landnámssögur ok forna fræði, a learned scholar in histories and antiquities (of Are Frode), Ísl. ii. 189; mikill á íþrótt, skilful in an art, Edda (pref.) 148; but dat. in the phrase, kunna (vel) á skíðum, to be a cunning skater, Fms. i. 9, vii. 120.

3. denoting dimensions; á hæð, lengd, breidd, dýpt …, in the heighth, length, breadth, depth …, Eg. 277; á hvern veg, on each side, Edda 41 (square miles); á annan veg, on the one side, Grág. i. 89.

β. the phrase, á sik, in regard to oneself, vel (illa) á sik kominn, of a fine ( ugly) appearance, Ld. 100, Fas. iii. 74.

III. denoting instrumentality; bjargast á sínar hendr, to live on the work of one’s own hands, (á sínar spýtur is a mod. phrase in the same sense); (vega) á skálir, pundara, to weigh in scales, Grág. ii. 370; at hann hefði tvá pundara, ok hefði á hinn meira keypt en á hinn minna selt, of a man using two scales, a big one for buying and a little one for selling, Sturl. i. 91; á sinn kostnað, at one’s own expense; nefna e-n á nafn, by name, Grág. i. 17, etc. The Icel. also say, spinna á rokk, snældu, to spin on or with a rock or distaff; mala á kvern, to grind in a ‘querne,’ where Edda 73 uses dat.; esp. of musical instruments, syngja, leika á hljóðfæri, hörpu, gígju …; in the old usage, leika hörpu …, Stj. 458.

IV. denoting the manner or way of doing:

1. á þessa lund, in this wise, Grág. ii. 22; á marga vega, á alla, ymsa vega, in many, all, respects, Fms. i. 114; á sitt hóf, in its turn, respectively, Ld. 136, where the context shews that the expression answers to the Lat. mutatis mutandis; á Þýðersku, after German fashion, Sks. 288.

2. esp. of language; mæla, rita á e-a tungu, to speak, write in a tongue; á Írsku, in Irish, Ld. 76; Norrænu, in Norse, Eb. 330, Vm. 35; a Danska tungu, in Danish, i. e. Scandinavian, Norse, or Icelandic, Grág. i. 18; á Vára tungu, i. e. in Icelandic, 181; rita á Norræna tungu, to write in Norse, Hkr. (pref.), Bs. i. 59:—at present, dat. is sometimes used.

3. in some phrases the acc. is used instead of the dat.; hann sýndi á sik mikit gaman, Fms. x. 329; hann lét ekki á sik finna, he shewed no sign of motion, Nj. 111; skaltú önga fáleika á þik gera (Cod. Kalf.), 14.

V. used in a distributive sense; skal mörk kaupa gæzlu á kú, eðr oxa fim vetra gamlan, a mark for every cow, Grág. i. 147; alin á hvert hross, 442; á mann, per man (now freq.): cp. also á dag above, lit. B.

VI. connected with nouns,

1. prepositional; á hendr (with dat.), against; á hæla, at heel, close behind; á bak, at back, i. e. past, after; á vit (with gen.), towards.

2. adverbially; á braut, away, abroad; á víxl, in turns; á mis, amiss; á víð ok dreif, a-wide and a-drift, i. e. dispersedly.

3. used almost redundantly before the following prep.; á eptir, after, behind; á undan, in front of; á meðal, á milli, among; á mót, against; á við, about, alike; á frá (cp. Swed. ifrån), from (rare); á fyrir = fyrir, Haustl. 1; á hjá, beside (rare); á fram, a-head, forwards; á samt, together; ávalt = of allt, always: following a prep., upp á, upon; niðr á, down upon; ofan á, eptir á, post eventum, (temp.) á eptir is loc., id., etc.

VII. connected with many transitive verbs, answering to the Lat. ad- or in-, in composition, in many cases periphrastically for an objective case. The prep. generally follows after the verb, instead of being prefixed to it as in Lat., and answers to the Engl. on, to; heita kalla, hrópa á, to call on; heyra, hlusta, hlyða á, to hearken to, listen to; hyggja, hugsa á, to think on; minna á, to remind; sjá, líta, horfa, stara, mæna, glápa, koma auga … á, to look on; girnast á, to wish for; trúa á, to believe on; skora á, to call on any one to come out, challenge; kæra á, to accuse; heilsa á, to greet; herja, ganga, ríða, hlaupa, ráða … á, to fall on, attack, cp. ágangr, áreið, áhlaup; ljúga á, to tell lies of, to slander; telja á, to carp at; ausa, tala, hella, kasta, verpa … á, to pour, throw on; ríða, bera, dreifa á, to sprinkle on; vanta, skorta á, to fall short of; ala á, to plead, beg; leggja á, to throw a spell on, lay a saddle on; hætta á, to venture on; gizka á, to guess at; kveða á, to fix on, etc.: in a reciprocal sense, haldast á, of mutual strife; sendast á, to exchange presents; skrifast á, to correspond (mod.); kallast á, to shout mutually; standast á, to coincide, so as to be just opposite one another, etc.

f. [Lat. aqua; Goth. ahva; Hel. aha; A. S. eâ; O. H. G. aha, owa; cp. Germ. ach and aue; Fr. eau, eaux; Engl. Ax-, Ex-, etc., in names of places; Swed.-Dan. å; the Scandinavians absorb the hu, so that only a single vowel or diphthong remains of the whole word]:—a river. The old form in nom. dat. acc. sing. is , v. the introduction to A, page 1, Bs. i. 333 sq., where ́n, ́ (acc.), and ́na; so also Greg. 677; the old fragm. of Grág. ii. 222, 223, new Ed. In the Kb. of the Edda the old form occurs twice, viz. page 75, ́na (acc.), (but two lines below, ána), í ́nni (dat.) The old form also repeatedly occurs in the Kb. and Sb. of the Grág., e. g. ii. 266, 267: gen. sing. ár; nom. pl. ár, gen. á contracted, dat. ám, obsolete form ́m; Edda 43, Eg. 80, 99, 133, 185: proverbs, at ósi skal á stemma, answering to the Lat. principiis obsta, Edda 60; hér kemr á til sæfar, here the river runs into the sea, metaph. = this is the very end, seems to have been a favourite ending of old poems; it is recorded in the Húsdrápa and the Norðsetadrápa, v. Edda 96, Skálda 198; cp. the common saying, oil vötn renna til sævar, ‘all waters run into the sea.’ Rivers with glacier water are in Icel. called Hvítá, White river, or Jökulsá: Hitá, Hot river, from a hot spring, opp. to Kaldá, v. Landn.: others take a name from the fish in them, as Laxá, Lax or Salmon river (freq.); Örriða á, etc.: a tributary river is þverá, etc.: ár in the Njála often means the great rivers Ölfusá and Þjórsá in the south of Iceland. Áin helga, a river in Sweden, Hkr. ii: á is also suffixed to the names of foreign rivers, Tempsá = Thames; Dóná, Danube (Germ. Don-au), (mod.), etc. Vide Edda (Gl.) 116, 117, containing the names of over a hundred North-English and Scottish rivers.

COMPDS: áráll, árbakki, árbrot, ardjúp, árfarvegr, árfors, árgljúfr, árhlutr, ármegin, árminni, ármót, áróss, árreki, árstraumr, árströnd, árvað, árvegr, árvöxtr.

* * *

bœr, or býr, gen. baejar or býjar; gen. biar also occurs, esp. in Norse MSS. of the 14th century, Fb., but is rare and unclassical; pl. -ir, gen. -ja, dat. -jum. In Icel. people say bær; in Norway bö in Swed. and Dan. (always with y) by; the root word being búa, bú: this word is very freq. in local names of towns and villages throughout the whole of Scandinavia; and wherever the Scandinavian tribes settled the name by or bö went along with them. In the map of Northern England the use of this word marks out the limits and extent of the Norse immigration, e. g. the name Kirkby or Kirby; about twenty or thirty such are found in English maps of the Northern and Midland Counties, denoting churches built by the Norse or Danish settlers, as Whitby, Grimsby, etc., cp. Kirkjubær in Icel. In Denmark and Sweden local names ending in -by are almost numberless.

I. a town, village, this is the Norse, Swed., and Dan. notion; þeir brenna býi at köldum kolum, Fms. xi. 122; til bæjarins (of Niðarós), vii. 30; of Bergen, viii. 360, 438; Tunsberg, ix. 361; of the town residence of the earl of Orkney, Nj. 267: allit., borgir ok bæi, castles and towns, Ann. 1349, etc. etc.; baejar-biskup, a town-bishop, Fms. vii. 32; bæjar-prestr, a town-priest, D. N.; bæjar-lögmaðr, a town-justice, id.; bæjar-lýðr, bæjar-lið, bæjar-menn, town’s-people, Fms. viii. 38, 160, 210, Eg. 240, Bs. i. 78; baejar-brenna, the burning of a town, Fms. x. 30; bæjar-bygð, a town-district, viii. 247; bæjar-gjald, a town-rate, N. G. L. i. 328; bæjar-sýsla, a town-office, Fms. vi. 109; bæjar-starf, id., Hkr. iii. 441; bæjar-seta, dwelling in town, Ld. 73, Ísl. ii. 392.

II. a farm, landed estate, this is the Icel. notion, as that country has no towns; bær in Icel. answers to the Germ. ‘hof,’ Norweg. ‘ból,’ Dan. ‘gaard,’ denoting a farm, or farmyard and buildings, or both together; hence the phrase, reisa, göra, setja bæ, efna til bæjar, to build the farmstead, Eb. 10, 26, 254, Ld. 96, 98, Fs. 26, Landn. 126, 127, Eg. 131, Gísl. 8, 28, Bs. i. 26, Þorst. hv. 35; byggja bæ, Bs. i. 60; the phrase, bær heitir…, a farm is called so and so, Ísl. ii. 322, 323, 325, Ann. 1300, Hrafn. 22, Dropl. 5; the allit. phrase, búa á bæ…, Þorst. hv. 37; the passages are numberless, and ‘bær’ has almost become synonymous with ‘house and home;’ and as it specially means ‘the farm-buildings,’ Icel. also say innan-bæjar, in-doors; utan-bæjar, out-of-doors; í bæ, within doors; milii baejar ok stöðuls, K. Þ. K. 78; milli bæja; bæ frá bæ, from house to house; á bæ og af bæ, at home and abroad: things belonging to a bær, bæjar-dyr, the doors of the houses, the chief entrance; bæjar-hurð ( janua); bæjar-veggr, the wall of the houses; bæjar-bust, the gable of the houses; bæjar-lækr, the home-spring, well; bæjar-hlað, the premises; bæjar-stétt, the pavement in the front of the houses; bæjar-leið, a furlong, a short distance as between two ‘bæir;’ bæjar-sund, passage between the houses; bæjar-hús, the home-stead, opp. to fjár-hús, etc., where cattle is kept, or barns and the like; fram-bær, the front part of the houses; torf-bær, timbr-bær, a ‘bær’ built of turf or timber: phrases denoting the ‘bær’ as hearth and home, hér sú Guð í bæ, God be in this house, a form of greeting, cp. Luke x. 5; bæjar-bragr, the customs or life in a house; nema börn hvað á bæ er títt (a proverb).

(-s, -ar), m.

1) fence, wall;

2) enclosed space, yard (cf. aldin-garðr, grasgarðr, kirkjugarðr);

3) court-yard, court (þeir gánga út í garíinn ok berjast); riða í garð, to arrive; riða (fara) ór garði, to depart; fig., helmingr skal falla í minn garð, the half shall fall into my share; skal aukast þriðjungi í þínum garði, in thy keeping; hyggjum vér, at í yðvarn garð hafi runnit, into your hands, your possession; gøra e-n af garði, to equip one (as a son, a friend, when departing from home); líðr vetr ór garði, the winter passes by;

4) house, dwelling;

5) stronghold, castle (cf. Ás-garðr, Út-garðar).

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m. [Ulf. gards = οικος; A. S. geard; Engl. yard, garth, garden; O. H. G. gart; Germ. garten; Dan.-Swed. gård; Lat. hortus]:

I. a yard (an enclosed space), esp. in compds, as kirkju-g., a church-yard; vín-g., a vineyard; stakk-g., a stack-yard; hey-g., a hay-yard; kál-g., a kale-yard; urta-g., a kitchen-garden; aldin-g. and gras-g., a garden; dýra-g., a ‘deer-yard,’ a park:—garðr, alone, is a hay-yard (round the hay-ricks); hence garðs-seti or garð-seti, q. v.

2. a court-yard, court and premises; þeir ganga út í garðinn ok berjask, Edda 25, a paraphrase from ‘túnum’ in Gm. 41; þeir Grímr hittu menn at máli úti í garðinum, Eg. 109; þá sá hann at öðrum-megin í garðinum brunaði fram merkit, Ó. H. 31; ganga til garðs, 71; mikill kamarr ( privy) var í garðinun, id.; en er þeir Hrærekr sátu í garðinum, 72; fóru þegar þangat í garðinn sem líkin vóru, id.; er hann kom heim í þorpit ok gékk um garðinn, Fms. x. 218; gengið hef eg um garðinn móð, gleðistundir dvína, a ditty; innan stokks ( within doors) eða í garði úti, Gþl. 136; eigi nenni ek at hann deyi undir görðum mínum, Lv. 59:—a fishyard, Vm. 14.

3. esp. in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, a house or building in a town or village, [Dan. gaard = Icel. bær]; hann var í Hróiskeldu ok átti þar garð, Bjarn. 6; Egill spurði hvar g. sá væri í borginni (in York) er Arinbjörn setti, Eg. 407; hann var í garði þeim er Hallvarðs-g. var kallaðr, Bs. i. 634; í garð Arons, 636; konungs-g., the king’s yard, Fms. passim and in records referring to Norway. garða-leiga, u, f. house-rent, H. E. i. 394. garða-sól, f., botan. the orach, Hjalt. garðs-bóndi, a, m. a house-owner, Grett. 103, Jb. 157. garðs-horn, n. a ‘yard-nook,’ cottage, Fas. iii. 648: esp. in tales, in the phrase, kongur og drottning í ríki sínu og karl og kerling í Garðshorni, Ísl. Þjóðs. passim: the saying, það er ekki krókr að koma í Garðshorn. garðs-húsfreyja, u, f. a town-lady, Grett. 158 A: in Icel., where the whole population are country-folk, this sense of garðr is only used in metaph. phrases, saws, = home, house; kemr engi sá til garðs ( to the house) at viti hvat í sé, Band. 13; fátækum manni er til garðs kemr, Dipl. ii. 14; hyggjum ver at í yðvarn garð hafi runnit, into your hands, your possession, Ld. 206; helmingr skal falla í minn garð, the half shall fall into my share, Fær. 117; skal aukask þriðjungi í þínum garði, in thy keeping, Nj. 3; þótt nökkut komi þat ór várum garði, 54; leggja málaferli í garð e-s, to bring a case home to one, Sturl. ii. 27; þess alls ens ílla sem þá var honum í garð borit, all the evil that was brought to his door, Hom. 119; Guð í garði ok góð Jól, a greeting, Grett. 99 (MS.); líðr vetr ór garði, the winter passed by, Nj. 112; ríða í garð, to arrive (of a rider), Sturl. iii. 185; ríða ór garði, to depart, Ld. 96; ríða um garð, to pass by; vísa gestum á garð várn, Fas. iii. 5; göra e-n af garði (mod. ór garði), to equip one when departing, e. g. a son, a friend, or the like; eigi ertú svá af garði görr sem ek vilda (a mother to a departing son), Grett. 94; hversu herralega keisarinn görði hann af garði, Karl. 148; ok hefða ek gört þik af garði með gleði ok fagnaði, Stj. 181; but esp. to endow a daughter when married, göra dóttur sína vel (ílla) ór garði, etc.; búa í garð, to prepare; hann hefir svá í garðinn búit, he has made his bed so: the phrase, það er allt um garð gengið, all past, done, bygone; föður-g., father house, paternal house; bú-garðr, an estate: also in poets, í Eyjafirði upp á Grund á þann garðinn fríða, a ditty:—a local name of several farms in Icel., Garðr, sing., or more usually Garðar, Landn., prob. from corn-fields: the saying, víðar er Guð enn í Görðum, addressed to presumptuous people who think God is God only for themselves.

4. denoting a stronghold; tann-g., the ‘tooth-wall,’ the teeth and gums, Gr. ερκος οδόντων; Ás-garðr, the hold of the gods, Edda; Mið-garðr, Middle-hold, i. e. the earth; Út-garðar, Outer-hold, where the giants dwell, Edda: the phrase, ráðast á garðinn þar sem hann er laegstr, to assault the weakest part, to encroach upon the weak and helpless.

5. in western Icel. a heavy snow-storm is called garðr.

II. in Icel. sense a fence of any kind; garðr of þjóðbraut þvera, Grág. ii. 264: in the law phrase, garðr er granna sættir, a fence ( yard) is a settler among neighbours (i. e. forms the landmark), Gþl., Jb. 258; leggja garða, to make fences, Rm. 12, Landn. App. 325; þeir biðu hjá garði nokkurum, Nj. 170: esp. the fence around the homefield, also called tún-g., Grág. i. 82, 453, Nj. 83, 114, Eg. 766, Ld. 148. Ísl. ii. 357, passim; skíð-g., a rail fence; grjót-g., a stone fence; torf-g., a turf fence; haga-g., the hedge of a pasture, Eb. 132; tún-g., a ‘tún’ fence; virkis-g., a castle wall, Fb. ii. 73 (in a verse); stíflu-g., a ditch: rif-g., a swathe.

COMPDS: garðsendi, garðshlið, garðskrókr, garðsrúst, garðsönn.

III. Garðar, m. pl. (í Görðum), Garða-ríki or Garða-veldi, n. the empire of Gardar, is the old Scandin. name of the Scandinavian-Russian kingdom of the 10th and 11th centuries, parts of which were Hólm-garðar, Kænu-garðar, Nov-gorod, etc.; the name being derived from the castles or strongholds ( gardar) which the Scandinavians erected among the Slavonic people, and the word tells the same tale as the Roman ‘castle’ in England; cp. the interesting passage in Ó. H. ch. 65—ok má enn sjá þær jarðborgir (earth-works, castles) ok önnur stórvirki þau er hann görði,—K. Þ. K. 158, Fms., Ó. H. passim, (cp. Munch Det Norske Folks Hist. i. 39 sqq.); the mod. Russ. gorod and grad are the remains of the old Scandin. garðr = a castle; cp. Gerzkr, adj. from Gardar, i. e. Russian,

β. Mikli-garðr—the ‘Muckle-yard’ the Great town, i. e. Constantinople, passim.

COMPDS: Garðaríkismenn, Garðskonungr.

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(tek; tók, tókum; tekinn), v.

1) to take, catch, seize (tóku þeir laxinn ok otrinn ok báru með sér);

G. tók inni vinstri hendi spjótit á lopti, G. caught the spear with his left hand;

man hón taka fé okkart allt með ráni, she will take all our goods by force;

taka e-n höndum, to seize one, take captive;

tökum vápn vár, let us take to our weapons;

2) fig., taka trú, to take the faith, become a Christian;

taka skírn, to be baptized;

taka hvíld, to take a rest;

taka flótta, to take to flight;

taka rœðu, umrœðu, to begin a parley;

taka ráð, to take a counsel (= taka til ráðs);

taka e-n orðum, to address one;

taka sættir or sættum, to accept terms;

taka þenna kost, to take this choice;

taka stefnu, to fix a meeting;

taka boði, to accept an offer;

taka sótt, to be taken ill;

taka úgleði, to get out of spirits;

taka andviðri, to meet with contrary winds;

taka konung, to take, elect a king;

taka konu, to take a wife;

taka úkunna stigu, to take to unknown ways;

taka e-n or e-m vel, to receive one well;

taka e-t þvert, to take a thing crossly, deny flatly;

taka upp höndum, to raise the hands;

3) to reach, stretch forth, touch;

fremri hyrnan tók viðbeinit, the upper horn caught the collar bone;

því at ek tek eigi heim í kveld, for I shall not reach home to-night;

hárit tók ofan á belti, the hair came down to her waist;

4) to reach and take harbour (þeir tóku land á Melrakka-sléttu);

5) to take, hold, of a vessel (ketill, er tók tvær tunnur);

6) to be equivalent to, be worth (hringrinn tók tólf hundruð mórend);

7) with infin., to begin (hann tók at yrkja, þegar er hann var ungr);

nú taka öll húsin at lóga, now the whole house began to blaze;

impers., þá tók at lægja veðrit, then the wind began to fall;

8) to touch, regard, concern (þat allt, sem leikmenn tekr);

9) to catch (up), come up with (hann var allra manna fóthvatastr, svá at engi hestr tók hann á rás);

10) to start, rush (Eirikr tók út or stofunni, en konungr bað menn hlaupa eptir honum);

taka á rás, taka frá, to take to running, run away (svá illt sem nú er frá at taka, þá mun þó síðarr verra);

11) impers. it is taken;

þá tók af veðrit (acc.) then the storm abated;

kom á fótinn, svá at af tók, the stroke came on his leg, so that it was cut off;

sýnina tekr frá e-m, one becomes blind;

tók út skip Þangbrands, Th.’s ship drifted out;

um várit er sumarhita tók, when the summer heat set in;

12) with preps, and advs., taka e-n af lífi, lífdögum, taka e-n af, to take one’s life, put to death;

taka e-n af nafni ok veldi, to deprive one of his title and power;

taka af hesti, to take (the saddle) off a horse;

taka e-t af e-m, to take a thing from one, deprive one of (er vér tókum seglit af honum, þá grét hann);

taka af sér ópit, to cease weeping;

taka e-t af e-m, to get frotn one (tekr hann af öllu fólki mikil lof);

taka mikinn (mikil), lítinn (lítil) af e-u, to make (say) much, little of;

hón tók lítil af öllu, she said little about it, took it coldly;

øngan tek ek af um liðveizlu við þik, I will not pledge myself as to helping thee;

taka e-t af, to choose, take;

G. bauð þér góð boð, en þú vildir engi af taka, G. made thee good offers, but thou wouldst take none of them;

fara sem fœtr mega af taka, at the top of one’s speed;

hann sigldi suðr sem af tók, as fast as possible;

to abolish, do away with (lagði á þat allan hug al taka af heiðni ok fornar venjur);

taka e-t aptr, to take back, render void (taka aptr þat, er ek gef); to recall (taka aptr orð, heil sín);

taka á e-u, to touch (hón tók á augum hans);

taka vel, auðvelliga, lítt, illa á e-u, to take (a thing) well, in good part, ill, in ill part (fluttu þeir þetta fyrir jarli, en hann tók vel á);

taka e-t á sik, to take upon oneself (kvaðst heldr vilja taka þat á sik at gefa honum annát augat);

tóku þeir á sik svefn mikinn, they fell fast asleep;

taka arf eptir e-n, to inherit one;

taka e-t eptir, to get in return;

með því at þú gerir svá, sem ek býð þér, skaltu nökkut eptir taka, thou shalt have some reward;

taka e-t frá e-m, to take a thing away from one (þeir tóku spjótin frá þeim ok báru út á ána);

taka e-n frá e-u, to deprive one of (taka e-n frá landi, ríki);

taka e-t fyrir e-t, to take in return for (hann keypti sveinana ok tók fyrir þá vesl gott ok slagning); to take for, look upon as (lökum vér þat allt fyrir satt; því tek ek þat fyrir gaman);

taka fyrir e-t, to refuse (tók E. eigi fyrir útanferð at sumri);

taka hendi í e-t, to thrust one’s hand into;

taka í hönd e-m, to shake hands with one;

taka í móti, to offer resistance (þeir brendu víða bygðina, en bœndr tóku ekki í móti);

taka niðr, to pull down, demolish (taka niðr til grundvallar allt þat verk); to graze a little, = taka til jarðar (þeir láta nú taka niðr hesta sína);

taka niðri, to touch (feel) the bottom;

taka ofan, to take down (Högni tekr ofan atgeirinn); to pull down (hann hafði látil taka ofan skála sinn);

taka í sundr, to cut asunder;

impers., slœmdi sverðinu til hans, svá at í sundr tók manninn, so that the man was cleft asunder;

taka til e-s, to take to (tóku þá margir til at níða hann);

taka til máls (orðs, orða), to begin to speak;

nú er þar til máls at taka, at, now we must take up the story at this point, that;

taka til varnar, to begin the defence;

taka til e-s, to have recourse to, resort to (taka e-t til ráðs, bragðs); to concern (þetta mál, er til konungs tók);

láta e-t til sín taka, to let it concern oneself, meddle with (Gísli lét fátt til sín taka);

taka e-n til e-s, to choose, elect (Ólafr var til konungs tekinn um allt land);

absol., taka til, to begin (hann hélt allt austr um Svínasund, þá tók til vald Svíakonungs);

taka e-t til, to take to, do;

ef hann tekr nökkut illt til, if he takes to any ill;

taka um e-t, to take hold of, grasp (nú skaltu taka um fót honum);

taka e-t undan, to take away;

impers., undan kúnni tók nyt alla, the cow ceased to give milk;

taka undan, to run away, escape (B. tók undan með rás);

taka undir e-t, to take hold under a thing;

hann tók undir kverkina ok kyssti hana, he took her by the chin and kissed her;

to undertake, take upon oneself;

H. kvaðst ekki taka mundu undir vandræði þeira, H. said he would have nothing to do with their troubles;

taka undir e-t með e-m, to back, help one in a thing (vil ek, at þér takit undir þetta mál með mér);

þau tóku undir þetta léttiliga, they seconded it readily;

hann tók seinliga undir, he was slow to answer;

taka undir, to echo, resound (fjöllin tóku undir);

taka e-t undir sik, to take on hand (Gizurr tók undir sik málit); to lay hold of (hann tekr undir sik eignir þær, er K. átti í Noregi);

taka e-t upp, to pick up (S. tók upp hanzka sinn);

taka upp fé fyrir e-m, to seize on, confiscate;

taka upp borð, to set up the tables before a meal, but also to remove them after a meal;

taka upp bygð sína, to remove one’s abode;

hón tekr mart þat upp, er fjarri er mínum vilja, she takes much in hand that is far from my will;

drykk ok vistir, svá sem skipit tók upp, as the ship could take;

taka upp ný goðorð, to establish new priesthoods;

taka upp verknað, to take up work;

taka upp stœrð, to take to pride;

taka upp sök, to take up a case;

taka upp draum, to interpret a dream;

taka e-t upp, to choose (seg nú skjótt, hvern kost þú vill upp taka);

absol., taka upp, to extend, rise (rekkjustokkr tekr upp á millum rúma okkarra);

taka út, to run out (E. tók út ór stofunni);

taka við e-u, to receive (A. hafði tekit við föðurarf sínum);

taka vel við e-m, to receive one well, give one a hearty welcome;

taka við trú, to take the faith;

þeir tóku vel við, they made a bold resistance;

tók við hvárr af öðrum, one took up where the other left off;

taka yfir e-t, to extend over (hann skal eignast af Englandi þat, sem uxahúð tekr yfir);

impers. to come to an end, succeed (kveðst nú vænta, at nú mundi yfir taka);

þeir munu allt til vinna at yfir taki við oss, to get the better of us;

13) refl., takast;

1) taking, capture, of a fortress, prisoner;

2) taking, seizing, of property;

3) revenue, = tekja( með öllum tökum ok skyldum).

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pres. tek, tekr; tökum, takit, taka; pret. tók, tókt (tókst), tók, pl. tóku; subj. tæki (tœki); imperat. tak, taktú; part. tekinn: with neg. suff. tek’k-at ek, I take not, Kristni S. (in a verse); tak-a-ttu, take thou not, Fas. i. (in a verse); tekr-at, Grág. (Kb.) i. 9: [Ulf. têkan, pret. taitok = απτεσθαι; Swed. take; Dan. tage, sounded tā, ‘du tar det ikke, vil du ta det;’ Engl. take is a word borrowed from the Dan., which gradually displaced the Old Engl. niman.]

A. To take hold of, seize, grasp; taka sér alvæpni, Eg. 236; tóku menn sér þar byrðar ok báru út, Egill tók undir hönd sér mjöð-drekku, 237; nú taki hest minn, ok skal ek ríða eptir honum, 699; tóku þeir skíð sín ok stigu á, 545; hann tók inni vinstri hendi spjótið ok skaut, Nj. 42; lauk upp kistu ok tók upp góð kvennmanna-klæði, Ld. 30; hann tekr nú bogann, … tekr nú kaðal einn, Fas. ii. 543; taka upp net, K. Þ. K. 90; hross skal maðr taka ok teyma ok hepta, þótt heilagt sé, id.

2. to seize; þeir tóku þar herfang mikit, Nj. 43; tóku skipit ok allt þat er á var, Fms. vii. 249; þeir tóku þar skútu, viii. 438; tóku skip hans, landtjald, klæði, ix. 275; taka fé okkat allt með ráni, Nj. 5; engi maðr skal fyrir öðrum taka, Gþl. 473; hann leiddi þik til arfs … munu taka óvinir þínir ef þú kemr eigi til, Nj. 4; þeir tóku bæinn, seized, Sturl. ii. 149; kona hafði tekit ( stolen) … ok vildi hann refsa henni, Fms. vii. 330.

3. to catch; Skotar munu hafa tekit njósnir allar, Nj. 126; standi menn upp ok taki hann, 130; hann skyldi taka hundinn, 114; þeir tóku á sundi mann einn, Fms. vii. 225; gröf, at taka í dýr, Flóv. 33; taka höndum, to lay hold of, take captive, Nj. 114, 275; in a good sense, Fms. x. 314.

4. taka e-n af lífi, to take one from life, Fms. x. 3, Eg. 70; taka e-n af lífdögum, id., Fms. vii. 204: ellipt., taka af (af-taka), to take one off, put to death, Js. 23; taka e-n af nafni ok veldi, to deprive of …, Eg. 268; tóku þeir af eignum jarla konungs, Fms. i. 6: taka af e-m, to take a thing from one, x. 421, Nj. 103, 131, Eg. 120, Ld. 288; taka frá e-m, to take from, off, Nj. 253, K. Þ. K. 48; taka ofan, to take down, pull down, Nj. 119, 168; taka ór, to set apart, 232; taka undir sik, to take under oneself, subject, Fms. x. 24: to take charge of, Nj. 110, Eg. 725: taka upp, to take up, pick up, assume, 23.

5. to take, grasp; taka í hönd e-m, to shake hands, Nj. 129; taka á lopti, to interrupt, Fms. x. 314; taka í ketil, of the ordeal, Grág. i. 381, Gkv. 3. 7; taka í jörð, to graze, of an animal, Bs. i. 338; jó lætr til jarðar taka, Skm. 15; skulu þér láta taka niðr hesta yðra, to graze a little, Band. 14 new Ed.; tók einn þeirra niðr í sinn klæðsekk, Stj.

II. metaph., taka upphaf, to begin, Hom. 49; taka vöxt ok þroska, to increase, Rb. 392; taka konungdóm, Eg. 646; taka ráð, 49; taka skírn, 770; taka trú, to take the faith, become a Christian, Nj. 273; taka hvíld, to take rest, 43, 115; taka á sik svefn, 252; taka ræðu, to begin a parley, Eg. 578; taka umræðu, id., Nj. 146; þau taka þá tal, Ld. 72, Fms. ii. 254; taka nærri sér, see nær l. 2; taka á sik göngu, Fbr. 101 new Ed.; taka á sik svefn, Nj.; taka eld, to light a fire, 199; taka e-n orðum, to address; taka í sætt, to receive into reconciliation, Eg. 168; taka sættir, to accept terms, id. (also taka sættum, id.); taka þenna kost, 280; taka samheldi, Fms. ix. 344; ok tóku þat fastliga, at friðr skyldi standa, declared firmly that, x. 40, v. l.; taka stefnu, to fix a meeting, xi. 400; tóku þeir stefnu í milli sín, 402; nú er svá tekið um allt landit, at …, fixed by law that …, Gþl. 275; þeir tóku fastmælum sín í milli, at …, Bret. 82; taki í lög, to take into fellowship, Fms. xi. 96; lög-taka, cp. lófa-tak, vápna-tak; Gunnarr bauð þér góð boð enn þú vildir engi af taka, thou wouldst accept none of them, Nj. 77; tók hann þann kost af, at leggja allt á konungs vald, Fms. iv. 224; ok þat tóku þeir af, ix. 367; Ólafr kvaðsk þat mundu af taka, Ld. 72; taka e-t til ráðs, or taka ráðs, bragðs, to resort to, Nj. 75, 124, 199: also, taka e-t til, to resort to, 26, Fms. xi, 253, passim (til-tæki); taka mót, to receive, Edda 15; taka e-t við, to receive in return, Fms. ii. 269; taka bætr fyrir e-t, xi. 253; með því þú görir sem ek býð þér, skaltú nökkuð eptir taka, take some reward for it, Ld. 44; þat er bæði at vér róum hart, enda mun nú mikit eptir taka, a great reward, Finnb. 232 (eptir-tekja); taka fæðu, to take food; taka corpus Domini, Mar.; taka samsæti, Fms. ii. 261; taka arf, Eg. 34; taka erfð, Gþl. 241; taka fé eptir föður sinn, Fms. xi. 47; taka laun, Nj. 68; taka veizlu, to take, receive a veizla (q. v.), Fms. xi. 239; konungr … hann tekr ( receives) af mörgum, skal hann því mikit gefa, 217; taka mikit lof, x. 367; taka helgun af Guði, Rb. 392; taka heilsu, to recover, Stj. 624; ek skal taka hæði-yrði af þér, Nj. 27; taka af honum rán ok manntjón, Ld. 64; taka úskil af íllum mönnum, Greg. 44; taka píslir ok dauða, 656 B. 30; drap hann þar menn nökkura, þótti mönnum hart at taka þat af útlendum manni, Bs. i. 19; þeir tóku mikinn andróða, Fms. viii. 438; taka andviðri, Eg. 87; þeir tóku norðan-veðr hörð, were overtaken by, Nj. 124; taka sótt, to be taken sick or ill (North E. to take ill), 29, Fms. xi. 97, Eg. 767; taka þyngd. id., Ísl. ii. 274; taka fótar-mein, Nj. 219; taka úgleði, to get out of spirits, Eg. 322; hann tók þá fáleika ok úgleði, Fms. vii. 103; hann tók langt kaf, 202; taka arftaki, to adopt, Grág. i. 232; taka konung, to take, elect a king, Fms. ix. 256; taka konu, to take a wife, x. 397; hann kvángaðisk ok tók bróður-dóttur þess manns er Finnr hét, 406; tók Magnús konungr Margrétu, 413; taka konu brott nauðga, to carry off a woman, Grág. i. 353; tók hann þá til háseta, he hired them, Eg. 404; taka far or fari, Landn. 307, Grág. ii. 406 (far, ii. 3); taka úkunna stigu, to take to unknown ways, Fms. viii. 30; taka ferð, to start, Stj.; taka til konungs, or the like, Eg. 367, 400, Fms. vii. 252; taka til siðar, Sks. 313; taka e-n vel, to receive well; ok taki ér, herra, vel þá Hjalta ok Gizur, Bs. i. 19; tók Skota-konungr hann vel, Fms. xi. 419; taka e-t þvert, to take a thing crossly, deny flatly, Nj. 26; taka fyrir e-t, to stop, interrupt, refuse, Fms. x. 251.

III. to reach, stretch forth, touch; hann beit skarð, allt þat er tennr tóku, Eg. 605; eigi djúpara enn þeim tók undir hendr, Ld. 78; skurðrinn tók á framan-verðan bakkann, Krók.; hyrnan tók andlitið, Nj. 253; rödd tekr eyru, Skálda 175; döggskórinn tók niðr akrinn upp-standanda, Fas. i. 173; hafði flóð tekit þær, swept them away, Fms. xi. 393; spjót langskept svá at vel taki skipa meðal, Sks. 385; nef hans tók austr til landsenda … véli-fjarðar tóku norðr í Finnabú, Fms. viii. 10; tekr mörkin náliga allt it efra suðr, Eg. 58; þvíat ekki tek ek heim í kveld, Nj. 275; mun ek taka þangat í dag? Hbl.; bóndans bót tekr fyrir ( encompasses) konu, hans ok börn ok hjón, N. G. L. i. 341; taka niðri, to take the ground, of a ship or thing floating, Fas. iii. 257; svá at upp tekr um klaufir, Boll. 336; at eigi tæki hann (acc.) regnit, Stj. 594; skulu vér varask, at eigi taki oss þau dæmi, Hom. 70; svá mikit er uxa-húð tekr yfir, Fas. i. 288; nær því er þú sér at taka mun en ekki ór hófi, Sks. 21; hundr bundinn svá at taki eigi til manna, Grág. ii. 119; taka höndum upp, to lift up hands, Bs. i. 735, Edda 22; ek sé fram undir brekkuna, at upp taka spjóts-oddar fimtán, Finnb. 286; þetta smíði (Babel) tók upp ór veðrum, Edda 146 (pref.); hárit tók ofan á belti, Nj. 2; stöpul er til himins tæki, 645. 71; hér til tekr en fyrsta bók, reaches here, 655 vii. 4; taka mátti hendi til fals, Eg. 285; þeir tóku fram árum, took the oars, Fms. vii. 288; smeygði á sik ok tók út höndunum, 202; þeir tóku undun, to escape, viii. 438: to reach, land, take harbour, gaf honum vel byri ok tóku Borgarfjörð, Nj. 10; tóku þeir Friðar-ey, 268; þeir tóku land á Melrakka-sléttu, Ísl. ii. 246; byrjaði vel ok tóku Noreg, Ld. 72, 310; tóku þar land sem heitir Vatnsfjörðr, Landn. 30: ellipt., hann tók þar sem nú heitir Herjólfs-höfn, id.; þeir tóku fyrir sunnan land, 175.

2. to take, hold, of a vessel; ketill or tók tvær tunnur, Fb. i. 524; lands þess er tæki ( of the value of) fjóra tigi hundraða, Sturl. i. 98, v. l.; hringrinn tók tólf hundruð mórend, Nj. 225: so in the phrase, það tekr því ekki, it is not worth the while; þann enn eina grip er hann átti svá at fé tæki, the sole object of value he had, Bs. i. 636.

3. spec. usages; fara sem fætr mega af taka, Finnb. 288; konur æpa sem þær megu mest af taka, Al. 47, (aftak, aftaka-veðr, q. v.), Karl. 109, 196; fóru hvárir-tveggju sem af tók, went as fast as possible, Fms, iv. 304; hann sigldi suðr sem af tók, Eg. 93: in the phrase, taka mikinn, lítinn … af e-u, to make much, little of, take it to heart or lightly; mikit tekr þú af þessu, thou takest it much to heart, Lv. 10; öngan tek ek af um liðveizlu við þik, I will not pledge myself as to helping thee, Ld. 105; eigi töku vér mikit af at tortryggva þá bók, þótt mart sé undarligt í sagt, we will not strongly question the truth of the book, although many wonders are told therein, Sks. 78; Óspakr kvað hana mikit af taka, said he used very strong language, Ld. 216; mikinn tekr þú af, segir konungr, thou settest much by it, said the king, Fms. vi. 206: munda ek sýnu minna hafa af tekit ef ek væra údrukkinn, I would have kept a better tongue, xi. 112; Þórvarðr tók eigi af fyrir útanferð sína, did not quite refuse the going abroad, Sturl. iii. 244; hann kvaðsk eigi taka mega af því hvat mælt væri, he did not much mind what folks said, Nj. 210; hón tók lítið af öllu, said little about it, took it coolly, Eg. 322; tók hann minna af enn áðr við Íslendinga, he spoke not so strongly of them as he used to do, Glúm. 328; ok er sendi-menn kómu tók hann lítið af, Fms. x. 101; Flosi svaraði öllu vel, en tók þó lítið af, F. gave a civil but reserved answer, Nj. 180.

IV. with prepp.; taka af hesti, to take (the saddle) off a horse, Nj. 4, 179; taka af sér ópit, to cease weeping, Ölk. 35; taka skriðinn af skipinu, Fms. ii. 305; taka e-t af, to abolish, vii. 1, x. 152, Ísl. ii. 258:—taka á e-u, to touch (á-tak), Nj. 118; þegar sem nær þeim er komit ok á þeim tekit, Stj. 76; sá er tekr fyrst á funa, Gm.; þat er ok, áðr þeir taki á dómum sinum ( ere they deliver sentence), at þeir skolu eið vinna áðr, Grág. i. 64; taka vel, auðvelliga, lítt, ekki vel, ílla … á e-u, to take a thing so and so, take it well, in good part, ill, in ill part, etc., Ld. 50, 248, Fms. xi. 124, Nj. 206, 265; Gunnarr talaði fátt um ok tók á öngu úlíkliga, 40; tak glaðan á ( cheerfully) við konunginn, Fms. xi. 112; þeir höfðu sagt hversu hann hafði á tekit þeim feðgum, Rd. 284; Leifr tekr á þessu eigi mjök, Fb. ii. 397; tók Börkr (á) því seinliga, Eb. 15 new Ed.:—taka eptir, to notice, observe, Sturl. i. 2 (eptir-tekt):—taka móti, to withstand, resist, Nj. 261, Fms. ix. 307, 513 (mót-tak):—taka með, to reserve, accept, iv. 340, xi. 427 (með-taka): taka við, hann tókþar ok við mörg önnur dæmi, bæði konunga æfi, he tacked to it many records, the lives of kings, etc., Ó. H. (pref.): this isolated phrase has led editors (but wrongly) to substitute hann ‘jók’ þar við:—taka aptr, to take back, render void, undo, Bs. i. 631, Nj. 191, Sks. 775; eigi má aptr taka unnit verk, a saying, Fms. ii. 11: to recall, unsay, mun ek þau orð eigi aptr taka, Ld. 42, Fms. ii. 253:—taka í, to pull off; taktu í hann, to pull his stocking off:—taka um, to take hold of, grasp, Eg. 410, Hkr. ii. 322:—taka upp, to pick up, assume; niðr at fella ok upp at taka, 625. 68, Eg. 23; taka upp borð, to put up the tables before a meal; tekr upp borð ok setr fyrir þá Butralda, Fbr. 37; vóru borð upp tekin um alla stofuna ok sett á vist, Eg. 551: but also to remove them after a meal (= taka borð ofan), 408, Hkr. ii. 192, Fms. i. 41, Orkn. 246 (see borð II); taka upp vist, to put food on the table, Vm. 168; taka upp bygð sína, to remove one’s abode, passim; taka upp, of a body, to take up, disinter, Hkr. ii. 388; taka upp, to seize on, confiscate, Nj. 73, 207, Ld. 38, Eg. 73; þeir tóku upp ( laid waste) þorp þat er heitir Tuma-þorp, Fms. i. 151; var þá tekin upp bygð Hrolleifs, Fs. 34; hón tekr þat mart upp er fjarri er mínum vilja, Nj. 6l; at þú gefir ró reiði ok takir þat upp er minnst vandræði standi af, 175; taka upp verknað, to take up work, Ld. 34; taka upp stærð, to take to pride, Fms. x. 108; halda upp-teknu efni, i. 263; taka upp sök, mál, to take up a case, Nj. 31, 71, 231: to interpret, eigi kann ek öðruvís at ráða þenna draum … glíkliga er upp tekit, Sturl. iii. 216; ok skal svá upp taka ‘síks glóð,’ þat er ‘gull,’ Edda 127; kvæði, ef þau eru rétt kveðin ok skynsamliga upp tekin, Hkr. (pref.); tók hann svá upp, at honum væri eigi úhætt, Fms. ix. 424; drykk ok vistir svá sem skipit tók upp, as the ship could take, iv. 92; er þat skip mikit, ok mun þat taka oss upp alla, Nj. 259; þat hjóna er meira lagði til félags skal meira upp taka, Gþl. 220; þótti þeim í hönd falla at taka upp land þetta hjá sér sjálfum, Ld. 210; skal sá sem at Kálfafelli býr taka upp vatn at sínum hlut, Vm. 168; taka upp giptu hjá Dana-konungi, Fms. xi. 426; taka upp goðorð, Nj. 151, 168, Grág. i. 24; taka upp þing. Ann. 1304 ( to restore); tókusk þá upp lög ok landsréttr, Fs. 27; taka upp vanda, Fms. vii. 280:—taka til, to take to; hefna svá at ekki fýsi annan slík firn til at taka, 655 xiii. A. 3; tóku margir þá til at níða hann, Bs. i; taka til ráða, ráðs, bragðs, Nj. 19, 75, 124; hann tók til ráða skjótt, 19; enn þó munu vér þat bragðs taka, 199; hvat skal nú til ráða taka, 124; ef hann tekr nökkut íllt til, 26; hverja úhæfu er hann tekr til, Fms. xi. 253; taka til máls, to take to talking, Nj. 16, 71; taka til orðs, or orða, 122, 230, 264; hann tók nú til at segja söguna, to take to telling a story; taka til varnar, to begin the defence, Grág. i. 60, Nj. 271; nú er þar til at taka, at …, 74; er blót tóku til, Landn. 111; þá tók til ríki Svía-konungs, Fms. iv. 118; um Slésvík þar sem Dana-ríki tók til, xi. 417: to concern, þat mun taka til yðar, Hom. 150; þetta mál er til konungs tók, Fms. xi. 105; láta til sín taka, to let it concern oneself, meddle with, Band. 23 new Ed.; Gísl lét fátt til sín taka, Fms. vii. 30; vil ek nú biðja þik at þú létir ekki til þín taka um tal várt, Nj. 184: to have recourse to, þú tekr eigi til þeirra liðsinnis ef ekki þarf, Fms. vii. 17, Grág. i. 41; taka til segls, Eg. 573, Fms. ix. 22; taka til sunds, 24; taka til e-s, to note, mark, with dislike:—taka undir, to take under a thing; hann tók undir kverkina, took her by the chin, Nj. 2; þá tók Egill undir höfða-hlut Skalla-grími, Eg. 398: to undertake, þat mál er þeir skyldi sjálfir undir taka, Hkr. i. 266; þá skal hann taka undir þá sömu þjónostu, Ó. H. 120: to back, second, hann kvaðsk ekki mundu taka undir vandræði þeirra, Nj. 182; undir þann kviðling tók Rúnolfr goði, ok sótti Hjalta um goðgá, Bs. i. 17: ek mun taka undir með þér ok styðja málit, Fms. xi. 53; hann tók ekki undir þat ráð, Fb. ii. 511; þau tóku undir þetta léttliga, seconded it readily, Ld. 150; hann tók seinliga undir, Nj. 217; hann hafði heyrt tal þeirra ok tók undir þegar, ok kvað ekki saka, Ld. 192: göra tilraun hversu þér tækit undir þetta, Fb. i. 129: to echo, blésu herblástr svá at fjöllin tóku undir, Fas. i. 505; taka undir söng, to accompany singing:—taka við, to receive; nú tóktú svá við sverði þessu, Fms. i. 15; siðan hljópu menn hans, enn hann túk við þeim, 105; jörð tekr við öldri, Hm.; til þess er akkerit tók við, grappled, took hold, Dan. holde igen, Fms. x. 135. v. l.; þar til er sjár tók við honum, Edda 153 (pref.); taka við ríki, Eg. 241, Fms. i. 7; taka við trú, Nj. 158, 159; taka við handsölum á e-u, 257; ef maðr görr við at taka við dæmdum úmaga, Grág. i. 258; taka vel við e-m, to receive well, Nj. 5; ekki torleiði tekr við yðr, no obstacle stops you, Al. 120; þeir tóku við vel ok vörðusk, made a bold resistance, Fms. i. 104; eggjuðu sumir at við skyldi taka, vii. 283; at þeir skyldi verja landit, en þeir vildu eigi við taka, xi. 386; ganga fram á mel nökkurn, ok segir Hrútr at þeir mundu þar við taka, Ld. 62; þar stóð steinn einn mikill, þar bað Kjartan þá við taka, 220; seg þú æfi-sögu þína, Ásmundr, en þá skal Egill við taka, tell thy life’s tale, Asmund, and then shall Egil take his turn, Fas. iii. 374; tók við hvárr af öðrum, one took up where the other left off:—taka yfir, hann vildi eigi til ráða nema hann ætlaði at yfir tæki, Fms. iv. 174; þeir munu allt til vinna, at yfir taki með oss, Nj. 198; at eyrendi þeirra skyldi eigi lyktuð né yfir tekin, Fms. iv. 224.

V. to take to, begin:

1. with infin., tóku menn at binda sár sín, Eg. 93; hann tók at yrkja þegar er hann var ungr, 685; hans afli tók at vaxa, Fms. viii. 47; á þeim veg er ek tæka ganga, Sks. 3; taka at birtask, 568; tekr at dimma, birta … rigna, it gets dim, takes to darken … rain; allt þat er hann tekr at henda, Nj. 5; þá tók at lægja veðrit, 124; tók þá at morna, 131; tók þá at nátta, Fms. ix. 54; kvölda tekr = Lat. vesperascit, Luke xxiv. 29.

2. in other phrases, taka á rás, to take to running, to run, Nj. 253, Eg. 216, 220, Eb. 62 (hófu á rás, 67 new Ed.), Hrafn. 7: ellipt., tók bogmaðr ok hans menn á land upp undan, they took to the inland and escaped, Fms. ix. 275; tók hann þegar upp um brú, viii. 169; svá íllt sem nú er frá at taka (to escape, shun), þá mun þó síðarr verr, Fs. 55; taka flótta, to take to flight, Hm. 30; Eirekr tók út ór stofunni, took out of the room, ran out, Sturl. ii. 64; þeir tóku út eitt veðr allir, stood out to sea with the same wind, Fb. ii. 243.

VI. with dat., to take to, receive (perh. ellipt. for taka við- e-u); jarl tók vel sendi-mönnum ok vináttu-málum konungs, Fms. i. 53; konungr tók honum vel ok blíðliga, vii. 197; tekit mundu vér hafa kveðju þinni þóttú hefðir oss fyrri fagnat, Ld. 34; Grímr tók því seinliga, Eg. 764; Sigurðr tók því máli vel, 38, Fms. x. 2; konungr tók þá vel orðum Þórólfs, Eg. 44; hann tók því þakksamliga, Fms. i. 21; taka vel þeirra eyrendum, x. 33; Barði tók þessu vel, Ld. 236; Hákon tók því seinliga, Fms. i. 74; eigi mun konungr taka því þótt slík lygi sé upp borin fyrir hann, Eg. 59; tók Brynjólfr þá sættum fyrir Björn, 168; Njáll átti hlut at, at þeir skyldi taka sættum, Nj. 120; taka handsölum á fé, 257; taka heimildum á e-u, Fms. x. 45; taka fari, Grág. ii. 399, Nj. 111, 258 (see far); taka bóli, to take a farm (on lease), Gþl. 328, 354; mun ek máli taka fyrir alla Íslenzka menn þá er á skipi eru, speak for them, Bs. i. 421.

VII. impers. it is taken; hann brá upp hendinni ok tók hana af honum ok höfuðit af konunginum, Nj. 275; ok tók af nasarnar, Fms. x. 135, v. l.; þá tók af veðrit (acc.), the weather ‘took up’ (as is said in North of England), the storm abated. Fas. i. 157; svá at þar tæki af vega alla, all roads were stopped, Fms, iii. 122; af þeim tók málit ok görask úfærir, Fas. ii. 549; kom á höndina fyrir ofan úlflið svá at af tók, Nj. 84; kom á fótinn svá at af tók, 123; þá tók efa af mörgum manni, Fms. iii. 8; sýnina tekr frá e-m, to become blind, x. 339; undan kúnni tók nyt alla, Eb. 316; jafnskjótt tók ór verkinn allan, Fms. iv. 369; tók út skip Þangbrands ór Hitará, she drifted out, Bs. i. 15; í þat mund dags er út tók eykðina, when the time of ‘eykð’ was nearly passed, Fms. xi. 136; um várit er sumar-hita tók, when the summer heat set in, Fs. 67; réru svá skjótt at ekki tók (viz. þá) á vatni, Fms. vii. 344.

2. as a naut. term, to clear, weather a point; veðr var litið ok tók þeim skamt frá landi, the weather was still, and they kept close in shore, Fms. vi. 190: hence the mod. naut. phrase, e-m tekr, to clear, weather; mér tók fyrir nesit, I cleared, weathered the ness; vindr þver, svo að þeim tekr ekki.

3. þar er eigi of tekr torf eðr grjót, where neither is at hand, Grág. ii. 262; þau dæmi tekr til þessa máls, the proofs of this are, that when …, Hom. 127.

B. Reflex., takask mikit á hendr, to take much in hand, Band. 3, Nj. 228, Fms. i. 159; tókumk ek þat á hendr, xi. 104; láta af takask, to let oneself be deprived of, Eg. 296; takask e-n á hendr.

2. to be brought about, take effect, succeed; cp. þykkir mikit í hættu hversu þér teksk, Ld. 310; þat tóksk honum, he succeeded, Bárð. 167; tekst þá tveir vilja, it succeeds when two will, i. e. joint efforts prevail, a saying:—takask til, to happen; Ásgrími tóksk svá til (it so happened to A.), sem sjaldan var vant, at vörn var í máii hans, Nj. 92; ef svá vill til takask. Fas. i. 251; svá erviðliga sem þeim hafði til tekizk at herja á þá feðga, Fms. i. 184; mér hefir úgiptuliga tekizk, Ld. 252; þætti mér allmiklu máli skipta at þér tækisk stórmannliga, that thou wouldst behave generously, Hkr. ii. 32; hefir þetta svá tekizk sem ván var at, er hann var barn at aldri, 268.

3. to take place, begin; tóksk orrosta, Nj. 8; teksk þar orrosta, 122; ráð takask, of a marriage; en ef þá takask eigi ráðin, if the wedding takes not place then, Grág. i. 311; lýkr svá at ráðin skyldi takask, 99; ráð þau skyldi takask at öðru sumri, Eg. 26, Fms. x. 40: to be realised, hvatamaðr at þessi ferð skyldi takask, Ld. 240; síðan er mægð hafdi tekizk með þeim, since they had intermarried, Eg. 37; takask með þeim góðar ástir, they came to love one another much, of newly-married people, passim; féráns dómr teksk, Grág. i. 95; takask nú af heimboðin, to cease, Ld. 208; ok er allt mál at ættvíg þessi takisk af, 258.

II. recipr., takask orðum, to speak to one another, Fms. xi. 13; ok er þeir tókusk at orðum, spurði hann …, Eg. 375; bræðr-synir takask arf eptir, entreat one another, Gþl. 241; ef menn takask fyrir árar eða þiljur, take from one another, 424: takask á, to wrestle, Bárð. 168; takask fangbrögðum, Ld. 252, Ísl. ii. 446: takask í hendr, to shake hands, Grág. i. 384, Nj. 3, 65.

III. part. tekinn; vóru þá tekin ( stopped) öll borgar-hlið ok vegar allir, at Norðmönnum kæmi engi njósn, Fms. vi. 411: Steinþórr var til þess tekinn, at …, S. was particularly named as …, Eb. 32, 150; hann var til þess tekinn, at honum var verra til hjóna en öðrum mönnum, Grett. 70 new Ed. (cp. mod. usage, taka til e-s, to wonder at): lá hann ok var mjök tekinn, very ill, Sturl. i. 89: Álfhildr var þungliga tekin, ok gékk henni nær dauða, Fms. iv. 274; hann var mjök tekinn ok þyngdr af líkþrá, ii. 229; þú ert Ílla at tekin fyrir vanheilsu sakir, vii. 244; ú-tekin jörð, an untaken, unclaimed estate, Sturl. iii. 57, Gþl. 313.

2. at af teknum þeim, except, Fms. x. 232; at af teknum úvinum sínum, 266, (Latinism.)

(pl. hundruð), n. hundred; tírœtt h. = 100; tólfrœtt h. = 120; hundruðum, by (in) hundreds; as value, one hundred and twenty ells of the stuff wadmal; h. frítt, a hundred paid in cattle; tólf hundruð mórend, twelve hundred in dark-striped wadmal; hundrað silfrs, ? the silver value of 120 ells (= 20 ounces).

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n. pl. hundruð; the form hund- (q. v.) only occurs in a few old compd words: [Goth. hunda, pl.; A. S. hund; O. H. G. hunt; the extended form in Hel. and old Frank, hundered; Germ. hundert; Dan. hundrede; Swed. hundra; the inflexive syllable is prob. akin to - ræðr in átt-ræðr]:—a hundred; the Scandinavians of the heathen time (and perhaps also all Teutonic people) seem to have known only a duo-decimal hundred (= 12 × 10 or 120); at that time 100 was expressed by tíu-tíu, cp. Ulf. taihun-taihund = ten-teen; Pal Vídalín says,—hundrað tólfrætt er sannlega frá heiðni til vor komið, en hið tíræða er líkast að Norðrlönd hafi ekki vitað af fyrr en Kristni kom hér og með henni lærdómr þeirrar aldar, Skýr. s. v. Hundrað (fine): but with the introduction of Christianity came in the decimal hundred, the two being distinguished by adjectives,—tólfrætt hundrað = 120, and tírætt hundrað = 100. But still the old popular duodecimal system continued in almost all matters concerned with economical or civil life, in all law phrases, in trade, exchange, property, value, or the like, and the decimal only in ecclesiastical or scholastic matters (chronology, e. g. Íb. ch. 1, 10). At the same time the word in speech and writing was commonly used without any specification of tírætt or tólfrætt, for, as Pal Vídalín remarks, every one acquainted with the language knew which was meant in each case; even at the present time an Icel. farmer counts his flocks and a fisherman his share (hlutr) by the duodecimal system; and everybody knows that a herd or share of one hundred and a half means 120 + 60 = 180. In old writers the popular way of counting is now and then used even in chronology and in computation, e. g. when Ari Frode (Íb. ch. 4) states that the year consists of three hundred and four days (meaning 364); the census of franklins given by the same writer (where the phrase is hundruð heil = whole or full hundreds) is doubtless reckoned by duodecimal, not decimal hundreds, Íb. ch. 10; and in the census of priests and churches taken by bishop Paul (about A. D. 1200) ‘tíræð’ is expressively added, lest duodecimal hundreds should be understood, Bs. i. 136. The Landn. (at end) contains a statement (from Ari?) that Iceland continued pagan for about a hundred years, i. e. from about 874–997 A. D. In the preface to Ólafs S., Snorri states that two duodecimal hundreds (tvau hundruð tólfræð) elapsed from the first colonisation of Iceland before historical writing began (i. e. from about A. D. 874–1115): levies of ships and troops are in the laws and Sagas counted by duodecimal hundreds, e. g. the body-guard of king Olave consisted of a hundred hirð-men, sixty house-carles and sixty guests, in all ‘two hundred’ men, i. e. 240, Mork. 126; the sons of earl Strút-Harald had a hundred men, of whom eighty were billetted out and forty returned, Fms. xi. 88, 89; hálft hundrað, a half hundred = sixty, Mork. l. c.

2. a division of troops = 120; hundraðs-flokkr, Fms. vi. (in a verse).

II. in indef. sense, hundreds, a host, countless number, see hund-, as also in the adverb, phrase, hundruðum, by hundreds (indefinitely), Fms. vi. 407, Þiðr. 275, 524: in mod. usage as adjective and indecl., except the pl. in -uð, thus hundruð ásauðum, Dipl. iv. 10.

B. As value, a hundred, i. e. a hundred and twenty ells of the stuff wadmal, and then simply value to that amount (as a pound sterling in English). All property, real as well as personal, is even at present in Icel. taxed by hundreds; thus an estate is a ‘twenty, sixty, hundred’ estate; a franklin gives his tithable property as amounting to so and so many hundreds. As for the absolute value of a hundred, a few statements are sufficient, thus e. g. a milch cow, or six ewes with lambs, counts for a hundred, and a hundrað and a kúgildi (cow’s value) are equal: the charge for the alimentation of a pauper for twelve months was in the law (Jb. 165) fixed to four hundred and a half for a male person, but three hundred and a half for a female; cp. also the phrase, það er ekki hundrað í hættunni, there is no hundred at stake, no great risk! In olden times a double standard was used,—the wool or wadmal standard, called hundrað talið = a hundred by tale, i. e. a hundred and twenty ells as stated above, and a silver standard, called hundrað vegit, a hundred by weight, or hundrað silfrs, a hundred in silver, amounting to two marks and a half = twenty ounces = sixty örtugar; but how the name hundred came to be applied to it is not certain, unless half an örtug was taken as the unit. It is probable that originally both standards were identical, which is denoted by the phrase, sex álna eyrir, six ells to an ounce, or a hundred and twenty ells equal to twenty ounces (i. e. wadmal and silver at par); but according as the silver coinage was debased, the phrases varied between nine, ten, eleven, twelve ells to an ounce (N. G. L. i. 80, 81, 387, 390, passim), which denote bad silver; whereas the phrase ‘three ells to an ounce’ (þriggja álna eyrir, Sturl. i. 163, passim, or a hundred in wadmal equal to half a hundred in silver) must refer either to a double ell or to silver twice as pure: the passage in Grág. i. 500 is somewhat obscure, as also Rd. 233: the words vegin, silfrs, or talin are often added, but in most cases no specification is given, and the context must shew which of the two standards is there meant; the wool standard is the usual one, but in cases of weregild the silver standard seems always to be understood; thus a single weregild (the fine for a man’s life) was one hundred, Njála passim.

2. the phrases, hundrað frítt, a hundred paid in cattle, Finnb. 236; tólf hundruð mórend, twelve hundred in dark striped wadmal, Nj. 225; hundrað í búsgögnum ok í húsbúningi, Vm. 65; hundraðs-gripr, hestr, hross, kapall, hvíla, sæng, rekkja, psaltari, etc., a beast, a horse, a bed, etc., of a hundred’s value, Am. 2, 10, Vm. 25, 39, 60, 153, Jm. 3, 30; hundraðs-úmagi, a person whose maintenance costs a hundred, Vm. 156; hundraðs virði, a hundred’s value, 68. For references see the Sagas and laws passim, and for more information see Mr. Dasent’s Essay in Burnt Njal.

C. A hundred, a political division which in olden times was common to all Teut. nations, but is most freq. in old Swedish laws, where several hundreds made a hérað or shire; cp. the A. S. and Engl. hundred, Du Cange hundredum; old Germ. hunderti, see Grimm’s Rechts Alterthümer; the centum pagi of Caesar, Bell. Gall. iv. ch. 1, is probably the Roman writer’s misconception of the Teut. division of land into hundreds; this is also the case with Tacit. Germ. ch. 12: cp. the Swed. local names Fjaðrunda-land, Áttundaland, and Tíunda-land, qs. Fjaðr-hunda land, Átthunda land, Tíhunda land, i. e. a combination of four, eight, ten hundreds. The original meaning was probably a community of a hundred and twenty franklins or captains. This division is not found in Icel.

(-ar, -ir), m.

1) lot;

bera (leggja) hluti í skaut, to throw the lots into a cloth (lap of a garment);

skera (marka) hluti, to mark the lots;

2) amukt, talisman (hlutr er horfinn or pússi þínum);

3) share, allotment, portion (hann fœrði Ølvi skip sin ok kallar þat vera hans hlut);

4) part (of a whole);

höggva í tvá hluti, to cut in two parts;

mestr hlutr liðs, the most part of the company;

meiri hlutr dómanda, the majority of the judges;

tveim hlutum dýrra, twice as dear;

5) participation;

eiga hlut í e-u or at e-u, to have part in, be concerned in (mér uggir, at hér muni eigi gæfumenn hlut í eiga);

þar er þú ættir hlut at, wherein thou wast concerned;

6) condition, position, lot;

eiga hlut e-s, to be in one’s place (position);

ef þú ættir minn hlut, if thou wert in my place;

láta hlut sinn, to be worsted;

sitja yfir hlut e-s, to oppress, weigh a person down;

leggja hlut sinn við e-t, to cast in one’s lot with, to espouse a cause;

hafa (fá) hærra, meira (lægra) hlut, to get the best (worst) of it;

7) thing;

allir hlutir, all things;

kynligr hlutr, a strange thing;

um alla hluti, in all things, in all respects.

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m., the original form was diphthongal, hlautr, like the Gothic, as is borne out by the kindred and derivative words hlaut, hleyti, q. v.; the acc. was weakened into o, hlotr, Fms. xi. 128; and lastly into u, hlutr; old nom. pl. hlotar, Jómsv. S. l. c., but commonly hlutir; gen. sing. hlutar: [Goth. hlauts = κληρος, Mark xv. 24, Col. i. 12, Ephes. i. 11, Luke i. 9; A. S. and Hel. hlot; Engl. lot; Germ. loos; Dan. lod; Swed. lott; the Goth., Germ., and earliest Scandin. have a long vowel, and prob. also A. S. and O. H. G. (hlôt, not hlot); the Ormul. spells lott with a short vowel, as is the case also in Icel., Dan., Swed., and Engl.]

A. A lot; the ceremony of drawing lots was like that described in Homer; each party marked his lot (skera or marka hluti), which was then thrown into a sheet (lap of a garment, bera or leggja hluti í skaut), and a third person came and drew a lot out; (it was not thrown out by shaking.) This drawing of lots was originally a sacred ceremony; it was used in sacrifices (by way of augury, see below), in sharing booty or an inheritance; in law the order in which suits came on was decided by lot, in banquets the seats of honour were so assigned (e. g. who was to sit next to the daughter of the house), etc. Many words in the language refer to this old rite, and the ceremony is thus described: en hluti skyldi skera ok í skaut bera, Fms. vii. 140; kom þat ásamt með þeim at hluti skyldi bera í skaut, … skyldi því hvárir-tveggju una sem hlutr segði, vóru þá hlutir markaðir; þá mælti Norðbrikt til Gyrgis: ‘lát mik sjá hversu þú markar þinn hlut at vit markim eigi báðir einn veg;’ hann gerði svá; síðan markaði Norðbrikt sinn hlut, ok kastaði í skaut ok svá báðir þeir; síðan gékk sá maðr at er til (upp, v. l.) skyldi taka, ok tók upp annan hlutinn milli fingra sér …; síðan var at hugat þeim hlutinum ok kenndu þar allir mark Gyrgis, vi. 136, 137: hverr maðr er sök hefir með at fara í dóm, þá skal hlut bera í skaut, einn, þótt hann hafi fleiri sakar í dóm þann, hverr maðr skal merkja hlut sinn ok bera alla saman í skaut, ok skal maðr taka fjóra hluti senn upp, Grág. i. 37; bjóða til hlutfalla ok bera þar hluti í skaut, 74; menn báru þá hluti sína í skaut ok tók jarlinn upp; … svá sagði hlutr til, at Egill skyldi sitja hjá jarls-dóttur um kveldit, Eg. 247; en þá er tólfmenningr var skipaðr til at sitja ok settir hlutir til hverr næst skyldi sitja Ástríði, dóttur Vigfúss hersis, ok hlaut Eyjólfr ávalt at sitja hjá henni, Glúm. 331: nú ræða þeir um goðorðit ok verða eigi ásáttir, vildi hverr sinn hlut ( case) fram draga; þá leggja þeir hluti í skaut, ok kom jafnan upp hlutr Silfra, Fs. 68; þeir lögðu hluti á, ok hlaut Þrándr, Fær.

2. of sacrifice; vóru þá görvir hlutir af vísinda-mönnum ( soothsayers), ok feldr blótspánn til, en svá gékk fréttin, at …, Fas. i. 452; cp. hristu teina ok á hlaut sá, Hym. 1; and, þá kná Hænir hlautvið kjósa (= taka upp hluti), Vsp. l. c.; see also hlaut, hlauttein, p. 270.

II. the hlutir were talismans or little images, which people used to wear on their persons; síðan tekr jarl skálar ( scales) góðar … ok fylgðu tvau met ( weights), annat af gulli en annat af silfri; þar var á líkneskja manns, ok hétu þat hlutar (hlotar sem fornmönnum var títt at hafa, add. in v. l.), ok fylgði sú náttúra, at þá er jarl lagði þá í skálarnar, ok kvað á hvat hvárr skyldi merkja, ok ef sá kom upp ( turned up) er hann vildi, þá breylti sá í skálinni svá at varð glamm af. Jarl gaf Einari skálarnar ok varð hann glaðr við ok síðan kallaðr Einarr Skálarglam, Jómsv. S. (1824) 37, 38; hlutr er horfinn ór pússi þínum sá er Haraldr konungr gaf þér í Hafrsfirði, ok er hann nú kominn í holt þat er þú munt byggja, ok er á hlutnum markaðr Freyr af silfri, Fs. 19; ok vili Freyr þar láta sinn hlut niðr koma er hann vill sitt sæmdar-sæti setja, 22; cp. Landn., hann sendi Finna tvá í hamförum til Íslands eptir hlut sínum, 174; hann hefir líkneski Þórs í pungi sínum af tönn gört …; nú fannsk engi sá ‘hlutr’ í hans valdi, Fs. 97: the ‘gumna heillir’ or talismans, mentioned in Sdm., were prob. hlutir.

B. Metaph., without the actual drawing of lots:

I. a share, allotment, portion; skal þat þeirra er biskup lofar skilnað, hafa slíkan hlut fjár ( portion) við annat, Grág. i. 329: of booty, hann færði Ölvi skip sín ok kallar þat vera hlut hans, Nj. 46: of a finder’s share, heimtir hlut af sauðunum, Háv. 40; halda til hlutar, id.

β. esp. of a fisherman’s share of the catch, Band. 4, cp. Höfuðl. 1; a fishing boat has one or two hundred … í hlut, each of the crew (hásetar) taking his ‘hlutr,’ and besides this there was a færis-hlutr ( line share) or netja-hlutr ( net share), skips-hlutr (ship’s share), and lastly for-manns-hlutr (foreman’s share, he getting double); see the remarks on aflausn.

γ. a share, lot, portion, of inheritance, often in early Dan. law, where the daughter received a half, the brother a whole portion, sun til ful lot, oc dotær til half lot, Wald. Sjæll. Lov., p. 1;—whence in Dan. broder-lod, söster-lod, = a brother’s, sister’s portion; en komi jafnmikit fé á hlut hvers þeirra, Grág. (Kb.) i. 220: of duty, kom þat á hlut Andreas postula, 625. 64.

2. metaph. phrases; láta hlut sinn, to let go one’s share, be worsted, Fms. i. 74, Fb. ii. 62; þeirra h. brann við, got singed, Hkr. ii. 178; þinn hlutr má ekki verða betri en góðr, thy case cannot be better than good, is as good as it can be, Nj. 256; ella muntú finna á þínum hlut, thou shalt find it to thy cost, Ld. 98; þeirra h. varð æ minni ok minni, their lot grew ever worse and worse, Fms. x. 250; eigi skyldi hennar h. batna við þat, her case should not mend with that, Nj. 52; sitja yfir hlut e-s, to oppress, weigh a person down, Eg. 512, Nj. 89, Fb. iii. 450; mínka sinn hlut, to yield one’s lot ( right), 451; láta sinn (hlut) undir liggja, to let one’s lot be the nethermost, Bárð.; leggja hlut sinn við e-t, to throw in one’s lot with a thing, to espouse a cause, run a risk, Lv. 45 (twice), Fb. iii. 166, Sturl. i. 162 C; eigi mundi svá Sverrir gera, ef hann ætti várn hlut, S. would not do so if he had our lot, our cards in his hand, Fms. viii. 392; eigi mundir þú svá renna frá þínum manni, ef þú ættir minn hlut, xi. 72; hafa (fá) hærra (meira, lægra) hlut, to get the better ( less) share, to get the best ( worst) of it, to win or lose, Eb. 194, Fs. 32, 113, Nj. 90, 224, Fas. i. 252, Fms. vi. 412, viii. 284, Hkv. 2. 19; hafa allan hlut mála, Bs. i. 82; eiga hlut at e-u, to own a share in, take part ( interest) in, interfere ( meddle) in a thing, be concerned about, Eb. 124, Nj. 27, 101, 119, Fms. xi. 83; þar er þú ættir hlut at, wherein thou wast concerned, Nj. 54; nú mun eigi mega sitjanda hlut í eiga, to take a sitter’s part in it, i. e. not stir in the matter, 110; hér munu eigi gæfu-menn í hlut eiga, 179; hafa inn vesta hlut af, to behave meanly, Eg. 271.

II. a part, Lat. pars; enn efra hlut Hrunamanna-hrepps, Landn. 312: mestr h. liðs, the most part of the body, Eg. 275; meiri hlutr, búa, dómanda …, the majority of the neighbours, judges …, Nj. 237, Grág. i. 79; tíundi h. eyrir, a tenth part of an ounce, 357: byggja jörð til hlutar, to lease an estate in shares, N. G. L. i. 137: sjau hlutum ljósari, seven times brighter, Eluc. 44; tveim hlutum dýrra, twice as dear, Landn. 243; eins hlutar ( on the one hand) … annars hlutar ( on the other hand), 625. 172.

III. a case, thing, Lat. res; hvern hlut, everything, Nj. 53; á engum hlut, in nothing, Fms. ii. 27; í öllum hlutum, in everything, passim; allir hlutir, all things, Edda 147 (pref.); aðra hluti, other things, Fms. i. 213; alla hluti þá er …, all things whatsoever, Ld. 18; allir þeirra hlutir, all their things, Fms. x. 250; fjórir eru þeir hlutir ( cases) er menn ber í átt, Grág. i. 361; hverngi hlut ( reason) er maðr vill til þess færa, 179; fyrir tengda sakir ok annarra stórra hluta er hér hvarfla í milli, Nj. 147; undarlegr, kynlegr h., a strange thing, Ld. 200, Fms. x. 169; iðna slíka hluti, Grág. i. 149; eru þér stórir hlutir á höndum, Fms. vii. 30: a deed, fact, orðinn h., a bygone thing, Fr. fait accompli, Nj. 20; einn lítill h., a little thing, small matter, Fms. ix. 448.

β. with neg. adv. = Engl. naught; görðit hlut þiggja, Am. 94; ekki lyt (lyf MS.), Skv. 1. 9; engi hluta(r), noways, 656 C. 25.