TÖNN

ton

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m. musical sound, tone.

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f., this word (like nagl, q. v.) was originally a masc. tann or tannr, like maðr, mannr, of which gender there are remnants in pr. names, Hildi-tannr, gen. Hildi-tanns, Edda (in a verse); dat. Hildi-tanni, see hildr B; it then became fem. tönn, gen. tannar, dat. acc. tönn, gen. pl. tanna, dat. tönnum; nom. pl. tenn (as if from maðr), skakkar tenn rhymes with menn, Skíða R. 5, 9; litlar tenn, Al. 3; with article, tennrnar, Fms. xi. 139; brjóta tenn ór höfði manns, Grág. ii. 11; acc. tennar, Bs. i. 641, l. 21 (perh. an error); old poët. pl. teðr rhyming with veðr, Lex. Poët.; mod. plur. is tönnur: [a word common to all Indo-Germ. languages; Goth. tunþus; A. S. tóð; Engl. tooth, pl. teeth; O. H. G. zand; Germ. zahn; Dan. and Swed. tand; Lat. dent-is; Gr. ὀ-δόντ-ος]:—a tooth, including the sense of tusk; teðr hans, Eluc. 49; ór tönnum, Nj. 185; með tönnum, Eg. 233: phrases, glotta um tönn, or við tönn, to grin scornfully, Edda 30, Nj. 182, Ó. H. 114; rjóða tönn á e-m, to redden one’s teeth, taste blood, metaph. from a beast of prey; hefi ek nú nakkvat roðit tönn á þeim er ek tók höndum Hákon jarl, Ó. H. 32: allit., tönn ok tunga, hafa tönn og tungu á öllu, to have tooth and tongue on everything, of a quick-witted child learning to speak; tungan vefst um tönn, see tunga; tungan leikr við tanna sár, the tongue touches on the tooth-wound, a saying, Mkv.; tæja tanna, see tæja; fram-tennr, the front teeth.

2. a tusk (of the walrus), Krók. ch. 9, Bs. i. 641; biskups-staf af tönn görvan … grafa tönn, to carve, Bs. i. 143, cp. Skíða R. 199: a thing worked in walrus-tusk, Máríu-skript með tönn …, húslker með tönn, Vm. 22, 54; buðkr með tönn, B. K. 84: in Icel. an ivory box, scent-box, snuff-box, or the like, is called tönn.

3. metaph. the tooth or iron of a plane, hefil-tönn: poët., lagar-tönn, ‘sea-tooth’ = a stone; foldar tönn, ‘earth-tooth,’ id., Lex. Poët.: the golden teeth of Heimdal, the Lucifer of the Northern mythology, represent the rays of the dawn.

4. hildi-tönn, a dog-tooth, usually called víg-tönn; skögul-tönn or skæl-tönn, a tusk; cp. tann-.

COMPDS: tannafar, tannagangr, tannagnastran, tannagnistran.