liv INTRODUCTION.

and line. In another particular, the care taken by Cleasby in quotation and reference
was remarkable, in cases where several Sagas are contained in one volume; such,
for instance, as the Islendinga Sogur (of 1830), he is not content to quote the collective
volume, but invariably specifies the particular Saga from which the quotation is made.
If this excellent rule had been observed in the Copenhagen transcripts, immense
labour would have been spared to Mr. Vigfusson, who has returned to Cleasby's
method, though in ignorance that he was pursuing the plan of the originator of the
Dictionary. The references and quotations in these slips may be roughly estimated
at 50,000. They contain the rest of the Icelandic vocables, the 240 words already
mentioned as entered in the three volumes being omitted.

Even from a glance at these, his own materials, Cleasby stands out as a clear-
sighted ready worker. Some time before his death he had printed a specimen of his
Glossary, a portion of which will be found appended to the Memoir which follows this
Introduction. So far as we can judge from these materials, it is plain that he intended
to complete the work on the same scale; and it is very satisfactory to see that in one or
two cases of doubtful etymology his views as now revealed are identical with those of the
philologer to whom the laborious task of restoring order to his collections has devolved"'".
Such is the nature of the literary remains of Cleasby now restored to his native land,

* Thus, on the slip which contains the Icelandic word röst, a mile, he has entered in pencil ' rest/ shewing
that he was aware of the identity between the Icelandic and the English words, though their modern senses are
different. So again, under the word eingi, he has drawn up in parallel columns the various forms of the word,
thus striving to arrange them methodically. Under pessi Cleasby notes a Runic form, but adds in pencil that
such forms are ' not otherwise included in this Dictionary;' and then he adds ' it would appear as if the
lengthened form (þessari etc.) arose from a desire to avoid so many cases terminating in þessi, þessa, etc.;
perhaps annarr was taken as a model for the new form/ His subdivisions are very precise, though perhaps
a little too formal and old-fashioned; thus he draws up the verbs in aciivae and passivae formae, having pro-
bably adopted the expression from German Dictionaries. ' Tropical' is the term he uses for the 'metaphorical'
of the present Dictionary, in which the example set by Liddell and Scott has been followed. Under go^i,
Ier6, ]nng, Cleasby has begun collecting a few historical names; thus we notice,—under lei?, Hvamms-lerS,
pvenlr-lerS, Band.: under þing, Borgundar- or Borgar-þing, Fms. vi. 233; Hornboru-þing, ix. 269; Rauma-
þing, 247, Ann. 1214 (in Norway); Lambaness-þing, Dropl. (in Iceland).

The word eyrendi or ørendi, an errand, Mr. Cleasby has arranged as. follows:—' 1. intcrvalliim respirandi,
2. stropha, 3. oratio, 4. negoiium! But in an inserted slip of paper he has reconsidered the matter. ' This word/
he says, ' in its present form appears derived from or = or - out of, and ond, andi = breath, in the same manner as
the adjective Or-endr = exantmatus (sic), with which may be compared i-endr = alive, which likewise well accords
with the signification No. i. Nos. 2 and 3 might also perhaps be possibly explained as extension of the same
signification, though they may also belong to what follows. But/ Mr. Cleasby adds, ' its more frequent use in the
signification of affair or business, an errand (No. 4), and especially the passage 677. 35² [see árr, line 8], leave
no doubt also of its original connection with árr, a messenger, G. aims, A. S. œrend, O. H. G. arunli, which the
frequent use of -indi rather than -endi also favours. It is not improbable that originally there were two distinct
words, which later, after a correct feeling of their origin had been lost, became confounded/ He then says,
' trendi as head-form, and all to be altered; drr probably lengthened from arr, Goth, aims, œendi, arunti'
Whence it appears that Cleasby intended to arrange the etymology of the word afresh, and in the same way as it
now stands in this Dictionary. Eyrendi, qs. or-endi, out of breath, is an old popular, home-made Icelandic
etymology, which probably originated from the well-known passage in the Edda of Thor's drinking the sea dry
until he became short of his ' eyrendi/ But nevertheless it is only a false etymology, as is borne out by com-
parison with the form the word takes in the sister languages (A. S., O. H. G.) To put ' intervallum respirandi'