fjörðr

m., gen. fjarðar; dat. firði; pl. firðir, gen. fjarða: acc. fjörðu, mod. firði: [Swed.-Dan. fjord; North. E. and Scot. firth, frith; Engl. ford is a kindred word, but not identical]:—a firth, bay, a Scandin. word; but a small crescent-formed inlet or creek is called vík, and is less than fjörðr, hence the saying, fjörðr milli frænda, en vík milli vina, let there be a firth between kinsmen, but a creek between friends, denoting that kinship is not always so trustworthy as friendship: the allit. phrase, fjall ok fjörðr, vide fjall; freq. in Icel. and Scandin. local names combined with some other word expressing the shape, etc., Breiði-f., Mjófi-f., Djúpi-f., Grunni-f., Eyja-f., Lima-f. or Eylíma-f., Arnar-f., Alpta-f., Vatns-f., etc. In Icel. and old Scandin. countries the shore districts are freq. divided into counties, bearing the name of the firth, just as the inland is divided into dales; thus Eyja-f. and Skaga-f. denote both the firth and the county bordering on the firth. The western and eastern parts of Icel. are called Vest-firðir and Aust-firðir; in Norway a county is called Firðir; cp. Rb. 324 sqq., where over a hundred names of Icel. fjords are recorded, Landn. (Index), and the Sagas: fjarða-gol, n. a breeze blowing off a fjord, Fær. 203, Fms. iv. 302; fjarðar-botn, m. the bottom or head of a fjord, Eb. 188; fjarðar-horn, n. the creek at the head of a fjord, Gísl. 55, also freq. as a local name; fjarðar-íss, m. fjord-ice, Eb. 242, Bs. i. 327; fjarðar-kjöptr or fjarðar-minni, n. the mouth (opening) of a fjord, Sturl. i. 121, Hkr. iii. 118; fjarðar-menn, m. pl. the inhabitants of a fjord county, Sturl. ii. 199.