brúðbekkr

m. the bride’s bench; in old wedding feasts the bride and bridesmaids were seated on the bride’s bench, the bride in the middle; the ladies were seated on the pallr or þverpallr (the dais or ladies’ bench), turning their faces to look down the hall; the brúðbekkr was the seat of honour, and the central part of the dais; cp. the phrase, brúðr sat ‘a midjum palli,’ i. e. ‘á brúðbekk,’ Ld. 296, Sd. 151, Lv. 37, Ísl. ii. 250, Nj. 50; vide bekkr, pp. 56, 57.