blóthús

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blōtahūsą. Cognate with Old High German bluozhūs.

Noun

blóthús n (genitive blóthús, plural blóthús)

1. (Germanic paganism) heathen temple, sacrificial hut
   • Óláfs saga helga, ch. 118

     þá stóð konungr upp ok segir, at Læsir ok á Lóm ok á Vága hafa tekit við kristni ok brotit niðr blóthús sín, ok trúa nú á sannan guð

     Then the king stood up and said that Læsir and those of Lom and Vági had accepted Christianity and torn down their sacrificial huts, and now believe in the true god

Declension

Declension of blóthús (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	blóthús	blóthúsit	blóthús	blóthúsin
accusative	blóthús	blóthúsit	blóthús	blóthúsin
dative	blóthúsi	blóthúsinu	blóthúsum	blóthúsunum
genitive	blóthús	blóthúsins	blóthúsa	blóthúsanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: blóthús
• Norwegian Bokmål: blothus
• Swedish: blothus

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “blóthús”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press
• “blóthús” in Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (ONP) at University of Copenhagen