norðrljós

n. [Dan. nordlys], the northern lights, polar light, aurora borealis, in mod. usage only in plur.: an ancient description of the northern lights is given in the Sks. ch. 19 (by a Norwegian writer). From the words—eða þat er Grænlendingar kalla norðrljós, Sks. 74—it appears that the Icel. settlers of Greenland were the first who gave a name to this phenomenon; the author of the Sks. also describes the northern lights as they appeared in Greenland.