álpt

more correctly álft, f. the common í eel. word for swan, Lat. cygnus; svan is only poët.; all local names in which the swan appears, even those of the end of the 9th century, use ‘álpt,’ not ‘svan,’ Álpta-fjörðr, -nes, -mýri, v. the local index to the Landn.; Svanshóll comes from a proper name Svan. Probably akin to Lat. albus; the t is fem. Inflexion; the p, instead of f, a mere change of letter; cp. the proverb, þegar hrafninn verðr hvítr en álptin svört, of things that never will happen: pl. álptir, but sometimes, esp. in Norse, elptr or elftr; the change of the original a (alft) into á (álft) is of early date, Grág. ii. 338, 346, Eg. 132, Landn. 57; in all these passages pl. álptir; but elptr, Jb. 217, 309. Respecting the mythical origin of the swan, v. Edda 12; they are the sacred birds at the well of Urda.