Fjör-baugr

Meaning of Old Norse word "fjör-baugr" (or fjǫr-baugr)

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

Old Norse word fjör-baugr can mean:fjör-baugr

fjör-baugr (fjǫr-baugr)

m. ‘life-money,’ a law term, a fee amounting to a mark, to be paid by a convict of the lesser degree to the executive court (féránsdómr); and if this was not paid, the convict was henceforth a full outlaw::—hence the convict is called fjörbaugs-maðr and the lesser outlawry or conviction fjörbaugs-garðr, m., because within a fixed space (garðr), the convict was safe, having paid the life-money, vide esp. Grág. Þ. Þ. ch. 32 sqq., ch. 40, Nj. 240, and the Sagas and laws passim. In two passages, viz. Flóam. S. ch. 10 and Glúma ch. 24, fjörbaugsgarðr is used in the same sense as þing-helgi, q. v., viz. of the sacred boundary of a meeting, regarded by the heathens as a sanctuary, cp. Eb. ch. 4 fine; in the Edit. of Flóam. S. the passage ‘til Lóns’ is false, the probable reading being ‘til Lopz,’ i. e. Lopts; in the old MS. Vatnshyrna the shank of the p was prob. obliterated so as to make it look like n, and so one transcriber read ‘Lóns,’ another ‘Jóns;’ the reading ‘Lopts’ is born out by the historical context, cp. also Landn. 5, ch. 8; the word fjörbaugr is diffusely commented on in H. E. i. 137 sqq.

fjör-baugr (fjǫr-baugr)

COMPDS: fjörbaugssekt, fjörbaugssök.

Orthography: The Cleasby & Vigfusson book used letter ö to represent the original Old Norse vowel ǫ. Therefore, fjör-baugr may be more accurately written as fjǫr-baugr.

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