Ríta

Meaning of Old Norse word "ríta"

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

Old Norse word ríta can mean:ríta

ríta

pres. rít, rítr, rítr; pret. reit, the 2nd pers. does not occur; pl. ritu; subj. riti; imperat. rít; part, ritinn; the earliest writers use the strong conjugation; thus in the treatise of Thorodd, ek rít, 165, l. 26, 166, ll. 22–24, 168, l. 10; rít’k = rít ek, 166, 1. 36; þú rítr, 161, l. 2 from the bottom, 168, l. 19; ek reit, 168, l. 4: part, ritnir, ritin, ritnum,161, 168–168: in the other instances the weak form seems merely due to the transcriber of the Cod. Worm, of the 14th century, and the old forms ought to be restored; thus, pres. ritar, 160, l. 3 from the bottom,165, l. 1; pret. ritaða, ritaðir, 164, l. 31; part, ritað, ll. 3, 32, etc.; intin. rita for ríta, l. 3: Ari also uses the strong form, Íb. 4, Hkr. i. 48: in the pref. to Landn. for ritað read ritið (?); reit, Hkr. iii. 347. In writers of later times, as also in later transcripts of old writers, the weak form (ek rita, ritar, ritar, ritaða, ritað) prevails; thus in the pref. to Ó. H., pres. rita (once), pret. ritaða (five times), ritaði, 248; ritaðar and rituðu, Sturl. i. 107, FmS. x. 371; ritað, Knytl. S. ch. 1, 21, 95, Hungrv, ch. 1; and so on: the part, ritinn remained longest, thus, eptir sögu Þjóðólfs var fyrst ritin æli Ynglinga, Hkr. Frissb. (pref.), FmS. vii. 156, Grág. i. 76, Symb. (fine). The Norse vellums seem to know the weak form only, e. g. ritaði, SkS. 563 B. The root to this word is well known in the Scandin. languages in derived words, as reitr, reita, rít (q. v.), yet the verb itself, at least in the sense ‘to write,’ seems to have been adopted from the A. S., as it nowhere occurs on the Runic stones or in old poets, and always means writing on parchment, rísta being used of writing on stone; the original form is vríta: [A. S. wrítan; Engl. to write; Germ. reissen; O. H. G. rízan = to scratch; Scot. rit or ret; cp. also Ulf. writs = κεραία, Luke xvi. 17.]

ríta

B. Prop. to scratch, cut, sketch, draw an outline; hér eru ritaðir þrír hringar, Rb. 476.

ríta

2. to write, of penmanship, spelling (thus mostly used in Thorodd), as also composition, for illustrations see the references above (A).

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