leiðangr

Old Norse

Etymology

From leiða (“to lead”) +‎ angr (“narrowing, tightening, squeezing”, the literal sense behind “affliction, distress”). For the sense development of leiðangr, compare English press, press-gang (“the forcing of men into the navy”). See also Old Norse árangr (“produce of the earth brought forth in a year”), einangr (“narrow passage”), and farangr (“baggage”) and Icelandic berangur (“open space”, literally “bare narrowness”).

Noun

leiðangr m (genitive leiðangrs)

1. lething; a levy, especially by sea (including men, ships and money)
2. war contribution, war tax

Declension

  Declension of leiðangr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	leiðangr	leiðangrinn	leiðangrar	leiðangrarnir
accusative	leiðangr	leiðangrinn	leiðangra	leiðangrana
dative	leiðangri	leiðangrinum	leiðǫngrum	leiðǫngrunum
genitive	leiðangrs	leiðangrsins	leiðangra	leiðangranna

Descendants

• Icelandic: leiðangur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: leidang
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: leidang
• Swedish: ledung
• Danish: leding
  • Norwegian Bokmål: leding
• → English: lething
• → Russian: лейданг (lejdang)

References

“leiðangr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press