GAMALL

old

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(gömul, gamalt), a.

1) old;

á gamals aldri, in his old age;

opt er gott þat er gamlir kveða, old men’s sayings are often good;

2) old, aged, of a certain age;

hve gamall maðr ertu, how old art thou?

tólf vetra (gen.) gamall, twelve years old.

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contr. forms, gamlan, gamla, gamlir, gamlar, gömlum, etc., fem. sing. and neut. pl. gömul; neut. sing. gamalt; the compar. and superl. from a different root, viz. compar. ellri, superl. ellztr, mod. eldri eldstr or elztr: [not recorded in Ulf., who renders αρχαιος by alþeis; but in A. S. gamol and gomel occur, although rarely even in Beowulf; in mod. Engl. and Germ. it is lost, but is in full use in all Scandin. dialects; Swed. gammal; Dan. gammel; Norse gamal, fem. gomol, Ivar Aasen]:

I. old, Lat. senex; in the sayings, þeygi á saman gamalt og ungt, Úlf. 3. 44; opt er gott þat er gamlir kveða, Hm. 134, Fb. i. 212; íllt að kenna gömlum hundi að sitja; gamlir eru elztir, old are the eldest, i. e. the most cunning, clever; tvisvar verðr gamall maðr barn; engi verðr eldri en gamall; en þótt konungr þessi sé góðr maðr … þá mun hann þó eigi verða ellri en gamall, Fms. iv. 282; faðir minn var gamall, Nj. 31; g. spámaðr, an old spae-man, 656 B. 12; hence gamals-aldr, m. old age, Ld. 4, Fms. ii. 71: compds, af-garnall, fjör-g., eld-g., q. v.; cp. also ör-gemlir = Germ. uralt, a giant in Edda.

2. grown up, old, of animals; arðr-uxi gamall, Grág. i. 502; gamlir sauðir, old rams; gjalda grís fyrir gamalt svín, Ó. H. 86; fyrr á gömlum uxanum at bæsa en kálfinum, a pun, Fms. vi. 28.

3. old, of things, freq. in mod. usage, but the ancients use gamall of persons or living things, and distinguish between gamall and forn (q. v.); a man is ‘gamall,’ but he wears ‘forn’ klæði (old clothes), thus in the verse Fms. xi. 43 gamall prob. refers to Gorm and not to land; Merl. 1. 61 is corrupt; vide gjallr (below); gamall siðr, Anal. 187, does not appear in Fb. iii. 401 (the original of the mod. text in Anal.)

II. old, aged, of a certain age; nokkurra vetra gamall, some years old, Fms. xi. 78; fjögurra vetra gömul, Þiðr. 221; hve gamall maðr ertu, how old art thou? Ísl. ii. 220; tólf vetra gamall, 204; fimm, sex, vetra gamall, Grág. i. 502; vetr-gamall, a winter old; árs-gamall, a year old; misseris-gamall, half a year old; nætr-g., a night old, etc.

III. in pr. names, hinn Gamli is added as a soubriquet, like ‘major’ in Lat., to distinguish an older man from a younger man of the same name; hinn gamli and hinn ungi also often answer to the Engl. ‘father and son;’ thus, Hákon Gamli and Hákon Ungi, old and young H., Fms.; also, Jörundr Gamli, Ketilbjörn Gamli, Örlygr Gamli, Bragi Gamli, Ingimundr hinn Gamli, etc., vide Landn.; Ari hinn Gamli, Bs. i. 26, to distinguish him from his grandson Ari Sterki; cp. the Lat. Cato Major: in some of the instances above it only means the old = Lat. priscus.

B. The compar. is ellri and superl. ellztr; eigi ellra en einnar nætr, 1812. 57; fjórtan vetra gamall eðr ellri, K. Á. 190; enir ellri synir Brjáns, Nj. 269; inn ellzti, 38; ellztr bræðranna, Grág. i. 307; hann var ellztr, Eg. 27, Fms. i. 20, passim.