jar, m. pl. ir, [Lat. follis; Ulf. balgs = ασκός; A. S. bälg; Dutch balg; Engl. belly]:—the skin, taken off whole (of a quadruped; hamr is the skin of a bird, hams that of a snake), nauts-belgr, katt-belgr,otrs-belgr, melrakka-belgr, hafr-belgr, Grág. i. 500, 501, Fas. ii. 516 (of a bear), Edda 73 (otter): they were used as bags, in which to carry flour (mjölbelgr), butter (smjörbelgr), liquids (vínbelgr), curds (skyrbelgr), herbs (jafnabelgr), or the like, (bulgos Galli sacculos scorteos appellant, Festus); í laupum eða belgjum, Gþl. 492, cp. Grett. 107, and the funny taunt in Fms. xi. 157—verið get ek hafa nökkura þá er þaðan munu hafa borið raufóttara belginn (i. e. more of scars and wounds) en svá sem þú hefir borit, því at mér þykir sjá bezt til fallinn at geyma í hveitimjöl, the rebuke of a lady to her sweetheart on his having fled out of battle with whole skin fit to keep flour in it, cp. also Nj.141.

2. bellows (smiðju-belgr), Edda 70, Þiðr. 91.

3. the curved part of a letter of the alphabet, Skálda 177.

II. metaph., letibelgr, a lazy fellow, Fél. 12. 53: belgr also denotes a withered, dry old man (with a skin like parchment), with the notion of wisdom, cp. the proverb, opt ór skörpum belg skilin orð koma, and, a little above, opt er gott þat er gamlir kveða, Hm. 135; böl vantú bróðir er þú þann belg leystir, opt ór þeim (þurrum?) belg böll ráð koma, … deep schemes often come out of an old skin, Hðm. 27: the proverb, hafa skal ráð þó ór refsbelg komi, take good advice, even if coming from an old fox-skin! Gullþ. ch. 18. People say in Icel. lesa, tala, læra í belg, to read, talk, learn in a bag, to read or talk on foolishly, or to learn by rote; cp. the tale about the orðabelgr, Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 479; cp. Asbjörnsen, Norse Tales, New Coll. Chr. 1856.

2. botan. gluma, Hjalt.