Prófastr

Meaning of Old Norse word "prófastr"

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

Old Norse word prófastr can mean:prófastr

prófastr

m. [Engl. provost; Germ. probst;—all from the eccl. Lat. praepositus]:—a provost; in the later Roman Catholic times the provost was a kind of church-steward, a ‘biskups ármaðr,’ and the diocese was divided into provostships, answering to the secular sýsla and sýslu-maðr; the provost might therefore be a layman; eptir ráði biskups eðr prófasts, Vm. 117, Dipl. v. 18, FmS. ix. 452, BS. i. 841; this division of the provostship appears in Icel. at the beginning of the 14th century, cp. esp. Laur. S. and the AnnalS.

prófastr

2. in Norway the provost or dean of a collegiate church; prófastr í Túnsbergi, FmS. ix. 284; Ketill p. er varðveitti Máríu-kirkju, Hkr. iii. 349.

prófastr

II. after the Reformation the office underwent some change, and the prófastdæmi (Germ. probstie) became the eccl. division throughout the whole of the land; each provostship consists of several parishes, and one of the parish priests is called prófastr, answering closely to the Engl. archdeacon; he is nominated by the bishop, and is the head and overseer of his fellow-priests in the district, has to visit the churches, look after the instruction of the young, etc., and is a kind of bishop’s vicar, is unpaid, and holds his office for life.

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