GRÆNN

green

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(i. e. grœnn), adj. [not recorded in Ulf., as Luke xxiii. 31 and Mark vi. 39 are lost; A. S. grêne; Engl. green; Hel. grôni; O. H. G. kruoni; Genn. grün; Swed.-Dan. grön; derived from gróa, to grow]:—green, of verdure; grænn laukr, a green leech, Vsp. 4; er haugr hans ávallt grænn vetr ok sumar, Landn. 86; græn jörð ok fögr, Edda 44; grænt sumar, a green summer, Anal. 217; grænir dalar, green dales, Karl. 266; grænt klæði, H. E. i. 492; grænn sem sjór, Rb. 354.

2. fresh; grænt kjöt, fresh meat, Stj. 493; grænn fiskr, fresh fish, Þiðr. 70, Bs. ii. 144.

II. metaph. green, hopeful, good; þá er hóf at, ok væntum at nokkut grænt mun fyrir liggja, then it is well, and let us hope that some green spot may lie ahead, Fs. 24; sá mun nú grænstr (the most hopeful choice) at segja satt, Finnb. 226; flyt þú mik aptr til eyjar minnar, ok mun sá grænstr, and that will be the best thou canst do, 258; þeir leitaðu brott, síðan þeir sá engan annan grænna, Karl. 212.

III. in local names, Græna-land, n. the green land, Greenland, Íb. ch. 6, whence Græn-lendingar, m. pl. Greenlanders, i. e. the Norse or Icel. settlers; but in mod. usage the Esquimaux, who only came into Greenland about the 14th century: Græn-lenzkr, adj. of Greenland; Atlamál hin Grænlenzku, Atlakviða hin Grænlenzka, the names of two poems, prob. from their being composed in Greenland; the name is not to be derived from the Norse county Grenland, as the old writers make a strict distinction, using the adjective Grenskr of the Norse county.