Definitions
Definitions
1 FRÚ
f., an older nom. sing. frauva, u, f., occurs Fms. x. 421, (Ágrip); frouva, Stj. 47; frou, id.; frú is prop. a later contracted form from freyja; therefore the gen. in old writers is always frú (qs. frúvu); and the word is in the sing. indecl., thus, frú-innar, Fms. ix. 292; hann fékk frú Ceciliu, x. 3; móðir frú Ingigerðar, Landn. 240; frú Kristínar, Fms. ix. 8; slíkrar frou (sic) sem ek em, Str. 40, 47: in mod. usage gen. frúar, if used by itself or put after one’s name, but indecl. if put before it in addressing any one, thus, Frú Kristínar, but Kristínar frúar; the gen. frúar occurs Fas. iii. 586, in a MS. of the 15th century; pl. frúr, but older form fruvur or frovur, e. g. frovor, Edda (Arna-Magn.) i. 96 (Kb.); but Ob. frúr, Hkr. i. 16: [freyja was origin. fem. of freyr, and prop. meant Lat. domina; Germ. frau; Dan. frue; no Goth. fraujô is found]:—a lady; in Icel. at present only used of the wives of men of rank or title, e. g. biskups-frú, amtmanns-frú; wives of priests are not called so: again, húsfreyja is more homely, Germ. hausfrau, Engl. housewife, always of a married woman, vide e. g. the Þjóðólfr (Icel. newspaper): in the 14th century in Icel. frú was used of abbesses and wives of knights, but was little used before the 13th century: af hennar (the goddess Freyja) nafni skyldi kalla allar konur tignar (noble woman), svá sem nú heita fruvor, Hkr. l. c.; af hennar nafni er þat tignar-nafn er ríkis-konur (women of rank) eru kallaðar fruvor, Edda l. c.; Kolr hafði talat margt við frú eina ríka (of a foreign lady in Wales), Nj. 280: again, good housewives, such as Bergthora in Njála, are called hús-freyjur, but never frúr; thus, kemsk þó at seinna fari, húsfreyja, Nj. 69; gakk þú út, húsfreyja, þvíat ek vil þik fyrir öngan mun inni brenna, 200; búandi ok húsfreyja, Grág. i. 157; góð húsfreyja, Nj. 51; gild húsfreyja, Glúm. 349, Bs. i. 535:—the Virgin Mary is in legends called vár frú, our Lady; cp. jungfrú (pronounced jómfrú).
Runic Inscription
Runic Inscription
FRÚ
The runic text above represents the Old Norse word "FRÚ" as it might appear in runic inscriptions from the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 CE).