Undorn

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

undorn Old Norse word can mean:

undorn

m. (not n. as stated in Lex. Poët.), also spelt undurn and undarn, see the references below: [this word occurs in all ancient Teut. languages; Ulf. undaurni-mats or undurn-meat = ἄριστον, Luke xiv. 12; A. S. undern; Hel. undorn: O. H. G. untarn. Afterwards it was disused in writing, but in provincial dialects it still survives in all Teutonic countries, Scandinavia, Germany (Bavaria, the Rhine), England (Cumberland, Yorkshire), everywhere, except in Iceland, where, strange to say, it is unknown in speech as well as in writing; thus, Swed. undan, undarn, unden; in Norway undaaln; Bavaria untern (Schmeller); Fris. ounern; provinc. Engl. orndorns, ownder (Brocket); in all these dialects it means a middle-meal, a kind of lunch, taken either in the afternoon at three o’clock (this seems to be the prevailing sense, at least in Scandinavia), or in the forenoon at nine: even a verb has been formed, thus in Sweden sova und is to take a nap at lunch-time, at midday (Rietz); in the Rhine country ondern is said of cattle lying down at midday (Schmeller).]

undorn

B. USAGE.—In old Icel, or Norse writers the word occurs five times, thrice in poets, twice in prose; the original sense was undoubtedly a time of the day, either mid-afternoon, i. e. three o’clock P.m., or mid-forenoon, i. e. nine o’clock A.m., the sense of food being a derived one (like mál, q. v.):

undorn

1. mid-afternoon, answering to the nones of eccl. writers; morgin hétu ok miðjan dag, undorn ok aptan, they called morning and midday, ‘undorn’ and evening, Vsp. 6 (undurn, Hb. l. c.), where undorn is placed midway between noon and eve.

undorn

2. mid-forenoon; um morguninn at undurni, in the morning at undurn time, O. H. l. 65; þá hringt er til miðs-morguns, ok hafa unninn eiðinn fyrr en hringi at undurn (dat.) at Krists-kirkju, when it rings at mid-morning time, and shall have taken the oath ere the bells at Christ’s kirk ring at undurn, n. G. l. i. 308.

undorn

II. a meal; hjuggu vér undurn frekum vargi, we carved a meal for the greedy wolf, i. e. we slew many in the battle, Km. 2; örn drekkr undarn, the eagle drinks undarn, Edda 101 (in a verse of about 1030 A. D.), the various readings (undranar and undjarn) shew that the transcribers did not understand the word. ☞ In the Icel. day-marks only nón (q. v.) is of eccl. Lat. origin; may not undorn be the old heathen term which was displaced by that word? the passage in Vsp. favours this suggestion.

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

Also available in related dictionaries:

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

• Old Icelandic - Geir Zoëga's Dictionary
• Old Norwegian - Johan Fritzner's Dictionary