Ná-bjargir

Meaning of Old Norse word "ná-bjargir"

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

ná-bjargir

f. pl. ‘lyke-help,’ see nár; in the phrase, veita e-m nábjargir, to lend one ‘lyke-help,’ i. e. to close the eyes, mouth, and nostrils of a person immediately after death; hví hefir þú eigi veitt honum nábjargir er opnar eru nasirnar, why hast thou not lent him the ‘lyke-help,’ for the nostrils are open? Nj. 154; hann bað hvern varask at ganga framan at honum meðan honum vóru eigi nábjargir veittar, Eb. 70; hann lagði hann niðr í setið ok veitti honum þá nábjargir, Eg. 398, Bret. 32; cp. the Gr. ἰδων δε ὑ Κρίτων ξυνέλαβε το στόμα τε και τους ὀφθαλμούς (but not the nostrils as in the Northern rite), Plato’s Phaedo (sub fine); whereas with the Norsemen the closing the nostrils was indispensable, whence the phrase, lúka nösum, to have the nostrils shut = to die, see nös (nasar).

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