RÆKJA

shrimp

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(-ta, -tr), v. to refuse, reject.

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1.

ð, qs. vrækja, [reka], to reject, refuse; at þér vitið hvat ér skoluð eta, ok hvat ér skoluð rækja, what you shall eat and what reject, Stj. 317; skal hann kenna honum rétta hluti en r. hann eigi, Greg. 27; r. syndir, forsaking the sins, 23; hann fyrirleit ok rækti fórnir hans, 656 A. i. 4; þann ilm skal hverr Kristinn maðr r. er heiðnir menn göra fyrir skurð-goðum, Hom. 53.

2.

t, (i. e. rœkja), [A. S. rêcan, pret. rohte; Engl. reck, reckon; Hel. röcjan; Dan. rögte; Scot. raik]:—to reck, regard, take care of, heed, cultivate; klæði er ér lítt rækit, Am.; skulu vér r. húðföt vár, let us keep to our hammocks, Orkn. 274; ræki ek eigi, hvárt þú rítr …, I reck not, whether, Skálda 161; mun ek eigi rækja (heed) fjár-skaða minn, 655 iii. 2; r. kirkjur, N. G. L. i. 339, Fms. viii. 410; rækja hátíð, Barl. 150; rækja eigi ættmenn sína, Fs. 31: to keep a grateful remembrance of, rækti Árni þetta allt saman þegar er hann var biskup orðinn, Bs. i. 680: but in mod. usage also in a bad sense, rækja e-ð við e-n, to bear malice.

☞ By assimilation of æ and œ two sets of words, diametrically opposed in sense, have become identical in form and sound, viz. those from rækja qs. vreka, and those from rækja qs. rœkja, with their derivatives; in olden times they were sounded differently: but when all distinction between them was lost, one of them had to give way; this was rækja from reka, which, with its derivatives, except rækr (rejected), is now obsolete, whereas rækja, i. e. rœkja, with its derivatives, is still in full use.