FASTA

fast

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I)

(að), v. to fast, abstain from food; f. þurt, to fast on dryfood.

II)

f.

1) fast, fasting;

2) season appointed for fasting (níu vikna f.).

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u, f. [Ulf. fastubni; O. H. G. fastá; Germ. faste; Swed. fasta; Dan. faste; a word introduced along with Christianity; the old Scandinavians could have no such word, as voluntary fasting was unknown in the heathen rites, and at the first introduction of Christianity the practice was sorely complained of, cp. Hkr. Hák. S. Góða, ch. 17]:—a fast, fasting, Hom. 73, K. Þ. K. 122, Rb. 82; the word therefore occurs first in poets of the beginning of the 11th century, e. g. Fms. vi. 86, cp. boð-f., lög-f., etc.

COMPDS: föstuafbrigð, föstubindandi, föstudagr, Föstudagsnótt, Föstukveld, föstumatr, Föstumorgin, Föstunátt, föstutíð, föstutími.

II. Lent, Fms. viii. 28, Ld. 320, N. G. L. i. 12; distinction is made between the Easter Lent, (sjö-vikna Fasta, seven weeks Lent, also called langa F., the long Fast, K. Þ. K. 122, Bs. i. 801, and passim; níu-vikna F., the nine weeks Lent, K. Þ. K. 122, Grág. i. 325), and Jóla-f., (the Yule Lent, the time from Advent to Yule, Grág. l. c., Rb. 46, K. Þ. K. 124.) Föstu-gangr or Föstu-ígangr and -inngangr, m. beginning of these seasons, esp. Lent; fimm eru föstu-ígangar, Clem. 58, Sturl. iii. 81, Rb. 4 (v. l.), 48, 76. Föstu-prédikan, f. a Lenten sermon. Föstu-tjald, n. hangings used in churches during Lent, Vm. 52, 109.