Búi

Meaning of Old Norse word "búi"

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

Old Norse word búi can mean:búi

búi

a, m. [búa].

búi

I. a dweller, inhabitant, only in compds as haug-búi, hellis-búi, berg-búi, a dweller in cairns, caves, rocks, of a ghost or a giant; ein-búi, an anchorite, a bachelor; himin-búi, an inhabitant of heaven, an angel; lands-búi, Lat. incola; ná-búi, a neighbour; í-búi or inn-búi, incola, Snót 71; stafn-búi, q. v.

búi

II. a neighbour = nábúi; kom Steinn at máli við Þorbjörn búa sinn, Krók. 36; við Bárðr búi minn, Nj. 203; þau sýndu búum sínum úþokkasvip, FS. 31; Steinólfr b. hans, Landn. 269; cp. búi-sifjar, búi-graðungr, búi-maðr (below), rare in this sense.

búi

2. hence a law term in the Icel. Commonwealth, a neighbour acting as juror; the law distinguishes between neighbours of place and person; as, vetfangs-búar, neighbours of the place where (e. g.) a manslaughter was committed; or neighbours either of defendant or plaintiff, e. g. heimilis-búar, home-neighbours, opposed to dómstaðar-búar, Grág. ii. 405, and þingvallar-búar, neighbours of court or parliament: the number of the neighbours summoned was various; in slight cases, such as compensation for damage or the like, they were commonly five—sem búar fimm meta; in cases liable to outlawry they were usually nine, Grág. ii. 345; the verdict of the neighbour is called kviðr, the summoning kvöð, and kveðja búa, to summon neighbours; the cases esp. in the Grágás and Njála are almost numberlesS. The standing Icel. law phrase ‘sem búar meta’ reminds one of the English mode of fixing compensation by jury. According to Konrad Maurer, the jury is of Scandinavian origin, and first appears in English law along with the Normans after the Conquest; but this does not preclude an earlier usage in the Scandinavian parts of England. In the old Danish law they were called ‘nævnd,’ in Sweden ‘nämd;’ cp. esp. Nj. ch. 142 sqq. and Grág. Þ. Þ. and Vígslóði. The classical reference for this institution, Grág. i. 167, Kb. ch. 85, is quoted p. 58 S. v. bera B. I. 1.

búi

COMPDS: búakviðburðr, búakviðr, búakvöð, búavirðing.

búi

III. a pr. name of a man, Jómsv. S.; mod. Dan. ‘Boye’ or ‘Boy,’ hence the mod. Icel. Bogi, Feðga-æfi, 27.

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