Fley
Old Norse Dictionary - fley
Meaning of Old Norse word "fley"
As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:
- fley
- n. a kind of swift ship (= snekkja, q. v.); only found in poets, as Thiodolf calls the sea fleyja flatvöllr, the flat-field of the fleys, cp. Hkv. 2. 4; fley ok fagrar árar, a fley and beautiful oars, Egill; used by poets also in many compds, as fley-braut, fley-vangr, the road-field of the fleys, etc.; never in prose, except in pr. names, as Gesta-fley, FmS. viii, Sverr. S.; but fley-skip occurs not only in verse, Fb. i. 528, but also in a deed of the year 1315, n. G. l. iii. 112:—also used of merchant ships, Ann. The Span. flibóte, Engl. fly-boat (Johnson) point to a form fley-bátr = fley-skip, though that form has not been found; from the Span. flibóte prob. came the Ital. flibustiero, Anglo-American filibuster: perh. also the Germ. freibeuter, Engl. freebooter, Dutch vrijbuiter represent the same word, altered so as to give an intelligible sense in the respective languageS.
Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᚠᛚᛁᚢ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements
Abbreviations used:
- cp.
- compare.
- Engl.
- English.
- etc.
- et cetera.
- Germ.
- German.
- gl.
- glossary.
- Ital.
- Italian.
- l.
- line.
- L.
- Linnæus.
- m.
- masculine.
- n.
- neuter.
- perh.
- perhaps.
- pr.
- proper, properly.
- prob.
- probably.
- q. v.
- quod vide.
- S.
- Saga.
- Span.
- Spanish.
- v.
- vide.
Works & Authors cited:
- Ann.
- Íslenzkir Annálar. (D. IV.)
- Fb.
- Flateyjar-bók (E. I.)
- Fms.
- Fornmanna Sögur. (E. I.)
- Hkv.
- Helga-kviða Hundingsbana. (A. II.)
- N. G. L.
- Norges Gamle Love. (B. II.)
- Sverr. S.
- Sverris Saga. (E. I.)