Note 248 — SECTION VIII. TAXATION—COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES—PRICES AND IMPORTS—COMMUNICATION AND COMMERCE—VISIT TO THE STORE.

In the plur. Aurar is supposed to be corrupted from Aurum, as the coins first known to Scandinavia were Roman and Byzantine, Saxon and English. It was applied to coinage opposed to baugr, gold or silver rings. Hence the phrase “Aurar ok óðal,” money and land. Ær or Ör was probably the name of a small coin; so the modern Swedish Öre is a coin worth less than a farthing, and the Norsk Ort (contracted from Örttog, Örtug, Ærtog, or Ertog) is the fifth part of a specie dollar (Cleasby). Upon the ancient money of Iceland the reader will consult Dr Dasent’s Burnt Njal, ii. 397.