Vápna-tak

Old Norse Dictionary - vápna-tak

Meaning of Old Norse word "vápna-tak" in English.

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

vápna-tak Old Norse word can mean:

vápna-tak
n. [A. S. wæpen-getæc; Engl. wapentake]
vápna-tak
I. a weapon-grasping, a law phrase; in their assemblies the ancients used to express their consent bv waving or brandishing their weapons, ‘si placuit [sententia] frameas concutiunt, honoratissimum assensus genus est armis laudare,’ Tacit. Germ. ch. 11; ‘more Dacorum tela mutuae voluntatis pacto una concusserunt,’ Dudo De Moribus et Actis Normannorum, iii. 96; ‘collisione armorum et contactu,’ Andreas Suneson (Lex Scan.); var Sverri gefit konungs-nafn á þessu átta-fylkna-þingi ok dæmt með vápna-taki. FmS. viii. 41; æptu allir upp með vápna-taki, at þeir skyldi allir vera útlægir, Hkr. iii. 325, v. l.
vápna-tak
2. metaph. a vote or decree, resolution passed at a public assembly; veita göra vápnatak, eiga v. at e-u; skulu þingmenn honum jörð dæma ok veita honum v. til þess, at hann knegi verja jörð sína með lögum ok dómi, n. G. l. i. 89; þá eigu býjar-menn at leggja dóm á ok veita v. at, Grág. ii. 409 (referring to Norway); beiddi þess alla er á vóru þinginu, liðsmenn, bændr ok bæjarmenn, at þeir skyldi göra v. at því, at dæma með lögum …, FmS. vii. 293; áttu þeir handfesti ok v. at þessu heiti er konungr mælti fyrir, viii. 55; var þá gört lögtekit, ok átt v. at, at Sveinn konungr skyldi kjósa þann af sonum sínum sem hann vildi til konungs eptir sik í Danmörk, xi. 213; njóti sá vátta sinna ok æsti bændr vápnataks, n. G. l. i. 250; þá eigu þingmenn honum með vápnataki jörð at skeyta, 96; ef maðr rýfr þann dóm er dæmdr er á alþingi, ok v. er at átt innan Lögréttu ok útan, JS. 7, n. G. l. ii. 190; ok vér saman settum ok samþyktum ok lýst vár þá í Túnsbergi fyrir almúganum ok v. á tekit (resolved) at fyrir lög skyldi dæma …, iii. 206.
vápna-tak
II. in the Icel. parliament (alþingi) the word assumed a peculiar sense, for in the Grág. ‘vápnatak’ means the breaking up of the session, when the men resumed their weapons, which had been laid aside during the session (see vápnaburðr, vápn A); þat skal vera fjórtán nóttum eptir vápnatak, en þat heitir v. er alþýða ríðr af alþingi, Hrafn. 19, referring to the middle of the 10th century, where however it may be an anachronism; but in the Grágás and in Icel. of the 12th and 13th centuries it was a standing term, see Grág. passim; eptir vápnatak, i. 80; fjórtán nóttum eptir vápnatak, 123, 194, ii. 178.
vápna-tak
III. in that part of England which formed the ancient Denelagu, ‘wæpentak’ or ‘wapentagia’ came to mean a subdivision, answering to ‘hundred’ in the Saxon shireS. Although altered in sense, this word was no doubt imported from the Danish, for in Leges Edvardi Confessoris, ch. 30, the words ‘sub lege Anglorum’ and ‘lingua Anglica’ are simply an error of a scribe for Danorum, Danica, for ‘taka’ is not A. S., but Norse, see Konrad Maurer, Germania xiv. 317 sqq.

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

Abbreviations used:

A. S.
Anglo-Saxon.
Engl.
English.
gl.
glossary.
l.
line.
n.
neuter.
S.
Saga.
ch.
chapter.
Germ.
German.
m.
masculine.
v.
vide.
v. l.
varia lectio.
L.
Linnæus.
metaph.
metaphorical, metaphorically.
Icel.
Iceland, Icelander, Icelanders, Icelandic.

Works & Authors cited:

Fms.
Fornmanna Sögur. (E. I.)
Hkr.
Heimskringla. (E. I.)
Grág.
Grágás. (B. I.)
Js.
Járnsíða. (B. III.)
N. G. L.
Norges Gamle Love. (B. II.)
Hrafn.
Hrafnkels 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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