Note 202 — SECTION VI. EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONS.

Bóndi (of old, Búandi and Bóandi), plur. Buéndr or Bóendr (Germ. Bauer, Eng. Hus-band) included all the owners of landed property and householders (Bú), from the petty freeholder to the franklin, especially the class represented by our yeomen and the “statesmen” of Cumberland and Westmoreland. It is still opposed in Iceland to the “klerkar” (clergy), to the knights, to the barons (Hersir-or Lendir-menn), and to the royal officers (hirð). In more despotic Norway and Denmark, “bóndi” became a word of contempt for the lower classes; and in modern Danish, Bönder means plebs, a boor. Bú, from að búa, to build, to inhabit, is the household and stores, opposed to Bær, the house (Cleasby).