adj., akin to framr, prob. borrowed from Germ. fromm, Low Germ. from; it seems to have come to Icel. with the Hanseatic trade at the end of the 15th century, and is found in the Rímur of that time, e. g. Skáld-Helga R. 3. 22; from Luther’s Bible and the Reformation it became more freq. in the sense of righteous, pious, with the notion of guileless, frómr og meinlaus, and often occurs in the N. T. and hymns, e. g. Pass. 22. 2, 24. 9: it has however not been truly naturalized, except in the sense of honest, i. e. not thievish, and ófrómr, dishonest, thievish, (a euphemism); umtals-f., not slandering, speaking fair of other people.

COMPDS: frómleiki, frómlyndi.