þreskjöldr

m. [this word is derived from þreskja and völlr, and prop. means a threshing-floor, because in ancient times the floor at the entrance was used for threshing, but it then came to mean the block of wood or stone beneath the door, doorsill or threshold; and that in ancient times it was so, is borne out by phrases as, Gríma sat á þreskeldi, Fbr.; or, stíga yfir þresköldinn, Eb. l. c.; or, þresköldrinn var hár fyrir durunum, O. H. L. 85; see the references. The latter part of the compd, -öldr, is from a time when the older ld had not as yet become assimilated into ll. The word is declined like völlr; nom. þreskjöldr, or, dropping the j, þresköldr: acc. þreskjöld or þresköld, Bs. i. 44, Fms. v. 140, Fbr. 14, Korm. 10, Eb. 220, Fs. 68, Edda ii. 122, Hkr. iii. 116, N. G. L. i. 18, 431: dat. þreskeldi, Fms. ii. 149, Fbr. 98 new Ed., N. G. L. i. 18, 431; in rhymes eldhúss þreskeldi, Kormak: nom. plur. þreskeldir, Bs. i. 736; acc. þresköldu, Stj. 436 (spelt þrescavlldo): examples are wanting of gen. sing. and plur.

2. but as the etymology was forgotten, the forms soon got confused, e. g. the curious various readings to N. G. L. ii. 110, þreskilldi, þreskjalda, þreskalda, þreskalla, þreskaldi, þreskolli, þreskæli, all dat.: acc. sing. changing ö into e, þreskelld, Stj. 436 (Cod. A): dat. changing e into i, þreskildi (as if from skjöldr), H. E. i. 496, N. G. L. ii. l. c. The form þrepskjöldr, found in mod. Icel. books, is a bad attempt at an etymology, as if it were derived from þrep and skjöldr. The form tréskjöldrinn, O. H. L. 85. l. 21, is prob. merely a scribe’s error,

3. at last came the mod. form þröskuldr, declined as a regular substantive (like Höskulldr), Sturl. iii. 33; [A. S. þerscwold or þerscold; Engl. threshold; Dan. tærskel; O. H. G. dirscuwili.]

B. A threshold, passim, see above.

2. metaph. an isthmus or ridge flooded at high water, between the mainland and an island; þeir réru inn til Arneyjar-sunds …; var þar svá, til farit at þröskuldr lá á sundinu, en djúpt at tvá vega, var þar riðit at fjörum, en eigi flóðum, Sturl. iii. 33 (the ridges leading to the island Langey, in Skarðströnd in western Icel., are still locally called ‘Þröskuldar’).

II. metaph. as a gramm. term, a figure of speech, when one word ends and the next begins with the same consonant; þenna löst köllu vér þresklld, Skálda (Edda ii. 122; þræsklld, 412, l. c.)