Definitions
Definitions
1 HAMR
m., pl. hamir, dat. hami, Vsp. 36, but ham, Höfuðl. (where ham, gram, and fram form a rhyme), as also Haustl. 2, Hkr. i. 228, all of them poems of the 10th century; [A. S. hama, homa; Hel. hamo; O. H. G. hemedi, whence mod. Germ. hemd; Dan. ham; akin to hamr is Ital. camisa, Fr. chemise, with a final s answering to hams below]:—a skin, esp. the skin of birds flayed off with feathers and wings; álptar-hamr, a swan’s skin; fugls-hamr, a bird’s skin; arnar-hamr, an eagle’s skin; gásar-hamr, a goose’s skin, etc.; hams, q. v., of snakes: ham bera svanir hvítfjaðraðan (of a swan’s skin), Fas. i. 471 (in a verse); hleypa hömum (of snakes), to cast the slough, Konr. 34; hlátra hamr, poët. laughter’s cover, the breast, Höfuðl. 19.
2 HAMR
II. shape, esp. in a mythol. sense, connected with the phrase, skipta hömum, to change the shape, described in Yngl. S. ch. 7, Völs. S. ch. 7, 8, and passim; cp. also the deriv. ein-hamr, ham-farir, ham-ramr, ham-stola, hamingja, hamask, etc.,—an old and widespread superstition found in the popular lore and fairy tales of almost every country;—Óðinn skipti hömum, lá þá búkrinn sem sofinn eðr dauðr, en hann var þá fugl eða dýr, fiskr eða ormr, ok fór á einni svipstund á fjarlæg lönd, Yngl. S. l. c., Fas. i. 128 (Völs. S. l. c.); it is described in Völs. S. ch. 8,—þeir hafa orðit fyrir úsköpum, því at úlfa-hamir (wolf-coats) héngu yfir þeim; it tíunda hvert dægr máttu þeir komask ór hömunum, etc.; þeir fundu konur þrjár ok spunnu lín, þar vóru hjá þeim álptar-hamir þeirra, Sæm. 88 (prose to Vkv.); fjölkyngis-kona var þar komin í álptar-ham, Fas. i. 373, cp. Helr. 6; víxla hömum, to change skins, assume one another’s shape, Skv. 1. 42; Úlf-hamr, Wolf-skin, the nickname of a mythol. king, Hervar. S., prob. from being hamramr; manns-hamr, the human skin, Str. 31; hugða ek at væri hamr Atla, methought it was the form or ghost of Atli, Am. 19; jötunn í arnar-ham, a giant in an eagle’s skin, Vþm. 37, Edda; í gemlis-ham, id., Haustl.; fjaðr-hamr, Þkv.; í faxa-ham, in a horse’s skin, Hkr. i. (in a verse); í trölls-hami, in an ogre’s skin, Vsp. 36; vals-hamr, a falcon’s skin, Edda (of the goddess Freyja): it remains in mod. usage in metaph. phrases, að vera í góðum, íllum, vondum, ham, to be in a good, bad, dismal frame of mind or mood; vera í sínum rétta ham, to be in one’s own good frame of mind; færast í annan ham, to enter into another frame of mind: in western Icel. an angry, ill-tempered woman is called hamr, hún er mesti hamr (= vargr): hams-lauss, adj. distempered, furious, esp. used in Icel. of a person out of his mind from restlessness or passion, the metaphor from one who cannot recover his own skin, and roves restlessly in search of it, vide Ísl. Þjóðs. passim.
3 HAMR
COMPDS: hamdökkr, hamfagr, hamljótr, hamvátr, Hamðir.
Runic Inscription
Runic Inscription
HAMR
The runic text above represents the Old Norse word "HAMR" as it might appear in runic inscriptions from the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 CE).