1. f. a family, race, v. ætt and compds; for a fuller account of this word see ætt, p. 760.

2. and ætt, f., pl. áttir and ættir [Germ. acht = Lat. ager, praedium, a rare and obsolete word in Germ.], plaga caeli, quarter; just as quarter refers to the number four, so átt seems to refer to eight: átt properly means that part of the horizon which subtends an arc traversed by the sun in the course of three hours; thus defined,—meðan sól veltist urn átta ættir, Sks. 54; ok þat eru þá þrjár stundir dags er sól veltist um eina sett, id.; the names of the eight áttir are, útnorðr á., north-west; norðr á., north; landnorðr á., north-east; austr a., east; landsuðr á., south-east; suðr á., south; útsuðr á., south-west; vestr á., west; four of which (the compounds) are subdivisions; átt is therefore freq. used of the four only, Loki görði þar hús ok fjórar dyrr, at hann mátti sjá ór húsinu í allar áttir, … to all (i. e. four) sides, Edda 39: or it is used generally, from all sides, þá drífr snær ór öllum áttum, Edda 40; drífa þeir til ór öllum áttum (= hvaðanæva), Hkr. i. 33; norðrætt, Edda 4, 23; hence a mod. verb átta, að; á. sik, to find the true quarter, to set oneself right, cp. Fr. s’orienter.

COMPDS: áttaskipan, áttaskipti, áttaviltr.