n. [A. S. and Engl. turf; Dan. törv], a turf, sod; hylja hræ grjóti, torfi, klæðum eðr snæ, Grág. ii. 88; til garðlags torf eðr grjót, 262; torf ok grjót, Nj. 64; toptin var full af torfi ok grjóti, Rd. 274; borgar-vegg af grjóti ok torfi ok viðum, Fms. i. 123; lét konungr bera til viðu ok torf ok fylla díkit, vii. 54; torfs-maðr, a person who runs the gauntlet pelted with sods, N. G. L. i. 253.

2. turf for fuel, peat; geita gættu, grófu torf, dug turf, peat, Rm. 12; hann fann fyrstr manna at skera torf ór jörðu til eldiviðar á Torfnesi á Skotlandi, þvíat íllt var til viðar í Eyjunum, Orkn. 16; skera torf til eldibranda, Grág. ii. 338; elda er rétt at göra ok kljúfa torf til, K. Þ. K. 88; hann stóð í mýri nökkurri ok gróf torf, Njarð. 370; eldi-torf, ‘fuel-turf,’ i. e. peat, Ísl. ii. 112.

B. COMPDS: torfbáss, torfbingr, torffæri, torfgarðr, torfgröf, torfhraukr, torfhrip, torfhús, torfkast, torfkrókr, torfköstr, torfleikr, torfljár, torfmenn, torfmór, torfmýrr, torfnaust, torfskeri, torfskurðr, torfstaða, torfstakkr, torfverk, torfvirki, torfvöllr, torfvölr, torföx.

☞ The passages quoted all refer to Iceland, except two or three to the Orkneys, and one to Norway, viz. torfmenn. In a country bare or stripped of wood, turf plays an important part in husbandry, as sod for buildings and fencing, and as peat for fuel. In the Orkneys the Norse earl Einar got the soubriquet of ‘Turf-Einar’ (Torf-Einarr) for having taught the Norsemen to dig peat (having probably learnt it himself from the Gaelic tribes in Scotland); the place was hence called Torf-nes, Orkn. The digging of peat in the poem Rigsmál is one of the many proofs of the birthplace of that poem. The only passage referring to Norway is that cited under torfmenn, a peat-man (see B), unless the legislator here specially had in mind the Norsemen of the Orkneys who, at that time, were an integral part of the Norse kingdom, without a special code of laws.