Áv-alt

Meaning of Old Norse word "áv-alt"

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

áv-alt

and ávallt, adv. always, Lat. semper, originally of-allt (from allr) = in all; but as early as the 12th century it was sounded as ofvalt or ávalt, which may be seen from this word being used in alliteration to v in poems of that time, þars á valt er vísir bjó, Kt. 16; vestu á valt at trausti, Harmsól verse 59; styrktu of valt til verka, Leiðarv. 34 (the MS. reads ávalt): even Hallgrim in the 17th century says, víst á valt þeim vana halt | vinna, lesa ok iðja. In MSS. it is not unfreq. spelt ofvalt, as a single word, e. g. BS. i. 150–200; yet in very early times the word seems to have assumed the present form ávalt, proncd. á-valt, as if from á and valr: ofalt, of allt, Orkn. 90, FmS. v. 205, Fbr. 77, 87, Fær. 22: of valt, Eluc. 3, BS. i. 349, FmS. v. 160: ávalt or ávallt, freq. in the old miracle book,—BS. i. 335, 343, 344, 345, 351, Hom. MS. Holm. p. 3, Hoin. (MS. 619), 129, Grág. (Kb.) 116, Landn. 86, FmS. xi. 112, etc. etc.,—through all the Sagas and down to the present day: cp. the mod. alltaf (per metath.), adv. always.

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