FAÐMR

(-s, -ar), m.

1) the out-stretched or embracing arms; sofa (liggja) í faðmi e-m, to sleep (lie) in one’s arms; leggjast í faðma, to embrace each other; fallast í faðma, to be set off against each other, balance each other (málin vóru í dóm lagin, ok féllust vígin í faðma);

2) bosom (legg hönd þína í sjálfs þíns faðm);

3) a measure of length, fathom.

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m. [cp. Goth. faþa = φραγμός; A. S. fæðem; Engl. fathom; O. H. G. fadam; Germ. faden or fadem = Lat. filum; Dan. favn; Swed. famn; the root is akin to that of Gr. πετάννυμι, cp. Lat. patere, pandere, prop. to stretch out]:—a fathom:

1. a measure = two passus, Hb. 732. 5, Grág. ii. 262, 336, Landn. 35, 131, Fms. viii. 416, Eluc. 43, Gísl. 14; very freq. used in measuring depths or heights; thus fertugt djúp, þrítugr hamarr, etc. invariably means forty fathoms deep, thirty fathoms high; whereas roads are measured by ‘fet’, stuffs, etc. by ‘ells’.

2. the arms; brjóst ok f., Fms. v. 344, Sturl. i. 214, Rm. 16, Th. 9, Am. 73; sofa í faðmi e-m, to sleep in one’s arms, Hm. 114; hafa barn í faðmi, Fms. vii. 31: the bosom, Stj. 260. Exod. iv. 6: often in the phrase, fallask í faðma, to square one thing with another, set off against, Landn. 307, Orkn. 224, Glúm. 396, Bs. i. 696, Fs. 139, Gullþ. 19.