deigja

I)

(-ða, -ðr), v. to make soft, to weaken.

II)

f. servantmaid, dairymaid (deigja eðr önnur hjún).

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1.

u, f. a dairy-maid; this word is the humble mother of the Engl. lady, qs. la-dy (vide p. 76. s. v. brauð). A. S. hlæf-dige = bread-maid; cp. Norse bú-deigja (q. v.). Chaucer’s dey (a maner dey), and West Engl. day- (or dey-) house, a dairy. The deigja in old Norse farms was the chief maid, but still a bondwoman, N. G. L. i. 70, H. E. i. 510; öll ertú d. dritin. Ls. 56, where it is curiously enough addressed to the daughter of Byggvir (bygg = barley), a handmaid of the gods; deigja seems to mean a baker-woman, and the word no doubt is akin to deig, dough, and Goth. deigan, to knead, the same person being originally both dairy-woman and baker to the farm: in Icel. the word is never used, but it survives in the Norse bu-deia, sæter-deia, agtar-deia, reid-deia (Ivar Aasen), and Swed. deja, = a dairy-maid.

2.

u, f. wetness, dump.