Dóm-hringr

Meaning of Old Norse word "dóm-hringr"

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

dóm-hringr

m. ‘doom-ring,’ ‘judgment-ring;’ (cp. also vé-bönd, the sacred bounds or bar): the courts of heathen times were surrounded by the dómhringr, about a bow-shot from the centre where the benches were placed; no evil-doer might enter this hallowed ring, or commit an act of violence within it; if he did so, he was called a vargr í véum (lupus in sanctii); the Engl. law term ‘bar’ answers to this old word, cp. Gr. δρύφακτοι, Lat. cancelli; the Goth. staua, = court and judge, properly means a staff, bar; the bar was, according to Eg. l. c., a pole of hazel-wood, hesli-stengr: classical passages referring to this,—þar sér enn dómhring þann, er menn vóru dæmdir í til blóts, í þeim hring stendr Þórs steinn, etc., Eb. ch. 10; þar stendr enn Þórs steinn … ok þar ‘hjá’ (better) er sá domhringr er (in which) menn skyldi til blóts dæma, Landn. 98: another classical passage is Eg. ch. 57 beginning; cp. also FaS. iii. Gautr. S. ch. 7, Edda 10, though the ‘ring’ is not expressly mentioned in these last two passages: hann gengr í dómhringinn ok setzk niðr, Band. 6; en þeir eigu at rísa ór dóminum ok sitja í dómhring innan meðan um þá sök er dæmt, Grág. i. 78, cp. 17, 26: in early heathen times this sacred circle was formed by a ring of stones, cp. dóm-steinar: no doubt some of the so-called Celtic or Druidical stone circles are relics of these public courts, e. g. the Stones of Stennis in the Orkneys; cp. Scott’s last note to the Pirate, referring to this subject: even in later times, when the thing was obsolete, the name still remained.

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