Definitions
Definitions
1 SÓA
að; this heathen word remains in only four passages of the old poems Hm. and Ýt., and in those only in the infin. and part. sóit; from these, however, a strong inflexion may be inferred; in mod. usage (in sense II) it is a verb of the 1st weak conjugation (að): [the etymology is doubtful; not from sá = to sow; it is more likely that sóa is the root word to són, an atonement. The passages in Hm. and Ýt. leave no doubt as to the original sense]:—to sacrifice, make an offering, but in a specific sense, for Hm. makes a distinction between blóta and sóa; veiztú hve blóta skal … veiztú hvé sóa skal, … betra er ósent en sé of sóit, Hm. 145, 146; þá er árgjörn Jóta dólgi Svía kind um sóa skyldi, Ýt. 5 (where the prose is, at þeir skyldi honum ‘blóta’ til árs sér); at Bölverki þeir spurðu ef hann væri með böndum kominn eðr hefði honum Suttungr um sóit, or if S. had sacrificed him, put him to death, Hm. 109.
2 SÓA
II. in mod. usage the word is freq. in the sense to squander, with dat. and declined; sóa fé sinu, og þá hann hafði nú öllu sóað, það hann átti, Luke xv. 14; cp. Lat. dapes, an offering, and Gr. δαπάνη, a squandering.
Runic Inscription
Runic Inscription
SÓA
The runic text above represents the Old Norse word "SÓA" as it might appear in runic inscriptions from the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 CE).