This is page 57 of An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby/Vigfusson (1874)

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BEKKJARBOT -- BERJAMOR. 57

æðra or úæðra bekk is a standing phrase: the placing of the benches differed in Icel. and Norway, and in each country at various times; as regards the Icel. custom vide Nj. ch. 34, Sturl. i. 20, 21, the banquet at Reykhólar, A. D. 1120, ii. 182, the nuptials at Flugumýri, Lv. ch. 13, Ld. ch. 68, Gunnl. S. ch. 11, Ísl. ii. 250, cp. Nj. 220: á báða bekki, on both sides of the ball, Ísl. ii. 348, cp. Gísl. 41 (in a verse), etc.: as to foreign (Norse) customs, vide esp. Fagrsk. ch. 216, cp. Fms. vi. 390, xi. (Jómsv. S.) 70, Glúm. ch. 6, Orkn. ch. 70, Sturl. ii. 126; see more minutely under the words skáli, öndvegi, pallr, etc.; breiða, strá bekki, is to strew or cover the benches in preparing for a feast or wedding; bekki breiði (imper. pl., MS. breiða), dress the benches! Alvm. 1; bekki at strá, Em. verse 1; standit upp jötnar ok stráit bekki, Þkv. 22; brynjum um bekki stráð, the benches (wainscots?) covered with coats of mail, Gm. 44: in these phrases bekkir seems to be a collective name for the hall, the walls of which were covered with tapestry, the floor with straw, as in the Old Engl. halls. The passage Vtkv. 10 -- hveim eru bekkir baugum sánir -- is dubious (stráðir?); búa bekki, to dress the benches; er Baldrs feðr bekki búna veit ek at sumblum, Km. 25; breitt var á bekki, brúðr sat á stól, Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 466; vide brúðarbekkr. COMPDS: bekkjar-bót, f. the pride of a bench, a bride, cognom., Landn. bekk-jar-gjöf, f. 'bench-gift,' an old custom to offer a gift to the bride whilst she sate on the bride's bench at the wedding festival, Ld. 188, cp. Fms. ii. 133, and in many passages in Fritzner from D. N. it seems to be synonymous with línfé (lín, a veil), as the bride's face on the wedding day was veiled; ganga und líni is a poët. phrase used of the bride on the bridal bench, yet Fms. x. 313, línfé eða b. 2. as a law term, cp. Engl. bench; the benches in the lögrétta in Icel. were, however, usually called pallr, v. the Grág. 3. the coloured stripes in a piece of stuff.

BEKKR, s, and jar, m. [North. E. beck; Germ, bach; Dan. bæk; Swed. bäck], a rivulet, brook. In Icel. the word is only poët. and very rare; the common word even in local names of the 10th century is lækr (Lækjar-bugr, -óss, etc.); Sökkva-bekkr, Edda, is a mythical and pre-Icel. name; in prose bekkr may occur as a Norse idiom, Fms. vi. 164, 335, viii. 8, 217, Jb. 268, or in Norse laws as in Gþl. 418. At present it is hardly understood in Icel. and looked upon as a Danism. The phrase -- þar er (breiðr) bekkr á milli, there is a beck between, of two persons separated so as to be out of each other's reach -- may be a single exception; perhaps the metaphor is taken from some popular belief like that recorded in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, note to 3. 13, and in Burns'Tam o' Shanter -- 'a running stream they dare na cross;' some hint of a like belief in Icel. might be in Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 356. It is now and then used in poetry, as, yfir um Kedrons breiðan bekk, Pass. 1. 15. COMPDS: bekkjar-kvern, f. a water-mill, B. K. 45 (Norse). bekkjar-rás, f. the bed of a beck, Stj. MS. col. 138.

bekk-skrautuðr, m. (cp. bekkjarbót), the pride of the bench, epithet to Bragi, Ls. 15.

bekk-sögn, f., poët. the people seated in a hall, Gísl. (in a verse).

bekk-þili, n. the wainscoted walls of a hall, Em. 1.

BEKRI, a, m. a ram, Lex. Poët.; in prose in the form, brjóta bekkrann, to break the ram's neck, Grett. 149: now also bekra, að, to bleat, Dan. bræge (rare).

belg-bera, u, f. a 'wallet-bearer,' a beggar, wretch, in swearing; vándar belgberur, wretches! Nj. 142, v. 1., or a monster, v. the following word.

belg-borinn, part, a monster child, without any trace of face, N. G. L. i. 339.

belgja, ð, [Hel. belgan, irâ inflari], to inflate, puff out, Fms. iii. 201, Anal. 200; b. augun, to goggle, Bárð. 171: to drink as a cow.

BELGR, jar, m. pl. ir, [Lat. follis; Ulf. balgs = GREEK; A. S. bälg; Dutch balg; Engl. belly]:-- the skin, taken off whole (of a quadruped; hamr is the skin of a bird, hams that of a snake), nauts-belgr, katt-belgr,otrs-belgr, melrakka-belgr, hafr-belgr, Grág. i. 500, 501, Fas. ii. 516 (of a bear), Edda 73 (otter): they were used as bags, in which to carry flour (mjölbelgr), butter (smjörbelgr), liquids (vínbelgr), curds (skyrbelgr), herbs (jafnabelgr), or the like, (bulgos Galli sacculos scorteos appellant, Festus); í laupum eða belgjum, Gþl. 492, cp. Grett. 107, and the funny taunt in Fms. xi. 157 -- verið get ek hafa nökkura þá er þaðan munu hafa borið raufóttara belginn (i. e. more of scars and wounds) en svá sem þú hefir borit, því at mér þykir sjá bezt til fallinn at geyma í hveitimjöl, the rebuke of a lady to her sweetheart on his having fled out of battle with whole skin fit to keep flour in it, cp. also Nj.141. 2. bellows (smiðju-belgr), Edda 70, þiðr. 91. 3. the curved part of a letter of the alphabet, Skálda 177. II. metaph., letibelgr, a lazy fellow, Fél. 12. 53: belgr also denotes a withered, dry old man (with a skin like parchment), with the notion of wisdom, cp. the proverb, opt ór skörpum belg skilin orð koma, and, a little above, opt er gott þat er gamlir kveða, Hm. 135; böl vantú bróðir er þú þann belg leystir, opt ór þeim (þurrum?) belg böll ráð koma, ... deep schemes often come out of an old skin, Hðm. 27: the proverb, hafa skal ráð þó ór refsbelg komi, take good advice, even if coming from an old fox-skin! Gullþ. ch. 18. People say in Icel. lesa, tala, læra í belg, to read, talk, learn in a bag, to read or talk on foolishly, or to learn by rote; cp. the tale about the orðabelgr, Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 479; cp. Asbjörnsen, Norse Tales, New Coll. Chr. 1856. 2. botan. gluma, Hjalt.

beli, a, m. belly, a cognom., Fas. i. 347: botan. legumen.

beli, n. dat. bellowing; með beli ok öskri, Fas. iii. 413.

belja, að, to bellow, Vápn. 21, Hkr. i. 319, Eb. 320.

beljan, f. bellowing, lowing, Grett. 112, Bær. 19.

BELLA, ball, a defect. strong verb [cp. Lat. pello, Gr. GREEK,], to hit, hurt, tell upon; with dat., ekki má ófeigum bella, i. e. one not fated to die is proof against all shots, Ísl. ii. 305; tólf berserkjum, þeim er þeir ætluðu, at ekki mundi b., Fas. iii. 140, 149; ok ætluðu sér ekki b. mundu, Ver. 1O; ball þér nú, Bófi (did it strike thee?) ... Ball víst, sagði hann, ok ball hvergi meir en þú hugðir, Eb. 240; þykir nú sem þeim muni ekki b., Sturl. iii. 237.

bella, d, [A. S. bealdjan; Hel. beldjan], to deal with one in a certain way, esp. of unfair dealing; with dat., hvar viti menn slíku bellt við konungmann, who did ever see a king thus dealt with, Eg. 415; hvat skal ek göra við biskup, er slíku hefir bellt, ... who has dared to deal thus, Orkn. 252; hver ... mun hafa þessu bellt, at brjóta guð várn Bal, Stj. 391. Judges vi. 99; but more freq. in poetry, bella svikum, to deal in treason, Hallfreð; lygi, Þkv. 10; bragði, Am. 55; b. glaumi, gleði, to be in high spirits, Gkv. 2. 29; cp. mod. bralla, að, brellur, f. pl. tricks.

belli-bragð, n. knavish dealing, a trick, Grett. 91, Þorst. hv. 46.

bellinn (mod. brellinn), adj. trickish, Grett. 22 new Ed.

bell-vísi, f. trickishness, Finnb. 294.

BELTI, n. [Lat. balteus; Engl. belt], a belt, esp. a belt of metal (silver) or embroidered, esp. belonging to a woman, Ld. 284, Sturl. iii. 189, Nj. 2, 24: belonging to a man, with a knife fastened to it, Fs. 101,

Fms. iv. 27; kníf ok belti ok vóru þat góðir gripir, Gísl. 54, Fms. ix. 25, Fb. ii. 8, Nj. 91. COMPDS: belta-dráttr, m. a game, two boxers tied together with one girdle, also in use in Sweden: hence a close struggle, Fms. viii. 181. beltis-púss, m. a belt-pocket, Gullþ. 47, Sturl. l. c., Art. 70. beltis-staðr, m. the belt-waist, Gísl. 71, Fms. iv. 56. In poetry the sea is called the belt of islands or of the earth. 2. Belti, Mare Balticum, is derived from the Lithuanian baltas = albus. 3. astron. a zone, himinbelti, hitabelli, kuldabelti.

BEN, jar, f. pl. jar (neut., N. G. L. i. 387; stór ben, acc. pl. n., Gísl. (in a verse), v. bani above. I. a wound; as a law term, esp. a mortal wound (cp. bani); thus defined, skal ILLEGIBLE lýsa, en ben ef at bana verðr, Grág. ii. 18, 29, 70; benjar á hinum dauða manni, 28; svá skal nefna vátta at sárum sem at benjum, 30; and in the compds, benja-lysing, f. a sort of coroner's inquest upon a slain man, Grág. ii. 29; benja-váttr, m. a sort of coroner's jury, defined in Grág. ii. 28 -- þeir eigu at bera, hve margar benjar eru, they have to give a verdict how many mortal wounds there are; en búakviðr (the jury) hverir sannir eru at; benja-vætti, n. the verdict of a benjaváttr, Grág. id. II. yet commonly 'ben' means a small bleeding wound; þeirri blóðgri ben, er Otkell veitti mér áverka, Nj. 87, Sd. 139, Fs. 144, in the last passage, however, of a mortal wound. It is now medic. the wound produced by letting blood. In old poetry it is used in a great many compds.

bend, f. = ben, N. G. L. i. 159, 166.

benda, u, f. a bundle, Gþl. 492: now metaph. entanglement. 2. a bond, tie, v. höfuðbenda: naul. term, a stay.

benda, d, laler t, [Goth. bandvian], to beckon, give a sign with the hands or eyes: wilh dat., hann bendi þeim at fylgja sér, Hom. 113, K. Þ. K. 37, Orkn. 426: metaph. to forebode, betoken, Hom. 137, Skálda 170, Stj. 101: with acc. of the thing, Akv. 8.

benda, d, mod. t, [band], Lat. curvare, to bend; b. sverð um kné sér, Fms. x. 213; benda boga, to bend a bow, Grág. ii. 21, Fas. ii. 88, 330; b. upp, Nj. 107; benda hlífar, Rm. 39; prob. = Lat. flectere, nectere, to join, as in mod. usage, b. tunnu, to hoop a tub: recipr., bendast á um e-t, to strive, contest about, Fms. viii. 391, v. l.: metaph. to give away, Al. 44.

bendi, n. a cord, Fms. iii. 209.

bendill, m., dimin. a small cord, string, Edda 231. 2. a sort of seed, Edda (Gl.)

bending, f., Lat. nutus, a sign, token, Rb. 348, Fms. i. 10; boð ok b., Stj. 36: foreboding, betokening, Fms. vii. 195, Ld. 260.

benja, að, to wound mortally, Fm. 25.

ben-lauss, adj. free from wounds, N. G. L. i. 357.

ben-rögn, n. an GREEK Nj. 107 (cp. the verse, p. 118), bloody rain, a prodigy, foreboding, slaughter, plague, or like events, cp. Eb. ch. 51, Dl. verse 1.

benzl, n. a bow in a bent state; taka boga af benzlum, to unbend a bow, Str. 44.

BER, n., gen. pl. berja, dat. jum, [Goth, basi; A. S. beria; Germ.beere; cp. also the A. S. basu]:-- a berry, almost always in pl., Grág. ii. 347; lesa ber, to gather berries, Jb. 310, Bs. i. 135:-- distinguished, vinber, the vine-berry, grape; esp. of Icel. sorts, bláber, the bleaberry, bilberry, whortleberry; aðalbláber, Vaccinium myrtillus; krækiber, empetrum; einirber, juniperus; hrútaber, rubus saxatilis; jarðarber, strawberry; sortuber or mulningr, arbutus, Hjalt. COMPDS: berja-hrat, n. the stone in a berry. berja-mór, m. baccetum; fara á b., to go. a-black-