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474 P -- PAR.
P P (pé), the fifteenth letter, was not figured in the old Runic alphabet, in which the bjarkan (RUNE) was made to serve for both b and p; it is found only in very late Runes, as e.g. the Runic alphabet of the Danish king Waldemar (died A.D. 1241), where it is figured RUNE or as a dotted RUNE (RUNE), Skálda 177, and the Arna-Magn. Runic MS. II. the p is in Icel. sounded as in Engl., pína = pain, hlaupa = leap. B. REMARKS. -- As all words with p initial have been borrowed at different times from foreign languages, the number of them goes on decreasing the farther we go back into antiquity; this is also the case in other Teutonic languages; the vocabulary in Ulf. presents about seven p words, -- paida, plapja, plats, plinsjan, pungs, prangan, pund; the old A.S. poems about the same number, -- plega, plegjan, pæd, pund, pynd, pyt, pad, peord (while the oldest and best, Beowulf, has none), see Grein. The ancient Icelandic or Norse poems of the heathen age have still fewer than the A.S.; the first words we meet with are penningr, a penny, Bragi; pundari, Egil (see ljóð-pundari); -- which, with some other words beginning with p, are from the heathen age. Along with the introduction of Christianity many such words came in, chiefly through the English, e.g. prestr, pína, pínsl, páskar, páfi, pistill, prédika: through trade from the Norman-English, prúðr, prýði, páll, pallr, pell, poki, partr: and lastly, through the English trade with Iceland in the 15th and 16th centuries, prenta, púðr, petti, peisa, etc.: some few words, too, have since been adopted from the mod. Danish. A few words may be traced to Gaelic, and a few have been traced to the Chudic (Finnish); the scantiness of such words, however, shews better than anything else how very small indeed was the influence these languages had on the Norse, all the more so as the Finnish vocabulary abounds with p words. The letter p in an Icelandic Dictionary stands quite apart from all the other letters, for it is made up of a motley collection of words, incoherent and broken, containing no roots, no great verbs, particles, or such words as make the stock of a genuine vocabulary. The absence of initial p in the Teutonic language is not due to any inability to pronounce it, but to causes inherent to the parent language of the Teutonic as well as the classical languages, for in Greek and Latin the letter b, which, according to Grimm's law, answers to the Teutonic p, stands exactly in the same predicament as p in the Teutonic; there is no single instance of 'lautverschiebung' from a Gr.-Lat. b to a Teut. p (Curtius): no word beginning with p is formed by 'ablaut,' and only a few are derived by 'umlaut' (prýði, pyngja, pæla). For other details see the introduction to letters B and F. PADDA, u, f. [A.S. pada; Dutch padde; Engl. paddock] :-- a toad; ormar, eðlur, froskar, ok pöddur, snakes, lizards, frogs, and toads, Fms. x. 380; mýss ok ormar, eðlur ok pöddur, Ó.H. 109; ekki eitrkvikindi, hvárki ormr né padda, Sks. 88, MS. 623. 26; þar eru eigi höggormar, froskr né padda, there are neither snakes, frogs, nor toads, viz. in Ireland, referring to the tale of St. Patrick, -- a legend taken from a popular etymology of the saint's name, qs. 'padd-reaker,' toad-driver. 2. in Icel., where no amphibia are found, used of any insects or beetles in pools or foul water. Paðreimr, m. -- the GREEK in Constantinople, Fms. vii. 97, xi. 315. pakka,to pack, tie up. pakki, a, m. [Engl. pack], (also pakka, u, f., Grett. 129 A), a pack, bundle, esp. used of bundles of wadmal exported from Icel. and the Faroes, D.N. ii. 559, iii. 451, N.G.L. iii. 207, 209, Bs. i. 812, 842. COMPDS: pakka-lina, u, f. pack-thread, string, N.G.L. iii. 209. pakka-vaðmál, n. common wadmal, H.E. i. 574. paktar, m. pl. [Lat. epactum], the epacts, Rb. passim; pakta tal, -öld, the tale, cycle of epacts, Rb. 4, 6, 70. paktin, m. a nickname, Fms. ix. 472. pal, n.(?); með íllsku pali, Bs. ii. 503 (in a poem). palafrey, m. [late Lat. palafredus], a palfrey, Karl. 495. palans-greifi, a, m. a palgrave, count palatine, Ann. 1223. pall-borð, n. the high table, háborð and pallborð are synonymous, Vm. 84: in the phrase, hann á ekki upp á, pallborðit, he is not up at the high table, i.e. is not made much of. pall-dómar, m. pl. fire-side gossip, = arindómar, q.v. pall-dýna, u, f. = pallkoddi, D.N. pall-klæði, n. a carpet or covering for the pallr, Vm. 109, B.K. 50, D.N., Boldt. pall-koddi, a, m. a cushion, Vm. 55, 109, D.N. PALLR, m. [the etymology of this word, as also the time when and place whence it was borrowed, is uncertain; the true Norse word is bekkr or flet; pallr may be of Norman origin, although it is frequently used in the Sagas referring to the Saga time (10th century); even the benches in the legislative assembly on the alþing were called pallar, not bekkir; but this cannot have been so originally. The word itself is, like páll, probably from Lat. palus, pala = stipes, Du Cange; Engl. pale, palings; in the Icel. it is used of high steps (Lat. gradus), esp. of any high floor or daïs in old dwellings, sometimes = flet (q.v.) or -lopt (q.v.), and lastly of the benches in the hall = bekkr (q.v.) The adoption of the word was probably connected with the change in the floor and seats of the halls, as mentioned in Fagrsk. ch. 219, 220, which arrangement of benches was adopted from Norman England, and is in fact still seen in English college-halls, with the raised high floor at the upper end. In Icel. the ladies were then seated on this daïs (há-pallr, þver-pallr), instead of being placed, according to the older custom, on the left hand along the side walls, see below, II. 2. As the Sagas were written after this had taken place, so the use of the word, e.g. in the Njála (ch. 34 and often), may be an anachronism.] B. A step = Lat. gradus; þessi steinn var útan sem klappaðr væri gráðum eða pöllum, Fms. i. 137; vindur upp at ganga, nítján pallar á bergit, Symb. 56; stíga pall af palli, from step to step, Hom. 140. palla-söngr and palla-sálmi, m. = the 'graduale,' chant, or responsorium 'in gradibus' in the Roman Catholic service, from its being chanted at the steps of the altar; sá söngr heitir pallasöngr þviat hann er fyrir pöllum sunginn, 625. 188, Hom. (St.), Mar.: metaph. degree, enn tólpti pallr ósóma, 677. 1: þrjátigi palla djúpr, Bév. palls-bók, f. 'graduale,' the service-book for the high mass, Játv. ch. 10. II. a daïs with its set of benches; þar skulu pallar þrír vera (three sets of benches) umhverfis lögréttuna, Grág. i. 4; pallinn þann inn úæðra, Eg. 303; Flosi gékk inn í stofuna ok settisk niðr, ok kastaði í pallinn (he threw on the floor) undan sér há-sætinu, Nj. 175; konungr leit yfir lýðinn umhverfis sik á pallana, Fms. vii. 156; hann lá í pallinum, 325; konungr sat í pallinum hjá honum, xi. 366; gékk Þrándr í stofu, en þeir lágu í pallinum, Sigurðr ok Þórðr ok Gautr, Fær. 195. 2. the raised floor or daïs at the upper end of the hall, where the ladies were seated (= þver-pallr, há-p.), konur skipuðu pall, Nj. 11; konur sátu á palli, Ísl. ii. 250; hljópu þeir inn ok til stofu, ok sat Katla á palli ok spann, Eb. 94; hón fal sik í pallinum, she hid herself in the pallr, Landn. 121; var þar hlemmr undir ok holr innan pallrinn, ... þá bað Geirríð brjóta upp pallinn, var Oddr þar fundinn, Eb. 96 :-- mið-pallr, the middle bench; krók-pallr, the corner bench, Skíða R. (where the beggar littered himself). 3. in mod. usage the sitting-room is called pallr, from being elevated a yard or two above the level ground; í hlýindin þar hjónin búa á palli. Snót: hence pall-skör, f. the ridge of the pallr: palls-horn, n. the corner of the pallr, Nj. 220, Sturl. iii. 141. pall-sessa, u, f. = pallkoddi, Dipl. iii. 4. pall-stokkr, m. the ridge or edge of the daïs, Nj. 220, Fms. vii., 325. pall-strá, n. the daïs-straw; verða ellidauðr inni á pallstrám, Hkr. i. 149. panna, u, f. [Lat. patina; Germ. pfanne; Engl. pan], a pan, Dipl. v. 18. 2. [Swed. panna], the skull, head, Skíða R. 168. panta, að, to bet, = veðsetja, Bs. ii. 176. pantr, m. [Germ. pfand], a pledge, Stj. 197; also panta, að, to pawn: the true old Icel. word is veð, q.v. pant-setja, tt, = panta, to pawn, D.N. panzari, a, m. [mid. Lat. panceria; Germ. panzier, from mid. Lat. panzeria = lorica quae ventrem tegit (Du Cange), from panza = abdomen; Fr. pance; Engl. paunch -- stomach] :-- prop. a leather belt worn round the stomach, whence gener. a coat of mail, a jack, Nj. 70, Sks. 375, 400, 405; panzara húfa, Fms. viii. 404; hirð-maðr skal eiga vápntreyju ok útan yfir panzsara eða brynju, N.G.L. ii. 427: a panzari as armour is chiefly mentioned in the 12th and 13th centuries, and is probably an anachronism in the Nj. l.c. papi, a, m. [Lat. papa; Gr. GREEK; cp. early Swed. pæplinger, whence mod. Swed. pebling and Peblinge-söe near Copenhagen; Germ. pfäfflein] :-- a pope, priest; the Irish anchorites were esp. called Papar; traces of such anchorites at the first arrival of the Northmen were found in the east of Icel.; þá vóru hér menn Kristnir þeir es Norðmenn kalla Papa, Jb. ch. 1, Landn. (pref.) These 'monks of the west' had sought this remote desert island in order to shun all intercourse with men, and when the heathen Northmen came to Iceland, the Papas left it; the statement of Ari Fróði in the Landnáma is confirmed by the book of the Irish monk Dicuil (De Mensurâ Orbis), Ed. Paris, 1807. From these Papas are derived some local names, Pap-ey, Papýli, Pap-óss, Papa-fjörðr, map of Icel., Landn. Papeyjar-buxur, f. pl. a kind of wizard breeches, money breeches, see Maurer's Volks. 2. the pope, Landn. 18. pappír, m. [Lat. papyrus], paper; bréf á pappír ok á Látinu skritað, D.N. iii. (a Norse deed, A.D. 1364); all Icel. MSS. and writs (máldagar) of the 14th and 15th centuries were on vellum, and paper came first into general use about or a little before the Reformation; only two leaves on satin paper (a fragment of the Grágás) are preserved in the Arna-Magn. Coll. written in the 12th century or early in the 13th. par, n. [Lat. par], a pair, occurs in the 15th century; hann gaf mér tvenn pör skæða, two pairs of shoes, Skíða R.; par skó, Bs. i. 876; ganga með pörum, by pairs, Mar.: since freq., tvenn pör vetlinga, sokka, two pairs of gloves, socks. II. a paring, scrap; hann fleygði til hennar pörum ok beinum, Clar. :-- the phrase, ekki par, ekki parið, not a paring, not a whit, Bs. ii. 254, 323, 341 (16th century); opt eru kvæða efnin rýr, ekki á stundum parið, Tíma R. (begin.): the word may have come into use in the 15th or 16th century.