Bý
Old Norse Dictionary - bý
Meaning of Old Norse word "bý"
As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:
- bý
- n. [Lat. apis; the Goth. word is not on record; A. S. beo; Engl. bee; O. H. G. pia; Germ. biene, and older form beie, Grimm i. 1367; Swed.-Dan. bi]:—a bee; the spelling in Icel. with ý is fixed by long usage, and by a rhyme in the Höfuðl., Jöfurr sveigði ý | flugu unda bý, where ý (a bow) and bý (bees) rhyme; because perhaps an etymology from bú floated before the mind, from the social habits of bees, Barl. 86; the simple by is quite obsolete in Icel. which only uses the compd,
Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᛒᚢ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements
Abbreviations used:
- A. S.
- Anglo-Saxon.
- Dan.
- Danish.
- Engl.
- English.
- Germ.
- German.
- gl.
- glossary.
- Goth.
- Gothic.
- Icel.
- Iceland, Icelander, Icelanders, Icelandic.
- l.
- line.
- Lat.
- Latin.
- m.
- masculine.
- n.
- neuter.
- O. H. G.
- Old High German.
- S.
- Saga.
- Swed.
- Swedish.
Works & Authors cited:
- Barl.
- Barlaams Saga. (F. III.)
- Höfuðl.
- Höfuðlausn. (A. III.)