Dúnn

Old Norse Dictionary - dúnn

Meaning of Old Norse word "dúnn" in English.

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

dúnn
(dýnn, Mart. 126), m. [Dutch dune; Engl. down; Swed. and Dan. dun; Germ. daun is prob. of Saxon or Dutch origin, as the d remains unchanged]:—down; taka dún ok dýna, n. G. l. i. 334; esp. used of bedclothes of down; the word occurs in the old heathen poem Gs., soft hann á dúni, 5; blautasti d., Mart. l. c.; á duni ok á guðvefi, Fms. x. 379; vöttu (pillows) duns fulla, a verse of Hornklofi. In Icel. ‘dún’ is chiefly used of eider-down, which word is undoubtedly of Icel. origin, Fr. édre-don, Germ. eder-don or eider-daun; the syllable er is the Icel. gen. æðar-dún, from nom. æðr (the name of the eider duck), acc. æði, gen. æðar. The eider-down, now so important as an article of trade, is never mentioned in old Icel. writers or laws; they only speak of the eggs (egg-ver). The English, during their trade with Icel. in the 15th century, seem first to have brought the name and article into foreign markets. At first it was bought in a rough state; Bogi Benediktsson in Feðga-æfi II records that a certain Jón í Brokey (born 1584), after having been in England, was the first who taught the Icel. to clean the down—var hann líka sá fyrsti hér vestra sem tók að hreinsa æðar-dún …, en áðr (i. e. during the English and Hanseatic trade in Icel.) seldist óhreinsaðr dún eptir Búa-lögum. Icel. say, hreinsa dún, hræla dún. The Danes say, have dun på hagen, to have down on the chin.

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

Abbreviations used:

acc.
accusative.
Dan.
Danish.
Engl.
English.
esp.
especially.
Fr.
French in etymologies.
gen.
genitive.
Germ.
German.
gl.
glossary.
Icel.
Iceland, Icelander, Icelanders, Icelandic.
i. e.
id est.
l.
line.
L.
Linnæus.
l. c.
loco citato.
m.
masculine.
n.
neuter.
nom.
nominative.
prob.
probably.
Swed.
Swedish.

Works & Authors cited:

Fms.
Fornmanna Sögur. (E. I.)
Fr.
Fritzner’s Dictionary, 1867.
Gs.
Grótta-söngr. (A. II.)
Mart.
Martinus Saga. (F. III.)
N. G. L.
Norges Gamle Love. (B. II.)
➞ See all works cited in the dictionary

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