m.

I. an eel, Lat. anguilla, Km. 236, Edda (Gl.), 655 xxx. 2, Stj. 69.

II. a deep narrow channel in sea or river; eru nú þeir einir alar til lands er ek get vaðit, Fms. iii. 60; þeir lögðu út á álinn (in a harbour) ok lágu þar um strengi, Sturl. i. 224; djúpir eru Islands alar, of the channel of the Atlantic between Norway and Iceland, a proverb touching the giantess who tried to wade from Norway to Iceland, Ísl. Þjóðs.

III. in names of horses, or adjectives denoting the colour of a horse, ‘ál’ means a coloured stripe along the back, e. g. in mó-ál-óttr, brown striped, bleik-ál-óttr, yellow striped; Kingála and Bleikálingr are names of horses, referring to their colour.

IV. a sort of seed, Edda (Gl.); cp. Ivar Aasen, aal, a sprout, and aala, aal-renne, to sprout, of potatoes.

V. the pith of a tree; ok haft þar til álinn úr eikitrjám = το μέλαν δρυος ἀμφικεάσσας, Od. xiv. 12 (Dr. Egilsson).

COMPDS: álafiski, álagarðr, álaveiðr, álavirki.