Bað

Meaning of Old Norse word "bað"

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

Old Norse word bað can mean:bað

bað

n. [in Goth. probably baþ, but the word is not preserved; A. S. bäð, pl. baðo; Engl. bath; Germ. bad; cp. also Lat. balneum, qs. badneum (?); Grimm even suggests a kinship to the Gr. βάπτω]:—bath, bathing. In Icel. the word is not very freq., and sounds even now somewhat foreign; laug, lauga, q. v., being the familiar Icel. words; thus in the n. T. Titus iii. 5. is rendered by endrgetningar laug; local names referring to public bathing at hot springs always bear the name of laug, never bað, e. g. Laugar, Laugarnes, Laugardalr, Laugarvatn, etc. The time of bathing, as borne out by many passages in the Sturl. and BS., was after supper, just before going to bed; a special room, baðstofa (bathroom), is freq. mentioned as belonging to Icel. farms of that time. Bathing in the morning seems not to have been usual; even the passages Sturl. ii. 121, 125 may refer to late hourS. This custom seems peculiar and repugnant to the simple sanitary rules commonly observed by people of antiquity. It is, however, to be borne in mind that the chief substantial meal of the ancient Scandinavians was in the forenoon, dagverðr; náttverðr (supper) was light, and is rarely mentioned. Besides the word bað for the late bath in the Sturl. and BS., baðstofa is the bathroom; síð um kveldit, í þann tíma er þeir Þórðr ok Einarr ætluðu at ganga til baðs, Sturl. iii. 42; um kveldit er hann var genginn til svefns, ok þeir til baðs er þat líkaði, ii. 117, 246, iii. 111; þat var síð um kveldit ok vóru menn mettir (after supper) en Ormr bóndi var til baðs farinn, ok var út at ganga til baðstofunnar, BS. i. 536; eptir máltíðina (supper) um kveldit reikaði biskupinn um baðferðir (during bathing time) um gólf, ok síðan for hann í sæng sína, 849; hence the phrase, skaltú hafa mjúkt bað fyrir mjúka rekkju, a good bathing before going to bed, of one to be burnt alive, Eg. 239. In Norway bathing in the forenoon is mentioned; laugardags morguninn vildu liðsmenn ráða í bæinn, en konungr vildi enn at þeir biði þar til er flestir væri í baðstofum, FmS. viii. 176; snemma annan dag vikunnar …, and a little below, eptir þat tóku þeir bað, vii. 34, iii. 171; þá gengr Þéttleifr til baðstofu, kembir sér ok þvær, eptir þat skœðir hanu sik, ok vápnar, Þiðr. 129, v. l.; Icel. hann kom þar fyrir dag (before daybreak), var Þórðr þá í baðstofu, Sturl. ii. 121, 125; vide Eb. 134, Stj. 272.

bað

COMPDS: baðferð, baðhús, baðkápa, baðkona, baðstofa, baðstofuglugGr.

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