ávarðr

adj. [from á- intens. and verja, part, variðr, contr. varðr, protectus], an interesting old word; with dat., a. e-m, protected by one, but only used of a man in relation to the gods, in the phrase, goðum ávarðr, a client or darling of the gods, used as early as by Egil, Ad. 20, and also three or four times in prose; at hann mundi Frey (dat.) svá a. fyrir blótin, at hann mundi eigi vilja at freri á milli þeirra, Gísl. 32; skilja þeir at þeir ern mjök ávarðir goðunum, Róm. 292; so also of God, ef hann væri svá á. Guði, sem hann ætlaði, Bs. i. 464.