This is page 751 of An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby/Vigfusson (1874)

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ÞÚSÚND -- ÞVÁL. 751

ÞÚSUND, f.; sérhverja þúsund, Stj. 298; á þúsund (dat.), Sks. 705; tvær, þrjár ... þúsundir, 623. 53: in mod. usage it is mostly neut. (influenced by Latin?), but also fem. It is spelt þús-hund, Barl. 53; þús-hundum, Fms. vi. 409 (v.l.), Geisli 49; another form þús-hundrað (q.v.) is freq., esp. in Stj., Barl.; this double form -hund and -hundrað answers to the equally double form of 'hundred,' see p. 292, and is a proof that þúsund is a compound word, the latter part of which is 'hund' or 'hundred;' the etymology of the former part 'þús' is less certain; it is, we believe, akin to þysja, þyss, þaus-nir (a lost strong verb þúsa, þaus, þusu); þúsund would thus literally mean a swarm of hundreds: [in Goth. the gender varies, þûsundi, pl. þusundjos = GREEK, or þusundja, neut.; A.S. þûsend; Engl. thousand; O.H.G. dusunta; Germ. tausend, qs. dausend; Swed. tusende and tusen; Dan. tusinde; Dutch tuysend: this word is also common to the Slavon. languages: again, the Lapp, duhat and Finn. tuhat are no doubt borrowed from the Slavon. or Scandin.; the Gr., Lat., and Sansk. use other words] -- a thousand.

B. There is little doubt that with the ancient heathen Scandinavians (and perhaps all Teutons), before their contact with the civilised southern people, the notion of numbers was limited, and that their thousand was not a definite number, but a vague term, denoting a swarm, crowd, host (cp. the Gr. GREEK): in ancient lays it occurs thrice (Hkv., Em., Fas. i. 502), but indefinitely; hvat þrym er þar sem þúsund bifisk eðr mengi til mikit, what a din is there as if a thousand were shaking, or an over-mickle multitude, Em. 2; sjau þúsundir, Hkv. 1. 49, literally = seven thousands, but in fact meaning seven hosts of men. 2. the dat. pl. þúsundum is, like huudruðum, used adverbially = by thousands, in countless numbers, Fms. vi. 409 (in a verse), Geisli 49. 3. in the ancient popular literature, uninfluenced by southern writers, 'þúsund,' as a definite number, occurs, we think, not half-a-dozen times. As the multiple of ten duodecimal hundreds, ere the decimal hundred was adopted, 'þnsund' would mean twelve decimal hundreds; and such is its use in the Sverris Saga, Fms. viii. 40, where one vellum says 'tvær þúsundir,' whilst the others, by a more idiomatic phrase, call it 'twenty hundreds.' II. in ecclesiastical writers, and in annals influenced by the Latin and the like, it is frequent enough; tíu þúsundir, fjórtán þúsundir, Fms. i. 107, 108 (annalistic records); fimm þúsundir, xi. 386, Al. 111; tíu þúsundum, Sks. 705; tíu þúsundum sinna hundrað þúsunda, Hom.; þúsund þúsunda, a thousand of thousands, i.e. a million, (mod.); hundrað þúsundir rasta ok átta tigir þúsunda, ... hundrað þúsund mílna, Fb. i. 31 (in the legend of Eric the Far-traveller and Paradise, taken from some church-legend); fjórar þúsundir, Þiðr. 234: or of the years of the world, sex þúsundir vetra, Fs. 197; sjau þúsundir vetra, Landn. 34.

C. REMARKS. -- The popular way of counting high numbers was not by thousands, but by tens (decades) and duodecimal hundreds as factors; thus ten ... twenty hundreds, and then going on three, four, five, six ... tens of hundreds (a 'ten of hundreds' being = 1200). The following references may illustrate this -- tíu hundruð, ellefu hundruð, tólf hundruð, þrettán hundruð, fimtán hundruð ..., Íb. 17, Ó.H. 119, 201, Fms. vii. 295, xi. 383, 385. From twenty and upwards -- tuttugu hundrað manna, twenty hundreds of men, Fms. vii. 324, viii. 40; hálfr þriðitugr hundraða skipa, two tens and a half hundreds of ships, i.e. twenty-five hundreds, Fas. i. 378; þrjá tigu hundraða manna, three tens of hundreds of men, Fms. viii. 311; var skorat manntal, hafði hann meirr enn þrjá tigu hundraða manna, vii. 204; þrír tigir hundraða, D. N. v. 18; user fjorir tigir hundraða manna, nearly four tens of hundreds of men, Fms. vii. 275; á fimta tigi hundraða, on the fifth ten of hundreds, i.e. from four to five tens of hundreds, viii. 321; sex tigir hundraða, six tens of hundreds, 311, xi. 390; sex tigu hundraða manna, Fb. ii. 518, D.I. i. 350, -- all odd amounts being neglected. The highest number recorded as actually reckoned in this way is 'six tens of hundreds' (fimtán tigir hundraða, fifteen tens of hundreds, Fms. viii. 321, v.l., is a scribe's error): it is probable that no reckoning exceeded twelve tens of hundreds. All high multiples were unintelligible to the ancients; the number of the Einherjar in Walhalla is in the old lay Gm. thus expressed, -- there are 'five hundred doors in Walhalla, and five tens beside (the 'five tens' are, by the way, merely added for alliteration's sake), and eight hundred Einherjar will walk out of each door when they go out to fight the Wolf' (on the Day of final Doom). There seems to have been some dim exaggerated notion of a definite thousand in an ancient lay, only preserved in a half alliterative prose paraphrase, Fas. i. 502, where a mythical host is given thus, -- there were thirty-three phalanxes, each of five 'thousand,' each thousand of thirteen hundreds, each hundred four times counted. The armies in the battle of Brawalla, the greatest of the mythical age, are given, not in numbers, but by the space the ranks occupied, Skjöld. S. ch. 8. This resembles the story in Ó.H. ch. 59, of the two young brothers, king's sons: when asked what they would like to have most of, the one said: 'Cows.' 'And how many?' 'As many,' said he, 'as could stand packed in a row round the lake (Mjösen in Norway) and drink.' 'But you?' they asked the other boy: 'House-carles' (soldiers), said he. 'And how many?' 'As many,' said he, 'as would in one meal eat up all my brother's cows.' Add also the tale of the King and the Giant, and the number of the giant's house-carles, Maurer's Volksagen 306. No less elementary was the rule for division and fractions, of which a remarkable instance is preserved in an ancient Icelandic deed, called Spákonu-arfr, published in D.I. i. 305. See also the words tigr, hundrað, skor, skora, and the remarks in Gramm. p. xix. The Homeric numeration, as set forth in Mr. Gladstone's Homeric Studies, vol. iii, p. 425 sqq., is highly interesting, and bears a striking resemblance to that of the ancient Scandinavians. We may notice that in Iceland land and property are still divided into hundreds (hundreds of ells = 120), see hundrað B; in this case a thousand is never used, but units and hundreds of hundreds as factors, thus, sex tögu hundraða, in Reykh. Máld, (a deed of the 12th century), and so still in mod. usage; a wealthy man of the 15th century is said to have bequeathed to his daughters in land, 'tólf hundruð hundraða ok ellefu-tíu og tvau hundruð betr, en í lausafé fimm hundruð hundraða,' i.e. twelve hundreds of hundreds and 'eleventy' and two hundreds, and in movables five hundreds of hundreds, Feðga-æfi 16 (by the learned Bogi Benidiktsson of Staðarfell in Iceland, A.D. 1771-1849); sjau hundruð hundraða og þrjátigi hundruð betr, 21; hann eptir-lét börnum sínum fjármuni upp á níu hundruð hundraða, 22, -- a proof that in very remote times, when this valuation of land first took place, 'thousand' was still unknown as a definite number.

ÞVAG, n. [þvá], prop. 'wash,' but only used of, 2. urine, so called from stale urine being in ancient times, as at the present day in Icel., used as lye, instead of soap, for washing wool, wadmal, and the like: in mod. usage as a medic. term, hland being too coarse; þvag-stemma, obstruction of the urine; þvag-lát, þvag-flæði, = enuresis; þvag-lausnir = pyuria; þvag-tregða = dysuria; þvag-sviði = ardor urinae, Fél. x. 57, 58.

þvaga, u, f. a dish-clout of knitted horse-hair, used by dairy-women to clean and wipe tubs. 2. a disorderly crowd or shoal.

þvagla, að, to sound like washing water when stirred, to gurgle; áðr þeir kæmi í búrit skalf hann af kulda svá at þvaglaði (svaglaði, v.l.) í kerinu, Sturl. iii. 192.

þvalr, þvöl, þvalt, adj. [þvagla, þvál], damp, steaming, as if coming fresh from the washing-tub, used of cloth, fresh-cut hay, or the like.

þvara, u, f. a stick with a scraper at the end used to stir up a cauldron; Arnbjörn hélt á þvörunni ok laust með henni til Þorleifs ok kom á hálsinn, en með því at grautrinn var heitr brann Þorleifr á hálsinum, Eb. 198; varat af vöru sleikti um þvöru, Fs. 159 (183), proverbial of burning oneself by licking the scalding hot þvara, cp. Engl. 'to burn one's fingers.'

ÞVARI, a, m. [þverr], a cross-stick; ef þér kæmit í þverst þvari, unless a bolt were thrown athwart thee, unless tbou be thwarted, Hkv. Hjörv. 18: in bryn-þvari, q.v.; ben-þvari, dólg-þvari, a 'wound-stick,' i.e. a weapon, Lex. Poët. 2. a nickname, Bjarn. 36.

ÞVÁ (mod. þvó, þvo), pres. þvæ, þvær, þvær; plur. þvám, þváit, þvá: pret. þó (þvó), þótt, þó; plur. þógum, þógut, þógu: subj. þægi or þvægi; imperat. þvá (þvoðu); part. þveginn: the mod. pret. is weak, þvoði, Pass. 28. 7: [Ulf. þwahan = GREEK; A.S. þweân; Hel. þwahan; provinc. Germ. zwagen, Schmeller; Dan. tvætte; Swed. tvätla.]

B. To wash, with acc.; and with dat. esp. in the phrase þvá sér, to wash oneself, or þvá líki, to wash a dead body; drótt þó sveita af döglings líki, Geisli; ek strauk hest hans ok þvó ek leir af honum, Fas. i. 331; þvá sinn hadd í ánni, Edda 75; láta þvá sár þeirra manna í þeirri laugu er honum var þvegit í sjálfum, O.H.L. 69; sumir þógu diska ok heltu því í höfuð honum, 623. 54; kona vermði vatn í katli til þess at þvá sár manna, Fbr. 110 new Ed.; Jórdán þvó Krist, ok er heilög, Hom. 55; þveginn í inni helgu skírn, 107; hann þvær af manni í skírninni allar syndir, Fms. i. 300; at eingin skeri hár mitt né þvái höfuð mitt önnur enn þú, Vígl. 76; þó hann æva hendr né höfuð kembði, Vsp.; hendr né þvær ..., Vtkv.; þú hefir, Vár gulls, þvegit manns-blóð af höndum, Helr.; hann setti mundlaug fyrir sik, ok þvó sik ok þerði á hvítum dúki, Fs. 5; hann gékk þegar ok þó ekki af sér tjöruna, Fms. vt. 195; þvá sér í því sama vatni er konungr þó sér í, viii. 13; þeir gengu til Öxarár at þvá sér, Ísl. ii. 259; kembðr ok þveginn skal kænna hverr, ok at morni mettr, Skv. 2. 25; þveginn ok mettr, Hm. 60; þeir þógu líkinu ok veittu alla þjónustu, Fms. x. 149; cp. laug skal göra hveim er liðinn er hendr þvá ok höfuð, kemba ok þerra ..., Sdm. 34; hann tók upp lík hans ok þó, bjó um síðan sem siðvenja var til, Eg. 300; þeir tóku klæði af líkinu ok þógu því, Fb. ii. 367 (þógu líkit, acc., Ó.H. l.c.) 2. of the sea, to wash; lögr þvær flaust, bylgja þvær stafni, hrönn þó hlýrum, marr þvær viðu, hrannir þógu herskipum höfuð (cp. höfuð-þváttr), Lex. Poët.; útsker verða af bárum þvegin, Mkv. II. reflex. to wash oneself; þvásk í vatni, Fs. 77 (þvóst Cod.); þósk konungr við trapizu í einni loptstofu, ok er hann var þveginn, Fms. viii. 13; þváisk ér ok verit hreinir, Hom. 11. 2. pass., þá mun brátt af þvásk (be washed off) öll sú sæmd er konunginum heyrir til, Fms. ix. 258, 3. part. ú-þveginn, the unwashed, as a nickname and a pr. name.

þvál, n. [þvæla; Swed. tvål; A.S. þweal], a kind of soap for washing, Edda ii. 514, 634,