greiða

From Old Norse greiða (“to arrange; fit out; comb”), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną.

greiða (third person singular past indicative greiddi, third person plural past indicative greiddu, supine greitt)

1. to straighten out, to order, to arrange, to unknot
2. to comb
3. to answer, to resolve
4. to prepare
5. to commit, to deliver, to give over
6. greiða frá: to tell, to report, to recount, to explain

   Hann dugir væl at greiða frá.

   He can explain things well.

From Old Norse greiða (“to arrange; fit out; comb”), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkreiːða/

  Rhymes: -eiːða

greiða f (genitive singular greiðu, nominative plural greiður)

1. comb

• (comb): kambur

greiða (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative greiddi, supine greitt)

1. to comb

   Þú ættir að greiða hárið á þér. Það er orðið svo úfið.

   You should comb your hair. It’s become really ruffled.

2. to pay, to discharge (a debt)

   Ég greiddi 1206 krónur fyrir matinn.

   I paid 1206 krónur for the food.

• (to comb): kemba
• (to pay): borga

• endurgreiða
• greiðsla

From Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to arrange, set in order”).

greiða (singular past indicative greiddi, plural past indicative greiddu, past participle greiddr)

1. to unravel, disentangle, arrange
2. (with hár) to comb or dress the hair
3. to make or get ready

   Greiða til vað

   To get ready a fishing line

   Greiða til um vápn

   To get the weapons ready

4. to speed, to further
   1. (reflexive) to be successful, get on

      Greiddist honum vel

      He got on well

      (literally, “It sped well with him”)

5. to pay
   1. (with fram) to pay out
6. to discharge, perform
   1. (with skírsl) to perform the ordeal
   2. (with vörður) to keep watch
   3. (with róðr) to pull at the oars
   4. (with atróðr, atlaga) to attack (in a sea-fight)
   5. (with mál) to settle a case

• Icelandic: greiða
• Faroese: greiða
• Norwegian: (dialectal) greia, greide
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: greia, greida
  • Norwegian Bokmål: greie
  • → Danish: greje
  • → Swedish: greja
• Swedish: gre, greda
• Danish: grede
  • Norwegian Bokmål: gre
• → Middle English: graithen, greithen
  • English: graith
  • Scots: graith
• → Old French: greer, greier
  • French: gréer

• “greiða”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press