ANGLO-SAXON COLLECTION THE BEQIJEST OF Professor of English Literature in the Cornell. Untversxty 18T0-1911 JUN 1 9 m DATE DUE tgztimœn ^: tperiT tg^Hp^- ŒCfc^^íT-g" mwfBGV S^~h6JZ? Aft H^fegfr^ j toner >m- i\ 1 IQfr , i^^^H89^ Cornell University Library PD 2235.B35 An elementary grammar of the OMNorse o 3 1924 009 698 675 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924009698675 >f AN ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR OF THE OLD NORSE OR ICELANDIC LANGUAGE. REV. GEORGE BAYLDON. WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; and 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 1870. t\? u^^ ;> PREFACE. Ahe varied and vigorous literature of ancient Scandinavia will amply repay the student for the labour which he can bestow upon it, and to facilitate his acquisition of the language in which it is embodied is the object of this little work. With this view , I have aimed at the utmost brevity con- sistent with completeness and precision , avoiding all those elaborate details which can only interest the advanced scholar. Stating merely those rules which must necessarily be mastered, I have endeavoured through simplicity of arrangement and a practical system to present the general structure of the Ice- landic tongue before the learner's eye , so that with ordinary application it will be easily comprehended ; particularly by him who possesses the advantage of an acquaintance with some of its cognate branches. Wherever rules are laid down, they are so enforced by analogous examples selected from standard authorities , with a correct translation of the pas- sages , as .to show both the proper application of them , and the right meaning of the sentences. The earliest poetry and historical sagas of the North furnish exhaustless sources of intellectual pleasure to the antiquarian and philologist. The traditions of Iceland, car- iv Preface. ried into that island by emigrants from the Scandinavian peninsula soon after its discovery , and imperishably pre- served by them in written documents, are so closely con- nected with the history of Northern Europe as to render a knowledge of it incomplete without them. Many of the skalds travelled in foreign lands before the twelfth century, and as they were nobles and warriors , they were received by the kings, to whom they were often related, as friends and coun- cillors ; thus on their return to their native land they brought with them much historical matter which, since the Roman characters had been introduced with the Christian religion, was committed to writing. The value of some of these docu- ments to English history is considerable , and besides con- firming or adding to our stock of facts during its darkest period , they afford us very interesting views of the state of society , and of the manners and mode of living of the age in which they were composed. After the departure of the Roman legions from this country, the Jutes , Saxons , and Angles , who occupied re- spectively Jutland in Denmark, the district between the Elbe and the Eyder, and Anglen in the south-east part of the Duchy of Slesvik , successively obtained settlements in Bri- tain. The language which resulted from this blended colo- nization , marked however by strong dialectic variations , is generally styled Anglo-Saxon, which term was first intro- duced by Asser , in his Life of Alfred. The resemblance between it and the Old Norse, as is to be expected, is strik- ing, since both are the offspring of that primitive tongue, the Gothic, spoken by the ancestors of all the Teutonic tribes. For instance , the Anglo-Saxon letter th is common to both Icelandic and English, though unknown to most of the allied dialects. The article, noun, adjective and pronoun are alike declinable in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse , having different forms for the three genders , for the four cases , and for the Preface. l v singular and plural numbers ; besides which , the pronoun of the first and second persons has a dual , or form exclu- sively appropriated to the number two. The adjective has two forms of inflection ; the one employed when the adjective is used without a determinative , the other when it is pre- ceded by an article or a pronoun agreeing also with the noun. These forms are called, respectively, the indefinite and defi- nite. The verbs have four moods ; the indicative , sub- junctive , imperative and infinitive , and but two tenses , the present and the past. In both languages the definite article partakes very strongly of its original character of a demon- strative pronoun. The nouns have three genders , and the masculine and feminine are often applied to objects incapable of sex. Furthermore , Icelandic , from its close relationship to Anglo-Saxon, furnishes more abundant analogies for the illustration of obscure English etymological and syntactical forms than any other of the kindred tongues. "It is but recently", says Marsh in his Lectures on the English Lan- guage, "that the great value of Icelandic philology has become known to the other branches of the Gothic stock, and one familiar with the treasures of that remarkable literature, and the wealth, power, and flexibility of the language which contains it , sees occasion to regret the want of a thorough knowledge of it in English and American grammatical writers , more frequently than of any other attainment whatever". The incursions which the piratical Danes and Nor- wegians , by whom Iceland was colonized , made upon the shores of Britain , supply our history with many important incidents during the' two centuries immediately preceding the Norman Conquest. Along with their peculiar customs and superstitions , these sea-kings introduced several words and phrases into our language, which have left their impress up VI Pbeface. to the present time chiefly on the northern dialects of the English peasantry. Many provincialisms are thus retained by them the etymology of which can be traced to a Scan- dinavian origin. The following, selected from a large num- ber, will sufficiently illustrate this statement. Provincialisms. English. Icelandic. bain near beinn bawk a cross beam bálkr beck brook bekkr bigg barley bygg duck cloth dúkr eldin kindling elding fell mountain flail to flit to remove flytja force waterfall fors frosk frog froskr garth enclosure (yard) garðr gcmmless half silly gaumr (heed) gill cleft gil to girn to yearn girna gowk cuckoo gaukr to grave to dig grafa to harry to plunder herja hegg bird-cherry heggr host cough hosti ing meadow eng kitling kitten kettlingr to lake to play leika lathe barn hlaða lift air lopt ling heather lyng muck dung myki neive fist hnefi puck goblin púki rang wrong rangr rig back hryggr to rive to tear in pieces rifa Preface. Provincialisms. English. Icelandic. royd cleared space rjóðr sackless simple saklauss scatte tax skattr skuggy gloomy skuggi (shade) to speer to ask spyrja to steven to bespeak stefna tale number tala to thole to endure pola tó wale to choose velja wark pain verkr. VII In the midland northern districts of England where the Danes and Norwegians mostly settled, a considerable number of places with names of Scandinavian descent, are to be found, such as : Old Norse. Whitfy, meaning, white village . býr, first, a farm, then, a town. Bracken- 1 thwaite, ( ~ÍHoT:thorpe, Anglesey, Caithness, Stonoí'íA, Langío/if, Yiélagarth, Greenwich, Southward, fern land . . þveit, {«¥"*«* P ieee °f north village . porp, Angles' island ey, naze of Catuibh næs, (its ancient Gaelic name) large wood . . viðr, long field . . . toft, mountainfarm garðr, pine bay . . . vikr, southern fort . virki, 1 cluster of houses. island. promontory. wood, field near a farm. enclosure, yard. bay. fortress. A thorough study of Scandinavian literature would eluci- date many points in our early history which are now obscure, particularly that portion of it comprised in the Anglo-Saxon period ; and since the Icelandic language is so closely akin to Anglo-Saxon, the parent of our own, it seems evident that vni Preface. some proficiency in it should be sought by every educated Englishman who wishes to possess a complete knowledge of his mother -tongue. Should the present work in any way prove an auxiliary in so useful a pursuit, or induce f the student to enter a comparatively unexplored region of inter- esting lore, the author will have gained his principal aim. INDEX. PART I. Page ORTHOGRAPHY 1 I. Letters and Pronunciation 1 H. Consonants 4 HI. Accentuation . . 9 IV. Vowel- change 10 PART n. ETYMOLOGY 13 I. The Article 13 n. The Noun 14 Declension of Nouns 1st 15 2nd .... ". 18 » 3rd 20 » 4th 22 » 5th 23 » 6th 26 » 7th 27 » 8th 28 Anomalous Nouns 31 Declension of Nouns with the Article 35 Inflection of Proper Nouns 36 HI. Of the Adjective 39 Comparison of Adjectives 45 Anomalous Adjectives 48 IV. OfPronouns 48 V. The Numerals and their Inflections 54 X Index. ■ Page VI. Verbs 5» » 1st Class. First Conjugation 62 » » Second do 64 » » Third do 65 o » Fourth do .66 Fifth do. . ' 68 » » Sixth do 69 » » Seventh do. "0 » 2nd Class. First do. ... "1 >• » " Second do 73 » Passive Voice .74 » Reflective . -75- » Anomalous .... 76 VII. Uninflected Words. Particles . . . . .80 VIII. Adverbs . . . 8a IX. Prepositions . . .Si X. Conjunctions . . . 81 XI. Interjections ... ... . . .82 XII. Formation of Words . 82 Xni. Prefixes 83 XIV. Affixes . 85 XV. Composition . 86 paut in. SYNTAX 90 I. Of Nouns, Adjectives, and Pronouns 90 II. On the Verbs 97 HI. On the Particles 100 IV. Of Ellipses .107 PART IV. I. PROSODY . . 108 II. Alliteration . . . . .109 III. Assonances Ill IV. Rhyme ... Ill V. Of the diiferent kinds of Verse 112 Line ERRATA. Page 5 . • 11, for Is read Ice. 9 . . 29, — there r. these. 19 . ■ 12, — Svörð sword r. Svörðr st 27 . • 22, — flar r. fleer. 28 . . 10, — ■ hjörtna r. hjartna. 35 . • I 7 , — eignar-nar r. eignir-nar, 38 . . 19, — form r. forms. 44 . • 1, — litinn r. litinn. 49 . . 37, — okkaru r. okkarn. 50 . • 9, — váru 1 . várn. 53 . • 22, — nökkur-u r. nökkur-n. 55 . • 12, — 11 r. 13. 55 . • 24, — fortymen r. forty men. 50 . . 16, — tuttugast r. tuttugasti. 61 . . 30, — embúinn r. em búinn. 63 . • 5, — bra r. brá. 04 . • U, — lang r. long. 08 . . 15, — frysum r. frysim. 68 . . 16, — frysuð r. frysið. 68 . • 17, — frýsu r. frysi. 70 . . 35, — höggvin r. höggvinn. 77 . 16, — þraðr r. þráðr. 89 . . 32, — rikr r. rikr. 98 . • 24, — allter r. allt er. 101 . • 8, — 89 r. 84. 101 . • 12, — iss r. iss. 113 . . 31, — in r. no. PART I. ORTHOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. LETTEKS AND PRONUNCIATION. The Icelandic Alphabet consists of the following letters : a, b, c, d, S, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, œ, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, y, z, þ, ö, æ. The vowels are : a, ö, æ, e, i, o, ce, u, y. Of these, a, e, i, o, u, y can be lengthened by accents, and thus the following are short : t a, e, i, o ; u, y, ö; and the following long : á, &, í, ó, ú, Ý, æ. a is pronounced like a in fat, father. á » » » oa in broad; or a in tvarm. ö » » » i or u in girdle, first, murder, sun. æ » o » the English long i. e » » » e in met. e » » » e in there. i » » » i in bill. í » » » ee in bee. o » » » o in not. ó » » » o in fore, or rather broader. ce » » >» a in paper. u » » » iew in view. English-Icelandic Grarnm. 1 I. Obthoqeaphy. ú is pronounced like oo in rood. y » » » i in ^n7Z. ý » » y> ee in peel. a, á, o, ó, u, ú, are called hard vowels, and ð, æ, e, e, i> í, œ, y, ý, soft. Sound and Power of Vowels. A — This letter , as noticed above , is pronounced like a in fat, when short. Example, askr ash-tree: when long and unaccented, like a in father. Ex., saga a tale. On the Faroe it has frequently a sound approaching to S (English a) . A — Like oa in broad, or a in warm. Ex., háls necA. It answers to the Danish aa and the Swedish á. In words where á follows v (for instance, vápn weapon, vár spring!, van &^>e) the Icelanders often use o. Ö — Like i or m in girdle, first, murder, sun. Ex., örn eagle. This letter is mostly only a vowel change of a which belongs to that class of vowels capable of being softened or modified by a change of their original sounds. It is the Danish short 0, and Swedish ff, and sounds much as the French eu in peu. It was introduced at a com- paratively late period into the Old Norse alphabet , the diphthong au being written for it in ancient manu- scripts. Æ — Like the English long ;'. Ex., ten lifetime. Its souni might be represented by the letters aj , which the Ice- landers would pronounce like the German ei. In Nor- way , on the other hand , as in modern Danish , it sounds like our a in paper. In the ancient writings both modes alternate ; the former , however , has most in its favour , and it is perhaps the oldest. In most cases m is only a modified vowel. E — Like e in met. Ex., elska to love. É — Like e in there. Ex., mer to me. This letter is often written with a grave accent. Besides determining the pronunciation of the vowel , this accent serves to pre- 1. Letters and Pronunciation. vent confusion in the meaning of many words. For instance : let dissuades, and let let. setti placed, and setti seventh (modern; sjötti). lek leaks (v.), and lék played. vel well, and vél guile. her army, and her here, el feeds, and el hailstorm. fell/e# (s.), and ieRfell (v.). fletta to cleave, and nétta to plait. The ancient Faroese manuscripts , instead of e , sometimes used ea; e. g. nea = é. I — Like i in bill. Ex., viss certain. With this letter e is often interchanged in old writings , especially in the endings of words, as, lande for landi landsman, misser for missir loss. The vowel y is frequently used instead of i, e. g., mykill for mikill much or great; but this variation occurs chiefly in the definite form (hinn mykli the great) . I — Like ee in bee. Ex., visa song. In the noun-termina- tion i which has the genitive in^a, and therefore stands instead of Ji, this vowel is pronounced by the modern Icelanders like gee ; e. g. vili, pronounced vilji (vilyee) . Sometimes the termination of a proper noun in -in, when it takes the place of -yn, is pronounced like yin, e. g., SköSin like SköSyin, TöSin like TöSyin. O — Like o in not, when short. Ex., hopp hop, leap. When long and unaccented , somewhat like oo in pool. Ex., hola cave. O — "This vowel takes a deep sound , rather broader than o in fore. Ex., ro rest. [Œ — Like a in paper. Ex., cexl increase. It frequently be- comes a vowel-change of e.] U — Like iew in view. Ex., kul airing. Its pronunciation resembles that of the French u in die, and the German ú in Hiite. Ö is often used for u, but mostly in the endings of words, e. g., heröð for heruS district. U ' — Like oo in rood. Ex., hús house. Formerly u and v were interchangeable letters as in English ; but they are now used separately. Y — Like i in pill. Ex., lyng ling, heath. In consequence of its sound it alternates with i in many instances. It is related in pronunciation to ý, as i is to i. The most valuable ancient Mss. constantly make a distinction 1* 4 I. Orthography. between y and ý. Y is in most cases only a modified u, or more rarely o. In certain words, principally par- ticles, y and i are interchanged; for instance, fyrir and firir for, yfir and ifir over. Y — Like ee in peel. Ex., mýri moor. The lengthened vowels á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, and the vowel- changes æ and ce may be regarded as a species of diphthong, at least as respects the pronunciation. Agreeably to ortho- graphy, au, ey and ei are proper diphthongs. • au is pronounced like oy in boy.- Ex., auga eye. ey, a modified au approaches the German eu, having a broader sound than our word eye. It is pronounced much in the same way as the pronoun 1 in several of our provincial dialects — in the North Staffordshire, for instance. It is often interchanged with ei. The older sound, which still obtains in Norway, is m. ei is pronounced very close , rather like ei in weight; hut never as the German ei in Stein, Bein. In Old Swedish ei is sounded like e. CHAPTER H. CONSONANTS. The consonants are : b, c, d, «, f, g, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, þ, v, x, z. They are divided, according to the organs by which they are pronounced, — the throat, tongue, and lips, into guttur- als, Unguals, and labials. Some are distinguished by the name of liquids, because they readily unite with the mute consonants , and flow into their sounds. The following is their classification : Gutturals : g, k, j . Linguals : d, t, p, Ö, s. Labials : b, p, f, v. Liquids : 1, m, n, r. The letters c, q, x, ~ must be classed as hard mutes. 2. Consonants. 5 The spirant h, being formed by the breath merely, does not belong to any of the articulating organs in particular. The consonants c, s, % are also called sibilants, from the hissing nature of their sounds. B is pronounced as in English. C is often found in the oldest manuscripts, as in Anglo- Saxon, instead of k, and is therefore sounded like that letter. There is no instance in which h may not be used in its place. D is pronounced as in English. B, 3 (called in Islandic et5) has a strongly rolling sound, and never occurs at the beginning of words. It is an aspirated or weak d or dh, and always sounds soft, as th in this, bathe. Ex., gjörði did. It is never doubled, but is changed into dd, as: gleS, gladdi, ryf5, ruddi. F is sounded at the beginning of a syllable and before s as in English ; e. g. , fótr foot, ofsi arrogance : at the end of a word it is pronounced like hard v, e. g., haf sea, when it is often written v, which is likewise the case in the Far- oese language : stevni, stevndi, stevnt. It has also the hard sound before r (ur) , as hafr he-goat, and between all vowels in the middle of a word, e. g. hafa to have. Before I, n, S, t, at the end of a syllable , this sound of v passes over to b or bb; e.g., afl (pron. abl.) strength, nafn (nabbn) name. If another consonant, especially d or t, follow after /n, the sound becomes mn; e.g., nefna to name, is pro- nounced nabbna, but nefndi named, like namndi, and nefnt named (past part.), as namnt. This pronunciation is general when d follows ; but if the succeeding consonant be t or s, it is often sounded as fft, ffs, e. g., jafnt, til jafns (jafft, jaffs). Where / is to be pronounced hard in the middle of a word, it is doubled, e. g., offra to offer, in distinction from ofra to swing, which is read ovra. G is sounded as in English before a, o, u and au. Q and gj before e, i, y, œ, œ, ö, ey, ei, are sounded soft like the Danish gj, or English gu in guard, with a slight after- sound of j; as, gefa to give, gæfi might give, geir spear. If a vowel go before , and a soft one or j come after , it sounds like y consonant, e.g., bogi a bow, agi chastisement, fægja to smooth, bágindi troubles (pronounced boyi, ayi, 6 I. Orthography. faiya, boayindi). At the end of syllables after a long vowel it was aspirated in former times, and therefore writ- ten gh, as : lögh laiuo , vegh weigh. Its sound must thus have been very feeble, as in this case it is almost entirely omit- ted in the present Norwegian pronunciation, e. g., drag, pronounced dra, dag, da. If another consonant follow gn, especially d or t, the sound becomes ngn; for instance, lygna to grow calm, is heard nearly like liggna, but the imperfect lygndi is pronounced lingndi or lingdi, and lygnt like lingnt or lingt ; but should s follow , the sound re- sembles ggs; e. g., til gagns (gaggs) for gain. H is always aspirated , and has a hard and strong sound be- fore j, v, I, n, r; e.g., hjarta heart, hverfa to turn, hlafta to had, hnöttr bowl, hringr ring. It is occasionally inter- changed with k before n; e. g., knifr and hnifr knife, and some more words. J is sounded like the German j or oury consonant. It is only a short or consonantal i, and should therefore be entirely rejected in most cases, and supplanted by it. In old ma- nuscripts, moreover, we find e where_/ is now used; e. g., earl = jarl earl, seálfr = sjálf self. K is pronounced at the end of a syllable , before a consonant and the vowels a, o and u, as in English. It is also ge- nerally written for ch, e. g., kristr, kór, and is often used instead of g; e.g., kvikr living. It is likewise doubled in place of ch; e. g., plokka or plocka to pluck. K and kj before e, i, y, te, œ, ð, ey, ei are sounded soft like the Danish kj with a slight after-sound of j, resembling c in the English words care, cure. It is never pronounced like ch in church, which is the case with the Swedish soft k. In the plural of substantives in andi derived from verbs in ga or ka (without j), g or k preceding e has its hard sound; e. g. , from eiga to own comes eigandi owner, plural eigendr (pronounced eigandr) , elskandi lover, plur. elskendr (pro- nounced elskandr). Sk has the sound of sc in our word scare before a, o, u, and of sh before e. i in root-syllables. I;, as a single letter, is sounded as in English. When double, it is pronounced by the Icelanders and West Norwegians, as well as by the Faroese, like dl; e. g., kalla 'pronounced kadla) to call; consequently it is sometimes interchanged 2. Consonants. 7 with ell; e. g., á milli or á midli between, from mið in the midst. But in cases where d, t, or s follows, e. g., felldi felled, allt cíW, alls o/" all, and also in compound words and derivatives where each I belongs to a separate syllable , e. g., til-lag contribution, Hal-land Holland, mikil-látr high- minded, 11 is sounded as in English. JRl has a rolling sound much like that of the hard II heard almost ás rdl, e. g., jarl earl. In certain districts of South Norway, especially West Tellemarken and Sætersdal, U is pronounced like dd; e. g., gull (properly gudl) gold, in Sætersdal gudd. In many parts of Norway I is not heard before a mute con- sonant with a long vowel before it: e. g., kálf (pronounced kaav) calf, úlf (úv) wolf, folk (fók) folk. This pronun- ciation prevails in Tellemarken and Sætersdal. M sounds as in English. N, single, sounds as in English : double, it is pronounced after á, c, i, ei, ó, ú, œ and œ as dn; e. g., steinn (steidn) stone. But if nn belong to the following syllable . or if a simple vowel precede it, the sound is the same as in Eng- lish ; e. g. , á-nni to the river, ey-nni to the island, kanna to examine, brenna to burn. Rn has a rolling sound, some- what like rdn, making the antecedent vowel very hard and sharp ; e. g., horn (hordn) horn. P as in English. Before t like f; e. g., eptir (pronounced eftir) after : consequently ft has been latterly much used in place of pt. In many districts of Norway and in the Faroe , p is entirely assimilated with the succeeding t, where eptir is pronounced ettir. No word beginning with p is of genuine Norse origin. Q is to be met with in its ordinary place before v , and used to alternate with It, but in the Old Norse alphabet it is a superfluous letter. R is mostly sounded as in English. For its pronunciation before I and n see remarks under those letters. R answers to three forms in the ancient language ; namely, to r pure to s, which is also found written in the oldest manuscripts and occurs in the Gothic: e. g., vesa or vera to be (Anglo- Saxon wesan) , heysa or heyra to hear , meisi or meiri more, and lastly, in the beginning of words, to vr , e. g. rita to write , originally vríta, reiöi wrath, formerly vreiSi 8 I. Orthography. rangr wrong , anciently vrangr. These forms occur in Old Swedish , but have disappeared in Norsk , where , on the other hand, we sometimes find in r a fixed sound of v Sig- nified by u added, rueiði for reiði, ruangr for rangr. This form of v has again appeared in the written tongue , and partly in the modern pronunciation. When the r alone forms a kind of syllable by itself , e. g., in most nomina- tive endings in the masculine , in genitives singular and nominatives and accusatives plural in the feminine, and in the second and third persons singular in the present indi- cative of the irregular conjugations, it is pronounced by the Icelanders and Faroese as ur, e. g., maður for maSr, stendur for stendr, merkur for merkr. In former times it seems to have been sounded arbitrarily; in Norway, mostly er : hence we often find written maSer , goSer ; and also as ar (maSar, konungar). S has always the hard sound of ss in miss. It interchanges with Is in some words, as : gisl gils, beisl beils. T as in English. Tns is pronounced at the end of words likes. þ (called in Icelandic Thorn) is an aspirated t {th) , as 8 is an aspirated d [dh] . It is pronounced like the Greek ■&, and the English th in think, e. g., beinkja to think, except in pronouns , or particles which are attracted like enclitics to the foregoing word; e. g., á æfi þinni in thy days, erb'at (for þú at), where it has the sound of t5, dependent, how- ever , on the preceding letter. This consonant is only found at the beginning of a word , and is consequently never doubled. V sounds as in English. It is partly a consonantal u, and bears the sjme relation to this vowel as j to i ; partly an independent consonant, which is to be regarded as a soft- ening of / occurring in cognate words , either in the lan- guage itself, or in the other dialects. This difference, which is etymologically important, does not concern the pronunciation. X as in English. Z is to be mostly regarded as an etymological sign which sometimes represents st, ds or is; thus we find both beraz and berast, œðstr and ceztr, bestr and beztr, kvaftst kvazt and kvaz. Properly, it is only used instead of Ss and ts and is then always sounded like s. 3. Accentuation. 9 CHAPTER III. ACCENTUATION. In a word of more than one syllable , a greater stress is naturally placed on one syllable than on another , and in a combination of words, one word is pronounced with greater force than another. For instance, in the words hestar, ljuga, öndvegi, the syllables hest, ljug and o'nd are uttered with greater force than those which follow them. In the sentences hann stökk yfir garSinn he sprang over the fence; eg talaSi leingi við hann / talked a long time with him , a greater stress is laid on the words garfiinn, leingi, than on those with which they are connected. This is called the grammatical accent; but emphasis is essentially different from accent. In the latter case the speaker lays stress on some particular word or syl- lable which in itself may be of less importance , but which, for certain reasons, he wishes to render emphatic. Take the examples cited above: Jiann stökk &c, he sprang, &c. ; eg talaSi, &c, /spoke, &c. The first syllable always takes the chief tone , whether the words be long or short, compound or simple. In dissyllabic words the final syllable is consequently short, e. g., brénná to burn. In trisyllabics the penultimate has a stronger tone than the last; e.g., kálláði called, felágí felloio. But when the last member of a compound or derivative is monosyl- labic , the final syllable has a stronger tone than the middle ; e.g., höfúð höf chief temple, upprunálígt original. Polysyl- labic words have the lesser tone on the penultimate , e. g., köngurvafa spider. Some prepositions, e. g., ámóti against, ámilli between, igegnum through, seem to form an exception to the rule that the chief tone always rests on the first syllable ; but there are properly only compounds of two words which are better written separately, á móti, á milli, í gegnum ; consequently, the first part, or real preposition, is omitted in all compounds formed with these words, e. g., mótganga enmity, meSalauki compensation. R or ur final is regarded as a short syllable which is very rarely reckoned in metrical composition. It has a faint sound of ur or er; e. g., maSr man, góðr good. 10 I. Orthography. Words of foreign origin , of which few however have been adopted into the Old Norse , as a. rule are pronounced and accented according to the sound and tone peculiar to them in their native tongues; e. g., pistill from epistola, postuli apostolus. Foreign words are often contracted , e. g., tempra tem- pero ; lina Unea; regla regula. The first unaccented syllable is often rejected; spitali, postuli, biskup episcopus. A vowel before a simple consonant becomes somewhat lengthened, whether the consonant be hard or soft, as: ék or ég, sét, lás. When the short sound is expressed, the con- sonant is doubled, as : egg, sett, hlass. Vowels are sounded short when a consonant is added, as: log has a long ö — lögðum a short one. kef » » » e — kefja » » » vil » » » i — vildi » » » All consonants which follow a vowel belong to the syllable containing it, as: ask-a, mold-igr, skip-in-u. Hence the words are rendered short at the end of a line in poetry. / and v, which belong to the vowel following them , form exceptions, as: spyr-jum, dögg-va. The letter r is mostly read with the next vowel, as : ham-rar hammers. Proper names, as SigurSr, Noregr, were always written with capital letters ; but guS God, djöfull devil, konungr king, jarl earl, and such like, with small initials. CHAPTER IV. VOWEL -CHANGE. Besides the proper endings , a change of vowel within the word itself frequently takes place, corresponding with the German umlaut , and this modification of vowels constitutes an important element in the declension and derivation of words. Compare : Anglo-Saxon. English. German. Icelandic. sing, fót foot fuss fótr ' plur. fét feet fusse foetr. The vowels are divided into two classes , namely the A-class which contains a, ð, e, i, d, m, ei (and ja, já, Jee is 4. Vowel-Change. 11 e, t) , and the O-class which comprises o, u, y, @, ú, f, an, ey {a.ndjo, ju). A is changed : 1 . into ö in the chief syllable before endings in u, as : saga, sögu; in the chief syllable of polysyllables, the others taking u, as : bakari, bökurum ; in neutr,- plur. of nouns with consonantal endings, as : haf, höf ; land, lönd ; in neutr. plur. of adjectives with consonantal endings, as: glað, glöS ; in fem. sing, of adjectives with consonantal endings, as: hagr, hög. 2. into e in derivatives, as: lenda from land, nefna from nafn ; before the endings i and r, as : dagr, degi, faðir, feSr ; in the monosyllabic pres. 1st pers. sing, of verbs in the 3rd conj., as: taka, tek. 3. into d in the imp. 1st pers. plur. of verbs in the 2nd conj., as : drap, drápum. 4. into u in the imp. 1st pers. plur. of verbs in the 1st conj., as: braun, brunnum. E is changed : 1. into a in the monosyllabic imp. 1st pers. sing, of verbs in the 1st and 2nd conj., as: bell, ball. 2. into i, as: regna, rignir. 3. into i, in derivatives, as: virSa from verS. 4. into d in the monosyl. imp. 1st pers. sing, of verbs in 1st and 2nd conj., as: bregS, brá; fregn, frá. 5. into d in the monosyl. imp. 1st pers. sing, of verbs in 3rd conj., as: dreg, dró. I is changed : into a in the monosyl. imp. 1st pers. sing, of verbs in the 1st conj., as: finn, fann. A is .changed: 1. into e in the past part, of verbs in the 2nd conj., as: drá- pum, drepinn; 2'. into o in the past part, of verbs in the 1st conj., as: stá- lum, stolinn ; 3. into æ before the endings i and r, as : þráðr, þræði, þræðir. 12 I. Orthography. O is changed : 1. into a before endings which contain a, as: sakar, saka from sök; 2. into e before the endings » and r: as: berki, merkr; 3 . into y, in derivatives, as : smyrja from smjðr. Ei is changed: 1. into í in the monosyl. imp. 1st pers. plur. of verbs in the 4th conj., as: beið, biðum; 2. into i in derivatives., as: hiti from heitr. Ja is changed into i, as : bjaraar , birni ; and into jo, as : djarf, djðrf . Jö is changed into i, as : djðrf, dirfast. Of the O-class of vowels are changed, O : 1 . into y, as : son, synir ; of, yfir ; 2. into e, as : hnot, hnetr. This change is of rare occurrence. 17 is changed : 1 . into o in the past part, of verbs in the 1st and 5ih conj., burgum, borginn, hratum, hrotinn; 2. into y, as: gu<5, gySja. O is changed : 1 . into æ (œ) , as : kló, klær ; 2. into y in derivatives, as: fylki from folk. r U is changed: into ý, as: mils, mýs, and in derivatives, as: hýða from húö. An is changed : 1 . into ey, as : laus, leysa ; 2 . into u, as : lank, lukum ; 3 . into o, in derivatives, as : dropi from dranp . Jó is changed into f, as : brjóta, brýt. Jú is changed into y, as : Ijiiga, lýgi. Xdt is assimilated in short words to tt, as : batt, bandi. Xgk is assimilated in short words to ik, as: sprakk, sprang. Nr is assimilated in short words to rm, as : sýnn, íýnr. Lr is assimilated in short words to U, as : heill hair. V is rejected before o, u, y, and r at the beginning of words, as, from verpa is formed varp, which in the different parts of the verb is changed into orpinn, urpum and yrpi. Be- fore the word refSt , which used to be written vreiSi the consonant v is likewise dropt. n. Etymology. 1. Inflected Wokds. 13 PART n. ETYMOLOGY. CHAPTER I. INFLECTED WORDS. The parts of speech which are subject to inflection or terminational change are, articles, nouns, adjectives, pro- nouns, hy declension, and verbs by conjugation. THE ARTICLE. The indefinite article a or an, or the numeral one, has three genders, and four cases, and is thus declined : Singular. Plural. Masc Fern. Nent. Masc. Fem. Nent. Kom. einn ein eitt einir einar ein Gen. eins einnar eins einna einna einna Bat. einum einni einu einum einum einum Ace. einn eina eitt eina einar ein Used in the plural number, this word has mostly the sense of some. The definite article the is thus declined: SlXG. Plus. Masc. Fem. Nent. Masc. Fem. Nent. Nam. hinn hin hitt hinir hinar hin Gen. hins hinnar hins hinna hinna hinna Dot. hinum hinni hinu hinum hinum hinum Ace. liinn hina hitt hina hinar hin. This word is also used as a demonstrative pronoun in the signification of that. "When appended to a substantive it con- stitutes its definite inflected form, as: maSr-inn the man, eik-in the oak, dyr-it the animal; but h is then always left out, and one / in the neuter. The vowel « itself is dropt when the word ends in a simple vowel, as : indefinite tunga, definite tungan (not tunga- tn or tungin) ; but if the noun terminate in a consonant, then i is retained, except in the nominative plural masculine, and nominative and accusative plural feminine. 14 I II. Etymology. Appended to nouns it takes the following endings : Sing. Plus.. Masc. Fern. Nent. Masc. Fern. Nent. Nom. -inn -in -it or ið -nir -nar -in Gen. -ins -innar (-nnar) -ins -nna -nna -nna Dal. -num -inni (-nni) -nu -num -num -num Ace. -inn -ina (-na) -it orib -na -nar -in. In the dative plural the m at the end of the noun is omitted when the article is added , for the sake of euphony as, fiotu- num for fiotum-num. The definite article is placed before adjectives in the definite inflected form, as : hinn góði the good. CHAPTER n. THE NOUN. Nouns, or Substantives, have three genders, Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter, and two numbers, Singular and Plu- ral, with four cases in each. Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative. It is impossible to give infallible rules for gender, but the following remarks may be of use. Masculines commonly end in i, r, I, n, or s, though all nouns with these terminations are not necessarily of that gender. The names of the duties and employments of men are masculine, e.g., konungrÆmy, höíðingi chieftain, prestr priest, þræll thrall. Words ending in dómr, ungr, ingr, ingi, leihr, slaspr, naSr, ari and audi are masculine. Compound words retain the gender of their last part, which is also the case with the names of countries and towns ; e. g., Noregr (Norvegr) Norway, and MikligarSr Constan- tinople are masculine, their last members vegr and garfir being so; Danmörk Denmark, Svíþjód Sweden, and Slesvik are feminine, as mó'rk, þj'ód, and vik are of this gender ; and þýz- kaland Germany, as well as Sviariki Sweden, are neuter since they terminate in neuter nouns. The gender of Icelandic substantives may likewise be as- certained to some extent by that of nouns in the cognate lan- guages. 2. The Noun. 15 The names of the duties and employments of women are feminine as, drottning queen, ljósa midwife, ambátt she-slave. All substantives in a are feminine, e.g., gata path, haka chin ; except herra master (German Herr) , and sira sire , and some proper names, which are masculine, as Sturla, as well as the neuter nouns comprised in the seventh declension. Most monosyllabic substantives whose root-vowel is ð are feminine ; e. g. , gröf a ditch, vök an ice-hole, skör a stair- step ; though some neuters must be excepted ; e. g., fjör life- strength, böl bale, troll ogre, kjör choice, kvöld evening. Words ending in ung, ing, un, a, S, ska, sla, dtta, and most in an, ni, are feminine. All monosyllabic nouns having the vowel a , but not ending in r, I, n, or s, are neuter, e. g., malt malt, land country, haf sea , lag a lager. DECLENSION OF NOUNS. The number of declensions is eight. First Declension. This contains all masculine nouns in -I, -n, -r, -s, in the nominative, and -s in the genitive singular. Sing. nom. -r, -1, -n, -s I Pltjr. nom. -ar, -ir gen. -s gen. -a dot. -i, or the root. dat. -um ace. the root. ace. -a, -i. Paradigms : hestr, hamarr, þyrnir, hvalr, engill, sveinn, báss. Sing. nom. hestr a horse gen. hests of a horse dat. hesti to a horse ace. hest a horse. Pluk. nom. hestar horses gen. hesta of horses dat. hestum to horses ace. hesta horses. SlNGULAB. A hammer. A thorn. A whale. An angel. A swain. A stall. N. hamarr þyrnir I hvalr engill sveinn báss 6. hamars þyrnis hvals engils sveins bass D. hamri þyrni hval engli sveini bási A. hamar þyrni | hval engil svein bás 16 II. Etymology. hammers. A', hamrar G. hamra D. hömrum A. hamra Plural. thorns. whales. angels. swains. pyrnar hvalir englar sveinar þyrna hvala engla sveina þyrnum hvölum englum sveinum þyrna hvali engla sveina básar bása básum bása. Like hestr are declined Alfr elf. Almr elm. Arfr inheritance. Armr arm. Askr ash. Aurr sandy bottom,. Bátr boat. Baugr ring. Bjórr beaver. Brandr sword. Broddr goad. Brunnr well. Bukkr buck. Dómr doom. Draugr spectre. Draumr dream. Dúkr cloth. Dvergr dwarf. Eiðr oath. -Eldr fire. Faðmr fathom. Faldr head-dress. Fiskr fish. Flokkr flock. Fnjóskr thrush. Forkr fork. Frpskr frog. Gaddr spike. Gammr vulture. Garðr farm-house. Gaukr cuckoo. Gaumr heed. Geirr spear. Gluggr window. Hallr stone. Hálmr straw. Hampr hemp. Haugr heap. Haukr hawk. Heggr bird-cherry . Heimr home. Herr host. Hleifr loaf. Hnúkr mountain-top. Hófr hoof. Hólmr island. Hreppr parish. Hringr ring. Hrútr ram. Hundr dog. Hungr hunger. Hvelpr whelp. Hverr warm spring. Kálfr calf. Kettlingr kitten. Klettr cliff. Knappr button. Knifr knife. Knútx knot. Kolfr arrow. Konungr king. Koppr cup. Krákr raven. Krokr hook. Kryplingr cripple. Laukr leek. Leikr game. Liðr joint. Ljóstr eel-spear. Lokkr lock of hair. LuSr trumpet. Mágr brother-in-law. Málmr metal. Munnr mouth. Naddr spike. Ormr snake , worm. Ostr cheese. Pantr pledge. Penningr money. Plógr plough. Pottr pot. Prestr priest. Pungr purse. Baptr rafter. Eefr fox. Reyrr reed. Kokkr spinning- loheel. B-úgr rye. Sab- hall. Sandr sand. Saumr seam. Saurr muck. Selr seal. Skattr treasure. Spikr spike. Stakkr stack. Stallr stall. Stigr path. Stokkr stick. Stormr storm. Straumr stream. Súgr sough (of wind]. Taumr rein. Tindr peak. Toppr top. yfr spike. Ulfr wolf. Vagr bay. Vargr wolf. Vikingr pirate. Vindr wind. Pollr thole [of oars). Some of the above nouns terminate in the plur. nom. in or -ir indifferently. 2. The Noun. 17 Like hamarr are declined Akr field. • Hafr Jwci. Otr otter. I Sigr victory. Aldr age. I Like þyroíV Binir juniper-tree. Lettir lightness. Reynir rowan-tree. Elrir elder-tree. Lseknir physician. Skelmir rogue. Hellir mountain-cave. Missir loss. Viðir osier-twigs. Hersir baron. Like /«««&• Dalr dale. Hagr condition. Stafr staff. Like e>iyi'K are inflected All eel. Jarl earl. Stöðull milking-place. Biðill wooer. Jökull ice-berg. Söðull saddle. Djöfull devil. Karl fellow. Virgill or -all -halter. DTegill strap. Kyrtifi kirtle. Vondull bundle. Fitill dandelion. Skutill spear. Þistill thistle. Fugl ðiri. Spegill mirror. Þræll thrall. Hasl hazel. Stóll seat. I'umall thumb. Hæll AeeZ. Igull hedgehog. StuSill prop. Ongull angle. Some of the above n ouns , which are moi íosyllabic, take no i in the dative, partici ílarly those in 11, except when they stand alone, or occupy an important place in the sentence. Like sveinn are declined Botn ground. Hrafr l raven. Stafn pro w. Svefn sleep. Daun stench. Hreii in reindeer. Steinn sto w. Vagn wain. Dunn dowm. Ofn , men. Like báss Ass ridge, ace. Hdls neck. Iss ice. Fors or f oss waterfall. Hnauss clod. Óss river's mouth. Griss ^jí^ takes -4r in the plur. num. Nouns whose s: ng. nom. ends in -r a nd plur. nom. in -ir; Air awl. Hvinr shrill sound. Seiðr sorcery. Dynr ifo'ra. Kveikr candle-wick. Skellr clatter. Gestr guest. Limr limb. Skitr dung. Gripr jewel. Lýðr people. Rafr halibut. Smiðr smith. Hamr shape. Stafr staff. Hugr ?m»iZ. Ságr pail Svar ir swan. Some substantives which do not take r in the nominative singular, as þjónn servant, are alike in the nominative and accusative singular, as well as those in r, s after a diphthong, as leir clay, hnauss clod of earth. Dissyllabic nouns, which English-Icelandic Gramro. 2 18 II. Etymology. have a simple vowel in their final syllable , are contracted in cases whose inflection begins with a vowel ; as, lykill key. dat. lykli ^i&r.lyklar jbtanngiant. lotni • jðtnar drottínn lord. drottni drottnar morgun morn. ormorni. aptann eve; aptni aptnar. Some nouns which form the plural in -ir, insert,/ before the inflections which begin with a vowel ; but this j before i is expressed by a long i, as hylr abyss, plur. hylir, gen. hylja, dat. hyljum , ace. hyli. After g and k the accent is omitted, as drengr boy, plur. dreugir , drengja , drengjum , drengi ; sekkr sack, plur. sekkir, sekkja, sekkjum, sekki. Second Declension. All masculine nouns which end in -r or -n in the no- minative , and in -ar in the genitive singular , are of this declension. Plur. Sing. nom. root gen. -ar dat. -i root. ace. Paradigms nom. -ir gen. -a dat. -urn ace. -u. siðr, hryggr, háttr, völlr, kjölr. JV. o. D. A. A custom. siðr siðar BÍðÍ A back. hryggr hryggjar hryggi hrygg Singular. A mode. háttr háttar hátti hátt Plural. hættir hátta háttum háttu A valley. völlr vallar velli völl A keel. kjölr kjalar kili kjöl vellir valla völlum völlu N. siðir hryggir G. siða hryggja D. siðum hryggjum A. siðu hryggju Like ú¥>r are inflected BurSr burden. Kvistr branch. Matr meat. Feldr cloak. *Liðr joint. Sauðr sheep. *Hugr mind. Litr colour. Staðr stead. Like hryggr are declined *Beðr bed. j Byrr fair wind. I Drykkr drink. *Bekkr brook. \ Bœr farm. | *Elgr elk. kilir kjala kiölum kjölu. ViSr wood. Vinr friend. 2. The Noun. 19 FriSr peace. *Stekkr sheep-pen. Veggr wall. Reykr smoke. Sylgr gulp. Verkr pain. Sekkr íocÆ. Vefr tee J. \ *Vængr whw^. Those nouns which are marked with an asterisk take also -s in the gen. sing. Like hdttr Drattx drawing. I Sláttr molding. I þráðr thread. Máttr might. | þáttr episode. Like vbllr are declined Böllr ball. I Köttr coí. Vöndr wand. Börkr JarÆ. | Mölr moíA. Vörðr ward. Göltr Æoy. | Svör3 sword. Þröstr thrush. Knörr trading^eessel. \ Like kj'ölr Fjörðr frith. | Hjört hart. | Mjöðr mead. | Skjöldr shield. Nouns which are without the masculine sign of -r in the nominative singular . remain the same in the nominative and accusative of that number, as : Singular. A bear. An eagle X. björn örn G. bjarnar arnar D. birni erni A. björn örn Plu RAL. N. birnir error 67. bjarna arna D. birnum ernum A. birnu emu The nominative plural is formed from the dative sin- gular, as : Sing. nom. sonr a son gen. sonar of a son dot. syni to a son ace. son a son Plw. nom. synir sons gen. sona of sons dot. ace. sonum to sons sonu sons. The accusative plural always ends in -i when this vowel does not terminate the dative singular, as : Singular. A poem. A bellows. K. bragr belgr G. bragar belgjar D. brag belg A. brag i belg 20 II. Etymology. Plural. iV. bragir G. braga D. brögum A. bragi belgir belgja belgjum belgi. All derivatives in -shapr and -nafir follow the endings of siðr in the singular , and of bragr in the plural ; e. g., bu- skapr household, skilnaSr separation; but the former are rarely to be met with in the plural : the latter termination -nair often undergoes a vowel-change of u ; for instance , fögnuSr (fagnaðr) joy, as if a it were omitted before r, the sign of the masculine. Thikd Declension. Masculine substantives which have the nominative ter- mination in -yh , and that of the genitive in -a, are of this declension. Sing. nom. -i Plur. 10m. -ar gen. -a dat. -a yen. -a iai. -um ace. -a ace. -a. Paradigm : floti. Singular. A fleet. N. floti G. flota X>. flota A. flota Plural. N. flotar G. flota D. flotum A. flota. Like floti are declined Auki addition. Bani (no plur.) bane. Bauti fallen warrior. Bogi curve. Brúðgumi bridegroom. Bui dweller. Dauði death. Dreki man Dropi drop Endi end. Fjöldi crov GAlgi gallo Geisli ray. Goði priest -of -war. )d. ws. Hluti lot. Hosti cough. Hráki spit. Ikorni squirrel. Knefi fist. Ljóri window. Logi flame. 2. The Noun. 21 Máni moon. Skuggi shade. Sveiti sweat. Orri heath-cock. Sleði sfedj'e. Timi time. ». Poki ia^. Speni suck. Uxi oæ. Púki goblin. Steði sfe'%. Yrki workman. Bisi giant. Stólpi pttíar. Ökli anÆfe. Skáli farm- dwelling. Uxi takes yæna in the gen. plur. Dissyllabic nouns, whose chief vowel is a, change a into 6 before the termination in n in the dat. plur., as : nom. andi a spirit gen. anda of a spirit dat. ace. anda to a spirit anda a spirit Like a?K& are declined Arfi heir. Bakki hill. Drafli milk-cheese. Hali tail. Hani cock. Plur. nom. andar spirits gen. anda of spirits dat. öndum to spirits ace. anda spirits. Hjarni skull. Jaki ice-floe. Kappi champion. Kjarni kernel. Magi maw. Masculine nouns ending in -, which are chiefly derivative words , cases , as : Sing. nom. heiðingi a heathen gen. heiðingja of a heathen dat. heiðingja to a heathen ace. heiðingja a heathen Nafli navel. Nagli nail. Skaði scath. Skratti wizard. Stapi cliff. ngi, and some others, take j in th,eir oblique Plur. nom. heiðingjar heathen gen. -heiSingja of heathen dat. heiðingjum to heathen ace. heidingja lieathen. In the same way are declined Frelsingi freedman. I Ræningi robber. Illvirki evil-doer. Höfðingi chieftain. Eyskeggi islander. Vilji will. Leysingi freedman. \ Participial substantives in -andi deviate only in the plural, and are inflected with r, a, um, r, where r properly stands for ir, and produces a vowel-change, as : Sing. nom. elskandi a lover gen. elskanda of a lover dat. elskanda to a lover ace. elskanda a lover Thus are inflected Plur. nom. elskendr lovers gen. elskenda(-anda) of lovers dat. elskendum (-öndum) to lovers ace. elskendr lovers. Dómandi- Judge. Eigandi owner. Hallandi slope. Lesandi reader. Sjáandi eye-witness. Soekjandi suer. Verjandi warder. 22 II. Etymology. Trisyllabic nouns , which have a in the antepenultimate and the penultimate, change the first into 8, and the second into u before um of the dative plural as , bakari baker, dat. plur. bökurum. When a occurs in the penultimate only, it is changed into ft as, iklagi fellow, dat. plur. felðgum, or into u as, leikari juggler, dat. plur. leikurum. All present parti- ciples active are declined like ehkandi when they are used substantively : they are mostly found in the plural. Even those which have a neuter signification are masculine, if they possess this form, and take the inflections proper to that gen- der under this declension ; they are seldom used otherwise than in the singular as, talandi gift of speech. Fourth Declension. This declension ingludes all feminine nouns with nomi- native and genitive terminations in -a and u respectively. Sing. nom. -a Plur. nam. -ur gen. -u dat. -u gen. .-na dat. -um ace. -u ace. -ur. Paradigms : tunga, gata, lina, bylgja . Singular. A tongue. N. tunga G. tungu D. tungu A. tungu A path. gata götu götu götu A line. k'na- linu linu linu A billow. bylgja" bylgju bylgju bylgju Plubal. jV. tungur G. tungna D. tungum A. tungur götur gatna götum götur linur Una linum linur bylgjur bylgna bylgjum bylgjur. Like tunga are declined Bytta small tub. Dimma darkness. Drápa dirge. Drekka drink. Drifa drift. Dúfa. dove. Dýna feather-bed. Edda grant Fifa cotton- Fura fir-tr Gáta riddle Gedda pike Genta lass. Grima masi Imother. grass. ! 0. 3rýta pot. Heilsa health. ieimska stupidity ieita heat. Sella fiat-stone. BCespa hasp. rlola cave. 2. The Noun. 23 Hulda veil. Xápa cloák. Kelda fountain. Kisa puss. Kista chest. Kráka crow. Xringla circle. Xrukka jar. Like gata Aska ashes. Bjalla bell. Blanda mixture. Haka hook. Harpa harp. Köngurváfa spider. Misa whet/. Mugga mist. Nœpa turnip. Pika' girl. Skreppa wallet. Skrioa slip [as of snow) . Hlaða barn. Kaka thin cake. K.a,nna can. Naðra viper. Saga story. Sýsla district. Tita kind of sparrow. Vika week. Visa verse. Væta wet. Þoka fog. Þúfa knoll. Sala safe. Stjarna siar. Tala speech. Vagga cradle. Like b are inflected skepna creature, and tinna^mi. These below are like bylgja in their inflections. Bryggja pier. Pylgja tutelary spirit. Skeggja axe. Ekkja widow. Kirkja church. Skyggja mirror. Eskja ash. Rekkja bed. Þykkja thought. Nouns ending in -ja where g or k does not precede, do not take n in the gen. plur., as : brynja cuirass, ferja ferry, lilja lily, smiSja smithy, which are the same in the gen. plur. as the nom. sing. Some nouns of this declension are used chiefly in the plural as,. átölur upbraidings, gætur care, attention, likur like- ness, fortölur persuasion. Brenna burning, vera being, and other infinitives in a, used substantively, are of this declension. Fifth Declension. Feminine nouns which have various terminations in the nominative singular, and which end in -ar or -ir in the nominative plural, are of this declension. Sing. nom. root gen. -ar dot. root, -u, or -i ace. root, -i Plur. nom. -ar, -ir gen. -a dat. -um ace. -ar, -ir. Paradigms : eign, brúðr, vör, drottning, egg, ör, heiSi, á, andvarpan, fjöSur, alin. 24 II. Etymology. A property. N. eign G. eignar D. eign A. eign N. eignir G. eigna D. eignum A. eignir Singular. A bride. brúðr bruðar . brúði brúði Plural. brúðir brúða brúðum brúðir A lip. vör varar vör vör vanr vara vörum varir. Like eign are declined Alpt swan. Ambátt female slave. Ast love. Auðn desert. Baun bean. Borg fortress Breidd breadth. Búð booth. Byggð settlement. Byrðr burden. Grein branch. Grand ground. Hjálm helm. Hjálp help. Húð hide. Lausn redemption Leið way. Lind linden-tree. Lind fountain. Pinsl torture. Seil rope. Si on sight. Skál bowl. Skeið spoon. Dis goddess. Perð journey. Gaupn fist. Gipt gift. From the above examples it will be seen that when neither a nor ð' constitutes the root-vowel, no modification takes place. Skirn baptism. Skuld debt. Sókn parish. Sorg sorrow. Sótt sickness. Stund hour. Tíð time. Tiund tithe. Tryggð surety. Vi9 cloth. Vag weight. Van hope. Vist food. Þjóð people. Like ud'r are declined Höll hall. Jörð earth. Björk birch. Gjörðr girth Hjörð herd. Höfn haven. Sök cause. Vömb womb. Vörn defence. Þökk thanks. Qgn cAa/'. Örð ploughing. Ox aare. Oxl shoulder. Skdmm shame. Sögn saying. No substantive under this declension has uniformly pre- served the ?< of the dative singular, except a few which insert J or v, and all in ing and tmýr, and even in these it is some- times dropt. The nom. and ace. plur. termination -ar is used in all derivatives in ing and ung as, drottning qtieen, hörmung iooe, and in all those primitives which insert j or v as. mey maid, or arrow, as well as in monosyllables ending in a vowel : however , practice only can determine which substantives of this declension take ar or ir in those cases. 2. The Noun. 2 SINGULAR. N. G. B. A. A queen. drottning drottningar drottningu drottning A ridge. egg eggjar e gg egg An arrow. ör örvar öru ör A heath. heiði heiðar heiði heiði A river á ár á á Plural. ■N. O. D. A. drottningar drottninga drottningum drottningar eggjar eggja eggjum eggjar örvar örva örum örvar heiðar heiða heiðum heiðar ár áa ám ár. Messing [nopl) brass. Siglíng sailing. Mey maid. Nyt gain. Þy she-thrall. Stöð place. Herðr shoulder. Hlið side. Laug bath. | Þröng crowd. Myri moor. Nál neédle. Sin sinew. Like drottning are declined Diörfúng boldness. I Hyrning corner. Elding kindling. \ Hörmúng misery. Like egg are declined Ben wound. Hel (ífaí.-ju) aSoíZe of Eng meadow. death. Ey island. II «o/e of íAe /ooi. Klyf bundle. Like or Dðgg áeío. Like ÆetSí Ermi sleeve. Eyri tote sandy shore. Festi rope. Like íí are declined Brá brow. Gjá chasm. Rá roe. Skrá parchment. Nouns of more than one syllable having the nominative ending of -ul or ur, are contracted before the inflections which begin with a vowel as, göndul amazon, fjöður feather. Deri- vatives in an have also another form in un, both of which are regular. Singular. A sigh. N. andvarpan or -vörpun (?. andvarpanar or -vörpunar D. andvarpan or -vörpun A. andvarpan or -vörpun Spá prophecy. Va damage. Þá thaw. Afeather. fjöður fjaðrar fjöður fjöður An ell. alin álnar alin alin 26 II. Etymology. N. G. D. A. andvarpanir andvarpana andvörpunum andvarpanir Plural. fiaorir r mora fíöðrum fjaðrir álnir álna álnum álnir. Andvarpan is derived from andi breath, and verpa to cast) or send forth. Like this noun are declined dýrkan cultivation, and skemtan or skemtun amusement. A few of those substantives which insert^' are used only in the plural as, mcnjar tokens, signs. Some nouns in i form their nominative and accusative plural in ir as, gleSi cheerfulness , elli age , and do not take ar in the genitive singular , but are indeclinable throughout that number. Sixth Declension. Feminine nouns follow this declension. whose nominative plural ends in r, ^ng. nom. root gen. -ar, -r dot. root ace. root Plur. nom. gen. dot. -i -a -um ■r. Paradigms : grind, tönn, bót, mörk, spðng. Singular. A grate. N. grind G grindar D. grind A. grind A tooth. A fine. tönn bót tannar bótar tönn bót tönn bót A wood. mörk merkr, markar mörk mörk Plural. iV. grindr tennr bsetr G. grinda tanna bóta D. grindum tönnum bótum A. grindr tennr bætr merkr, markir marka mörkum merkr, markir A clasp. i spöng spengr, spangar spöng spöng spengr, spangir spanga spöngum spengr, spangir. Like grind are declined Ert pea. \ Geit she-goat. Like tonn | Hind hind. | Kinn cheek. Strönd strand. Önd duck. Ort teal. 2. The Noun. 27 Like hot Glóð embers. | Hnot nut. | Hot root. Like mtlrk Eik oak. | Mjólk milk. | Steik síeoÆ. | Vik small hay. Like ípffíty Röng Umbers of a ship. \ Stöng pole. \ Sœng íicíZ. | Töng sea-weed. As will be seen in the last two paradigms (mörk and spöng) , nouns of this declension which terminate in g or k, commonly form the genitive singular in r, like the nominative plural : bók hook, on the other hand, always has the genitive bókar, plur. bœkr. Those substantives whose nominative singular is d or t, mostly have the genitive in -ar, as strönd, gen. strandar, rót, gen. rótar, whilst those in g or k usually form the genitive in the same way as the nominative plural, as stöng , gen. sing. and nom. plur. stengr, mörk, gen. sing, and nom. plur. merkr. Most nouns in this declension which have ti in the root-syl- lable, can also follow the fifth declension. Nouns which terminate in a vowel are declined like bót, forinstance, 16 plover, gen. lóar, plur. lœr, lóm, lóa; such are Brú (g'en'. brúar. plur. brýr or brúr) bridge. Fló » - » flar » » flea. Fru Há K1Ó Kra Lja RÓ Tá Trú l>ró Seventh Declension. All neuter nouns which have the nominative-ending -a are of this declension. Sing. nom. -a Plur. nom. -u ,9«». -a gen. -na dat. -a dat. -um ace. -a | ace. -u. ,gen..9tng. and nom. plur. irur ) woman. , >>. » M » » » hide. j) » » )i it » claw. » » )> » i) n corner. ■» » » » )i » newly mown grass (no plur.) iron-plate. {gen. sing. tár) toe. (no plur.) faith. » » a kind of box. 28 n. Etymology. Paradigms : eyra , hjarta. Singular. A heart. hjarta ' hjarta hjarta An ear. JV. eyra G- eyra D. eyra A. eyra hjarta Plural. JV. eyru I hjörtu G. eyrna | hjörtna D. eyrum I hjörtum A. eyru I hjörtu. The radical a of the noun is changed into before in- flections in u, as in the above example. Like eyra are declined Auga eye. I Hnoða key. Bjuga sausage. \ Lunga lung. Nýra kidney. Eighth Declexsiox. Monosyllabic neuter nouns , and those of this gender that end in consonants, or in -{, have the following inflections a Sing. nom. root Plur. nom. root gen. -s | gen. -a dot. -am dat. -i ace. root ace. root. Paradigms: orS, barn, sumar, höfuS, kvæði, kne, kyn, ríki , söl. Singular. A word. A child. A summer. A head N. orð barn sumar höfuð G. orðs barns sumars höfuðs D. orði barai sumri höfði A. orð barn sumar höfuð Plural. N. orð börn sumur höfuð G. orða barna sumra höfða D. orðum börnum sumrum höfðum A. orð börn sumur höfuð . Only in those nouns whose terminating syllable begins with a vowel does contraction take place , as in the last two examples: this likewise applies to the other declensions. 2. The Noun. 29 Like orf> are declined Ar year. Bál funeral pile. Bein leg. Bik pitch. Blek ink. Blik splendour. Blóð ðfooÆ Blóm flower. Blót sacrifice. Bly Zeaa". Blýs iorcA. Boð o/er. Ból farm. BorS board, table. Brauð bread. Bréf foííer. Brjóst breast. Brúðkaup wedding. Bú farm. Bygg barley. Deig dough. Dikt poem. Djúp depth. Dráp murder. Drep battle. Drif dn/i. Dupt (fosi. Dust oei. Skaut sAiri. Skin sheen. Skip sAiji. Skrin shrine. Skúm darkness. Slit rerei. Spjót spear. Stál sind-r veg-r snær, snjár, snjór fót-r G. s, -ar ar, -s snævar, snjávar, snjóar, snjós — ar z>. — i — i snœvi, snæ, sniá, snjó, snjóvi fœti A. | snæ, snjá, snjó fót Plural. N. ar — ar, -ir snævar, snjávar, snjóar, snjóvar fœtr G. a — a snæva, snjava, snjóa fóta D. um — um snævum, snjávum, snjám, snjáum, snjóum — um A. a — a snæva, snjáva, snjóa fœtr. Singular. A father. A brother. TVinte r. N. faðir bróð-ir vetr G. feðr, föður, föðrs 1 \ i r\ — ar ui, DiÆor, Droours D föður A. — i Plural. iV.feðr G. — a brœðr a veto, -a a r D. — um A ,_ um — um — , -a •. 2. The Noun. 33 Like vindr are declined skógr a wood, grautr groats, and some other words which follow the inflections of sitr (2nd de- clension) in the singular, and of hestr (1st declension) in the plural. Sær sea is declined like snœr , and móðir mother, dóttir daughter, are inflected like brótir. Systir sister is declined as follows : Sing. nom. systir | Plur. nom. systr gen. dat. systur gen. dat. —a systr-um Third Declension. Singular. A yeoman. N. bóndi contracted for bóandi, búandi 6. bónda D. bónda A. bónda Plural. N. bóndr, bœndr G. bónda, bœnda, bóanda, búanda, búenda D. bóndum A. bœndr A fiend, foe. fjandi contr. for fjáandi ijanda fjanda tjanda fjandr, fjendr fjanda fjandum fjandr, fjendr. Fourth Declension. Singular. A woman. N. kon-a, kun-a G. u D. A. A prophetess. val-a, völ-va N. G. D. A. Plural. ur kvenna, kvinna kon-um -ur vól-u, — — vu } J L. na um Fifth Declension. Sál soúl is thus declined : Sing. gen. dat. sál , sál — ar, — — u, — Plur. gen. dat. sál-ir , — na, — um, — ir. sal-ur — na — um — ur. English-Icelandic Gramm. 34 II. Etymology. Sixth Declension. Singular. A hand. N. htínd G. handar D. hendi A. hönd N. hendr G. handa D. höndum A. hendr Niyht. nátt, nótt nátt-ar, nætr A cow. An ewe. kýr œr kýr ær kú a — — Plural nætr' nátW, nótta kýr kúa ær á um, nætr — m kýr — m ær A goose. N. gás, gæs G. — ar D. — A. — N. gæss G. gás-a D. UE Singular. A mouse. mús ar An eyebrow. brún brún-ar brýnn, brýn, brýr brúti-a brýnn, brýn, brýr. Plueal. mýss mús-a A door. fem. nent. dyrr dyr dur-a a A. gæss mýss | dyrr Like mús is declined his a louse. -um — um Eighth Declension. Singular. Cattle. A temple. N. fé ve G. fjar D. fe A. — Plural. Sound. N. — — læti G. fjá —a lát-a D. — m — um — um A. fé - læti A few neuter nouns change their gender to the feminine in the plural number , as : Singular. Plural. * lim twig limar loughs. mund time mundir times, til fraud tálar frauds. The gods. regin, rögn ragna rögnum regin, rögn. 2. The Noun. 35 Some names of relatives, with different terminations, which include two or more persons in one name , are conse- quently used only in the plural : if the two persons are of different genders they take the neuter : hjón mail and woman, married people ; systkin brother and sister ; feSgin father and daughter ; mœSgin mother and son ; feðgar father and son ; mosSgur mother and daughter. DECLENSION OF NOUNS WITH THE ARTICLE. An example in each declension of a noun with the article appended, appears as follows : FIRST DECLENSION. The horse. Sing. N. hestr-inn G. hests-ins D. hesti-num A. hest-inn Plur. N. hestar-nir G. hesta-nna D. hestu-num A. hesta-na SECOND DECLENS. The custom. Sing. JV. siðr-inn G. siðar-ins D. siði-num A. sið-inn Plur. N. siðir-nir G. siða-nna D. siðu-num A. siðu-na THIRD DECLENSION. The fleet. Sing. N. floti-nn G. flota-ns D. flota-num A; flota-nn Plur. N. flotar-nir G. flota-nna D. flotu-num A. flota-na FOURTH DECLENS. The tongue. Sing. Plur. N. tunga-n N. tungur-nar G. tungu-nnar G. tungna-nna D. tungu-nni D. tungu-num A. tungu-na A. tungur-nar FIFTH DECLENS. Sing. N. eign-in G. eignar-innar D. eign-inni A. eign-ina The property. Plur. N. eignar-nar G. eigna-nna D. eignu-num A. eignir-nar SIXTH DECLENSION. The grate. Sing. Plur. N. grind-in N. grindr-nar 6?.grindar-innar G. grinda-nna D. grind-inni D. grindu-num A. grind-ina A. grindr-nar SEVENTH DECLENSION. The ear. Sing. N. eyra-t G. eyra-ns D. eyra-nu ii. eyra-t Plur. N. eyru-n G. eyrna-nna D. eyru-num A. eyru-n EIGHTH DECLENSION. The word. Sing. JV. orð-it G. orðs-ins D. orði-nu A. orð-it Plur. N. orð-in G. orða-nna D. orðu-num A. orð-in. The neuter it occurs in some books in the form if), espe- cially after a radical t; and in all cases of Modern Icelandic. 3* 36 II. Etymology. The aspirate h appears to be of later origin ; the oldest manuscripts have inn, in, it, or even enn, en, et. When three ra-endings come together one is rejected as, briin eyebrow, plur. brýnn; with the article, Irýnnar for brýnn-nar . MaSr man adds to the nom. plur. -ir and to the ace. -i, thus, menn -ir -nir, menn -i -na. FaSir and bróðir insert i in the gen. sing., as, föSurs-ins, bróðurs-ins. After liquids i is dropped, as salr, hvalr, dat. sing, salnum, hvalnum. Nouns which end in a diphthongie vowel reject the i of the article when in other cases it would make two syllables as , ey-nni , á-nni , kú-nni : in the accusative ey-na , á-na, kú-na. The genitive singular of monosyllabic feminine sub- stantives is generally contracted when they are declined in- definitely ; but it is always lengthened when the article is appended, as : fni woman, gen. frúr, frúar-innar ; yet á river, ær ewe and kýr cow are exceptions, and form ár-innar, ær- -innar, and kýr-innar. INFLECTION OF PKOPEE NOUNS. I . Names of persons. Masculines in -r are generally declined like hestr, for instance, þórr, gen. þórs, þorgeirr, þorgeirs. To this class belong also those in -arr, as, Gunnarr, Fjálarr, which in the dative take -ari as , Gunnari , Fjálari , not being contracted like hamarr. In -ir as \yrnir, e. g., Hænir, Hamdir. In -all, -ill, -till like common nouns of the same ter- mination as, Hagalls, gen. Hagals, dat. Hagli, Reginn, Regni, Egill, Egli. Ketill in compounds mostly becomes -/cell, and in the dative both þorkatli and þorkeli , Hallkatli and Hall- keli occur. Masculines ending in -undr, -u¥>r, -urfsr, -vifir -rS&r, -aftr, -llr, -an, -on, -tin, are inflected like siir, namely, with the genitive in -ar, -dative -i as, SigurSr, gen. Sigurðwí dat. SigurSi, Önundr, Önundar, Önundi, ArnviSar, Arnviðí GuSröðar, Guðröði. NiðaSr, NiSaSar, NiSaSi, Ullr, Ullar, Ulli, Heimdallr, Heimdallar, Heimdalli, Hálfdan, Háífdanaj 2. The Noun. 37 Hálfdani, Hákon, Hákonar, Hákoni, AuSun, AuSunar, Auðuni ; of these as well as of appellatives in -na$r a form of vowel-change is sometimes found in the nominative as, NiSuSr, Heimdöllr. Where instead of -ur¥>r the original -varfir occurs , the gen. -s is chiefly used as, HallvarSr, HallvarSs. All masculines in -i follow the third declension as, Snorri, Helgi, Atli. Feminines in -r, -nn and -dis are inflected mostly like bnfór (in the 5th declension) as, Hildr, GertSr and all deri- vatives therefrom ; If. Auðr Unnr or Uðr Sigriðr Jórun Hjördís O. Auðar Unnar Sigriðar Jórunar Hjördísar D. Auði Unni Sigriði Jóruni Hjördísi A. AuÖi Unni Sigriði Jóruni Hjördísi. AH those ending in -dis are declined in the same manner, although the word dis itself has its cases like eign. Many polysyllabic feminines have the genitive in -ar, but the dative and accusative in -u as, N. Guðrún Signý Óluf Rannveig G. ar jar ar ar D. u ju u u • A. u ju u u. Monosyllabic feminines form the dative and accusative like the nominative as, Hlif, gen. Hlifar, dat. and ace. Hlif; most of these insert j in the genitive; Frigg, Sif, He], gen. -jar. All feminines in -a follow the 4th declension as, Bera, Embla, Katla, þórhalla. Some few names of men have a feminine form as, Sturla, Sturlu, Urækja, Urækju. SkaSi on the other hand, which is a female name, is inflected like floti (3rd declension). From the names of men those of women are chiefly formed by adding a to the root-form as : mase. Hallr Ketill Þorkell Þórörn Hrafn fern. Halla Katla Þorkatla Þórarna Hrefna. When an appellative is used as a masculine proper noun, a feminine word answering to it being found , the latter is also used as a corresponding feminine name, both singly and in compounds, as : . masc. Björn Hallbjörn fern. Bera Hallbera. 38 n. Etymology. Foreign names take either a form which can be inflected according to the examples above adduced, e. g. Mikjáll, Mik- jáls , Lafranz , gen. Lafranz , dat. Lafranzi , or retain their native form ; in this case they are inflected either as Icelandic names, e.g. Magnus, Magmiss, or Magnúsar, Gregorius, Gregoriúsar, Blías, Elíasar, Aron . Arons . or declined like Latin names as , Christophorus , Christophori , JulianugJ Juliani. "" 2. Names of places. Many nouns of this class are appellatives, and can there- fore be inflected like common nouns as , berg , hof , staðr, völlr, heimr, fit, and compounded as Forberg, þórshof, Sól- heimr. Several are used in the plural, as -staðir (FaxstaSir), -vellir (MöSruvellir) , -heimar (Sólheimar) , Fitjar, á Fitjum. Some words appear no longer as appellatives , e. g. ló, gen. lóar beach; vin gen. vinjar , plur. vinjar pasture; bveit gen. þreitar fragment ; but as names, for instance, Lóar, dat. Lóm, Vinjar, dat'. Vinjum. In composition, deviations from the rules of inflection sometimes take place ; thus many form in Li are indeclinable ; vin sometimes takes vinar for vinjar as , Björgvinar for Björgvinjar. When vin in composition-, immediately follows a consonant, it becomes yn, ynar or yvjar : thus Björgyn, Björgynjar, SköSyn, Sköðynar, and in such cases the absorbed v effects a vowel-change, thus. TaS- vin, TöSyn, Sandvin, Söndyn. When rjóðr (a cleared space) is used as the name of a place , it often becomes ruf> as, þjóstólfsruð , AusuruS ; yet the original form may be preserved as , Bernxjóðr , Hristar- rjóðr. The forms Gula , Aga , Odda , Frosta , and others are indeclinable. Few names of places appear without the definite article as, Maer-in, Vangr-inn, SkiSan, dat. SkiSunni, Vellir-nir. a 3. Of the Adjective. 39 CHAPTER III. OF THE ADJECTIVE. The adjective has two forms, the indefinite as , svartr hestr a black horse or hestrinn er svartr the horse is black, and the definite as, hinn svarti hestr the black horse,, with the usual cases in each. 1. The Positive. The inflections are these : Indefinite FOBM. Mase. Sing. nom. -r (1, n, s) Fern. Boot (with vowel- change of u) Newt. -t gen. r s -rar -s dat. -um -ri -u ace. -an. -a -t Plw.nom. -ir -ar Root (with vowel- change of u) gen. -ra dat. -um ace. -a -ra -um -ar Definite FOKM. -ra -um Hoot (with vowel- - change oi.u>- Masc. Fern. Newt. Sing.nom. -i gen. -a dat. -a -a -u -u -a -a -a ace. -a -u -a. The inflections in the plural are -u. The definite form in the singular is thus inflected like nouns of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th declension. Paradigm : hvatr quick. Indefinite. Definite. Sing. Sing. Masc. Fern. Neut. Masc. Fern. Neut. N. hvat-r hvöt hvaH hvat-i hvat-a hvat-a O. hvat-s hvat-rar hvat-s hval^a hvöt-u hvat-a J), hvot-um hvat-ri hvót-u hvat-a hvot-u hvat-a A. hvat-an hvat-a Plur. hvat-t hvat-a hvöt-u Plue. hvat-a N. hvat-ir hvat-ar hvöt hvöt-u throughout. 6. hvat-ra hvat-ra hvat-ra D. hvöt-um hvöt-um hvöt-um A. hvat-a hvat-ar hvöt 40 II. Etymology. Thus are declined; gjarn greedy. I harðr hard. I krankr ill. I snar swift. hagr active. | hvass sharp. \ rangr wrong. | spakr wise. Adjectives take the definite endings when the article is appended to the noun as, svarti hestrinn, svarta hestinn. The masculine sign -r is lost when the root is rr, ss, fn, gn, Tin, rn, as, burr dry, hvass sharp, jafn even, skygga clear-sighted, froekn bold, gjarn willing, greedy. The feminine form has in the nominative singular the root with w-vowel-change on account of the omission of u in the masculine termination, as, svört (from svartr swart) , glöS (from glaSr glad) . The neuter form has in the nominative singular t, with which ð and n are assimilated to tt, for instance , gpSr , gott good, sannr satt true. Polysyllabic words in inn, and the adjectives mikill much, litill little, form their neuters in it; if the root end with a double consonant the latter is made single before t as, lauss laust, sæll sælt. Paradigms: búiun ready, litill little, lauss hose, sæll happy. Indefinite. Sing. Sing. Hasc. Fem. Nent. Hasc. Fem. Nent. N. búin-n búin búi-t lítil-1 b'til lítd-t (litt) G. búin-s búin-nar búin-s lítil-s h'til-lar h'til-s D. bún-um búin-ni bún-u litl-um lítil-U litl-u A. búin-n bún-a Pltjr. búi-t Ktin-n litl-a Plur. lítá-t (litt) JV; bún-ir bún-a búin litl-ir litl-ar litíl G. búin-na búin-na búin-na lítil-la lítil-la lítil-la D. bún-um bún-um bún-um litl-um litl-um litl-um A. bún-a bún-ar SlNG. búin. Defi litl-a NITE. litl-ar SlNG. h'tíl. N. bún-i bún-a bún-a liti-i litl-a litl-a G. bún-a bún-u bún-a litl-a litl-u litl-a D.bún-a bún-u bún-a litl-a litl-u litl-a A. bún-a bún-u Plur. bún-a litl-a litl-u Pltir. litl-a bún-u. litl-u. 3. Of the Adjective. 41 Indefinite. Sing. SlNG. Masc. Fern. Neut. Masc. Fem. Neut. N. laus-s laus laus-t sæl-1 sæl sæl-t G. laus-s laus-ar laus-s sœl-s sæl-lar sæl-s D. laus-um laus-i laus-u sæl-um sœl-li sœl-u A. r laus-an laus-a Plur. laus-t sæl-an sæl-a Plur. sæl-t. N. laus-ir laus-a laus sæl-ir sæl-ar sæl G. laus-a. laus-a laus-a sæl-la sæl-la sæl-la D. laus-um laus-um laus-um sæl-um sæl-um sæl-um A. laus-a laus-ar laus sæl-a sæl-um sæl. Definite. Sing. SlNG. N. laus-i laus-a laus-a sæl-i sæl-a sæl-a G. laus-a laus-u laus-a sæl-a S8el-U sæl-a D. laus-a laus-u laus-a sæl-a sæl-u sæl-a A. laus-a laus-u Plur. laus-a sæl-a sæl-u Plur. sæl-a laus-u. sæl-u. Like Minn are declined : haldinn holden | heiðinn heathen | heppinn luck;/ | tekinn taken, which, are contracted , since the termination begins with a vowel as, heiSnum. Those which have a in the first syllable admit a vowel-change when the i of the second syllable is rejected by contraction , and the ending begins with u, as höldnum. Like sail are declined : brúnn brown. I full foul. | heill whole. I vænn fair; brýnn plain. | hall smooth. | hreinn pure. \ and all others whose characteristic letter is I or n, with a diphthongic vowel. When the root ends with an accented vowel, t is doubled in the neuter , as well as r in the genitive and 'dative femi- nine, and in the genitive plural. Paradigms : blár blue, trúr true, faithful. Indefinite. Sing. Sing. Masc. Fem. Nent. Masc. Fem. Naut. N. blá-r blá blá-tt trú-r trú trú-tt norðrij eystri syðri I suðri I vestri fremri eptri j aptari j riiðri ( neðri) ýtri Sap. nyrðstr nörðstr norðastr austastr syðstrj synstrf vestastr fremstr epstr ( aptastrj mðstr | neðstrj ýstr 3. Of the Adjective. 47 C'omp. Sup. in inn innri innstr, instr over of / yfirj efri I öfri j efstr I öfstr > ofarstr) soon áðr æðri œðstr late sið siðari siðastr before for fyrri fyrstr rather heldr heldri helzt near ná nserri næstr up upp ypparstr far nam / fjærrif firri firstr ) fjærstrj seldom sjaldan sjaldnari sjaldnastr behind hindri hindstr. Adjectives , which have no comparative on account of their ending , but the meaning of which admits of degrees of comparison , express them augmentatively or diminutively by means of the adverbs, meir more, mest most, or heldr, helzt ; minnr less, minnst least, or siðr, sizt. The preterite participle in -inn, used as an adjective, is inflected like buinn ; those terminating in -dr, -fir, -tr, like hvatr, as follows : Singular. Masc. Fem. Neut. Masc. Fein. Neut. iV. vakin-n G. vakin-s J), vökn-um A. vakin-n vakin vaki-t vakin-nar vakin-s vakin-ni vökn-u vakn-a vaki-t vakið-r vakið vakið-s vakið-rai vökt-um vakið-ri vakt-an vakt-a vaki-t vakið-s vökt-u vaki-t Singular. (Continuation.) Masc. Fem. Neut. JV. vakt-r vökt vakt G. vakt-s vakt-ar vakt-s D. vökt-um vakt-ri vökt-u A. vakt-an vakt-a vakt Plural. Masc. Fem. Neut. Masc. Fem. Neut. N. vakn-ir G. yakin-na D. vökn-um A. vakn-a vakn-ar vakin vakin-na vakin-na vökn-um vökn-um vakn-ar vakin vakt-ir vakt-ar vakið-ra vakið-ra vökt-um vökt-um vakfr-a vakt-ar vakið vakið-ra vökt-um vakið 48 II. Etymology. Plural. (Continuation.) Maac. Fern. N. vakMr vakt-ar G. vakt-ra vakt-ra JD. vökt-um vökt-um A. vakt-a vakt-ar Nent. vökt vakt-ra vökt^um vökt. do Participial adjectives not drop the a. in -atr are declined regularly , but ANOMALOUS ADJECTIVES. Some adjectives form their comparative and superlative irregularly, or from an obsolete positive, as : góðr good ibetri better jbeztr best jskárri* /skástr* lillr bad verri worse verstr worst |vándr mikill much [great] meiri more mestr most litill little minni less minnstr least. margr much fleiri more flestr most gamall old jeldri older elstr oldest, eldest. jellri elder * diminutive forms. CHAPTER IV. OF PRONOUNS. These are divided into six classes , viz ; personal , pos- sessive, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, and indefinite pronouns. 1. Personal Pronouns. Without distinction of gender : Singular. 1st pers. 2nd pers. 3rd pers. JV. ek or eg I þú thou — G. min of me pin of thee sin of one's self « D. mér to me f>ér to thee sér to one's self • A. mik me þik thee sik, sig one's self. ' Dual. JV. viS or vit we two þiS or þit ye two — G. okkar of us two ykkar of you two — D. okkr to us two ykkr to you two — A. okkr us two ýkkr you two — 4. Of Pronouns. .49 Plural. þér, fer ye or you yðar, yðvar of you yðr to you yðr you With distinction of gender : N. vér we G. vár ;ef~its D. oss ■' to us A. OSS USJ sin of themselves ser to themselves sik themselves. Fem. hún, hon sAe hennar of her henni to her hana her. N. hann Ae ú in composition hecomes tú or dú according to the character of the foregoing letter as, skaltú shalt thou, mundú must thou. Should tt occur after a consonant only one t is written as, veitstú for veitst þú knowest thou. When it is compounded with imperatives the accent is dropt as , sjáðu see thou, gakktu do thou go. 1. Possessive Pronouns. These are formed from the genitive of the personal pro- noun ; they are as follows minn min mitt mine þinn þín þitt thine sinn sin sitt his, hers, its ok-karrokkur okkart our (of two) ykkarr ykkur ykkartyowr (of two) . várr vár várt our (of many). yðarr yður yðart your (do.) or, yðvarr yður yðvart. They are inflected thus : Singular. Masc. Fem. Neut. Masc. Fem. Neut. N. minn min mitt okkarr okkur okkart O. mins minnar mins okkars okkarrar okkars D. minum minni minu okkrum okkarri okkru A. minn mina mitt Plu okkaru RAL. okkra okkart N. minir minar min okkrir okkrar okkur G. minna minna minna okkarra okkarra okkarra D. minum minum minum okkrum okkrum okkrum A. mina minar min okkra okkrar okkur. jnglish-Icelandie Gramm. 4 50 II. Etymology. As mmn are inflected þinn and declined ykkarr and ySarr. sinn , and as okkarr are Várr is thus inflected Singular. Masc. Fern. N. várr vár Neat. várt G. várs D. varum A. váru varrar várri vara Plueal. várs váru várt N. várir G. várra várar várra vár várra D. varum varum várum A. vara várar vár. No possessive is formed from harm, hún; but the geni- tives harts , hennar, and in the plural þeirra (from \>at) only are used. The dative of the personal pronoun is sometimes used in a possessive sense as ', með hnefa mér with my fist, per til bana to thy death, á hendi sér in his hand. 3. Demonstrative Pronouns. These are three in number, viz. sá, sú, þat he, she, it, that; þessi, þessi, þetta, this; hinn, hin, hitt that; the last is also used as the definite article. Sing. Masc. N. sá G. pess D. peim A. þann Fein. SÚ þeirrar þeirri pá Neut. pat fiess því pat Masc. peir þeirra jieim þá Plur. Fem. Nent. þær þau þeirra fieirra þeim þeim pær þau. Instead of ]>eim the older form þeima is often met with. Sá, sú, þat is likewise used as a definite article. For sá and sú the old form . Sing. is often employed. Masc. Fem. Neut. Masc. Fem. Neut. JV. þessi þessi þetta þessir þessar þessi G. pessa þessarrar þessa þessarra þessarra þessarra B. þessum þessarri þessu þessum pessum þessum A. þenna pessa þetta þessa þessar þessi. This pronoun was originally formed from sá, whose ancient form Tperr in the nominative appears here again with 4. Of Pronouns. 51 si added ; thus several obsolete forms are to be found, which show that it was at one time customary only to decline \>err and add si without inflection, thus ; bersi for þessi ; beimsi for þessum, þvísa/or þessu, þannsi/or þenna. For the inflections of hinn see the article, p. 11. Besides these , hann , hun , is sometimes used as an article with proper names as, hann SigurSr, hún þurídr. Samr, söm, samt the same, is declined like a regular ad- jective; but hinn is often prefixed as, hin sama/em., hit sama neuter. The following, slíkr, slík, slíkt; þvílíkr, þvílík, Jjví- líkt; þessligr, þesslig, þessligt, all signifying such, are regul- arly inflected. 4. Interrogative Pronouns. These are, hvar, hvárr who [of two)'! hverr who {of many)1 and hvílíkr what kind of? The pronoun hvar is defective; not only does it want the feminine and the plural, but the nominative and accusative masculine singular ; both forms are supplied by hverr who [of many) ? ' Sing. Masc. Fern. Neat. JV. (hvar) — hvat G. hvess — hvess D. hveim — hvi A. (hvann) — hvat. In usual discourse, hvat is only used as a pronoun, and hvi as an adjective. Hvárr who [of two) ? takes hvom for hvoran in the sing, ace. masc. Sing. Pltjr. Masc. Fern. Nent. Masc. Fem. Neut. N. hvar-r hvár hvár-t hvár-ir hvár-ar hvár G. hvár-s hvár-rar hvár-s hvár-ra hvár-ra hvár-ra D. hvár-um hvár-ri hvár-u hvár-um hvár-um hvár-um. A. hvár-n hvár-a hvár-t hvár-a hvár-ar 4* hvár. 52 II. Etymology. Hverr who {of many) ? has hvern for hverjan in the sing, ace. masc, in the modern tongue. Sing. Masc. Fern. N. hver-r hver G. hver-s hver-rar D. hverj-um hver-ri A. hverj-an hverj-a The idea, "what kind of?" is expressed by a compound of the neuter hv£ tohat and likr like, thus : PLTJK. Netlt. Masc. Fem. Nent. hver-t hver-ir hverj-ar hver hver-s hver-ra hver-ra hver-ra hverj-u hverj-um hverj-um hverj-um hver-t hverj-a hverj-ar hver. Sing. Masc. Fem. Nent. N. hvílík-r hvílík hvílík-t G. hvílík-s hvílík-rar hvílík-s D, hvílík-um hvílík-ri hvílík-u A. hvílík-an hvílík-a hvílík-t Plur. Masc. Fem. Nent. hvílík-ir hvílík-ar hvílík hvílík-ra hvílík-ra hvílik-ra hvílík-um hvílík-um hvílík-um hvílík-a hvílík-ar hvílík. 5. Relative Pronouns. Properly speaking , there are no relative pronouns , but the interrogative s hverr and hvilikr are used in their stead, as well as the demonstrative sá, sú, þat, either alone , or more usually in connection with the particle er or sem as , sá er he who , bat sem that which. Er and sem likewise answer to the German "so" who, which, that. 6. Indefinite Pronouns. Hvártveggi either of two, both, has a double inflection, and is thus declined : Singular. Fem. hvár-tveggi hvárrar-tveggj u hvárri-tveggju / hvaru-tveggju ( hvára-tveggju Plural. Masc. iV. hvár-tveggi G. hvárs-tveggja D. hvárum-tveggja A. hvárn-tveggja N. hvárir-tveggj a G. hvárra-tveggia hvárra-tveggju . D. hvárum-tveggja hvárum-tveggjum A. hvára-tveggju hvár-tveggju Nent. hvár-tveggja hváru-tveggja hvár-tveggja hvár-tveggi 4. Of Pbonouns. 53 In the same way is inflected annartveggi one of two. Annarr-hvárr each other, every other , is doubly declined as , fern, önnur-hvár , neut. annat-hvárt. Hvárr-annan one another [of two) and hverr-annan one another {of many) are likewise inflected independently of each other. Einn-hver, einhver, eitthvert every one, each. Hverr-einn, hverteitt, hvateitt every, each. Sum-hverr somebody, anybody, some one, any one. Sinn-hvárr, sinhvár, sitthvárt, sitthvat each his own, each one's. More usual is sinnhverr , sinhver , sitthvert as : þeir líta sinn í hverja átt each looks to his own side. Sérhverr, sérhver, sérhvert, serhvat each. Nökkurr some one, any, whose various forms in the nominative are nakkvarr , nekkvarr , nekkverr , nekkurr, nokkvarr , nokkvorr , nokkverr , nökkverr and nokkurr , is thus declined : Sing. Masc. Fern. Neut. iV.nökkur-r nökkur nökkut tr.nðkkur-s nökkur-rar nökkur-s D.nökkur-um nökkur-ri nökkur-u ^l.nökkur-u nökkur nökkut Plur. Masc. Fem. Neut. nökkur-ir nökkur-ar nökkur nökkur-ra [throughout) nökkur-um [throughout) nökkur-a nökkur-ar nökkur. Hvárigr, hvárig, hvárigt, or hvárugr, hvárug, hvárugt, means neither [of the two) , and is used in connection with annarr as, hvárigr tráSi öðrum neither believed the other. From the neuter hvat , dat. hvi , and gen. plur. vitna from viti occasion, time (French fois) , is formed hvatvitna, dat. hvivitna wliatsoever. Hverrsem or hvevrsem helzt whoso or whosoever. Annarr other, another, gular, and is thus declined : Sing. Masc. Fem. Neut. N. annarr önnur annat O. annars annarrar annars D. öðrum annarri öðru A. annan aðra annat one, the second, is very irre- Pluk. Masc. Fem. Neut. aðrir aðrar önnur annarra (throughout) öðrum (do.) aðra aðrar önnur. Engi none, no one, is a compound of einn, ein, the negative particle -gi, -hi, and is thus declined : eitt and 54 II. Etymology. Sing.' N. G. D. A. Masc. engi enskis engum engan Fern. engi engrar engri enga Neut. ekki enskis engu ekki Masc. engir engra engum enga Pluk. pen,. Nent. engar engi (throughout.) (do.) engar engi. The indefinite person one (French on, Germ, man) ig expressed either by the 3rd pers. sing, of the verb without a pronoun as, ok heyrði bat and one heard that, and it was heard, or by the plural menn men as, er menn tóku at drekka when men took to drinking ; or lastly , by the modern form of rnaðr man. The impersonal there, it, is expressed by ]>at, even though followed by a plural verb as , bat eru margir sem there are many who ; still there is the regular form þeir eru margir they are many. If many persons are implied, but only one is mentioned, the pronoun (mostly sd) usually stands in the plural , whilst the name connected with it remains in the singular number as, beir Loki, i. e., Loh 'and his mate; beir Gunnarr Gunnarr and Sigufðr; beir Beli Beli and Frey ; við þá Gunnar towards Gunnarr and his folk; vit SigurSr I and Sigurðr. When words of different genders come together the pronoun is placed in the neut. plur., as, þau ýmis now he, then she; áttu þau owned they {Jonak and Gudrun) ; bæSi þau both they (Randver and Svanhild) . CHAPTER V. THE NUMERALS AND THEIR INFLECTIONS. These are divided into cardinal and ordinal. 1. Cardinal Numbers. 1 einn , ein , eitt 2 tveir , tvær , tvö 3 þrír, þrjár, þrjú 4 fjórir, fjórar, fjögur 5 fimm 6 sex 7 sjau (sjö) 8 átta 10 tíu 11 ellifu 12 tólf 13 þrettán 14 fjórtan 1 5 fimtán 1 6 sextán 17 sjautján 18 íttjan ö. Of Numerals. 55 19 nitján 20 tuttugu 21 tuttugu ok einn 30 þrjátíu 40 fjörutíu 50 fimtíu 60 sextíu 70 sjautíu (sjötíu) 80 áttatíu 90 níutíu 100 hundrað, tíutíu 110 hundrað ok tíu , ellifutíu 120 hundrað ok tuttugu, stórt hundrað 200 tvö hundrað 1000 þúsund. An indeclinable form in -tigi is used adjectively , as ; dat. þrjátigi mönnum to thirty men. In modern Icelandic -ttu takes the place of -tigir or -tigi. For declension of einn, see p. 11. Tveir, þrír, and fjórir are thus declined: Masc. Fern. Neut. JV. tveir tvær tvö O. tveggj a {throughout) D.tveim (do.) A. tvá tvær tvö Masc. Fern. Neut. þrír þrjár þrjú þriggja (throughout) þrim (do.) þrjá þrjár þrjú Masc. Fem. Neut. fjórir fjórar fjögur fjögurra (throughout) nórum (do.) fjóra fjórar fjögur. The remainder, as far as tuttugu included, are indeclin- able ; but the succeeding , up to hundrað , are formed from the numeral substantive tigr (from ti ten), which is inflected like íío> in the 2nd declension, and governs the noun follow- ing it in the genitive, as : fjórir tigir manna fortýmen fjögurra tiga — of — fjórum tigum — to — fjóra tigu — — HundraS is a regularly inflected neuter : Sing. nom. hundrað gen. dat. ace. Plur. nom. hundruð gen. hundraða dat. hundruðum ace. þúsund is feminine, and is thus declined : Plur. nom. þúsundir gen. þúsunda dat. um Sing. nom. þúsund gen þúsundar dat. (u) ace. The neuter þúshundraö , plur. þúshundruð , is also used, meaning a thousand, properly, 1200. As the ancient Icelanders used the duodecimal as well as the decimal mode of numeration, they signified by the great hundred (stórt hundraS) 120, as opposed to the small 56 II. Etymology. hundred (100) which was sometimes expressed by tiutigir; so that hdlft hundrat formerly counted for 60. Báðir hoik, which resembles toeir, and is a numeral ad- jective, is thus declined : Fern. Nent. báðar bæði (throughout) (do.) báðar bæði. The date of the year would be thus expressed : þúsund átta hundraö sextíu níu 1869. Misc. N. báðir G. beggja D. báðum A. báða 2. Ordinal Nu mbers The first fyrsti, fyrsta, fyrsta The nth — second annarr, önnur, annat — 18th — third þriðji, þriðja — fourth fjórði, fjórða — 5th fimti þriðja fjóroa — mh — 20th — ZOth — 6th sétti — iOth — 1th sjaundi — 8th átti (áttundi) — 50th — 60th — 9th niundi — 10th — 10th tiundi — 80th — Uth ellifti — 90th — Í2th tólfti — 100th — 13th þrettándi — 110th — Uth fjórtándi — lbth nmtándi — 120th — 200th — 16th sextándi — 1000th sjautjándi attjándi nítjándi tuttugast þrítugasti fertugasti flmtugaati sextugasti sjautugasti áttatugasti m'tugasti hundraðasti — ok tiundi — ok tuttugasti tvö hundraðasti þúsundasti. / is inserted before a and u of the different inflections of þriði . The collective numbers, or numeral substantives, are : fimt five in number sjaund seven — — tigr ten — — tylft twelve — — Fimt and sjaund are used solely for a space of five or seven days ; both are feminine words as well as tylft. There are several temporals as , from nótt night, come einnætt one night old, nætrgamalt night old, and from vetr winter, year vetrgamalt winter old, year old, tvaevett two winters old. To signify a period of three or four days the compounds þrínœttingr and fjórnœttingr are used. To designate 30 5. Of Numjbrals. 57 40, &c. days, the neuter of the numerals included in -tigr is used substantively, as: þrítugt, fertugt, &c. The distributive numerals are : tvennr two at a time þrennr three fern four — : they correspond with the Latin termination -arius, and are Tegular. Numeral adjectives-, in tens from 20 to 70 inclusive, are formed by -tugr; from 80 to 120 inclusive, by -rtetr ; and they are used both of age, measure, and the like. Thus, tntugr containing 20 þrítugr — 30 fertugr — 40 fimtugr — 50 áttræðr containing SO níræðr — 90 tíræðr — 100 ellifuræðr — 110 sextugr 60 tólfræðr — 120. sjautugr — 70 | By placing háy before such a numeral a number of magnitude can be signified which is five less , e. g. hálf- fertugr, comprising three tens and a half, j. e., 35 ; yet this mode of designation is chiefly applied to ships which reckon by their number of oars, and to the age of persons as, half þrít- ugt skip a 25 oared ship, half þrítugr maðr a man 25 years old. Multiplicative numerals are formed by adding faldr [fern, fold, neut. fait) to cardinal numbers. They are used and declined like adjectives, as: einfaldr simple, tvifaldr two- fold. From these are formed verbs in -falda , as : tvaufalda to double, þrefalda to treble, margfalda to multiply. Fractional numbers, with 1 as a numerator, are formed by -tengr, which is added to the neuter of the ordinal after a is dropt, as: þriSjungr^-, fjórðungr -^. Numeral Adverbs : tvisvar twice, þrisvar thrice. The others are expressed by the dative of sinn time, as : einu sinni once, fjórum síaaxanfour times. Tveimsinnum, þrimsinnum, or tvisvar sinnum, þrisvarsinnum are also used ; but the last are tautological. The article hit is prefixed to fyrsta, annat, þriðja sinn (the first , second, third time), but not necessarily so. "This time" is expressed by þetta sinn. Instead of sinn, the neuters skeiS (lapse of time) and skipti (division) are also used, as : hit fyrsta skipti, annat skeiS, and so on. Sometimes in place of the article the pre- position í in is employed, as: í fjórSa sinn_/or the fourth time. 58 II. Etymology. CHAPTER VI. VERBS. Icelandic verbs are active, passive, or neuter. A verb active expresses an action , and necessarily im- plies an agent, and an object acted upon as ; at elska to love; ek elska Gu© / love God. A verb passive , which is formed by the addition of st or z to the active , expresses the receiving of an action , and necessarily implies an object acted upon, and an agent by which it is acted upon as : at elskast to be loved; GuÐ elskast af hánum God is loved by him. The passive is likewise expressed by the auxiliary verbs verfia and vera with the past participle of the principal verb as; ek verð borinn I am born — varð — I was — — em — I have been born — var — / had — — still em is also used for the present, var for the preterite tense: Ex. var hann harðliga freistad he was sorely tempted; var skipt liðinu í tvá staSi the army was divided into two sections. A verb neuter expresses neither action nor passion , but being, or a state of being, as; ek em lam, ek set J sleep, ek sit I sit. When a verb expresses an action in which the agent acts, and is acted upon by himself , it is said to be in the reflective form as ; at skammast sin to be ashamed of one's self. The termination sic, which is now also written st or z, was originally simply a contraction of the reflective pronoun sik, corresponding to our self, or more exactly, to the French reflective se, so that at kallast was equivalent to to call one's self , or the French s'appeler. It gradually assumed a passive force, and there are a few instances of its employment as such by classic writers in the best ages of Old-Norse literature. Those verbs which have a passive form with an active meaning as , at öðlast to obtain , are called deponent verbs ; they are only few in number. When an action is conceived without a definite subject from which it proceeds , the verb is called impersonal, and is used only in the third personal singular, the place of the 6. Verbs. 59 subject being supplied by the neuter personal pronoun þat it as ; þat snjóar it snows. All verbs are arranged in two classes answering to the strong and weak forms of the German grammarians. The former consists in a change óf the radical vowel in the pre- terite tense and past participle ; the latter admits of the ad- dition of vocal elements to the root, for example : Infinitive. Preterite. Past part. ■'. — syngja söng sunginn to sing sang sung stela stal stolinn (English en) to steal stole stolen Weak. — kalla kallaða (Eng. ed; Ger- kallaðr man te or ete) . to call called called. The principle on which this nomenclature is founded is, that the power of varying a word by change of its more un- essential constituents , without external aid in the way of composition or addition of syllables, implies a certain vitality, a certain innate , organic strength not possessed by roots capable of variation only by the incorporation or addition of foreign elements. The weak inflection is the regular, the strong, the irregular, form of the older grammarians, and the latter is the more ancient of the two modes of inflection ; therefore the more appropriate appellations would be the old and new modes. A small number of verbs have an anomalous, or, more properly speaking, a mixed conjugation . that is, a mode of conjugation consisting of a combination of the strong and weak. The first class has seven conjugations whose preterite indicative is always monosyllabic, having a consonantal end- ing with change of vowel ; the past participle is inflected in inn, in, it. The second class has two conjugations whose preterite indicative is always unchanged ; the past participle ends in dr, d, t. There are therefore nine conjugations in which every regular and irregular verb is included. There are four moods in each conjugation, the indicative, conjunctive, imperative, and infinitive ; but only two tenses, the present and preterite, can be expressed by inflection. The other tenses are formed by means of auxiliary verbs. 60 II. Etymology. In the first three of the moods above-named there are the two numbers, singular and plural, and the usual persons, the personal pronoun being placed before the verb, since the dif- ference of persons, especially in the passive voice, is fre- quently undefined. The participles are, the present active and the past. The infinitive always contains the root- vowel. The present and preterite tense, as well as the past parti- ciple or supine, are the most important of the tenses. The auxiliary verbs of tense are, hafa to have, vera to be, verða to become; and they are thus conjugated : At hafa to have. Indicative Mood. Present Tense. Sing. Pltjr. ek hefi, I have, vér höfum, we have, þú hefir, thou hast; þér hafið, you have, hann hefir, he has; þeir hafa, they have. ek hafði, I had, þú hafðir, thou hadst, hann hafði, he had; Preterite. vér höfðum, we had, þer höfðuð, you hail, þeir hófðu, they had. Conjunctive Mood. Present Tense. Sing. ek, hafi, I may have, vér hafim, þú hafir, thou mayest have, þér hafið, hann hafi, he may have; þeir hafi, Preterite. vér hefðim, per hefðið, þeir hefði, Plur. we may have, you may have, they may have. we might have, you might have, they might have. ek hefði, I might have, þú hefðir, thou mightest have, hann hefði, he might have ; Imperative Mood. SlNG. hafðu, haoe tlwu; PLUR. höfum, let us have, hafið, have ye. Hafa is often used with a past participle agreeing, like an adjective, in gender and case with the object, e. g., er þeir höfðu feldan höfðingja liðsins when they had struck down the chiefs of the people. It is also used with the supine passive as ; er þeir höfðu viStalast when they had spoken together. Infinitive Mood. at hafa, to have. Pres. part, hafandi, having, Past part, haft, had. 6. Verbs. At vera to be. Indicative Mood. Present Tense. Sing. i p LU r. ek em, I am, ver erum, we are, þú ert, thou art, þfer eruð, you are, hann er, he is; þeir eru, they are. Preterite, ek var, I was, yér varum, we were, þú vart, thou wast, per váruð, y.ou were, hann var, he teas; þeir váru, they were. Conjunctive Mood. ek se, þú ser, hann sé, Presenl Sing. i" may be, thou mayest be, he may be; Tense. Plur. vér seim, we may be, per seið, you may be, þeir sfei, they may be. ek væri, þö værir, hann væri, Prét I might be, thou mightest be, he might be; erite. vér værim, we might be, þér værið, you might be, peir væri, they might be. 61 Infinitive Mood. at vera, to be. Pres. part, verandi, being. Past part, verit, been. Impebative Mood. veri, let me be. verum, let us be, ver-tu, be thou, verit, be ye, veri, let him be; veri, let them be. Vera, with at and the infinitive of other verbs, signifies a definite time, as : ek em at skrifa I am just going to write. A thoroughly past time , which we denote by laying an emphasis on the auxiliary verb , is expressed periphrastically in Icelandic by the phrase ek embúinn, followed by the in- finitive with at, as : ek em buinn at skrifa I have (already) written. At vertSa Indicative Mood. S. Present. -T become. ek verð, þú verðr, hann verðr ; P. ver verðum, þér verðið, peir verða. Preterite. I became. S. ek varð, þú varð, hann varð ; P. vér urðum, þér urftuð, þeir urðu. to become. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may become. S. ek yrði, þú yrðir, hann yrði , P. ver yrðim, þér yrðið, jþeir yrði. Preterite. 1 might become. S. ek varð, þú varð, hann varð ; P. ver urðum, þfer urðuð, þeir urðu. 62 II. Etymology. Imperative Mood. verð-ðu do thou become Pres. part, verðandi becoming. Infinitive Mood. at verSa to become. Past part, orðinn become. FIRST CLASS. Sign -Forms. 1. Infinitive. 2. 1 pers. sing. pres. ind. 3. 1 pers. sing. pret. ind. 4. 1 pers. plur. pret. ind. 5. Past part. First Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. a, plur. ». Characteristics. — Everywhere a short vowel. The root- endings generally double, or liquids connected with mutes: rarely double mutes. Vowel of the infinitive e (seldom ja) ; i before nn (except brenna, renna) , nd and ng; y before ngv, ð before ggv, kkv, yet the pres. of slo'ggva is slyng. Past part, has o; but u before nn, nd, ng. Strong r-vowel-changeá words have ö for a in the pret. sing. ind. In the preterite tense, as well as in the 2 pers. sing, of the imperative , where the root-termination likewise ap- pears, d after I becomes t ; after n both d and g are changed into their corresponding thin letters t and k, with assimi- lation of n. At brenna to burn. Active Voice. Indicatii Present. I bum. rE Mood. Preterite. I burned. Conjunct Present. I may burn. ive Mood. Preterite. 1 might burn. Sing. ek brenn, þú brennr, hann brennr ; Sing. ek brann, þú brannt, hann brann ; Sing. ek brenni, þú brennir, hann brenni ; Sing. ek brynni, þú brynnir, hann brynni; PL. vér brennum, þer brennið, þeir brenna. PL. vér brunnum, þérbrunnuð, þeir brunnu. Pl. vfer brennim, þér brennið, þeir brenni. Pl. ver brynnim, þér brynnið, þeir brynni. .. Imperati' brenn-ðu, do tho brennum, let us brennið, do ye h ve Mood. « 4«/'«, burn, irn. Infinite at brenna to but Pres. part, brer Past part, brun r E Mood. ■n. nandi burning, tiinn burned. > 6. Verbs. 63 To this conjugat ion belong the following verbs : inf. pres. pret. sing pret. plur. past part. to strike bella bell ball bullum bollinn - help berga or bjarga berg barg burgum borginn - swing bregða bregð brá brugðum brugðinn - burst bresta brest brast brustum brostinn -fall detta dett datt duttum dottinn - drink drekka drekk drakk drukkum drukkinn - sound gella or gjalla gell gall gullum gollinn -pay gjalda geld gait guldum goldinn - crackle gnesta gnest gnast gnustum gnostinn - help hjálpa help halp hvall hulpum hullum hólpinn hollinn - tingle hvella hvell - turn rouná ' hverfa hverf hvarf hurfum horfinn - run renna renn rann runnum runninn - shake skjálfa skelf skalf skulfum skolfinn ring skella skell skall skullum skollinn let slip - jingle sleppa smeila slepp smell slapp small sluppum smullum sloppinn smollinn touch snerta snert snart snurtum snortinn - sprout spretta sprett spratt spruttum sprottinn - swill svelgja svelg svalg sulgum solginn - swell svella svell svall sullum sollinn - hunger svelta svelt svalt sultum soltinn - roll velta velt valt ultum oltinn - wipe off sverfa sverf svarf surfum sorfinn - boil vella veil vail ullum ollinn - become verða verð varð urðum orðinn - toy (eggs) -verpa verp varp urpum orpinn - lessen þverra pverr þvarr þurrum þorrinn - bind binda bind batt bundum bundinn - Ji/nd Anna Ann fann funnum or fundum funninn or fundinn - throw down hrinda hrind hratt hrundum hrundinn - spin spinna spinn spann spunnum spunninn - spur spirna or spurna spirn spam spurnum sporninn - spring springa spring sprakk sprungum sprunginn - sting stinga sting stakk stungum stunginn - wind vinda vind vatt undum undinn - win vinna vinn vann unnum unninn - go forward hrökkva hrökk hrökk hrukkum hrukkinn - sink sökkva sökk sokk sukkum sokkinn - throw slöggva slyng slöng slungum slunginn ~ - spring stökkya stökk stökk stukkum stukkinn - sing jsyngva Jsyngja syng söng sungum sunginn - press pryngva þryng prong prungum þrunginn. 64 II. Etymology. Second Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. a, plur. d. C/iaracteristics. — Simple root-vowel : vowel of the in- finitive e (originally i). In some words a root -consonant accompanying j has preserved the original vowel i, and in others the original ve, u has passed over to o. The past part, has the vowel e, unless the root-consonant is a liquid, or the original vowel has been ve, for in such cases it becomes o. The pret. sing, in words with the root-consonant g should properly become ag; but here g falls away, and the vowel becomes lang d, as in vega, pret. vá, &c. At gefa to give. Indicative Mood. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I give. ek gef, þú gefr, hann gefr ; ver gefum, þér gefið, þeir gefa. Preterite. I gave. S. ek gaf, þú gaft, hann gaf; P. vér gáfum, -þer gáfuð, þeir gáfu. Imperative Mood. gef-ðu, do thou give, gefum, let us give, geflð, do ye give. Present. I may give. S. ek gefi, þú gefir, hann gefi ; P. vér gefim, þér gefið, þeir gefi. Preterite. I might give. S. ek gæfi, þú gæfir, hann gæfi ; P. vér gæfim, þér gæfið, þeir gœfi. Infinitive Mood. at gefa to give. Pres. pari, gefandi, giving. Past part, gefinn, given. To this conjugation belong the following verbs : to slay - eat - inquire - get - say leak - read - measure meta drive reka inf. drepa eta fregna geta kveða leka lesa -JigU sofa or svefa troða vefa vega pres. drep et fregn kveð lek les met rek sis sef treð vef veg pret. sing, drap át frá kvað lak las mat rak sá svaf trað vaf, of vá pret. plnr. drápum átum frágum gátum kváðum lákum lásum mátum rákum sám sváfum or so- fum tráðum" váfum, ofum vágum, ogum past part. drepinn etinn freeinn getinn kveðinn lekinn lesinn metinn rekinn senn sofinn troðinn ofinn veginn 6. Verbs. 6 inf. pres. pret. sing pret. plur . past part. to beg biðja bia bað báðum beðinn - lie Kggja ligg lá lágum leginn - sit sitja sit sat sátum setinn receive f>iggja bigg þá þágum þeginn - bear bera ber bar bárum borinn - hide fela fel fal fálum fólginn - come koma kem kvam, kom kvámum, mum ko- kominn - take nema nem nam nánium numinn - cut skera sker skar skárum skorinn - steal stela stel stal stálum stolinn - swim svima, svema svim, svam svam svámum svominn Those verbs which have v before the vowel of the pre- terite sometimes take ó in the plural instead öf á , generally with the dropt v as , svófum or sófum , kvófium or kóðum for ■svá/um and kváSum, vógum for vágum, ófum for váfum; some have even 6 in the singular , and thus inflect the preterite according to the third conjugation, namely, óf, vó = vaf> vd. The forms kom, plur. kómum from koma', are more common than kvam and kvámum. Thied Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. o, plur. ó. Characteristics. — Simple root - consonant , excepting vaxa ; vowel of the infinitive a ; but when J is con- nected with the root-consonant a is changed into é , and the original av (au) into ey. Past part, a; but before g and k always e. Verbs in eyj have á in the past part. Those whose roots end in g reject that letter in the pret. sing., but take it again in the pret. plur. and past participle. At fara to journey. Indicative Mood. Present. I journey. S. ek fer, þú ferr, hann ferr; P. ver förum, þér farið, þeir fara, Preterite. ek for, þú fórð, hann for ; . ver forum, þér fóruð, þeir fóru. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may journey. S. ek fari, þú farir, hann fari; P. ver farim, |>er farið, þeir fari. Preterite. Imight journey. S. ek færi, þú færir, hann færi ; P. vér færim, þér færið, þeir færi. English-Icelandic Gramm. 66 II. Etymology. Imperative Mood. far-ðu, do thou journey ; förum, let us journey, farið, do ye journey. Infinitive Mood. at fara to journey. Pres. part, farandi journeying. Past part, farinn journeyed. To this conjugation belong the following verbs : to drive feed die - draw fay crow bark dig heave - laugh lade cut - souse - freeze claw - scrape - shake shape - strike stand swear - take - wade grow wash inf. aka ala deyja draga flá gala geyja grata hefja hlæja hlaða hnafa kefja , kala klæja mala skafa skaka, skapa slá standa sverja taka vaða vaxa þvá pres. pret. sing. pret.plnT. last part. ek ok ókum ekinn el 01 ólum alinn dey dó dóum, dóm dáin dreg dró drógum dreginn flæ fló flógum fleginn gel gól gólum gaEnn gey gó góum gáinn gref gróf grófum grafinn hef hóf hófum hafinn hlæ hló hlógum hleginn hlaoinn hleð hlóð hlóðum hnef hnóf hnófum hnafinn kef kóf kófum kafinn kel kól kólum kalinn klæ kló klógum kleginn mel iaól mólum maEnn skef skóf skófum ska&m skekja skek skók skókum skekinn skep skóp skópum skapinn slæ sló slógum sleginn stend stóð stóðum staðinn sver tek veð vex þvæ sor tók óð óx þvó, þó sorum svannn tókum tekinn óðum vaðinn óxum, uxum vaxinn þvógum þveginn. The imperative of standa is stattu. Fourth Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. ei , plur. i. Characteristics. — Root-vowel i; when the consonant k follows, j is inserted before the terminating a of the infinitive as, vikja, svikja: bfóa has the past part, hé&inn for biiinn. Verbs , whose root is ig , form the pret. sing, in e instead of eig ; for instance , ste = steig , hné = hneig , sé = seig : this variation does not extend to the plural. 6. Veebs. 67 At grípa Indicative Mood. Present. I seize. S. ek grip, þú gripr, hann gripr; P. vér gripum, per gripið, þeir gripa. Preterite. I seized. S. ek greip, þú greipt, hann greip; P. vér gripum, per gripuð, peir gripu. Impebative Mood. grip-ðu, do thou seize ; gripum, let us seize, gripið, do ye seize. to seize. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may seize. . ek gripi, þú gripir, hann gripi; '. vér gripim, per gripið, peir gripi. Preterite. Imight seize. S. ek gripi, {m gripir, hann gripi; P'. ver gripim, þér gnpið, peir gnpi. Infinitive Mood. at gripa, to seize. Pres. part, gripandi, seizing. Past part, gripinn, seized. To this conjugation belong the following verbs : inf. pres. pret. sing. pret.plni . past part to bide biða bíð beið biðum beðinn - bite bíta bit beit bitum bitinn - glitter blíka blík bleik blikum blikinn - drive drífa dríf dreif drifum drifinn yawn gína gín gein, ginda ginum gininn - sink down hníga hníg hneig, hné hnigum hniginn - push hníta ' hnít hneit hnitum hnitinn tear hrífa hríf hreif hrifum hriflnn shriek hrfna hrín hrein hrinum hrininn • whine hvína hvín hvein hvinum hvininn - climb klífa klíf kleif klifum klifinn - fear kvíða kvíð.kvíði kveið.kvidda kviðum kviðinn - glide on líða líð leið, lidda liðum liðinn • look at líta lit leit litum litinn pass urine míga míg meig, me migum miginn riðinn' ride ríða ríð reið riðum - iearinpiecei rífá ríf reif rifum rifinn - rise rísa rís reis risum risinn carve rista rist reist ristum ristinn write ríta rít reit ritum ritinn - sink síga síg seig, se si'gum siginn - shine skína skín skein skinum skininn - step forth skríða skríð skreið skriðum skriðinn slit slíta slít sleit slitum slitinn cut sníða ' sníð sneíð sniðum sniðinn - mount stíga sti'g steig, ste stigum sti'ginn scorch svíða svíð sveiö, svidda sviðum sviðinn - flutter svífa svíf sveif svifum Bviftnn - betray svíkja svík sveik svikum svikinn - sweep svípa svíp , sveip svipum svipinn - yield víkja þríía - vík veik vikum vikinn lay hold of þríf þreif þrifum þriflnn. 68 II. Etymology. Fifth Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. au (ó) , plur. u. Characteristics. — Vowel of the infinitive Jó before t, 8, s, st; hut jii before/, g, k, p : ú in lúta, luka, and sometimes súga for the more common form sjúga. Verbs, whose root is jug, form the pret. sing, in 6 for aug, e.g. smó = smaug; Jíó = flaug; 16 = laug; plur. always smugum, fiugwm, lugum. At frjósa to freeze. Indicative Mood. Preterite. I froze. S. ek fraus, þú fraust, hann fraus ; P. vér frusum, þér frusuð, þeir frusu. Present. I freeze. ek frýs, þú frýst, hann frýs; ver frjósum, þer frjósið, þeir frjósa. Imperative Mood. frjós-tu, do thou freeze; frjósum, let us freeze, frjósið, do ye freeze. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may freeze. S.'ek frjósi, þú frjósir, hann frjósi; P. vér frjósum, þér frjósið, þeir frjósi. Preterite. I might freeze . S. ek frysi, þú frysir, hann frysi; P. vér frysum, þer frysuð, þeir frysu. Infinitive Mood. at frjósa, to freeze. Pres. part, frjósandi, freezing. Past part, frosinn, frozen. To this conjugation belong the following verbs : to bid break fly flow drift inf. bjóða brjóta drjúpa fljúga fljóta fjúka gjósa gjóta obtain hljóta hammer hnjóða - sneeze hnjósa knot hnjóta make bare hrjóSa - snore hrjóta choose kjósa cleave creep strike. lie shut kljúfa krjúpa ljosta Ijúga lúka pres. pret. sing. pret. plur. past part býð bauð buðum hoðinn brýt braut brutum brotinn drýp draup drupum dropinn flýg flaug, fló flugum floginn fyk flaut flutum flotinn fauk fukum fokinn gfs gaus gusum gosinn gyt gaut gutum gotinn hlýt hlaut hlutum hlotinn hnýð hnauð hnuðum hnoðinn hnýs hnaus hnusum hnosinn hnýt hrýð hnaut hnutum hnotinn hrauð hruðum hroðinn hrýt hraut hrutum hrotinn kýs kaus, kjöra kusum, ku - kosinn, rum korinn klýf klauf klufum klofinn kryp kraup krupuni kropinn lýst laust lustum lostinn iýg laug, ló lugum loginn lýk lauk lukum lokinn 6. Verbs. 6 to stoop inf. lúta pres. •lýt pret. sing, laut pret. plur. lutum past part, lotinn enjoy redden - destroy - smoke ' seethe njóta rjóða rjúfa rjúka sjóða nýt rýð rýf syð naut rauð rauf ráuk sauS nutum ruðum rufum rukum suðum notinn roðinn roflnn rokinn soðinn - suck shoot siúga.súgasýg skjóta skyt saug, só skaut sugum skutum soginn skotinn slip away stroke smjúga strjúka smýg stryk smaug, smc strauk smugum strukum smoginn strokinn sip pull fail roar súpa tjúga prjóta pjóta sýp þryt Þýtj saup taug, tó þraut þaut supum tugum þrutum fratum sopinn toginn þrotinn þotinn. \ Sixth Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. h, plur. e. Characteristics. — A single root-consonant after a long vowel, double after a short one : the vowel of the infinitive ei or á before a single , a before a double, consonant ; vowel of the past part, like that of the inf., except in ganga and /a, where it is e. At lata to let. Indicative Mood. Present. I let. ek læt, þú lætr, hann lætr; vér latum, þfer látið, þeir láta. Preterite. I did let. S. ek let, f>ú lezt, hann let; P. ver letum, per lfetuð, þeir letu. Impeeative Mood. Ját-tu, do thou let; latum, let us let, látið, do ye let. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may let. ek lati, þú látir, hann láti; vér látim, þér látið, þeir láti. Preterite. I might let. S. ek léti, þú lfetir, hann leti; P. vfer letim, þér létið, þeir leti. Infinitive Mood at lata, to let. Pres. part, látándi, .. Past part, látinn, let. To this conjugation belong the following verbs : inf. to be called heita -play leika - swathe sveipa - blow blása - get fá pres. heit, heiti leik joret. sing. hét lfek pret. plur. hetum lékum sveip blæs fæ svép blfes ftkk svepum blésum ftngum past part, heitinn leikinn sveipinn blásinn fenginn 70 > II. Etymology. inf. pres. piet. sing. pret. plnr. weep grata ráða græt gret grétum advise ræð reð réðum mix blanda blend blétt blendum attire falda feld felt feldum 9° ganga geng gékk gén gum heldum hold halda held hélt hang hanga heng hékk hengum fall falla feU fell félhim- sacrifice biota bloet blét blétum past part. grátinn ráðinn blandinn faldinn genginn haldinn hanginn fallinn blót inn. Seventh Conjugation. Vowel of the pret. jó, plur._;o. Characteristics. — Always a long root-syllable as the pre- ceding, partly through a long vowel with a single consonant, partly by reason of position after a short vowel. At ausa to sprinkle. Indicative Mood. Present. I sprinkle. S. ek eys, þú eyss, hann eyss ; P. vér ausum, þér ausið, þeir ausa. Preterite. I sprinkled. S. ek jós, þú jóst, hann iós ; P. vér josum, ju- sum, þérjósuð, jusuð, þeir jósu, jusu. Imperative Mood. aus, do thou sprinkle; ausum, let us sprinkle, ausið, do ye sprinkle. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may sprinkle. S. ek ausi, þú ausir, hann ausi; P. vér ausim, þér ausið, f>eir ausi. Preterite. Imight sprinkle. S. ek jysi, þú jysir, hann jysi; P. vfer jysim, þér jysið, þeir jysi. Lntlsttive Mood. at ausa, to sprinkle. Pres. part, ausandi, sprinkling. Past part, ausinn, sprinkled. To this conjugation belong the following verbs : inf. pres. pret. sing. pret. plnr. past part. to increase auka eyk jók jókum, jukum aukinn dwell búa bý bjó bjoggum, bjuggum buinn leap hlaupa hleyp hljóp hljópum, hlupum hlaupinn hew höggva högg hjó hjoggum, hjuggum höggvin spew spyja spy spjó spjom. spuinn. The words búa and htiggva always shorten the vowel in the pret. plur.: hlaupa, auka, and ausa also become hlupum, jukum, &nijusum in the same tense. These last two conjuga- tions include those verbs which anciently formed the preterite by reduplication. 6. Veubs. 71 SECOND CLASS. Sign- Forms. Infinitive-ending -a, pret. sing, -da or -di, pret. plur. -dum, part. -dr. The connecting vowel is either » or a: this •causes the division of verbs of this class (which answers to the German designation of weak verbs) into two conjugations. First Conjugation. With connecting vowel i. , The connecting vowel i always becomes/ before another vowel : if Ji come together a simple i takes their place. There are two divisions of this conjugation according as the root- vowel is short or long. The i changed into/, is pre- served in those verbs whose root-syllable is short as, temja to tame, vekja to wake, hylja to hide, and in fact in those which have a long syllable, but whose root ends in g and k as : vigja to consecrate, steikja to roast, byggja to dwell. In the pret. and the past part, d remains unaltered after /, m, n in short-syllabled words. First Division. Short root-vowel. Verbs of this division have^o final vowel in the pres. or in the pret. before the ending. At telja to reckon. Indicative Mood. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I reckon. S. ek tel, þú telr, hann telr; P. vér teljum, þér telið þeir telja. Preterite. I reckoned. S. ek taldi, þú taldir, hann taldi; P. vér töldum, per tölduð, þeir töldu. Imperative Mood. tel-du, do thou reckon; téljum, let us reckon, tehð, do ye reckon. Present. I may reckon. S. ek teli, þú telir, hann teli; P. vér telim, per telið, peir teli. Preterite. I might reckon. S. ek teldi, þú teldir, hann teldi; P. vér teldim, per teldið, þeir teldi. Infinitive Mood. at telja, to reckon. Pres. part, teljandi reckoning. Past part, taldr (taliðr, talinn), reckoned. 72 II. Etymology. Thus are conjugated : to choose velja dwell d velja beat lemja smite berja to wean venja wake vekja thatch bekja take leave kveðja to gladden gleðja whet hvetja crave krefja lead astray glepja- At hylja to hide. Indicative Present. I hide. S. ek hyl, þú hylr, hann hylr; P. vér hyljum \>ei hyfið, peir hylja. Mood. Preterite. I hid. S. ek huldi, þú huldir, hann huldi ; P. vér huldum, þer hulduð, peir huldu. Imperative Mood. hyl-du, do thou hide; hyljum, let us hide, hylið, do ye hide. Thus are conjugated : Conjunctive Mood. Present. Preterite. I may hide. I might hide. S. ek hyli, S. ek hyldi, þú hylir, þú hyldir, hann hyli ; hann hyldi j P. vér hylim, P. ver hyldim, per hylið, þér hyldið, þeir hyli. þeir hyldi. Intinitive Mood. at hylja, to hide, ires. part, hyljandi, hiding. Past part, huldi (huliðr, hulinn) hidden. to ask spyrja chew tyggja carry flytja to groan stynja - slwt to lykja rush on pysja to roar rymja root out ryðja. Second Divisftn. Long root-vowel. Verbs of this division have the vowel i in the pres., but none in the pret. before the ending. At dœma to judge. Indicative Mood. Conjunctive Mood. Present. 1 judge. S. ek doemi, þú dœmir, hanndœmir; Preterite. I judged. S. ek dœmili, þú dœmdir, hann dœmdi; Present. I may judge. S. ek dcemi, þú dcemir, hann dœmi; Preterite. I might judge. S. ek doemdi, þú doemdir, hann dœmdi P. vér dcemum, þér dcemíð, þeir dœma. P.vérdœmdum, þér dœmduð, þeir dœmdu. P. vér dcemim, þér dœmið, þeir dœmi. P. vérdœmdim, þér dœmdið, þeir dœmdi. Imperative Mood. dœm-du, do thou judge; dœmum, let us judge, dœmið, do ye judge. Ixi-initive Mood. at dœma, to judge. Pres. part, dcemandi, judging* Past part, dcemdr, judged. 6. Verbs. 73 Thus are conjugated : to deck prýða make gera gape gapa consecrate vigja sorrow syrgja to follow fylgja - weaken veikja - think peinkja - spring stökkva speak mæla to fetch heimta - notice geyma - fell fella - drown drekkja - build byggja. Second Conjugation. With connecting vowel a. The connecting vowel a occurs in the preterite tense, and never falls away ; but when u takes place in the inflections, it is changed into u , as : inf. pret.sing. pret. plur. past part. to love elska elskaði elskuðum elskadr kallaði kölluðum kallaðr. At elska to love. call inf. elska kalla Indicative Mood Present. J love. ek elska, þú elskar, hann elskar; ver elskum, þér elskið, þeir elska. Preterite. J loved. S. ek elskaði, þú elskaðir, hann elskaði ; P.verelskuðum, per elskuðuð, þeir elskuðu. Imperative Mood. elska-ðu, do thou love; elskum, let us love, elskið, do ye love. At kalla to call. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may love. , ek elski, þú elskir, hann elski; . vér elskim, per elskið, peir elski. Present. I might love. S. ek elskaði, þú elskaðir, hann elskaði ; P. vér elskaðim, per elskaðið, peir elskaði. Infinitive Mood. at elska, to love. Pres. part, elskandi, loving. Past part, elskaðr, loved. Indicative Present. I call. ek kalla, þú kallar, hann kallar ; vér köllum, per kallið, þeir kalla. Mood. Preterite. I called. S. ek kallaði, þú kallaðir, hannkallaði; P.vferkölluðum, þerkölluðuð, peir kölluðu. Impeeatite Mood. kalla-ðu, do thou call; köllum, let us call, kallið, do ye call. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may call. S. ek kalli, þú kallir, hann kalli; P. vér kallim, þer kallið, peir kalli. Infinitive Mood. at kalla to call. Pres. part, kallandi, calling. Past part, kallaðr, called. Preterite. I might call. S. ek kallaði, þú kallaðir, hannkallaði ; P. vér kallaðim' þer kallaðið' þeir kallaði.' 74 n. Etymology. The past participle in -afir is regularly declined, as indef. kallaðr, kölluð, kallat def. kallaði, kallaða, kallaða. Like kalla are conjvigated : to serve þjóna - plunder herja talk tala hake baka - write rita 1,0 aim ætla cast kasta - threaten hóta - sound hljóða to gather safna - prove sanna - fall asleep sofna - think hugsa. PASSIVE VOICE. The formation of the passive is very simple and regular : st is added in all cases, but before this, r, t, d, and ð are dropt, -which last letter however takes z for s. At teljast to be reek- I At dcemast to be I At kallast to be called, oned. | judged. \ I am reckoned. S. ek telst, þú telst, hann telst; P. vér teljumst, ber tefizt, þeir teljast. I was reckoned. S. ek taldist, f>u taldist, hann taldist; P. vér töldumst, þér tölduzt, þeir töldust. Imay be reckoned. S. ek telist, f>ú telist, hann telist; P. vér telimst, þéi telizt, þeir telist. Indicative Mood. Present. I am judged. S. ek doemist, þú dœmist, hann doemist; P. vér dœmumst, þér dœmizt, þeir dœmast. Preterite. I was judged. S. ek doemdist, þú dœmdist, hann doemdist; P. vér dœmdumst, þér dœmduzt {reir dœmdust. Conjunctive Mood. Present. Imay be judged. ek doemist, þú doemist, hann doemist; . vér doemimst, þér doemizt, þeir doemist. lam called. S. ek kallast, þú kallast, hann kallast; P. vér köllumst, þér kallizt, þeir kallast. I was called. S. ek kallaðist, þú kallaðist, hann kallaðist; P. vér kölluðumst, þér kölluðuzt, þeir kölluðust. Imay be called. ek kallist. þú kallist, hann kallist; vér kallimst, þfer kallizt, þeir kallist. 6. Verbs. 75 I might be reckoned. S. ek teldist, þú teldist, hann teldist; P. vfer teldimst, þér téldizt, þeir teldist. telstu, be thou reck- oned; teljumst, let us be reckoned, telizt, be ye reckoned. at teljast, to be reck- teljandist, being reck- oned. talizt, been reckoned. Preterite. I might be judged. S. ek doemdist, þú doemdist, hann doemdist; P. vér dœmdimst, per dœmdizt, peir doemdist. Imperative Mood. dœmstu, be thou doemumst, let us be judged, doemizt, be ye judged. Infinitive Mood. I a.td.œmast,tobejudged.\ Pres. participle. I doemandist, being judged. Past participle. | doemizt, been judged. I might be called. S. ek kallaðist, þú kallaðist, hann kallaðist; P. vér kallaðimst, per kallaðizt, þeir kallaðist. kallastu, be Ihou called; köllumst, let us be called, kallizt, be ye called. at kallast, to be called. kallandist, being called. kallazt, been called. REFLECTIVE VERBS. The passive voice is often expressed by the reflective fo^m, which is thus constructed. To the verb active is ap- pended the reflective pronoun sik (one's self) , in the 1 st pers. sing, mik (myself), the vowel being rejected; hence the lsí pers. sing, ends in -mk, the others have -sk. The 1st pers. sing, adds -mk. to the root of the verb through ' the connecting vowel u, as ; from elska elsk-u-mk ; from falla föll-u-mk ; from bera bár-u-mk ; sjámk 1 hok about me, óumk I fear, vilnumk / wish. The -r of inflection is dropt before -sk, as: 2. 3. pres. sing, doemi-sk for dcemir-sk, skft-sk for skýtr-sk. The 1st pers. pi. is either formed like the 1st pers. sing., or it appends -sk to the ending m, thus, dcemumk and doe- mumsk, skjótumk and skjótumsk. 76 II. Etymology. According to these rules reflective verbs are thus con- jugated : atfallask, tofalldown. I at skjótask, to shrink. I at fœðask, to be nour- I | ished. Indicative Mood. Present. I shrink. S. skjótumk, þú skýtsk, hann skýtsk; P.vérskjótumsk, skjót umk, þér skjótiðsk, þeir skjótask. Preterite. I shrank. S. ek skutumk, S þú skautsk, hann skautsk; P. ver skutumsk, skut- umk, þer skutuðsk, þeir skutusk. Examples : Sæll er sá er stenzk freistni , happy he who withstands temptation ; bræör munu berjask, okatbönum verðasi, brothers will fight, and become each other's slayer; öndin/œðúi ok seðsk (sezk) af guSligum malum , the soul is nourished and satisfied with godly words ; vér hrœðumsk enn efsta dóm . we/ear the extreme sentence ; hugr misgeranda snýsk í örvilnan the mind of ill-doers inclines to despair ; kona bin hefir gipsk þeim manni er hon kaus ser thy wife is married to the man whom she choge. I fall down. S. ek föllumk, þú fellsk, hann fellsk; P. ver föllumsk, föll- umk, þér falliSsk, þeir fallask. I fell down. S. ek féllumk, þú féllsk, hann féllsk ; P. ver féllumsk, féll- umk, þér félluðsk, þeir féllusk. 1 am nourished. ek fœðumk, þú fœðisk, hann fœðisk; vér fœðumsk, fœð- umk, þér fœðiðsk, jeir fœðask. Iwas nourished. ek fœddumk, þú fœddisk, hann fœddisk; ver fœddumgk, fœddumk, þer fœdduðsk, þeir fœddusk. ANOMALOUS VERBS. I. Verbs having the characteristics of either class : to write, or inf. rita rita biota or blanda or pret. sing, reit ritaða Met blótaða blétt pret. plur. ritum rituðum bletum blótuðum bléndum past part, ritinn ritaðr. blótinn blótaðr. blandinn blandaða blönduðum blandaðr. 6. Vexbs. 77 II. Verbs which have the characteristics of both con- jugations in the second class , and which possess other ir- regularities : to say - think - work - seek - believe - will - set - sell separate - perform - long for - crush - -flee - use - wake - buy endure - dare segja pegja pykkja yrkja sœkja hyggja vilja setja selja skilja pres. segi pegi þykki yrki soeki h ygg VÍl set sel skil piet.ind. sing, sagða þótta orta sótta hugða vilda setta selda skilda heyja, há hái þreyja,þrá þrái flyja duga vaka kaupa þola fiora put up with una live warn lifa vara dugi vaki kaupi poli pori uni lift - reach - harrow do þráða lúða flýða dugða vakta keypta þolda þorða unda lifða varða,var- aða trúða náða léða gerða görða pret. conj. segða þegða pœtta yrta soetta hygða vilda setta selda skilda hæða þræða lýða flyða dygða vekta keypta þyída pyrða ynda lifða verða trýða nœða leða gerða görða past part, sagðr þagat pótt ortr sóttr. hugaðr viljaðr settr seldr skildr, ski- linn háðr þraðr lúbr,lúinn flýiðr dugat vakat keyptr þolat porat unat lifat varat trúaðr náðr léSr, lénn gerSr görðr. m. to rub gnúa ^ - turn snúa - row róa grow gróa - sow sóa Slá to strike has also the pret. trúa trúi ná næ, nái ljá lé, ljœ |gera,göra geri /görva göri Verbs which have a peculiar irregularity : gný gnera gnéri gnúinn sny snéra sneri snúinn ræ rera réri róinn græ grera gréri gróinn sæ sera, sáða séri sóinn, sáðr. a verb of the 1st class, 3rd conjugation, slier a. IV. Anomalous verbs, mostly auxiliaries. At eiga to own, have. Pres. Indicative Mood. I own. S. eká, P.véreigum, þúátt, þéreiguð, hanná; peir eigu. Conjunctive Mood. I may own. Pres S.ekeigi; P. ver eigim, þú eigir, per eigio, hann eigi ; peir eigi. 78 II. Etymology. ,' Indicative Mood. Preterite. I did own. • S. ek átta, P. vér áttum, f>ú áttir, þer attuð, hannátti; þeir áttu. Pres. part, eigandi, owning. Thus are conjugated : to be able, Conjunctive Mood. Preterite. JT might own. S. ek ætti, P. ver ættim, þú ættir, þér ættið, hann ætti; þeir ætti. Past part, áttr, owned. or, to do knega, — mega. At kunna to be able. Indicative Mood. Present. I can, or, am able. S. ek kann, P. vérkunnum, þú kant, þér kunnuð, hann kann ; þeir kunna. Preterite. I could, or, was able. S. ek kunna, P. vér kunnum, þú kunnir, þér kunnuð, hann kunni; þeir kunnu. Pres. part, kunnandi, being able. Thus is conjugated : to love, at unna. Conjunctive Mood. Present. I may be able. S. ek kunni, P. vér kunnim, þú kunnir, þer kunnið, hann kunni ; þeir kunni. Preterite. I might be able. S. ek kynni, P. vér kynnim, þú kynnir, þér kynnið, hann kynni j þeir kynni. Past part, kunnat, been able. Indicative Mood. Present. I need. S. ek þarf, P. vér þurfum, þú þarft, þér þurfuð, hann þarf. þeir þurfu. Preterite. I did need. S. ek þurfta P. vér þurftura, þu þurftir þér þurftuð, hann þurfti ; þeir þurftu. Pres. part, þurfandi, needing. At þurfa to need. Conjunctive Mood. Present. Imay need. S. ek fmrfi, P. vér þurfim, þú þurfir, hér þurfið, hann þurfi ; þeir þurfi. Preterite. I might need. S. ek þyrfti, P. ver þyrftim, þú þyrftir, þér þyrftið, hann þyrfti ; þeir þyrfti. Past part, þurft, needed. Skulu shall, ought, and munu will, would, irreg. inf. \ \ 6. Verbs. 79 S. ek skal, þú skalt, hann skal; Indicative Mood. Present. S. ek mun, man, {>ú munt, mant, hanmnun, man; P. vér skulum, þér skuluð, þeir skulu. P. vér munum, þér munuð, þeir munu. Preterite. S. ek skylda, munda, &c. I P. vér skyldum, mundum, &c. Part, icanting. S. ek skuli, skyli, þú skulir, skvlir, hann skuíi, skylí; Conjunctive Mood. Present. P. vér skulim, þér skulið, þeir skuli. ek muni, myni, þú munir, mynir, hann muni, myni; P. vér munim, þér munið, þeir muni. Preterite. S. ek skyldi, myndi, &c. | P. ver skyldim, myndim, &c. The inf. form skyldu, and mundu is often found instead of skulu and munu. At vita to know. Indicative Mood. Present. I know. S. ek veit, P. vér vitum, þú veitst, þer vituð, hann veit; þeirvitu. Preterite. I knew. S. ek vissa, &c. P. vér vissum, &c Pres. pa ft. vitandi, knowing. At muna to remember is, jtigated like munu. V. Verbs used variously : þat berr við it [sometimes) hap- I pens, I Conjdnctive Mood. Present. I may know. S. ek viti, P. vér vitim, þú vitir, þér vitið, hann viti ; þeir viti. Preterite. I might know. ' S. ek vissi, &c. P. vérvissim,&c. Past part, vitat, known. in nearly all its forms, con- hann skammast sin he is asha- med of himself, 80 II. Etymology. mik rekr I am driven before the gale, — uggir I am afraid of, mér villtil it happens to me, — heyrist I hear, — skúsk I understand. ek forðask I escape from my foes, mér ofbýðr I shudder, — verðr á I make a mistake, — leiðist lam weary, mik langtar I long for, — þyrstir lam thirsty, Y&t tekst varla at it mil hardly be lucky for thee, bat tókst honum þó it turned out lucky for him at hist, — brumar it thunders, — dagar it dawns; and other verbs used impersonally. CHAPTER VII. UNINFLECTED WORDS. PARTICLES. Words which are mostly uninflected are classed under this denomination , as : adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. CHAPTER TEL 1. Of Place: bar there, hvar where, her here, út out, inn within, fram forth, forward, ofan above, down from above, 2. Of Time: nú now, timiliga early, áðan þá then, sjaldan seldom, stundum sometimes. 3. Of Manner: vel well, gjarn willingly, þanneg in that way, ADVERBS. þaðan thence, hvaðan whence, héðan hence, úti abroad, innan within, inside, neðan down, below. braut away, fyrr before, snemma soon, lengi long, enna still, yet, tiðum often, ilia ill, svá so, ágætliga excellently. þaðra thither, hvert whither, héðra hither, utan without, outside, innar therein, uppi, upp up, upwards, hvargi nowhere. , héðanfrá hereafter, síðla late, hvenaer when, opt often, forðum formerly. hverneg how, sváleiðis thus. 8. Adverbs. 81 4. Of Interrogation: hversu how, hvat what, hvar where, hvartill whither, hyarfyrir wherefore, hverninn how. 5 . Of Affirmation : j a y es > ' vissulega certainly, sannlega indeed. 6 . Of Negation : nei no, eigi not, by no means. CHAPTER IX. PREPOSITIONS. The prepositions mostly used are the following : til to, af of, um about, án without, irk from, á on, auk besides, ur 'out of, I in, ámilli between, undir under, með with, fyrir for, mót against, við by, at, að at, yfir over, eptir a/ier. CHAPTER- X. CONJUNCTIONS. The conjunctions most in use are the following : ok and, bæði both, Bern as, eðr — eðr either — or, hvorki — nfe neither — nor, nfe — nfe neiihei — nor, enn than, en but, annaðhvart — eða eithei — or, því— því the — the, er when, alls er as, whereas, since, )á when, )ó yei, although, >ar eð as, vegna þess að au ba&i sek mörkum af beggja þeirra fe, if a peasant says that his wife must wean her child, and he is so much henpecked that she will not heed his words, then is she finable in 3 marks of her own money; but if he cares no more about it than she does, then are they both subject to a mulct in marks of the money of both : enn er baa (Grimr ok Lopthæna) tótti búin, ok byr gaf , héldu ban tveim skipum austr meS landi, but when they (Grimr and Lopt- heena) were ready, and a fair breeze sprung up, they steered their two ships eastwards along the coast. From the same reason the substantives feSgin father and daughter, moeSgin mother and son, systkin brother and sister are neuter, as each word signifies persons of different sex. When several propef names are connected by the con- junction ok, the personal pronoun is usually added, especially when the names so joined form the subject of the sentence, e. g., þau Björgólfr ok Hildiríör áttu 2 sonu, Björgólfr and HiHiriðr had 2 sons ; eptir þat fóru þeir Sigurðr ok Region á Gnýtaheiði afterwards Sigurir and Regain went to Gnyta heath. Böm beirra vara bau Gunnarr , Högni , GuSrún, Guðný , their children were Gunnarr , &c. The pronoun, however, is often omitted when all the persons are feminine, as : bat var eitt sinn at Brynhildr ok Guðrún gengu til vatns at bleikja hadda sina once it chanced that Brynhildr and Gudrún went to the river to wash their hair (not par Brynhildr ok Guðriín) . The conjunction and is frequently omitted before a pro- per noun preceded by a personal pronoun , when the latter takes the dual or plural number in the same case as the proper noun , as : geri ek hin þriSju manngjöld iyrir fjörráð viS ykkr pari I adjudge the third fate for the plot against thee and Thorir. If ySr pari had stood here, the translation would 1. Nouxs, Adjectives and Pronouns. 93 have been you and TJiórir. Eyjólfr var opt viö skip urn su- marit, ok áttu þeir Hreiivarr mart saman í vinfengi, Eyjolfr was often on his ship in summer time, and he and Hreiivarr were bosom friends. Nú er þórólfr bar í allmiklum kærleikum af konungi, ok báðir \eir Bdrtr, now is Thórólfr much in the king's favour, and both he and Bárdr ; vinátta okkar Hákonar konungs stendr grunnt, King Hdkon's friendship and mine is not well-grounded; ]>au Kveldúlfr áttu 2 sonu, Kveldúlfr and his wife had two sons. t The context alone often determines 'which persons are signified by the pronoun, for \au Kveldúlfr could also mean Kveldúlfr and the other women, or, Kveldúlfr and the other men and women. Thus : nú ríða þeir þráinn ofan frá Dal now ride Thráinn and the others (seven persons are here alluded to) down from Dal. When the proper noun stands in the genitive , the possessive is placed instead of the geni- tive of the personal pronoun in the 1st and 2nd person in the same case as the substantive to which it relates, as: sam- mæli okkar t prdndar the covenant between me and Thrandr; fundr várr Eagla the meeting between me and the Bagla folk. Before proper nouns harm or hon is often placed super- fluously, as: hannÓláfr, i.e. Ólafr. If no person be named to whom the pronoun can refer , þeir in the plural agreeing in case with a proper noun in the singular , forms an idiom exactly expressing the Greek oi-xtQÍ with a noun*, as: heir SigurSr lögðu fram, Sigurdr and he set forward; þeim Hákoni byrjaSi seint Hakon and he got a fair wind late. The definite article hinn, hin, hit is also written inn, in, it, enn, en, et, and can be used postpositively (see p. 14). In modern Icelandic sd, sú, pat is used instead of hinn as an article ; in Old Norse it is demonstrative ; thus , sá góði konungr must not be translated "the good king", but "this", or "that good king", and properly should be expressed sá hinn gótii konungr. A word may take the article both before and after it , as : sáttu þann hinn mikla manninn, didst thou see that great man ? or þann hinn mikla mann ? When an adjective follows a substantive used in the definite form, either of the following modes of expression * oi nsgl "Avvtov Anytits, or, Anytus with Ms companions. The Prench use nous autres in a similar way ; for instance , nous autres Francais, we Frenchmen, conveying the idea "I and all other Frenchmen" 94 ' HI. Syntax. may be adopted, konungrinn riki, {i. e., konungr hinn riki) or, konungrinn hinn riki, the rich king. Occasionally the article hinn is omitted, and the adjective used indefinitely along with the substantive , especially with proper nouns , as : dalr mikli (for hinn mikli) , MikligarSr (hinn mikli garðr) , Langavatn (hit langa vatn) , Hákon konungr góði King Hdkon the Good, Saga Harallds harðráða the history of Haralldr Harf>rdti. The possessive pronoun sinn is used* when reference is made to the subject of the verb, as : hann hefir sinn hatt he has his {own) hat; but hann hefir hans hatt would mean, he has his [another's) hat. þeir tóku sína hatta they took their {own) hats; þeir tóku þeirra hatta they took their [other persons') hats. Partitives , as well superlative adjectives and numerals, as pronouns , also govern the genitive , as : hann var allra skálda mestr he was the greatest of all bards ; hverr beirra hefir bat gert which of them has done that? ; ek veit eigi hvárt nok- kurr várr mundi I know not whether any of us will; þá blótaöi hann, ok lifði hann þá enn tiu vetra then he sacrificed, and still lived ten years. The adjectival partitive takes the neuter singular, as : mart manna many men. When the genitives vdr, ykkar, ySar are governed by a partitive or pronoun , the corresponding possessives várr, ykkarr, yðarr are used instead of them in apposition with the word which governs the genitive, as : drepa mun hann einn várr , he must kill one of us ; engi várr [jmno noster for nemo nostrum) , none of us ; engum varum braeSrum to none of us brothers, hverr várr þriggja each of us three. When the reciprocal pronoun sjdlfr in the genitive, con- nected with a possessive, expresses our own, the possessive always answers in case", gender, and number to sjdlfr and not to the word which governs it in the genitive, as : í sjálfs bins kapellu, in thy own sacristy ; at sjálfra várra vilja, according to our own will; fyrir sál sjálfrar sinnar, for her own soul. The interrogative pronoun hvat (Germ, was fur, Dan. hvadfor), tohat kind of, has generally the dative after it. more rarely the genitive , e. g. hon spurSi hvat manni hann var, she asked what kind of man he teas ; hvat þröng er bat what crowd is that? prestr spurSi, hvat sukki bar væri, the priest asked, what teas the row ; hvat manna, what kind of men ? 1. Nouns, Adjectives and Pronouns. 95 The dative is used : 1 . without a preposition when a word denotes a means, instrument , or manner : hon var troðin hestafótum til bana, she was trodden under foot of horses to death; hann mælir feigum múnni he speaks with a dying mouth; var bat eiSum bundit , that ivas confirmed by oaths ; hann varð pví feginn he was glad of it; hon var fríS sýnum, she had a fair coun- tenance; hann hét svá öðru nafni, he was thus called by an- other name: 2. where a word stands as a definitive with some com- parative , preposition or adverb : hon var miklu fríðari en þóra, she was much fairer than Thóra ; hálfum mánuði seinna half a month later ; tveim örtugum minna en eyrir two-thirds less than an ounce; Hemíngr andaðist vetri síðar Hemtngr died the winter after; árum eptir Nóa fioð the year after Noah's flood : 3 . where a word defines or intensifies the comparative : hann var hverjum manni sterkari he was stronger than any man; hverri konu fegri fairer than any woman; dökkálfar eru svartari biki the swart elves are darker than pitch : 4. when the preposition at is employed with the com- parative (sometimes instead of ]>vt) , as : menn voru heir at vaskari , they were men so much the braver ; engi maSr mun Erik kalla at meira konung þó at hann drepi einn bóndason, no man will call Erik a king any more for slaying a pea- sants son: 5. or with a participle when it answers to the Greek genitive absolute and the Latin ablative absolute : at því görvu [hoc facto), this being done; at uppverandi sólu, whilst the sun was shining ; yet at is sometimes omitted. In order to indicate length of time or distance, the sub- stantive which defines either is placed in the accusative, as : dvaldist hann bar mörg misseri he abode there many years; þeir fóru átta rastar they travelled eight miles ; fara land veg, sjóleiðina to go by land, by sea; þann veg that way ; marga lund many ways. Exception: hann for leiSar sinnar {gen.), he went on his way ; thus the Germ, er zog seines Weges. When in a phrase a substantive or pronoun is to stand in a dependent relation (either governed by a preposition or the verb itself) , it is sometimes introduced into a proposition which begins with \ar sem, ]>ar er, and becomes the subject 96 III. Syntax. of it : hafði erkibiskupinn J?ar mikit at styðjast yið, sem Jón var, the archbishop had much to rely upon where Jón was, i. e., found firm support in him ; mun nú ekki þurfa at ætla til sæmdar, þar sem hann er it cannot now avail to expect any honour where he is, i. e., on his part, from him ; kom bat ok bar fram, er þorsteinn var, this also happened where Thorsteinn was, it struck Thorsteinn also ; muntu þykkjast litlu til verja, þar sem ek em , thou thmkest indeed that thou sacrificest hide where I am, i. e., by sacrificing me. Expressions such as i»ð or met tólfta mann do not mean "with twelve men", but "myself the twelfth with eleven others", or "with eleven others"; therefore when we find the ordinal expressed in the same way as the cardinal number, namely by cyphers , e. g., viS XII mann, the vowel in mann can alone determine the correct translation : viS XII menn would signify "with 1 2 men". Genitives and possessives are mostly placed before their corresponding nouns when used emphatically; but otherwise after them , as : gerSu bat fyrir hennar sakar ! do that for her sake. BróSir hans var kominn áSr , his brother had come before; er þeir fundu Gunnhildi móSur sína, when they found Gunnhildur their mother. When one noun denotes a part of another , or rather helps to modify it , the name of the substance must precede, and be compounded with the other word ; but if not a noun, or incapable of composition , the name of the substance must follow with the preposition of, as : hann kastaði kökubita fyrir hundinn he threw a bit of cake to the dog , af barkar- stykkjum þeim from the pieces of bark ; korntunnan kostar 20 r. dr., a tun of rye costs 20 fix dollars; litiS af saffrani a little saffron. The indefinite and definite form of adjectives may be used interjectionally, as: karl minn góSr, my good fellow! barnit gott, the good child! húsmóðir góð , good housewife! ek vilda, góSr drengr, at J>u gengir inn Í stofuna, I wish thee, good lad, to go into the room. Nú, Jón litli ! piltr litli, now, little John, little boy. But the sense becomes collective when both the substantive and adjective are put in the definite form, as : góí5a barnit, the good child, or, good children. When adjectives signify measure they take the name of 2. On the Verbs. 97 the measure in the genitive, as : hálfrar annarrar álnar langr, an ell and a half long, þrjátíu ára gamall thirty years old. The indefinite pronouns one another, and the one — the other, are mostly expressed by the simple passive or reflective form of the verb , as : er þeir vóru búnír , hlaupast beir at, when they were equipped, they ran one against the other ; Pýramus ok Tisbe þau unnust, Pyramus and Thisbe loved each other. Every other, every third year, is expressed in an inverted order, e. g., annat, briðja, fjórða, hvert ár. This is the case likewise with the article, e. g., at hvíla hinn sjöunda hvern dag, to rest every seventh day; hit tiunda hvert ár every tenth year. Hálft (the Germ, halb) precedes the ordinal, which it lessens by half, as: hálft fjórða hundraS {half the fourth hundred) 350 ; half önnur alin an ell and a half; hálfr annarr one and a half; hann var bar varla hálfan annan dag he was there hardly a day and a half. Adjectives are formed from cardinal numerals with va- rious significations , as : britugr , consisting of thirty, thus, þrítugsaldr 30 years of age, britugt skip a ship with 30 pair of oars. When added to numerals indicative of age húlft, as just explained , has a diminutive power , as : half britugr 25 years old, the reason of which is , that the Icelanders reckon by 1 (tugr) , therefore half britugr is, 2-| times 1 = 25, and so on throughout. See p. 57. CHAPTER II. ON THE VERBS. In the position of the verb and the employment of the different tenses considerable freedom prevails : thus the verb can be placed before the subject or after it, at discretion, as : ferr nú þjóðólfr til fundar viS Brand , now Thjúdólfr goes to meet Brandr ; segir hann þá Huldarsögn , then he relates the tradition óf Hulda ; sváfu menn þá af of náttina , the men slept during that night. Likewise in narrative style the pre- sent and preterite are often interchanged , and arbitrarily so in the same sentence , as : en er Sturla for til skips , var ut- kominn HallvarSr Gullskór ; fann hann þórS mág sinn á English-Icelandic Gramm. 7 98 ni. Syntax. þingvelli , segir hann honum tíðindi , but when Siurla went to his ship, Hallvartr Gullskór had come out; he found Thordr his brother-in-laxo at Thingvalla ; he tells him the tidings ; þórolfr ok Eyvindr kómu heim of haustit, for Thórólfr til föður sins, taha þeir feðgar þá tal sin i milli , spyrr þórólfr eptir , &c. Thórólfr and Eyvindr came home in the autumn ; Thórólfr went to his father's; father and son then talk together; TJiórólfr asks after, &c. An adverb which belongs to a verb is placed before the object and as near to the verb as possible, as : þá tók Randver hauk sinn ok plokkaSi af fjaðrarnar , then Randver took his hawk and plucked off its feathers ; hratt hon þá fram skipinu then she launched forth the ship. If the verb stand last . in a relative position , for instance , the adverb or preposition is put immediately before the verb , as : Jörmunrekr sá hauk þann, er hinn hafði fjaSrarnar af plokkat, Jörmunrekr saw the hawk ivhose feathers had been plucked off; hann var á skipi því er hon hafSi fram hrundit , he was on the ship ichich she had launched forth. The present participle in -andi, -anda, besides its usual active signification, contains also the idea of the future parti- ciple passive , and thus corresponds with the Latin present participle in -ans, -ens, -ntis, and the future participle passive in -andum, -endum both in meaning and form, as : allter seg- janda sinum vin, every thing may be said to one's friend ; varð- veitandi eru boðorð GuSs , God's commandments must be kept; varla er trúanda it is hardly credible ; knéfalla meS upphald- andi höndum to fall on one's knees with uplifted hands ; þetta er þiggjanda, this is to be received ; á deyanda degi, on the day of one's death. The future is formed by the auxiliary verbs skal, and still more frequently mun (will), and the infinitive of the principal verb : vit varum fœddir á einni nátt, ok mun skamt verða milli dauða okkars , ire were born in one night, and it will not be long bettveen oar deaths; brœðr munu berjask brothers will contend with each oilier. The perfect and pluperfect are formed by the auxiliary verb hafa and the perfect participle of the principal verb in the neuter : hann hafði veitt í einu höggi otr ok lax, he had killed at one blow both otter and salmon ; Egill hafSi gengit yfir skóg nökkurn , Egill had gone over some wood. If there be an "2. On the Verbs. 99 object in the sentence the participle must take the gender and number of the object : þeir hðfSu felldan höföingja li5- sins they had struck down the chieftains of the people. See p. 60. Some intransitive verbs use vera instead of hafa ; er nökkur stand var liSin, when some time had passed, and then the part- iciple of course takes the gender and number of the subject. "When J>« immediately follows a verb the suffix sk in reflective verbs may coalesce with þú and become stu : snustu fráilln, turn thyself from evil; lægstu (abate thyself at upp hefistu that thou mayest be exalted : at eigi lægistu, þá er þú byggr upp at hefjask, that thou be not abased, when thou expectest to be hotioured; gerstu höfðingi fyrir liSinu, make thyself leader of the host: fastu vel at virði, provide thyself well with victuals. Ek is often suffixed to the verb , and softens its it into g, as : baroag for barfsa ek, or if the verbal root has yg, these letters are changed into kk, as . hykk for hygg ek; sometimes a of the inflection is resolved into 1 . as : atlig for œtla ek, nemik (pres. eonj.) for nema ek. The accusative with the infinitive is a frequent form of i expression : væni engi maSr Olaf konung því or landi farit hala. let no one fancy that Sing Ölafr therefore has gone out of the country; satt hygg ek mik segja, methinks I speak the truth; ask veit ek standa, / know that an ash-tree stands (there) ; þik kvazk '1. e. kvað sik hilmir hitta vilja, the king said he wanted to meet with thee. Many verbs which imply the setting of something in motion require the object in the dative, as: kasta steini, spjóti , verpa to throw láðr þú verpir so&li af mar, before thou throwest the saddle from the horse), stinga, leggja to stab bann lagSi spjóti gegnum hann, or, hann lagði hann spjóti he sent the spear through him) , skjóta to shoot (hann skaut manninn öru, hann skaut fyrir sik skildi '. bregSa hann brá sverði he drew his sword] , sá sá komi to sow corn* . blása, fhæsa to blow out (fnæsa eitri: , spýta hann spýtti upp miSinum í kerin he spat up the mead into the vessels, srnia, venda, skifta to divide. Most verbs likewise which signify rule, command, leniency, or the opposite govern the object in the dative , as : Gylfi fkonungr reð löndum ; hann bauð honum at lata skirask ; at pjarga lifi ; at eira konum ok kirkjum ; at týna lífinu ; koma as a transitive verb likewise governs in the dative, as : koma 100 III. Syntax. einum í vandræöi to bring one into peril; ek kem því eigi viö I cannot apply it. Those verbs which signify a want, desire, or possession mostly govern the genitive with accusative of the person, and genitive of the thing, e. g., sakna ek míns málvinar, 1 miss- my companion; at spyrja einhvern r&5s to ask one's advice; at biSja hann friSar to ask him for peace ; at afla fjár to obtain property ; hann f ékk þeirrar konu er þórun hét he got to wife a woman called Thórun; hann beið byrjar he waited for a fair wind. The conjunctive is used when condition is implied, chiefly in dependent sentences after conjunctions , as : þó at or þótt although, ef if; likewise when a wish or desire is ex- pressed : Tpó at hann væri eigi kominn , though he may not have come ; en þó svá væri , but though it be so ; vilda ek at ber IserSit mik / would that you taught me. The present or preterite conjunctive may be used without a conjunction when it can be translated by in case, or if; e. g., vili hann ekki meS góSu , þá komdu til min will he not come by fair means, then do thou come to me ; kæmi hann me<5an ek em á brottu, should he come whilst I am away. CHAPTER IE. ON THE PARTICLES. 1. Interrogative Particles. The principal of these are: hvi why, wherefore, hversu, hve, hvernin, hvernig, meaning how, hvaða what kind of ', as, hvaSa maSr what kind of man? The older tongue mostly employs hvat instead, with the genitive plural , or the preposition af, as hvat manna , hvat at' mönnum , hvar where, hvert ivhither, hvaSan whence, nær and hvenaer when , hvárt or hvert whether ; hvárt — eSa or hvárt sem — eSa whether — or ? 2. Negative Particles. Simple negation is expressed by ne or ne, the prefixes ó or a, and the suffixes -gi, -at, -a. Né or ne stands immediately before the word to which it belongs, and this must be a verb*, as: sól bat ne vissi, * Einn is the only word not a verb before which ne is used; ne einn none (Old English tie ane) more frequently contracted into neinn. 3. Particles. 101 hvar hon sali átti, the sun knew not where she* had her dwelV- ling; máni bat ne vissi hvat hann megins átti the moon biew not what might he hadr Neither — nor may be expressed by hvarki-ne, or né -ne. U or ó, answering to English un, mis, appears as a prefix before substantives, adjectives, participles and adverbs, as : "ú-fúss or ó-fúss unwilling, ó-happ or u-happ misfortune. Seep. 89. -gi and -at are always affixed to words ; -gi to nouns and adverbs, -at to verbs, as: Loptki bat veit (Loptr eigi bat veit) ; Úlfgi hefir ok vel Loptr knew it not, Úlfr has not also acted rightly; verörat iss á á there is no ice on the river. When -gi is added to masculine nouns the noun-inflection -r is omitted, e. g., Loptki, Úlfgi ; and when g comes into immediate contact with a liquid , it is changed into k , as Loptki, hittki. -a or -at occurs in the following cases : 1. the first pers. sing, always includes the pronoun which ap- pears between the verb and the negation , as : fan-k-a I found not, i. e., fann-ek-a (from finna to find) ; á-k-a / have not (from eiga to men) ; kveS-k-a / sag not (from kvæSa) ; naut-k-a / enjoyed not (from njóta) ; erumk-a / am not. The pronoun is often repeated, as : vil-k-at ek / will not; em-k-at ek / am not: 2. the first pers. plur. has no pronoun suffixed, and -a is added as a negative : erum-a we are not; ættim-a we had not : 3. in the first pers. sing, subjunctive the k of the pronoun is softened into g, as : myn-di-g-a I would not: 4. in the second pers. sing. (ind. or subj.) -a is suffixed and the pronoun omitted if the verb ends in -r, as : kallar-a thou callest not (from kalla to call) ; if it however terminates in -t, then -at stands with the pronoun after it, as : ert thou art ; ert -at -tu thou art not ; veitst -at -tii thou know- est not : 5 . the imperative usually appends -at with the pronoun þií, as : kjosattu choose not, vaxattu grow not. When the con- * In Norse, as well as German, the sun is of the feminine, and the moon of the masculine gender. 102 in. Syntax. necting vowel i occurs in the verb it is retained in the- negation, as : kvelj-at : 6. -a or -at is suffixed to the 3rd pers. sing., as: er-a he is not; skal-a he shall not; verSr-at he becomes not. 7. When the 3rd pers. plur. ends in -a, only t is added, as: bita -t they bite not; to the ending u, however, of the 3rd pers. plur. either -at is appended, as: letu-at (from lata to let) , or -t, as : eigu-t, eru-t. 8. When -i terminates the 3rd pers. sing. pret. of verbs of the 2nd class, -Ms suffixed, and usually -a in the sub- junctive, as : varnaSi he hindered, varnaSit he hindered not; biti should he bite, bitia should he not bite. The above cases concern only the ancient tongue; in the modern language eigi or ekki not is used. The phrase "notwithstanding" or "nevertheless" is ex- pressed by eigi at heldr. Adverbs are formed from adjectives by the termination -a, as : gjarna willingly, viSa widely, ilia badly, görva quite, heima at home : -an, as : drjugan frequently, jafnan always, gjarnan wittingly, harSan hardly: -liga, from adjectives ending in -ligr, as : knáligr brave, kná- liga bravely, stórligr, stórliga in a high degree. This ter- mination is often shortened into -la, as : harla (for harSla, harðliga) very greatly, varla scarcely. Adverbs are also formed, 1. from the nom. and ace. neutr. of adjectives, as: trautt icith difficulty, mest mostly ; 2. from substantives by the termination -is, as : áleiöis on the way, andscelis opposite to the sun, and- streymis against the stream, forvindis before the wind, jam- f oetis of equal birth ; » -veg, as : annanveg otherwise, from vegr way, bannveg this wise, hvernveg how, in what way: sometimes e is dropt, thus, banneg, hverneg, or more usually, bannig, hvernig ; 3 . from the genitive case of substantives , as : loks at last, allskyns all Jcinds of, annarstaSar elsewhere, allskostar in all respects, útansóknar out of a parish ; 4. from the dative case of substantives, as : öðruvísi otherwise. Prepositions with the cases governed by them are usM 3. Particles. 103 adverbially, as : til hlitar enough, til sanns truly, met öllu altogether, á braut away. Adverbs which signify motion from a place : heiraan_/rom home, ofan from above, neðan from below, innan from within; motion to a place : hingat hither ; þángat thither ; rest in a place : uppi above, niðri below, inni within, úti out, frammi before, íjænifar; motion towards, partly presence on, the spot: norSr northwards, suSr southwards, vestr ivestwards, austr eastwards as, hann gekk austr he went eastwards, hann var há austr í landit lie was then in the east of the country, ni<5r down- wards, aptr back again. The addition of -na to adverbs intensifies the idea ex- pressed in the primitive, as : núna this very moment, herna in this very place, farina just there, enna just notv. Some adverbs may be compared in the same way as adjectives, as: soon skamt skemr skemst far fjarri firn first often opt optar optast viða viðar viðast frequently titt tiðar tiðast seldom sjaldansjaldnarsjaldnast. without út útar yzt within in innar innst up uppi ofar efst beneath niðri neðar neðst. e irregular : little litt minnr minst, rather gjarna heldr helzt, within inni innar innst. Many irregular adjectives are , as adverbs , compared regularly, as : northerly norðr norðar norðast southerly suðr sunnar syðst easterly austr austar austast westerly vestr vestar vestast The following adverbs a good vel betr bezt, bad ilia verr verst, much mjök meirr mest, Lengi long, lengr longer, is used only of time ; lengra, of place, lengst both of time and place. Of the prepositions, some govern either the genitive, dative , or accusative ; others govern both the dative and accusative. The following govern in the genitive : til to, án without, auk besides, and the compound or derived forms ámilli , ámeSal , ámillim , milium , millim between ; sakir j $,kir, fyrir sakar > by means of, for the sake of, vegna on sökuml 104 IE. Syntax. account of, útan without, beyond, innan within, also megin, used with compounds as , báðu megin on both sides (of anything) , í stað instead of. The following take the dative : af of, hkfrom, hjá by, with (French chez, Germ, bei), úr met of, undan from, away from, gagnvart over against, á mót, mót, í móti against, towards, ásamt together with : with some combinations, as : út af, upp frá, fram úr, á undan before, framhjá by, over, í gegn against, á hendr against (in opposition), til handa/br. for the best. The following govern in the accusative : um (of) about, concerning, with all its compounds, whether it stands first or last , as : umfram or fram um , í gegnum through, fram yfir over and above, fram undir until, up to, and all those which are compounded from fyrir with an adverb of place in -an, as : fyrir norSan to the north of, fyrir útan bceinn outside the town. In ancient poetry um and of are occasionally found with the dative. The following govern the dative and accusative according to their meaning: á on, upon, í in, to, meS with, viS with, by, at, eptir after, fyrir before, undir under, yfir over. Those which signify rest at a place mostly take the dative, as : konungr var á skipi the king was on the ship, þeir lagu í höfninni they lay in the harbour, and those which denote mo- tion to a place employ the accusative as : hann gekk á skip he went to the ship, sigldu þeir um í höfnina they sailed into the harbour ; but as they do not always refer to a place, the fol- lowing definitions require attention. A takes the dative when used of a specified time, as : á hverju ári every year, á hverri nóttu every night, as well as in speaking of a certain day in the week e.g., á laugardegi on a Saturday : when it means about, of, with, by, in a figurative sense, as : fá þekking á einhverju to obtain knowledge about everybody, ek em á þeirri trú I am of that faith, hann lifir á málaferlum he lives by lawsuits, hún hefir aðra meðferS á kúm she has another method tcith cows. A takes the accusative when it signifies "on this wise with respect to" , as : á þann hatt, á þ& leiS in that manner, 3. Paeticles. 105 í a$ra siSuna on the other side, at mæla á danska tungu to speak in the Danish language, hann lá á bakit he lay on his bach; but if á bakinu were said, it would mean upon the back [of some one else) . Likewise in the signification of "in upon, in towards , above" , as : renna & to run in upon , at snara a norrænn to translate into Norse. A may be used in the dative or accusative with regard to periods of time, as: á haustum, sumrum , or á haustin, sumrin in autumn, summer. r I takes the dative when it means at , in, as : konungr var þá ekki í bœnum the king was not then at prayers. I mostly governs the accusative in determining time, as : í þann tima at that time, í annat sinn at another time. Moreover, í þeirri svipan, í því bili at that moment, can be said. MeS takes the dative in the sense of a means or instru- ment , as : fjötraðr með hlekkjum myrkranna fettered with chains of darkness ; when it means with , among , as : gott bykkir mer meS bfer at vera methinks it is good to be with thee ; landit var skipt meS beim the land was shared amongst them ; when it signifies along, as : suSr með landi southwards along the country; along with, as: hann gekk út meS könu sinni he went out along with his wife ; by means of, as: hann sýndi með hugprýSi sinni at, &c, he showed through his courage that, &c. MeS governs the accusative when the object is regarded as lifeless, or involuntarily accompanying, as : hann kom meS bókina he came with the book , þá fóru menn ámóti hánum með mann fjOtraSan then men went towards him with a fettered man. ViS requires the dative in the signification of against, as : at taka við einum to take against one. It takes the accusative when used of place, or answers to at, by, with, as : við garðin at the farm, ek talaði lengi viS hann / talked a long time with him. Sometimes met and vit are interchanged, and their government is guided by their signification. Eptir takes the dative when it means according to, along with , as : eptir beirri reglu according to this rule, þeir riSu eptir ánni they rode along the river. 106 HI. Syntax. It governs the accusative when it expresses relation of time or order , as : eptir miðjan dag after midday, þeir tóku allan arf eptir födur sinn they succeeded to their father's in- heritance. Fyrir governs the dative when it means before, in the presence of, on account of, or when it betokens hindrance, as : hann talaSi langt erendi fyrir liSinu he delivered a lengthy message to the people, ek gat ekki verið í friði fyrir hánum / could not be at peace for him, látast fyrir einum to perish by one's oum hand, hann þorði ekki fyrir hundinum he dared not for the dogs. It takes the accusative when used of time, as: litlu fyrir vetr shortly before winter ; when it- means instead of, for, as : hann sendi mann fyrir sik he sent some one in his stead; when it signifies by means of, by, as : verJ5a sáluhólpinn fyrir trúna to be saved by faith; when used of price, as : hvaS gafstu fyrir bœkrnar what didst thou give for the books? Undir takes the dative after it in the signification of rest in a place, as: undir borðinu, stólnum under the table, the chairs; when it means under, subordinate to, dependent upon, as : alia, þá sem undir hánum eru all that are under him, þat er e.kki undir Jjví komit that is' not of great consequence. It has the accusative in the signification of away towards, as : undir sólarlag towards sunset, and atcay under, as : undir eyna away under the island. Yfir governs the dative when it betokens rest in a place, as : yfir eldinum above the fire; when it means to have power over, as : drottna yfir landi to rule over a country. It takes the accusative when it means motion to a place, as : hann rœr út yfir nesit he rows around the naze ; in the signification of more than, as : mér unni maer yfir mann hvern the girl loved me more than any one else. At or að is the only preposition which governs the three cases. It governs the genitive when used in the meaning of at the place of, with any one, at his house (the word hiisi or the like being understood), as: heir gistu at Bjarnar they were Björrís guests. Formerly this preposition was used with the 3. Particles. 107 genitive of the personal pronouns, as : þeir gistu at mín, þín with me, thee. It takes the dative when it means to a place, as : koma at boe to come to a farm : at a place, as : at lögbergi at the council- hill ; hann bjó at Birgisheimi he lived at Birgisheimr : transition from one state to another, as : hann varS at steini he was changed into stone ; brenna at ösku to burn to ashes : before comparatives , as :' váru þeir at vaskari were they the braver. a future time, as : liSr at jólum Jule approaches, at hausti next autumn. This preposition, when it governs the dative case, like- wise forms many adverbial expressions. It employs the accusative when it means behind, after {one's death), as : lata eitt at sik to leave something behind one ; at föSur sinn after his father (his death) . Thus in Runic in- scriptions, reisa stein at einn to raise a stone to one. Many names' of places occur in the dative with the pre- position d, i or at, instead of the nominative after heita or the like, as : sá bær het á Steini that house was called Stone ; hann bjó í kaupstað þeim er heitir í Stafangri he lived in the market- town which is called Stavanger. CHAPTER IV. OF ELLIPSES. Ellipses or omissions frequently occur in Old-Norse. In most cases they, are easily supplied, as for instance, when the pronouns sd, sú, hann, hún or þat are omitted, the subject or object for which they are used having been already named: siðan sneiS Karkr höíuS af jarli ok hljóp í braut með (þat), afterwards Karkr cut off thejarl's head, and ran off with (it) . The 3rd pers. of the verb is often used without a sub- ject, when this is unknown, or can be easily supplied, as. svá segir í Grimnismál, it is thus said in Grimnismdl. The word kostr choice, alternative, resource is often elided in sentences the meaning of which is clear , as : far eptir, Háleyíngr, sá mun þér hinn bezti (kostr) vera, pursue, Hdley- ingr, thy best alternative ; ok er sá (kostr) til , at sigla undan, and the only choice is to sail away. 108 IV. Prosody. The verbs vera and verba are frequently dropt , as well as the definite forms , as : einn morginn vakti Astríðr Glúm ok sagði at nauta fjðldi Sigmundar var kominn í tún ok vildi brjóta andvirki : "en ek hefi eigi fráleik til at reka (harm) í braut, en verkmenn (eru) at vinnu", one morning Astriðr awoke GMmr, and said, that a lot of Sigmundf's cattle had got into the meadow, and would throw down the cocks ; but I am not nimble enough to drive (them J away, and the workmen are at work". These ellipses take place especially after the words mun and skal in the future , as : þá mun hann kominn (vera) til konungs, then wiU he have come to the king; þarí skulu ok talin nöfn þeirra, therein shall their names also (be) reckoned. Sometimes the ellipsis is more important, e. g., Glumr segir, sá ek glöggt hvat títt var: (þú ert) barn at aldri. en (hefir þó) vegit slíka hetju sem þorvaldr var , / saw clearly how the matter stood: (thou art) a child in age, but (get hast) slain such a hero as Thorvaldr was. PART IV. PROSODY. CHAPTER I. Old-Norse poetry is not regulated like that of ancient Greece and Rome by quantity , but by accentuation , which cannot, however, be arbitrarily laid upon any syllable. In a word consisting of many syllables , the accent must rest on that which usually has the tone : in monosyllables it cannot fall on prepositions and conjunctions, except when it becomes emphatic. Icelandic poems are divided into regular strophes (erendi, visa*, staka) which generally contain eight lines (orS, visu- orð). These strophes are subdivided into halves (visuhel- mingr) , and each of these again into two parts (visufjórðungr) constituting a quarter strophe or couplet. * Visa , like the German Weise , means the manner or wise of doing a thing: this wise, otherwise. 2. Alliteration. 109 CHAPTER II. ALLITERATION. . Alliteration, or letter-rhyme, is an essential characteristic of Old-Norse poetry. Consonantal alliteration requires three words or accented syllables in a couplet to^have the same initial letter (ljóSstafr), and two of these words to occur in in the former hemistich , and the other in the latter. The initial letter of the last which generally commences the line, and must always stand as near the beginning of it as possible, is called hðficSstafr (headstaff) or chief letter, being that which governs the others: the sub-letters have no fixed position. The initials of the words plaeed in the first line are called stuiSlar (props or stays) because they support or give force to the cardinal letter , of which they may be regarded as the auxiliaries , thus : yyllisk/jörvi filled with the life-blood /eigra manna. of doomed men. Here the three /s are Ijófistafir or rhyme-letters ; the chief letter (höfuðstafr) is in /eigra , and the sub-letters (stuölar) occur in/yllisk and/jörvi. One or more particles , or short words , may be intro- duced into the beginning of the second hemistich , only they must be unaccented, thus : er á Gautlandi ^engum when to Gothland we went at Grafvitnis morði ; to give death to the serpent; here at is the augmentative participle. When the kofutstafr begins with a double or compound consonant as sk, sp, st, the sttiðlar must consist, if possible, of the same letters ; this rule applies especially to the above compounds, as : beit í SÆarpa íÆerjum struck on Sharpa's cliff s/teribildr at hjaldri ; the sword in battle; or : sÆorin var SAoglar kápa scored was the coat of mail at sÆjöldunga hjaldri in the battle of the kings. Here sk are the rhyme-letters , and gr in the following distich : þá var grund groin then was the ground green grærmva lauki ; with green herb. 110 IV. Prosody. In short lines one of the sub-letters is often omitted, but the chief-letter never : Aljóðs bið' k'allar to attention Ibid all Aelgar kindir ; ' holy generations : gd\ um Asum crowed near the Æsir (rullinkambi Gullinkambi (the golden-combed). Vowels interchange with each other, and should, if pos- sible, be different : ðnd f>au ne <£ttu ; breath they possessed not ; o'ð jmu né höf ðu ; sense they had not. Here ö, á, and d form a complete and elegant letter-rhyme. /, v, and k, when followed by a vowel, are admitted into the number of correspondent letters : ek nian_/ötna I remember the giants ór umborna ; born in the beginning. Here e, j, á rhyme with each other : examples in which v answers to vowels are extremely rare : svaf vætr Freyja slept not Freyja átta nóttum ; for eight nights. Here v and á correspond. Sometimes we meet with verses in which such words as úlfr, rangr, reiftr, which in the earliest times began with v, have formed alliteration with words , beginning with this letter, as in AtlaqviSa: uín í Falhöll wine in Valhalla. {v) reiði sásk þeir Húna; They feared the Suns' wrath; and in Baldrsdrauma : ( V) rindr berr Hi?idr (Vala's mother) bears í Festrsölum ; in the western halls. When there is an unequal line, or a solitary member in a verse, such as the third and sixth lines of the sis-mem- bered stanzas, it always contains two alliterated words, as in the following quotation from Vafþrúdnismál : or Ymis holdi of Ymir's flesh var jörð umsköpuð, the earth was shaped, en or ieinum Jjörg, of his bones the mountains; himinn or hausi heaven of the skull ins hrímkalda jötuns, of the hoar-frosty giant ; en or sveita sjór. and of his siceat the sea. 3. Assonances. \\\ CHAPTER III. ASSONANCES. Assonance, or line -rhyme, is called in Old -Norse poetry hending , and is divided into two kinds , whole and half-assonance . Whole-assonance , or properly speaking , consonance [tídálhending noble rhyme) , occurs when two syllables in the same line have the vowels and the consonants immediately following them alike, as : mm-vc (some) and gwm-ar (men) , merk-i (mark) and sterk-a. (strong) . Half-assonance {skothending imperfect rhyme) admits of different vowels followed by the same consonants, as, stiVSum (dat. plur. of stirSr stiff) and norSan , vafð (I became) and forSa (to guard) . The half-assonance is commonly used in the first line of the couplet which contains the sub-letters, and the whole-assonance in the latter hemistich, as : fastorðr skyli ftVða word-fast should the king be fere^sæll vera þen^ill; who will keep warriors; heefir heit at r/jifa to break, thy plighted faith h/aZdur mögnuðr ! þér al&ti. beseems thee not, mighty man I All syllables which have an assonance , must be ac- cented ; all consonants may form part of an assonance except the flexional endings r and s after consonants : accordingly bjarts and hjarta are a regular whole-assonance, and <íðr and flýSi a correct half-assonance. Rhyme is important in determining the right orthography and pronunciation of a word. For instance, as there is a whole-assonance in the line ttrarlaust ok Ira, , it is clear that tir must rhyme with ir, and cannot be written with ý, which has been incorrectly used by some writers. CHAPTER IV. RHYME. The terminating rhyme of the Icelanders is formed on the same principle as that of the poetry of other nations. Final rhymes are single or compound, being either formed by the ultimate, as : far, var, i, þvi, or by both the ultimate 112 IV. Prosody. and penultimate together, as: auka, lauka, segja , \egja. There is no instance before the Reformation , in which the first line is rhymed with the third , and the second with the fourth , only consecutive rhyming lines being met with pre- viously to that period. Such words as sparat- and kverit, varð and orö are ad- missible as half-rhymes , because they have the same final consonants, though their vowels are unlike. CHAPTER V. OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF VERSE. The ancient Icelanders divided their poems into three chief classes, called Fornyrfialag, Drótthneði, and Rúnhenda. The first possesses only alliteration, the second, alliteration and assonance, the third, alliteration and final rhyme. 1. ForoyrSalag , or, Narrative Verse. The original and simplest form of versification in Old- Norse, which it also possesses in common with the other Teutonic languages , particularly the Anglo-Saxon, is Forn- yrfialag (old word-lay) which is the most unrestricted in its metre, having the greatest complement*, and frequently only one auxiliary letter. All the poems of the Elder Edda are in narrative verse. It is divided into two kinds, the Starkaðar- lag proper, and Lfóðaháttr. The fitarkaftarlag proper consists of strophes of eight lines connected by alliteration : each line has two long syl- lables, or two resting-points for the voice ; the rhyme-letters should.be three, though one of the sub-letters is often want- ing. The following stanza from the Völuspá offers an example of narrative verse thus constructed : ek sá Baldri I foresaw for Balder, blóðgum tívor, for that bloody victim, OSins barni for that son of Odin * Short precursory words which, though independent of the structure of the verse , are necessary to the completion of the sense, constitute what may be called the complement {málfyUing verse- filling). 5. Verse. 113 orlögfólgin; the fate hid for him. stóð umvaxinn There stood growing vollum hæri above the valley mjór ok mjök fagr a slender and very fair mistilsteinn. mistletoe. The want of one of the suh-letters in the 1, 3, and 5 line constitutes a deviation from the strict rule ; there is no com- plement in the above instance. On the other hand, the fol- lowing strophe is very irregular : • Hvat er með Asum? What are the Msir (gods) doing? Hvat er með Alfum? What are the Elves doing? Gnýr allr Jötunheimr; Bellows all Jotunheimr; Æsirru á þingí. the Æsir are in council. Stynja dvergar Groan the dwarfs fyr steindurum at the cavern door, veggbergs visir. the sages of the mountain. Vituðer enn eða hvat? Know you it? But what? which should be thus intoned in reading : Hvat'r með Ásum? Hvat'r með Alfum? Gnýr allr Jöt'nheimr; Æs'rr' á þingi. Stynja dvergar fyr) steindurum veggbergs visir. Vitð ér enn eð' hvat? There are complements in verses 3 and 6. The contraction of so many syllables into one in the 4th line is peculiar, and the last line has 3 toned syllables , which is contrary to all rule, and might be 'regarded as a corruption , did not the same discrepancy occur in less than seven times in the Völu- spá, and always at the end of the strophe. As a variation from the Starkafiarlag proper there is the hnept or stýft (shoríened) Fornyrðalag, which has the first of the two lines either trisyllabic, and all the three syllables commonly long, or ends with an intoned monosyllable. The following stanza from Egils Sonartorrek furnishes an example : era auðþeyst; it cannot easily happen; þvíat) ekki veldr because the difficult höfugligr silent desire or) hyggju stað of the three sons þagnafundr once born English-Icelandic Gramm. 8 114 IV. Pkosodt. þriggja niðja in Jötunheimr árborinn cannot easily or) Jötunheimum. be drawn from the breast. Another kind of Fomyrfiahg in frequent use is Lfó9a- háttr, consisting of a six-lined strophe, whose 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th lines are constructed like the Starkaðarlag proper, having two resting-points , pauses , or long syllables , and connected by alliteration ; but the 3rd and 6th line have three pauses with a special alliteration : each of these lines has 2 (very rarely 3) rhyme-letters different from those of the two preceding lines, as : ölr ek varð drunk I became, varð) ofrölvi became very drunken at ins fróða Fjalars ; in the giant's dwelling; því er) öldr baztr, for best is ale at) aptr ofheimtir when again recovers hverr sitt geð gumi. each man his wit. The following stanza offers an example of a metre with three rhyme-letters : uner var'k forðum ; young was I once; for k einn saman, went I quite alone, þá) varð ek villr vega; then went I astray ; auðigr þóttumsk 1 thought myself happy er'k annan fann ; when I found another: maSr er manns gaman : man is the sport of man. The following half-strophe is peculiarly composed : þat'r þá reynt, that is then proved er þú at) ranum spyrr when thou askest of runes inum) reginkunnum: to the gods alone known. Here the three rhyme-letters r are so placed that each line contains one. When the eight-lined Fornyrfialag is so constructed that two half-rhymes occur in the first line of each couplet, and two whole-rhymes in the second line, it is called Toglag; for instance in the following half-strophe : ok senn sona. and then Canute slew, sld hvern ok þð or banished at once ^áðalbraðs eða each of the sons út flæmdi Knúti : of Aialbra&r. 5. Verse. 115 2. DróttkvæSi. The metre usual in laudatory poems is called Drótilcvœti (from drótt chief, kvæSi song) or "heroic verse", and was most commonly used by the skalds who lived after the 9th century. It has alliteration and assonance , and very rarely admits the málfyUing. The chief letter must be the first in every second line , and the second rhyme in every line must occur in the penultimate syllable. The first strophe of the poem called Geisli the ray , an eulogium on King Olafr the Saint by Einarr Skularson , will furnish an example of this kind of metre : ems má orð ok bœrar aí&ráðanda hins sayilla. vel er) fróðr sá er getr góða guðs prerarang mer kerawa. göfugt ljós boSar geí'sli g(«i«öfiigr miskunnar ág«