Gjöf

Betydningen af oldnorske ordet "gjöf" (eller gjǫf)

Som defineret af Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse til English ordbog:

Oldnorske ordet gjöf kan betyde:gjöf

gjöf (gjǫf)

f., gen. gjafar, pl. gjafar, later gjafir; dat. gjöfum: [Ulf. giba; A. S. gifu, geofu; Engl. gift; Germ. gabe, whence mod. Swed. gåfua, Dan. gave, and Icel. gáfa]:—a gift, Nj. 7, 163, Eg. 33, FmS. i. 296, iv. 105, x. 47, BS. i. 76, 143, n. G. l. i. 8, passim: in mod. usage Icel. distinguish between gjöf and gáfa, using the latter of the gifts of nature, gifts of mind, cleverness, but gjöf in a material sense. The ancients were fond of exchanging gifts, which were either a part of hospitality or tokens of friendship; the former were munificent, the latter might be small, Hm. 51: at a feast (wedding, funeral, or the like) the host used to make gifts to all his more honoured guests at departure; the technical phrase for this was, leysa menn út með gjöfum, to dismiss with gifts; vóru allir menn með gjöfum brott leystir; hence útlausnir, departure from a feast, Sturl. iii. 268: a departing friend or visitor had to be dismissed with a gift (kynnis-gjöf, FmS. vi. 358). The gifts consisted chiefly of weapons and costly clothes; but favourite gifts were a steed (Bjarn. 55, 58) or oxen of a fine breed (Sturl. i. 106), hawks, tents, sails, white bears (Ó. H. ch. 114, FmS. vi. ch. 72–75, 100, Hung. ch. 2), in short anything that was rare and costly, görsimi, metfé. Again, friends had to exchange gifts, so as to cement their friendship, cp. Hávamál passim,—vápnum ok váðum skulu vinir gleðjask; gefendr ok endrgefendr erusk lengst vinir, 40; gjalda gjöf við gjöf, 41; geði skaltú við hann (viz. the friend) blanda ok gjöfum skipta, 43; glík skulu gjöld gjöfum, 45; sýtir æ glöggr við gjöfum, 47. Gifts were obligatory, and were a token of grace and goodwill on the part of giver and receiver. A gift when received was called the ‘nautr’ of the giver, e. g. a ring or sword presented by a king was konungs-nautr. The instances in the Sagas are very many, e. g. Eg. ch. 36, 81, Ld. ch. 7, 27, 43, 45, Sturl. passim, Glúm. ch. 6, 25, Vápn. p. 19, Hrafn. 23, Lv. ch. 14, 15, Ó. H. ch. 114, Har. S. Gilla ch. 16, Hung. ch. 13, 17, PálS. S. ch. 16, and last, not least, the curious Gautr. S.; the remark of Tacit. Germ. ch. 21, gaudent muneribus, sed nec data imputant nec acceptis obligantur, is only partly true; ást-gjafar, love-gifts; vin-gjafar, friend-gifts, cp. Gr. ξένια, Ó. H. 125; hefndar-gjöf, a fatal gift; Jóla-gjöf, a Yule present, Eg. ch. 70; sumar-gjafir, summer-gifts, on the day when summer beginS.

gjöf (gjǫf)

COMPDS: gjafalaust, gjafaleysi, gjafaskipti.

Ortografi: Cleasby & Vigfusson bogen brugte bogstavet ö til at repræsentere den originale oldnorske vokal ǫ. Derfor kan gjöf være mere præcist skrevet som gjǫf.

Mulig runeindskrift i yngre futhark:ᚴᛁᚢᚠ
Yngre futhark runer blev brugt fra det 8. til det 12. århundrede i Skandinavien og deres oversøiske bosættelser