HÚNN

knob

* * *

I)

(-s, -ar), m. the knob at the top of the mast-head; draga segl við hún (í hún upp), vinda upp segl við húna, to hoist a sail to the top.

II)

(-s, -ar), m.

1) bear’s cub;

2) urchin, boy (poet.).

* * *

1.

m. [Gr. κωνος], a knob: naut. the knob at the top of the mast-head; draga segl við hún, or í hún upp, or vinda upp segl við húna, to hoist a sail to the top, Ó. H. 17, Tríst. 8, Fas. iii. 410.

COMPDS: húnbora, húndreginn, húnkastali, húnspænir.

2. the knob at a staff’s end; stafs-húnn, the knob on a door handle etc.: a slice, skera svá breiðan hún til beins er bast er langt, of a whale’s blubber, N. G. L. i. 59.

3. a piece in a game, prob. from its cone-like shape: from the phrase, verpa húnum, to cast (throw) the piece ‘hún,’ it seems to follow that this game was either similar to the Gr. δίσκος or rather to the mod. nine pins; þeirs í Haralds túni húnum verpa, Hornklofi, Fagrsk. 5 (in a verse); in Rm. 32 the ‘hundum verpa’ is no doubt a false reading for ‘húnum verpa;’ the riddle in Hervar. S., (where the answer is, þat er húninn í hnettafli,) is obscure and corrupt in the text, for the hnettafl or hneftafl (q. v.) was quite a different game.

2.

m. a young bear, Kormak, Fas. i. 367, Fb. i. 253, Nj. 35, Landn. 176, Fs. 26, Stj. 530, passim; bjarnar-húnn, a bear’s young: in local names, Húna-flói, Húna-vatn, Húnavatns-þing, -sýsla, Landn.; Húnavatns-leið, Fms. iii. 21.

II. metaph. an urchin, boy, Vkv. 22, 30, 32, Gh. 12.