Ösku-poki
Old Norse Dictionary - ösku-pokiMeaning of Old Norse word "ösku-poki" (or ǫsku-poki) in English.
As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:
- ösku-poki (ǫsku-poki)
- a, m. an ‘ash-poke,’ ash-bag. In Icel. on Ash-Wednesday, men and women, esp. the young, are all day long on the alert, being divided into two camps; the women trying to fasten small bags of ashes, by a hook or pin, on the men (hengja á þá ösku-poka), hooking the ash-bag on their backs or clothes, so as to make them carry it unawares; it a man carries it three steps or across a threshold without knowing it, the game is won. The men on their side fasten bags with small stones on the women.
Orthography: The Cleasby & Vigfusson book used letter ö to represent the original Old Norse vowel ǫ. Therefore, ösku-poki may be more accurately written as ǫsku-poki.
Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᚢᛋᚴᚢ-ᛒᚢᚴᛁ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements
Abbreviations used:
- esp.
- especially.
- Icel.
- Iceland, Icelander, Icelanders, Icelandic.
- l.
- line.
- m.
- masculine.
- n.
- neuter.