SKAUNN

m., poët. a shield, Edda (Gl.); prop. a ‘protector,’ akin to Germ. schonen; skaunar seil, the shield strap, Þd. 9. The word also occurs in þing-skaun, the ‘þing-sanctuary’, asylum, within the holy bounds vé-bönd (= þing-helgi?), Fms. ix. 419.

II. Skaun is a freq. local name in Norway, always of fertile meadow-land; [Ulf. skauns = ὡραιος; Germ. schön, whence mod. Dan. skjön is borrowed. This ancient Teut. root word is otherwise quite extinct in the old Scandin. languages, see Munch’s Norg. Beskr. pref. xvi.]