Ný-görfing

Meaning of Old Norse word "ný-görfing" (or ný-gǫrfing)

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

Old Norse word ný-görfing can mean:ný-görfing

ný-görfing (ný-gǫrfing)

f. a novelty, innovation, Ann. 1347, Fs. 76.

ný-görfing (ný-gǫrfing)

2. a gramm. term, a new trope or figure of speech, esp. of poët. circumlocutions not founded on ancient usage or old mythol. tales, but drawn from the imagination of the poet; thus, calling the tears the ‘rain, shower, pearls of the eyes’ would be ‘nýgörving,’ as also calling the sword a ‘snake,’ the sheath its ‘slough,’ Edda (Ht.) 123; skjöldr er land vápnanna, en vápn er hagl eða regn þess lands ef nygörfingum er ort, Edda 90.

ný-görfing (ný-gǫrfing)

II. mod. in a bad sense, whence ný-görfingr, m. of a person, an innovator, Pál Vídal. Skyr. passim; of a thing, new-fangledness, novelty, nýgörfings-ligr, adj. new-fangled.

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

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