Lyritr

Old Norse Dictionary - lyritr

Meaning of Old Norse word "lyritr" in English.

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

lyritr Old Norse word can mean:

lyritr
m., or better lýritr or lýrittr, gen. lyritar (but lyrits, Grág. ii. 233), dat. lyriti, plur. lyritar. n. G. l. ii. 94, Jb. 193; the quantity cannot be ascertained because the vellums do not distinguish between long and short vowels; it is spelt with one t throughout the Grág. (Kb.); the alliterative phrase lagalyritr, as also the invariable spelling in the Grágás, shew that the word had no initial h. Former attempts at an etymology, from læ and rifta (Björn á Skarðsá), hlýrar and réttir (Pal Vídal.), lygi and rift (Fritzner), must be dismissed; tiie spelling lyriftar, which once or twice occurs in Norse MSS. of the 14th century (n. G. l. i. 394, ii. 94, v. l. 19), is probably a mere corruption. Lyritr is a compd word from lög, law, and rör or reyr, a landmark, which word in the old Swed. law exactly answers to lyrit in the Norse law; lyrit is thus qs. lý-ryr-ti, by assimilation and by weakening the y into i, lyritti; the t being inflexive: its literal sense, therefore, is a lawful rör or landmark. In Sweden there were often five mark-stones, but it is added (Schlyter iii. S. v. rör)—fiuri stenar oc þri stenar mughu rör heta = four stones and even three stones may be called rör, i. e. make a ‘law-rör,’ a lawful landmark, a lyrit; this, we believe, is the etymology of this much-contested word. About the gender (masc., not fem.) there can be no doubt, from the numerous instances in the Grágás; but in the 13th century the word began to become neuter, thus we have lyritit, Grág. (Kb.) i. 103, lines 14 and 21, but lyritinn several times in the same page: nom. lyriti in Grág. (Sb.) ii. 226; and elalausu lyriti, Nj. passim.
lyritr
B. SENSE:
lyritr
I. prop. when the boundary of a field or estate was to be drawn, the law prescribed that a mark-stone (mark-steinn) should be raised on the spot, and three other stones laid beside it; these three stones were called landmark-stones (lyrit-steinar or lyritar); by their number and position they were distinguished from all other stones in the field, see n. G. l. ii. 94, cp. note 19 (Jb. 193).
lyritr
II. metaph. in the Icel. law, a full title of possession, lawful claim to right or property; thus defined by Konrad Maurer—‘Lyrit bedeutet in der Grágás und in den ältern Sagas, das volle Eigentums-recht, oder auch den Bann, der dem Grunde gentümer zum Schutze seines Eigentumes, dem Goden aber Kraft seiner Amtsgewalt zusteht:’
lyritr
1. the earliest kind was probably the land-lyrit or ‘land-ban;’ this law term was originally borrowed from the mark-stones themselves, and then came to mean a full title to land, field, pasture, or estate, Grág. ii. 224, 225:—eignar-lyritr, full lawful possession, a legal title of ownership; hafa eignar-lyrit fyrir landi, 204, 222.
lyritr
2. a veto; Goða-lyritr, the veto of a Goði (Priest), forbidding the court or neighbours to deliver a sentence or verdict in a case, and thus quashing the suit. A Goði alone, by virtue of his office, was entitled to stop a court in this way, whether personally or by one of his liegemen, so that if any one else wished thus to stop a suit, he had first to go to his liegelord (Goði) and be authorised by him to do so; cp. the phrases, taka lyrit af Goða, selja lyrit, ef Goði færir lyrit sinn sjálfr fram, and similar law phrases, Grág. i. 109–111, cp. esp. Þ. Þ. ch. 38; neglect of this was contempt of court, punishable by the lesser outlawry. The word lyritr occurs at every step in the Grágás, esp. in the phrase, verja lyriti, or verja e-t lyriti, to defend through a lyrit, i. e. to put under veto, to vindicate one’s right, forbid, or the like; eigi varðar hagabeit, nema lyriti sé varið, Grág. ii. 224; verja lyriti haga, 225; þótt maðr veri fleirum lyriti (dat.), 226, Nj.; láta lyrit koma fyrir sök, to stop on a case, Grág. i. 109; kaupa land lagn kaupi ok lyritar, to buy land by a lawful bargain and with full tide of possession, ii. 213; eptir þat nefndi Þorkéll sér vátta, ok setti (varði?) þeim lyriti, ok fyrirbauð þeim at dæma, Lv. 31; ok er únýt stefna hans eðr lyriti (lyritr?), Grág. ii. 226; hann (the Goði) skal nefna sér vátta, áðr hann færi lyrit fram, í þat vætti, at ek ver lyriti, goða-lyriti, löglyriti fullum dómendum at dæma um sök þá … enda skal hann svá verja kviðmönnum lyriti, at bera kviðu um hann, i. 111; ek ver lyriti mínum, löglyriti dómendum at dæma, id.; færa lyrit sinn fram, to utter one’s veto, id.; fara með land-lyriti, ii. 225.
lyritr
COMPDS: lyritareiðr, lyritarvarzla, lyritarvörn.

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

Abbreviations used:

dat.
dative.
fem.
feminine.
gen.
genitive.
i. e.
id est.
l.
line.
L.
Linnæus.
m.
masculine.
masc.
masculine.
n.
neuter.
nom.
nominative.
plur.
plural.
qs.
quasi.
S.
Saga.
s. v.
sub voce.
Swed.
Swedish.
v.
vide.
v. l.
varia lectio.
cp.
compare.
prop.
proper, properly.
Icel.
Iceland, Icelander, Icelanders, Icelandic.
metaph.
metaphorical, metaphorically.
ch.
chapter.
esp.
especially.
id.
idem, referring to the passage quoted or to the translation

Works & Authors cited:

Björn
Biörn Halldórsson.
Grág.
Grágás. (B. I.)
Jb.
Jóns-bók. (B. III.)
Kb.
Konungs-bók. (B. I, C. I, etc.)
N. G. L.
Norges Gamle Love. (B. II.)
Nj.
Njála. (D. II.)
Sb.
Staðarhóls-bók. (B. I.)
Vídal.
Vídalíns-Postilla.
Lv.
Ljósvetninga Saga. (D. II.)
➞ 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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