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OATHS. 239
same time as an example of the craftiness which was
sometimes employed on such occasions ; for Glum,
who actually had committed the murder, from
which he intended to clear himself on oath, had
craftily arranged his words in so ambiguous a man-
ner that, when critically examined, they contained a
direct confession of the murder. The ambiguity
which lies in the use of the particle at—which as a
suflSx in the Old-Norse signifies both not and at, or
present at—cannot be expressed in the translation.
The witnesses seemed to think the formula which
Glum made use of to 'be rather unusual, but did not
notice the trick imtil a more sagacious chieftain
showed them, some time afterward, how they had
been humbugged. Ghim's mm-der case was again
taken up by the Supreme Court (Al-J)ing), and to
escape outlawry he had to give over the half of his
estate to the son of the murdered man, as a
penalty.*
The former of the above cited oath-formulas was
doubtless used before the Courts of Justice of
heathendom, not only in Iceland but also in Nor-
way, from whence the inhabitants of that island
brought it with them. Frey, JSTjorS, and Odin, who
were probably meant by the term Almighty As,
were thferefore the Deities generally called to wit-
ness in Oaths ;
sometimes, however, the term As or
Odin only was employed, as is seen in the second
formula.
Out of Courts they made use of other oaths, a§
* Viga-Gl. S. 26.