Höfuð-stafr
Old Norse Dictionary - höfuð-stafrMeaning of Old Norse word "höfuð-stafr" (or hǫfuð-stafr) in English.
As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:
- höfuð-stafr (hǫfuð-stafr)
- m., gramm. a ‘head-stave,’ head letter, capital, initial, used freq. in this sense by Thorodd: but grammarians use it specially of the letters h, q, v, þ, which can stand only at the beginnings of syllables, (see gramm. p. xv, col. 1 at the bottom; Skálda 165–171):—in prosody, the third of the alliterative letters (ljóðstafir) standing ‘ahead’ of the second verse line, the preceding two being called stuðlar; thus in ‘þá var grund groin | grænum lauki,’ the g in ‘grænum’ is a höfuðstafr, but in ‘grund’ and ‘gróin’ a stuðill, Edda 120: in mod. usage höfuðstafir in pl. is used of all the alliterative letters, skáldskapr þinn er skothent klúðr | skakk-settum höfuðstöfum með, Jón Þorl.
Orthography: The Cleasby & Vigfusson book used letter ö to represent the original Old Norse vowel ǫ. Therefore, höfuð-stafr may be more accurately written as hǫfuð-stafr.
Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᚼᚢᚠᚢᚦ-ᛋᛏᛅᚠᚱ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements
Abbreviations used:
- freq.
- frequent, frequently.
- gramm.
- grammar.
- l.
- line.
- m.
- masculine.
- mod.
- modern.
- pl.
- plural.
Works & Authors cited:
- Edda
- Edda. (C. I.)
- Jón Þorl.
- Jón Þorláksson.
- Skálda
- Skálda. (H. I.)
Also available in related dictionaries:
This headword also appears in dictionaries of other languages descending from Old Norse.