hamingja

happiness

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f.

1) guardian spirit;

2) luck, good fortune.

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u, f. luck, fortune; prop. in a personal sense, a guardian spirit, answering to the guardian angel of Christians; derived from hamr, for the guardian spirits of men—and every man had his hamingja—were believed to take the shape sometimes of animals, sometimes and more commonly of human beings, esp. that of women; but they were themselves supernatural beings; that the hamingjur were giant-females proceeding from the great Norns—who were the hamingjur of the world—is borne out by the passage in Vþm. 48, 49. Hamingja and fylgja or fylgju-kona (Hallfred S. ch. 11) seem to be nearly synonymous, as also gæfa, gipta, auðna, heill; but hamingja is the most personal word, and was almost symbolical of family relationship. At the hour of death the hamingja left the dying person and passed into a dear son, daughter, or beloved kinsman; cp. Hallfr. S. ch. 11, and esp. the charming tale in Glúm. ch. 9. One might also impart one’s own good luck to another, hence the phrase leggja sína hamingju með e-m, almost answering to the Christian, ‘to give one’s blessing to another.’ Examples: sögðusk mundu leggja til með honum hamingju sína, Ld. 74; h. ok gæfa, Fms. vi. 165; þú en ústöðuga h., Al. 23; h. konungsins, 22; ok mun kona sjá hans h. vera er fjöllum hærra gékk, Glúm. 345; etja hamingju við e-n, Fb. ii. 65; ok reyna hvat hamingjan vill unna þér, Fs. 4; vilnask (hope) at h. mun fylgja, 23; vera má at þat sé til h. várrar ættar, 11; langæligar nytjar munu menn hafa hans hamingju, Bs. i. 229; forlög ekki forðumst ill | fram kemr það hamingjan vill, Úlf. 3. 69; meiri í hreysti en hamingju, Gullþ. 21; sigri eðr hamingju manns þessa, Fs. 10. It is still used in Icel. almost as Heaven, Providence; það má Hamingjan vita, God knows; eg vildi Hamingjan gæfi, would to Heaven! Guð og Hamingjan, God and Good Luck; treysta Guði og Hamingjunni; eiga undir Hamingjunni, to run the risk; and in similar phrases.

COMPDS: hamingjudrjúgr, hamingjuhjól, hamingjuhlutr, hamingjulauss, hamingjuleysi, hamingjumaðr, hamingjumikill, hamingjumót, hamingjuraun, hamingjusamligr, hamingjuskipti, hamingjuskortr, hamingjutjón.