a, m. [cp. afi and Lat. avus], great-grandfather, answering to edda, great-grandmother (at present in Icel. langafi and langamma), Rm. 2; föður eðr afa, á. er hinn þriði, Edda 208; see æ, p. 757, col. 1. In Sæm. 118 ai seems to be an exclamatio dolentis, göróttr er drykkrinn, ai! unless ai be here = ái in the sense of father; cp. the reply of Sigmund, láttu grön sía, sonr. In mod. poetry áar in pl. is used in the sense of ancestors; áðr áar fæddust áa (gen. pl.) vorra, Bjarni 71, Eggert (Bb.) I. 20.