steina-brú

f. a stone-bridge, stone-arch, a natural one, not made by human hands, hence the phrase, gamall sem steinabrú, old as a stone bridge = ‘stone-old,’ Fas. iii. 61, cp. Ht. (fine): the very phrase shews the ancient Scandinavians, like the old Germans, knew not the arch, as their buildings were all of wood, cp. Tacit. Germ. 16, Herodian. vii. 2: indeed, stone masonry first became known after the introduction of Christianity.