Guð-spjall

Meaning of Old Norse word "guð-spjall"

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

Old Norse word guð-spjall can mean:guð-spjall

guð-spjall

n., the form goðspill, Greg. 24; guðspillum, 656 A. i. 10: [A. S. godspell; Engl. gospel, i. e. gôð spell, a translation of the Gr. εὐ-αγγέλιον; Ormul. godd-spell—goddspell onn Ennglissh nemmnedd iss god (i. e. good) word and god tiþennde, god errnde … goddspell annd forrþi maȝȝ itt wel, god errnde ben ȝehatenn, Introd. 157 sqq.; (the form godd-spell, not godspell, shews that at the time of the Ormulum the root vowel had become short in Engl. pronunciation.) The word was in Icel. borrowed from English missionaries, and Icel. remains the only Scandin. country where the Evangel is called Gospel; Danes, Swedes, and Norsemen, as well as Germans, use the Greek word. The true etymological sense, however, was lost, probably because the root vowel had become short in Engl. by the time that the word was transplanted to Icel., so that guðspjall was understood to mean not good spell, but God’s spell]:—gospel; í þann tima er lokið var guðspjalli, Ó. H. 119 (the gospel in the service-book); pistlar ok guðspjöll, epistles and gospels, Vm. 1; með tíu laga boðorðum ok fjórum guðspjöllum, Mar. 13.

guð-spjall

COMPDS: guðspjallabók, guðspjallskross, guðspjallalektari, guðspjallamaðr, guðspjallasaga, guðspjallshistoria, guðspjallaskáld.

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