Feigr

Meaning of Old Norse word "feigr"

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

Old Norse word feigr can mean:feigr

feigr

adj., [this interesting word still remains in the Dutch a veeg man and in the Scot. fey; cp. A. S. fæge, early Germ. veige; in mod. Germ. feig, but in an altered sense, viz. coward, craven, whence mod. Dan. feig]:—in popular language a man is said to be ‘fey’ when he acts in an unusual or strange manner, as when a miser suddenly becomes open-handed, Icel. say, eg held hann sé feigr, I hold that he is ‘fey;’ cp. feigð; or when a man acts as if blinded or spell-bound as to what is to come, and cannot see what all other people see, as is noticed by Scott in a note to the Pirate, ch. 5; again, the Scottish notion of wild spirits as foreboding death is almost strange to the Icel., but seems to occur now and then in old poetry, viz. mad, frantic, evil; svá ferr hann sem f. maðr, he fares, goes on like a ‘fey’ (mad) man, Fagrsk. 47 (in a verse); alfeig augu = the eyes as of a ‘fey’ man, Eg. (in a verse); feigr (mad, frantic) and framliðinn (dead) are opposed, Skm. 12; feikna fæðir, hygg ek at feig sér, breeder of evil, I ween thou art ‘fey,’ Skv. 3. 31, and perhaps in Vsp. 33, where the words feigir menn evidently mean evil men, inmates of hell; cp. also Hbl. 12, where feigr seems to mean mad, frantic, out of one’s mind:—cp. Scott’s striking picture of Kennedy in Guy Mannering.

feigr

II. death-bound, fated to die, without any bad sense, Hðm. 10; the word is found in many sayings—fé er bezt eptir feigan, Gísl. 62; skilr feigan ok úfeigan, BS. i. 139, Fb. iii. 409; ekki má feigum forða, Ísl. ii. 103, FmS. vi. 417, viii. 117; ekki kemr úfeigum í hel, 117; ekki má úfeigum bella, Gísl. 148; allt er feigs forað, Fm. 11; fram eru feigs götur, Sl. 36; verðr hverr at fara er hann er feigr, Grett. 138; þá mun hverr deyja er feigr er, Rd. 248; bergr hverjum nokkut er ekki er feigr, Fbr. 171, Sturl. iii. 220, all denoting the spell of death and fate; it is even used of man and beast in the highly interesting record in Landn. 5. 5; cp. also the saying, fiplar hönd á feigu tafli (of chess), the hand fumbles with a ‘fey’ (lost) game, also used of children fumbling with things and breaking them: the phrases, standa, ganga feigum fótum, with ‘fey’ feet, i. e. treading on the verge of ruin, Ísl. ii. (in a verse); mæla feigum munni, to talk with a ‘fey’ mouth, of a frantic and evil tongue, Nj. 9, Vþm. 55; göra e-t feigum hondum, with ‘fey’ hands, of an evil doer causing his own fate, Lv. 111; fjör og blær úr feigum nösum líðr, Snót 129: of appearances denoting ‘feigð,’ vide Nj. ch. 41, Glúm. ch. 19, cp. Hkv. Hjörv. (the prose), Am. 26, Heiðarv. S. ch. 26, Nj. ch. 128, the last two passages strongly resembling Homer’s Od. xx. (in fine), Ísl. ÞjóðS. ii. 551, 552; gerum vér sem faðir vár vill, þat mun oss bezt gegna; eigi veit ek þat víst, segir Skaphéðinn, því at hann er nú feigr, Nj. 199; en fyrir þá sök at Þormóðr var eigi f., slitnaði …, Fbr. 160; en fyrir gný ok elds-gangi, ok þat þeir vóru eigi feigir, þá kómusk þeir undan, FS. 84; ætla ek at ek sé eigi þar feigari en hér …, þat er hugboð mitt at þeir muni allir feigir er kallaðir vóru, Nj. 212; þat hefir Finni sét á þér, at sá mundi feigr, er þú segðir drauminn, Lv. 70, FmS. iii. 212; vilja e-n feigan, to wish one’s death, Nj. 269, FmS. iii. 70, 190.

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