mis-göng

n. pl., mis-ganga, u, f., Orkn. 266: in the Kb. spelt miss-öng, even in the very old vellums 1812 and 625; which may be the true, and misgöng a later etymologising form, from miss and an inflexive -ang, cp. hunang, analogous to misseri, q. v.

B. ‘Mis-tide,’ ‘tide-change,’ i. e. the spring tides at new moon and at full moon; the spring at full moon was called missöng in meiri, high spring tide, opp. to missöng in minni, the low springs at new moon; as to the seasons, the midsummer springs (the sun in Cancer) were called high, as opp. to the low spring tides at midwinter time (the sun in Capricorn), see the Rb.; geisar þá flóðit miklu meirr en áðr ok köllu vér þat in meiri misgöng, verða þá misgöng at nýi meiri en áðr, 732. 1, 4; en ek veit at þér flytisk eigi ór höfninni fyrir misgöngin, not before the next spring tide, Ísl. ii. 127 (where misgöngin is = misgöng in meiri); þau flóð köllu vér missöng at nýi hverju, … köllu vér þat en meiri missöng, … tungl er fullt eðr ekki at sýn þá er missöng eru ok fjara verðr nær miðdegi eðr miðnætti, … verða þá missöng at nýi meir en áðr, Rb. 442, 444, 448, 478: the vellum 732 uses mostly misgöng or misgavng; thus, en þá er tunglit stendr gegnt sól eru misgöng af vellu sólar-hita … sól í Krabba-merki ok misgöng, … sól í Steingeitar-merki ok misgöng minni …; again, ok þau köllu vér flóð missöng at nýi hverju, see Ísl. ii. 512 (the foot-note); þeir mundi þess bíða, þá er á stæðisk misganga straumanna (= the spring tide), ok austan-veðr, þvíat þá er varla fært milli Vestreyjar ok Hrosseyjar, Orkn. 266. The word is now obsolete, and instead of it Icel. say stór-straumr, stór-streymt, = spring tide, opp. to smá-straumr, smá-streymt, = neap tide, which words, on the other hand, do not occur in old writers: miðs göng, = waning moon, is still said to be in use in eastern Iceland.