Gildi

Meaning of Old Norse word "gildi"

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

Old Norse word gildi can mean:gildi

gildi

n. [gjalda; Ulf. gild = tribute, Luke xx. 22, Mark xii. 14; A. S. gild; Hel. geld; Frank. chalta; Germ. geld = money; it remains in Old Engl. weregild]:—payment, tribute; this sense is very rare, as gjald (q. v.) is the common word; chiefly used in compds, as nef-gildi, head-tax; baug-gildi, q. v.; skatt-gildi, a tax; skulda-gildi, payment of debts, Grág. i. 302.

gildi

2. recompense; in the saying, æ sér til gildis gjöf (mod. æ sér gjöf til gjalda), Hom. 146.

gildi

3. value; al-gildi, full-g., hálf-g., whole, full, half value; ið-gilði or í-gildi, equivalence; hon er karlmanns-ígildi.

gildi

β. worth, value, esteem; the phrase, vera í miklu, litlu, engu gildi, to be in great, small, no repute; án Drottins ráða er aðstoð manns í engu minsta gildi, PasS. 9. 2: freq. in mod. usage, but rare in old writers, þegar ér komizt í gildi við höfðingja eðr kærleika, Finnb. 266.

gildi

II. a banquet, feast, [cp. Dan. gilde; so called from the fee paid?], Eg. 20 sqq., Edda 45, 57, Fb. i. 283, Gþl. 178, freq. in old poems; the poetical mead is called Gauta g., Kormak; or gildi Grjótaldar, the cheer of the Giants; gefa úlfum gildi, to feast the wolves, Lex. Poët.; to this seems to belong the passage in Vsp. 27, hvárt skyldi Æsir afrað gjalda eðr skyldi goðin öll gildi eiga, where the eiga gildi means to hold a feast, with the notion of making a league or peaceful agreement, as opp. to gjalda afrað (q. v.), to pay tribute as a badge of submission.

gildi

III. in a technical sense, a guild, throughout England and Scandinavia during the Middle Ages; the first guilds in Norway were instituted by king Olave (1066–1093), Ólafr konungr lét setja Mikla-gildi í Níðarósi, ok mörg önnur í kaupstöðum, en áðr vóru hvirfings-drykkjur (but before there were drinking-bouts), FmS. vi. 440: the guilds were secular brotherhoods or trades’ unions (and often became political clubs); they assumed the names of saints or sacred things, as Kross-g., Cross-guild; Ólafs-g., St. Olave’s guild (in Norway); Knúts-g., St. Canute’s guild (in Denmark), and so on: in Icel. this sense rarely occurs, mælti at einhverr vildis-manna ætti at hefja gildit, Sturl. i. 20; ok var gildit at Ólafs messu hvert sumar, 23; cp. also gildis-fundr, m. a guild-meeting, mentioned in Sturl. i. 58; and gildis-bændr, m. pl. guild-franklins, guild-brothers, 23, (about the middle of the 12th century); but guilds never took root in Icel.: gildis-skáli, a, m. a guild-hall, FmS. viii. 160, ix. 22, D. n. passim: gildis-tíð, n. a guild-term, FmS. viii. 151.

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