Fley

Old Norse Dictionary - fley

Meaning of Old Norse word "fley" in English.

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

fley
n. a kind of swift ship (= snekkja, q. v.); only found in poets, as Thiodolf calls the sea fleyja flatvöllr, the flat-field of the fleys, cp. Hkv. 2. 4; fley ok fagrar árar, a fley and beautiful oars, Egill; used by poets also in many compds, as fley-braut, fley-vangr, the road-field of the fleys, etc.; never in prose, except in pr. names, as Gesta-fley, FmS. viii, Sverr. S.; but fley-skip occurs not only in verse, Fb. i. 528, but also in a deed of the year 1315, n. G. l. iii. 112:—also used of merchant ships, Ann. The Span. flibóte, Engl. fly-boat (Johnson) point to a form fley-bátr = fley-skip, though that form has not been found; from the Span. flibóte prob. came the Ital. flibustiero, Anglo-American filibuster: perh. also the Germ. freibeuter, Engl. freebooter, Dutch vrijbuiter represent the same word, altered so as to give an intelligible sense in the respective languageS.

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

Abbreviations used:

cp.
compare.
Engl.
English.
etc.
et cetera.
Germ.
German.
gl.
glossary.
Ital.
Italian.
l.
line.
L.
Linnæus.
m.
masculine.
n.
neuter.
perh.
perhaps.
pr.
proper, properly.
prob.
probably.
q. v.
quod vide.
S.
Saga.
Span.
Spanish.
v.
vide.

Works & Authors cited:

Ann.
Íslenzkir Annálar. (D. IV.)
Fb.
Flateyjar-bók (E. I.)
Fms.
Fornmanna Sögur. (E. I.)
Hkv.
Helga-kviða Hundingsbana. (A. II.)
N. G. L.
Norges Gamle Love. (B. II.)
Sverr. S.
Sverris Saga. (E. I.)
➞ See all works cited in the dictionary

Also available in related dictionaries:

This headword also appears in dictionaries of other languages descending from Old Norse.

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