meiðr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *maidaz (“post”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“stake, pole”). Compare Old Armenian մոյթ (moytʻ).

Noun

meiðr m

1. longitudinal beam; sledge-runner
2. pole, log
3. tree, gallows tree
   • Hávamál, verse 138

     Veit ek, at ek hekk vindga meiði á
     nætr allar níu, geiri undaðr […]

     I know, that I hung on a windy tree
     for nine full nights, wounded by a spear […]

Declension

  Declension of meiðr (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	meiðr	meiðrinn	meiðar	meiðarnir
accusative	meið	meiðinn	meiða	meiðana
dative	meiði	meiðinum	meiðum	meiðunum
genitive	meiðs	meiðsins	meiða	meiðanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: meiður
• Norwegian Nynorsk: mei
• Norwegian Bokmål: mei, meie
• Elfdalian: mįeð
• Swedish: med, mede
• Danish: mede

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “meiðr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive
• Guus Kroonen (2013) “maida-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN