f., Lat. absolutio.

1. some small release, ransom, compensation, Sturl. iii. 142, 239; gjöra a. urn e-t, to relieve, release oneself in regard to a thing: Ólafr konungr mælti, ‘Framar hefir þú þá gert urn vígin á Grænlandi, en fiskimaðrinn kallar a. vera fiskinnar; því at hann kallast leysa sik, ef hann dregr fisk fyrir sik, enn annan fyrir skip sitt, þriðja fyrir öngul, fjórða fyrir vað,’ king Olaf said, ‘Thou hast done more then in the matter of manslayings in Greenland, than what the fisherman calls the ransom of his fishing; for he says that he has freed himself (of his fishing), if he draws (up) a fish for himself, but another for his boat, a third for his angle, a fourth for his line,’ (this way of reckoning their catch is still common with fishermen in many parts of England and Scotland), Fbr. 154: cp. a stanza in a Scottish ballad, ‘I launched my boat in Largo Bay, | And fishes caught I three; | One for wad and one for hook, | And one was left for me.’

2. eccles. = absolution, K. Á. 226, Hom. 137, Grett. 162, Fms. x. 18.