Ái-fangr

Meaning of Old Norse word "ái-fangr"

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

ái-fangr

s, m.; áifangi (dat.), Grág. (Kb.) 160, and áifang (acc.), Ísl. l. c., follow the old declension (so as to distinguish the dat. and acc. sing.); áifangi, a, m., Fb. ii. 340; mod. áfangi, Grett. 29 new Ed., Fb. i. 165, [æja, to bait, and vangr, campus; as to the f, cp. Vetfangr = vetvangr, and hjörfangr = hjörvangr; Pál Vidal. derives it from fanga, to take]:—a resting-place; á áiföngum, Grág. i. 441; taka hest sinn á áiföngum, ii. 44; taka áifang (acc. sing.), Ísl. ii. 482; in the extracts from the last part of the Heiðarv. S. MS. wrongly spelt atfang (at = ái); höfðu þeir dvöl nokkura á áifanga, Fb. ii. l. c., Jb. 272. In mod. use áfangi means a day’s journey, the way made between two halting places, cp. σταθμός; hence the phrase, ‘í tveim, þremr … áföngum,’ to make a journey in two, three … stages:—the COMPD áfanga-staðr, m., is used = áifangr in the old sense; but ‘stadr’ is redundant, as the syllable ‘fangr’ already denotes place.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᛅᛁ-ᚠᛅᚾᚴᚱ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements