An Icelandic Primer

The want of a short and easy introduction to the study of Icelandic has been felt for a long time--in fact, from the very beginning of that study in England. The Icelandic Reader, edited by Messrs. Vigfusson and Powell, in the Clarendon Press Series, is a most valuable book, which ought to be in the hands of every student; but it still leaves room for an elementary primer. As the engagements of the editors of the Reader would have made it impossible for them to undertake such a work for some years to come, they raised no objections to my proposal to undertake it myself. Meanwhile, I found the task was a more formidable one than I had anticipated, and accordingly, before definitely committing myself to it, I made one final attempt to induce Messrs. Vigfusson and Powell to take it off my hands; but they very kindly encouraged me to proceed with it; and as I myself thought that an Icelandic primer, on the lines of my Anglo-Saxon one, might perhaps be the means of inducing some students of Old English to take up Icelandic as well, I determined to go on.

In the spelling I have not thought it necessary to adhere strictly to that adopted in the Reader, for the editors have themselves deviated from it in their Corpus Poeticum Boreale, in the way of separating ǫ from ö, etc. My own principle has been to deviate as little as possible from the traditional spelling followed in normalized texts. There is, indeed, no practical gain for the beginner in writing tīme for tīmi, discarding ð, etc., although these changes certainly bring us nearer the oldest MSS., and cannot be dispensed with in scientific works. The essential thing for the beginner is to have regular forms presented to him, to the exclusion, as far as possible, of isolated archaisms, and to have the defective distinctions of the MSS. supplemented by diacritics. I have not hesitated to substitute (¯) for (´) as the mark of length; the latter ought in my opinion to be used exclusively--in Icelandic as well as in Old English and Old Irish--to represent the actual accents of the MSS.

In the grammar I have to acknowledge my great obligations to Noreen's Altisländische Grammatik, which is by far the best Icelandic grammar that has yet appeared--at least from that narrow point of view which ignores syntax, and concentrates itself on phonology and inflections.

The texts are intended to be as easy, interesting, and representative as possible. With such a language, and such a master of it as Snorri to choose from, this combination is not difficult to realise. The beginner is indeed to be envied who makes his first acquaintance with the splendid mythological tales of the North, told in an absolutely perfect style. As the death of Olaf Tryggvason is given in the Reader only from the longer recension of the Heimskringla, I have been able to give the shorter text, which is admirably suited for the purposes of this book. The story of Auðun is not only a beautiful one in itself, but, together with the preceding piece, gives a vivid idea of the Norse ideal of the kingly character, which was the foundation of their whole political system. As the Reader does not include poetry (except incidentally), I have added one of the finest of the Eddaic poems, which is at the same time freest from obscurity and corruption--the song of Thor's quest of his hammer.

In the glossary I have ventured to deviate from the very inconvenient Scandinavian arrangement, which puts þ, æ, œ, right at the end of the alphabet.

I have to acknowledge the great help I have had in preparing the texts and the glossary from Wimmer's Oldnordisk Læsebog, which I consider to be, on the whole, the best reading-book that exists in any language. So excellent is Wimmer's selection of texts, that it was impossible for me to do otherwise than follow him in nearly every case.

In conclusion, it is almost superfluous to say that this book makes no pretension to originality of any kind. If it contributes towards restoring to Englishmen that precious heritage--the old language and literature of Iceland--which our miserably narrow scheme of education has hitherto defrauded them of, it will have fulfilled its purpose.

HENRY SWEET
London,
February, 1886

Grammar
Texts

Notes
Glossary
Proper Names

1. This book deals with Old Icelandic in its classical period, between 1200 and 1350.

2. The Icelandic alphabet was founded on the Latin, with the addition of þ and ð, and of the modified letters ę, ǫ, ø, which last is in this book written ö, ǫ̈.

3. The vowel-letters had nearly the same values as in Old English. Long vowels were often marked by (´). In this book long vowels are regularly marked by (¯)¹. The following are the elementary vowels and diphthongs, with examples, and key-words from English, French (F.), and German (G.):--

[Footnote 1: Note that the longs of ę, ö are written æ, œ, respectively.]

[Footnote 2: Where no keyword is given for a long vowel, its sound is that of the corresponding short vowel lengthened.]

4. The unaccented i in systir, etc. (which is generally written e in the MSS.) probably had the sound of y in pity, which is really between i and e. The unacc. u in fōru (they went), etc. (which is generally written o in the MSS.) probably had the sound of oo in good.

Note that several of the vowels go in pairs of close and open, thus:

5. Double consonants followed by a vowel must be pronounced really double, as in Italian. Thus the kk in drekka (to drink) must be pronounced like the kc in bookcase, while the k in dręki (dragon) is single, as in booking. When final (or followed by another cons.) double conss. are pronounced long, as in munn (mouth acc.), hamarr (hammer nom.), steinn (stone nom.), distinguished from mun (will vb.), and the accusatives hamar, stein.

6. k and g had a more front (palatal) sound before the front vowels e, ę, i, ö, ǫ̈, y, and their longs, as also before j, as in kęnna (known), keyra (drive), gǫ̈ra (make), liggja (lie).

7. kkj, ggj were probably pronounced simply as double front kk, gg, the j not being pronounced separately.

8. f had initially the sound of our f, medially and finally that of v, as in gefa (give), gaf (gave), except of course in such combinations as ft, where it had the sound of f.

9. g was a stopped (back or front--guttural or palatal) cons. initially and in the combination ng, the two g's in ganga (go) being pronounced as in go. It had the open sound of G. g in sagen medially before the back vowels a, o, ǫ, u, and all conss. except j, and finally:--saga (tale), dǫgum (with days); sagði (he said); lag (he lay). Before the front vowels and j it had the sound of G. g in liegen, or nearly that of j (our y), as in sęgir (says), sęgja (to say).

10. Before voiceless conss. (t, s) g seems to have been pronounced k, as in sagt (said), dags (day's).

11. The g was always sounded in the combination ng, as in single, not as in singer.

12. h was sounded before j in such words as hjarta (heart) much as in E. hue (= hjū). hl, hn, hr, hv probably represented voiceless l, n, r, w respectively, hv being identical with E. wh: hlaupa (leap), hnīga (bend), hringr (ring), hvat (what).

13. j is not distinguished from i in the MSS. It had the sound of E. y in young: jǫrð (earth), sętja (to set).

14. p in pt probably had the sound of f: lopt (air).

15. r was always a strong point trill, as in Scotch.

16. s was always sharp.

17. v (which was sometimes written u and w) had the sound of E. w: vel (well), hǫggva (hew).

18. z had the sound of ts: bęztr (best).

19. þ and ð were used promiscuously in the older MS., the very oldest using þ almost exclusively. In Modern Icelandic þ is written initially to express the sound of E. hard th, ð medially and finally to express that of soft th; as there can be no doubt that this usage corresponds with the old pronunciation, it is retained in this book: þing (parliament), faðir (father), við (against). In such combinations as pð the ð must of course be pronounced þ.

20. The stress (accent) is always on the first syllable.

21. The vowels are related to one another in different ways, the most important of which are mutation (umlaut), fracture (brechung), and gradation (ablaut).

22. The following changes are i-mutations (caused by an older i or j following, which has generally been dropped)³:

[Footnote 3: Many of the i's which appear in derivative and inflectional syllables are late weakenings of a and other vowels, as in bani (death) = Old English bana; these do not cause mutation.]

a (ǫ) ... ę :-- mann (man acc.), męnn (men); hǫnd (hand), hęndr (hands).

ā ... æ :-- māl (speech), mæla (speak).

e (ja, jǫ) ... i :-- verðr (worth), virða (estimate).

u (o) ... y :-- fullr (full), fylla (to fill); lopt (air), lypta (lift).

ū ... ȳ :-- brūn (eyebrow), pl. brȳnn.

o ... ö :-- koma (to come), kömr (comes).

ō ... œ :-- fōr (went), fœra (bring).

au ... ey :-- lauss (loose), leysa (loosen).

jū (jō) ... ȳ :-- sjūkr (sick), sȳki (sickness); ljōsta (strike), lȳstr (strikes).

23. The change of a into ę is sometimes the result of a following k, g, or ng, as in dęgi dat. sg. of dagr (day), tękinn (taken), gęnginn (gone), inf. taka, ganga. i appears instead of e, and u instead of o before a nasal followed by another cons.: cp. binda (to bind), bundinn (bound) with bresta (burst) ptc. prt. brostinn.

24. There is also a u-mutation, caused by a following u, which has often been dropped:

a ... ǫ :-- dagr (day) dat. pl. dǫgum; land (land) pl. lǫnd.

25. Unaccented ǫ becomes u, as in sumur pl. of sumar (summer), kǫlluðu (they called), infin. kalla.

26. The only vowel that is affected by fracture is e: when followed by original a it becomes ja, when followed by original u it becomes jǫ, as in jarðar gen. of jǫrð (earth)⁴. When followed by original i, the e is, of course, mutated to i, as in skildir plur. nom. of skjǫldr (shield), gen. skjaldar.

[Footnote 4: Cp. German erde.]

27. By gradation the vowels are related as follows:--

a ... ō :-- fara (go) pret. fōr, whence by mut. fœra (bring).

e (i, ja) ... a ... u (o) :-- bresta (burst), prt. brast, prt. pl. brustu, ptc. prt. brostinn; finna (find), fundinn (found ptc.), fundr (meeting).

e ... a ... ā ... o :-- stela (steal), prt. stal, prt. pl. stālu, ptc. prt. stolinn.

e ... a ... ā ... e :-- gefa (give), gaf (he gave), gāfu (they gave), gefinn (given), gjǫf (gift), u-fracture of gef-, gæfa (luck) mut. of gāf-.

ī ... ei ... i :-- skīna (shine), skein (he shone), skinu (they shone). sōl-skin (sunshine).

jū (jō) ... au ... u ... o :-- ljūga (tell a lie), prt. laug, prt. pl. lugu, ptc. prt. loginn. lygi (lie sbst.) mut. of lug-. skjōta (shoot), skjōtr (swift), skotinn (shot ptc.), skot (shot subst.).

28. All final vowels are long in accented syllables: þā (then), nū (now).

29. Inflectional and derivative vowels are often dropt after long accented vowels: cp. ganga (to go) with fā (to get), the dat. plurals knjām (knees) with hūsum (houses).

30. Vowels are often lengthened before l + cons.: hālfr (half adj.), fōlk (people); cp. fōlginn (hidden) with brostinn (burst ptc.).

31. v is dropped before o and u: vaxa (to grow), prt. ōx, vinna (to win), unninn (won ptc.), svelta (to starve), soltinn (starved, hungry).

Final r is often assimilated to a preceding cons.

32. *-lr, *-nr, *-sr always become -ll, -nn, -ss after a long vowel or diphthong, as in stōll (chair nom.), acc. stōl, steinn (stone nom.), acc. stein, vīss (wise masc. nom. sg.), vīs fem. nom. sg., and in unacc. syllables, as in the masc. sg. nominatives mikill (great), fem. mikil, borinn (carried), fem. borin, ȳmiss (various) fem. ȳmis.

33. Words in which l, n, r, s are preceded by a cons. drop the r entirely, as in the masc. nominatives jarl (earl), hrafn (raven), vitr (wise), þurs (giant), lax (salmon).

34. If l and n are preceded by a short accented vowel, the r is generally kept, as in stelr (steals), vinr, (friend), sr becoming ss, as elsewhere.

35. r is kept after ll, and generally after nn, as in the masc. nom. allr (all), and in bręnnr (burns).

36. z often stands for ðs as well as ts, as in þēr þykkizk (ye seem) = *þykkið-sk, Vest-firzkr (belonging to the West Firths) = -*firðskr (fǫrðr, firth).

37. Inflectional t is generally doubled after a long accented vowel: fār (few) neut. fātt (cp. allr 'all,' neut. allt), sā (I saw), sātt 'thou sawest.'

38. Gender. There are three genders in Icelandic--masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender is partly natural, partly grammatical, generally agreeing with the gender in Old English. Compound words follow the gender of their last element.

39. Strong and Weak. All weak nouns end in a vowel in the nom. sg. and in most of the other cases as well. Most strong nouns end in a cons. in the nom. sg.

40. Cases. There are four cases--nominative, accusative, dative, genitive. All nouns (except a few contractions) have the gen. pl. in -a (fiska, of fishes), and the dat. pl. in -um (fiskum). All strong masculines (fiskr) and some strong feminines (brūðr, bride) take r⁵ in the nom. sg. Most strong feminines show the bare root in the nom. sg. with u-mutation, if possible (āst, favour, fǫr, journey). The nom. pl. of all strong masc. and fem. nouns ends in r (fiskar, āstir). The acc. pl. of fem. nouns is the same as the nom. pl. (āstir). The acc. pl. of masc. strong nouns always ends in a vowel (fiska). The plur. nom. and acc. of neuters is the same as the sing. nom. and acc., except that in the plur. nom. and acc. they take u-mutation, if possible (hūs, houses, lǫnd, lands).

[Footnote 5: Subject, of course, to the assimilations described above.]

41. The declensions are most conveniently distinguished by the acc. plur.

42. So also heimr (home, world); konungr (king); Þōrr (Thor), acc. Þōr, gen. Þōrs; steinn (stone), acc. stein, gen. steins, pl. nom. steinar; hrafn (raven), acc. hrafn, pl. nom. hrafnar; þurs (giant), acc. gen. þurs, pl. nom. þursar.

43. Dissyllables in -r, -l, -n generally throw out the preceding vowel before a vowel-inflection: hamarr (hammer), dat. hamri; jǫtunn (giant), pl. nom. jǫtnar. kętill (kettle) and lykill (key) show unmutated vowels in the contracted forms, as in the acc. plur. katla, lukla.

44. Some nouns of this decl. take -ar in the gen. sing., especially proper names, such as Hākon, gen. Hākonar.

45. Some nouns add v before vowels: sær (sea), gen. sævar.

46. The dat. sometimes drops the i: sæ (sea), Þōr. dagr (day) mutates its vowel in the dat. dęgi.

47. Nouns in -ir keep the i in the sing., and drop it in the plur.:

48. So also a number of proper names, such as Skrȳmir, Þōrir.

49. So also gripr (precious thing), salr (hall).

50. gęstr (guest) takes -i in the dat. sg., and -s in the gen. sg.

51. Those ending in g or k (together with some others) insert j before a and u: bękkr (bench), bękk, bękk, bękkjar; bękkir, bękki, bękkjum, bękkja. So also męrgr (marrow), stręngr (string).

52. So also vǫndr (twig), vǫllr (plain), viðr (wood). āss (god) has plur. nom. æsir, acc. āsu. sonr (son) has dat. sg. syni, plur. nom. synir. It regularly drops its r of the nom. in such compounds as Tryggva-son (son of Tryggvi).

53. So also fingr (finger), gen. fingrar, pl. fingr; vetr (winter), pl. vetr. maðr (man) is irregular: maðr, mann, manni, manns; męnn, męnn, mǫnnum, manna.

54. So also brōðir (brother), pl. brœðr.

55. Pres. participles used as nouns follow this decl. in the pl., following the weak class in the sg.:

56. So also frœndi (kinsman), pl. frœndr.

57. So also orð (word), land (land) pl. lǫnd, sumar (summer) pl. sumur (§ 25).

58. męn (necklace), kyn (race), grey (dog) insert j before a and u: greyjum. hǫgg (stroke) inserts v before a vowel: hǫggvi. knē (knee), knē, knē, knēs; knē, knē, kjām, knjā. So also trē (tree).

59. fē (money) is contracted: gen. fjār, dat. fē.

60. So also klæði (cloth). Those in k insert j before a and u: męrki (mark), męrkjum, męrkja. So also rīki (sovereignty).

61. So also mǫn (mane), gjǫrð (girdle), ār (oar).

62. ā (river) contracts: ā, ā, ā, ār; ār, ār, ām, ā.

63. Many take -u in the dat. sg.: kęrling (old woman), kęrling, kęrlingu, kęrlingar; kęrlingar, kęrlingar, kęrlingum, kęrlinga. So also laug (bath).

64. Those with a mutated root-vowel (or i) insert j in inflection: ey (island), ey, eyju, eyjar; eyjar, eyjar, eyjum, eyja. So also Frigg, Hęl. mær (maid), mey, meyju, meyjar; meyjar, meyjar, meyjum, meyja.

65.

66. So also sorg (sorrow), skipun (arrangement), hǫfn (harbour) pl. hafnir, and the majority of strong feminines.

67. Many have -u in the dat. sg.: sōl (sun), sōl, sōlu, sōlar; sōlir, sōlir, sōlum, sōla. So also jǫrð (earth), stund (period of time).

68. One noun has r in the nom. sg., following heiðr in the sg.: brūðr (bride), brūði, brūði, brūðar; brūðir, brūðir, brūðum, brūða.

69. So also nātt (night) pl. nætr, bōt (compensation) pl. bœtr, tǫnn (tooth) gen. tannar pl. tęnnr.

70. hǫnd (hand) pl. hęndr has dat. sg. hęndi.

71. kȳr (cow) has acc. kū, pl. kȳr.

72. brūn (eyebrow) assimilates the r of the pl.: brȳnn.

73. So also dōttir (daughter) pl. dœtr; systir (sister) pl. systr.

74. So also māni (moon), fēlagi (companion).

75. hǫfðingi (chief) and some others insert j in inflection: hǫfðingja, hǫfðingjar, hǫfðingjum.

76. lē (scythe) is contracted; its gen. sg. is ljā.

77. oxi (ox) has pl. öxn.

78. herra (lord) is indeclinable in the sg.

79. So also auga (eye).

80. So also stjarna (star) pl. stjǫrnur, kirkja (church), gen. plurals stjarna, kirkna.

81. So also glęði (joy) and many abstract nouns.

82. lygi (falsehood) has pl. lygar; so also gǫ̈rsimi (precious thing).

83. Adjectives have three genders, and the same cases as nouns, though with partly different endings, together with strong and weak forms.

84. So also fagr (fair), fem. fǫgr, neut. fagrt.

85. Some insert j before a and u: nȳr (new), nȳjum, nȳjan.

86. Some insert v before a vowel: hār (high), hāvan, dökkr (dark), dökkvir, kykr (alive), kykvir.

87. The t of the neut. is doubled after a long vowel: nȳtt, hātt. Monosyllables in ð, dd, tt form their neut. in -tt: breiðr (broad), breitt; leiddr (led), leitt. gōðr (good) has neut. gott. sannr (true) has neut. satt. In unaccented syllables or if a cons. precedes, tt is shortened to t: kallaðr (called), kallat; blindr (blind), blint, harðr (hard), hart, fastr (firm), fast.

88. l and n assimilate a following r: gamall (old), fem. gǫmul, fem. acc. gamla, dat. gamalli. vǣnn (beautiful), gen. pl. vænna.

89. So also lītill (little).

90. Dissyllables in -inn have -it in the neut., and -inn in the masc. sg. acc.: tīginn (distinguished), tīgit, tīginn, pl. tīgnīr. So also kominn (come).

91.

92. So also fagri, hāvi, mikli, etc.

93. So also all comparatives, such as meiri (greater), and pres. partic. when used as adjectives, such as gefandi (giving), dat. pl. gefǫndum.

94. (1) with -ari, -astr: rīkr (powerful), rīkari, rīkastr; gǫfugr (distinguished), gǫfgari, gǫfgastr.

95. (2) with -ri, -str and mutation: langr (long), lęngri, lęngstr; stōrr (big), stœrri, stœrstr; ungr (young), yngri, yngstr.

96. The following are irregular:

97.

einn is declined like other adjectives:--

98.

It also has a pl. einir, einar, ein; gen. einna, etc. in the sense of 'some.'

The next three show various irregularities.

99.

Similarly bāðir (both):

100.

101.

102.

103. The others are indeclinable up to þrīr tigir, etc.; the tigir being declined regularly as a plural strong u-masculine tigir, tigu, tigum, tiga.

104. hundrað is a strong neut.: tvau hundruð (240), tveim hundruðum, etc. It governs the gen. (as also does þūsund): fimm hundruð gōlfa, 'five (six) hundred chambers.'

105. þūsund is a strong ir-feminine: tvær þūsundir (2400).

106. hundrað and þūsund are rarely = 100 and 1000.

107. Of the ordinals fyrstr and annarr (§ 91) are strong, the others weak adjectives. þriði inserts a j: þriðja, etc.

108.

109. ek was often suffixed to its verb, especially in poetry, being sometimes added twice over: mætta-k (I might), sā-k-a-k (I saw not; a='not'). So also þū: er-tu (art thou), skalt-u (shalt thou) = *skalt-tu.

110. So also þinn (thy), sinn (his, etc., reflexive).

111. vārr, vārt, vār (our) is regular: acc. masc. vārn, masc. plur. vārir, vāra, vārum, vārra, etc.

112. So also okkarr (our two) and ykkarr (your two).

113. hans (his), þess (its), hęnnar (her), and þeira (their) are indeclinable.

114.

115. hinn, hitt, hin (that) is inflected like minn (except that its vowel is short throughout): acc. masc. hinn, plur. masc. hinir, hina, hinum, hinna.

116.

The prefixed definite article is declined thus:

117.

118. When suffixed to its noun it undergoes various changes. In its monosyllabic forms it drops its vowel after a short (un-accented) vowel, as in auga-t (the eye), but keeps it after a long vowel, as in ā-in (the river), trē-it (the tree). The dissyllabic forms drop their initial vowel almost everywhere; not, however, after the -ar, -r, of the gen. sg., nor in męnninir (men, nom.), męnn-ina (men, acc.). The -m of the dat. pl. is dropped before the suffixed -num.

119. The ordinary relative pron. is the indeclinable er, often preceded by sā: sā er = he who, who, sū er who fem.

120. The neut. hvat has gen. hvess, dat. hvī, which last is chiefly used as an adverb = 'why.'

121.

122.

123. einn-hvęrr, eitthvęrt, einhvęr (some one) keeps an invariable ein- in the other cases, the second element being inflected as above.

124. sumr (some) is declined like an ordinary adjective.

125.

126.

127. In hvār-tvęggja (each of the two, both) the first element is declined as above, the second is left unchanged.

128. There are two classes of verbs, strong and weak. Strong verbs are conjugated partly by means of gradation, weak verbs by adding ð (d, t).

129. The ð of the 2 pl. is dropt before þit (ye two) and þēr (ye): gefi þēr, gāfu þit.

130. There is a middle voice, which ends in -mk in the 1 pers. sg. and pl., the rest of the verb being formed by adding sk to the active endings, r being dropt, the resulting ts, ðs being written z (§ 36): kvezk (active kveðr 'says'), þu fekkzk (fekkt 'gottest').

131. The following is the conjugation of the strong verb gefa (give), which will show those endings which are common to all verbs:

Imperative sg. 2 gef; pl. 1 gef-um, 2 gef-ið.
Participle pres. gef-andi; pret. gef-inn.
Infin. gefa.

Impers. sg. 2 gef-sk; pl. 1 gef-umk, 2 gef-izk.
Partic. pres. gef-andisk; pret. gef-izk neut.
Infin. gef-ask.

132. In the strong verbs the plur. of the pret. indic. generally has a different vowel from that of the sing. The 1 sg. pret. of the middle voice always has the vowel of the pl. pret.: gāfumk. The pret. subj. has the vowel of the pret. indic. plur. mutated: skaut (he shot), skutu (they shot), skyti (he might shoot). But there is no mutation in verbs of the first conj.: hljōpi, inf. hlaupa (leap).

133. The pres. indic. sing. mutates the root-vowel in all three persons: ek skȳt, þū skȳtr, hann skȳtr, infin. skjōta (shoot). e however is not mutated: ek gef, þū gefr. The inflectional r is liable to the same modifications as the r of nouns (§ 32): skīnn, vęx, infin. skīna (shine), vaxa (grow).

134. Verbs in ld change the d into t in the 1, 3 sg. pret. indic. and in the imper. sg.: helt (held), halt (hold!), infin. halda. nd becomes tt, and ng becomes kk under the same conditions: binda (bind), ganga (go), pret. batt, gekk, imper. bitt, gakk.

135. The t of the 2 sg. pret. indic. is doubled after a long accented vowel: þū sātt (thou sawest). If the 1 sg. pret. indic. ends in t or ð, the 2 sg. ends in zt: lēt (I let), þū lēzt, bauð (I offered) þū bauzt.

136. There are seven conjugations of strong verbs, distinguished mainly by the characteristic vowels of their preterites.

137.

138. The following have weak preterites in r:

139. heita in the passive sense of 'to be named, called' has a weak present: ek heiti, þū heitir.

140.

141. The following have weak presents:

142.

143. The following have weak presents (which makes however no difference in their conjugation):

144.

145.

[Footnote 6: sē, sēr, sēr; sjām, sēð, sjā. Subj. sē, sēr, sē; sēm, sēð, sē.]

[Footnote 7: sām, sāið, sā.]

146. The following have weak presents:--

147.

148. The following has a weak present:

149.

150. There are three conjugations of weak verbs. All those of the first conjugation have mutated vowels in the pres., and form their pret. with ð (d, t): heyra (hear), heyrða. Those of the second form their pret. in the same way, but have unmutated vowels in the pres.: hafa (have) hafða. Those of the third form their pret. in -aða: kalla (call), kallaða.

151.

Imper. sg. 1. heyr; pl. 1. heyr-um, 2. heyr-ið.
Partic. pres. heyr-andi; pret. heyr-ðr.
Infin. heyr-a.

Imper. sg. 2. heyr-sk; pl. 1. heyr-umk, 2. heyr-izk.
Partic. pres. heyr-andisk; pret. heyr-zk neut.
Infin. heyr-ask.

152. The inflectional ð becomes d after long syllables ending in l or n: sigla (sail), siglda; nęfna (name), nęfnda, nęfndr.

153. -ðð becomes dd: leiða (lead), leidda.

154. ð after s and t becomes t: reisa (raise), reista; mœta (meet), mœtta. Also in a few verbs in l, n: mæla (speak), mælta; spęnna (buckle), spęnta.

155. After nd and pt it is dropped: sęnda (send), sęnda, sęndr; lypta (lift), lypta.

156. It is preserved in such verbs as the following: dœma (judge), dœmða; fœra (lead), fœrða; hęrða (harden), hęrða; hleypa (gallop), hleypða.

157. All these verbs have j preceded by a short syllable (tęlja), or a long vowel without any cons. after it (dȳja), or gg (lęggja); the j being kept before a and u, as in the pres. ind. of spyrja (ask): spyr, spyrr, spyrr; spyrjum, spyrið, spyrja, pres. subj. 1 sg. ek spyrja; they unmutate their vowel in the pret. and ptc. pret. (spurða, spurðr), the mutation being restored in the pret. subj. spyrða, spyrðir, etc. The ptc. pret. often has an i before the ð.

158. The following keep the mutated vowel throughout:

159. The following are irregular:

Subj. pret. sœtta, þœtta.

160. The following has an adj. for its partic. pret.:

161. The few verbs of this class are conjugated like those of conj. I, except that some of them have imperatives in -i: vaki, þęfi; uni. lifa, sęgja have imper. lif, sęg. They mutate the vowel of the pret. subj. (ynða). Their partic. pret. generally occurs only in the neut.; sometimes the a is dropped.

162. The following show mutation:

163. The present indic. of the first three is as follows:

164. The rest of hafa is regular. Pres. subj. hafa, hafir, hafi; hafim, hafið, hafi. Pret. indic. hafða, hafðir, hafði; hǫfdum, hǫfðuð, hǫfðu. Pret. subj. hęfða, hęfðir, hęfði; hęfðim, hęfðið, hęfði. Imper. haf, hǫfum, hafið. Ptc. hafandi, hafðr.

Imper. sing. 2. kall-a; plur. 1. kǫll-um, 2. kall-ið.
Partic. pres. kall-andi; pret. kallaðr (neut. kallat).
Infin. kalla.

Imper. sing. 2. kall-ask; pl. 1. kǫll-umk, 2. kall-izk.
Partic. pres. kall-andisk; pret. kall-azk neut.
Infin. kall-ask.

165. So also byrja (begin), hęrja (make war), vakna (awake).

166. These have old strong preterites for their presents, from which new weak preterites are formed.

167. Of these verbs munu and skulu have preterite infinitives: mundu, skyldu.

168. Vilja (will):

Subj. pres. vili. Pret. ind. vilda. Ptc. prt. viljat.

169. Vera (be):

Imper. sg. ver; pl. verið. Ptc. prt. verit n.

170. Composition with the genitive is very frequent in Icelandic. Thus by the side of skip-stjōrn (ship-steering) we find skips-brot (ship's breaking, shipwreck), skipa-hęrr (army of ships, fleet). Genitival composition often expresses possession, as in konungs-skip (king's ship).

171. Prefixes are much less used in Icelandic than in Old English.

al- 'quite,' 'very': al-būinn 'quite ready,' al-snotr 'very clever.'

all- 'all,' 'very': all-valdr 'all-ruler, monarch,' all-harðr 'very hard,' all-stōrum 'very greatly.'

and- 'against': and-lit 'countenance' (lita, look), and-svar 'answer.'

fjǫl- 'many': fjǫl-męnni 'multitude' (maðr, man).

mis- 'mis-': mis-līka 'displease.'

ū- 'un-': ū-friðr 'war' (friðr, peace), ū-happ 'misfortune' (happ luck).

172. -ingr, -ingi, -ing: vīkingr 'pirate,' hǫfðingi 'chief,' kęrling 'old woman.'

173. -ð, fem. with mutation: fęgrð 'beauty' (fagr, fair), fęrð 'journey' (fara, go), lęngð 'length' (langr, long).

-ing, fem.: svipting 'pulling,' vīking 'piracy,' virðing 'honour.'

-leikr, masc.: kœr-leikr 'affection' (hœrr, dear), skjōt-leikr 'speed' (skjōtr, swift).

-an, -un, fem.: skipan 'arrangement,' skęmtun 'amusement.'

174. -ugr: rāðugr 'sagacious,' þrūðugr 'strong.'

-ōttr: kollōttr 'bald,' ǫndōttr 'fierce.'

-lauss '-less': fē-lauss 'moneyless,' ōtta-lauss 'without fear.'

-ligr '-ly': undr-ligr 'wonderful,' sann-ligr 'probable' (sannr, true).

-samr: līkn-samr 'gracious,' skyn-samr 'intelligent.'

-verðr '-ward': ofan-verðr 'upper.'

175. -na: brotna 'be broken' (brotinn, broken), hvītna 'become white,' vakna 'awake.' Used to form intransitive and inchoative verbs of the third conj.

176. -liga '-ly': undar-liga 'wonderfully,' stęrk-liga 'strongly' (stęrkr, strong).

-um, dat. pl.: stōrum 'greatly' (stōrr, great).

177. Icelandic syntax greatly resembles Old English, but has several peculiarities of its own.

178. Concord is carried out very strictly in Icelandic: allir męnn vāru būnir 'all the men were ready,' allir vāru drepnir 'all were killed.'

179. A plural adj. or pronoun referring to two nouns of different (natural or grammatical) gender is always put in the neuter: þā gekk hann upp, ok með honum Loki (masc.), ok Þjālfi (masc.), ok Rǫskva (fem.). þā er þau (neut.) hǫfðu lītla hrið gęngit... 'he landed, and with him L., and Þ., and R. When they had walked for some time...'

180. The extensive use of the instrumental dative is very characteristic of Icelandic: whenever the direct object of a verb can be considered as the instrument of the action expressed by the verb, it is put in the dative, as in kasta spjōti 'throw a spear' (lit. 'throw with a spear'), hann helt hamarskaptinu 'he grasped the handle of the hammer,' heita þvī 'promise that,' jāta þvī 'agree to that.'

181. The weak form of adjectives is used as in O.E. after the definite article, þessi and other demonstratives. annarr (other) is always strong.

182., An adj. is often set in apposition to a following noun to denote part of it: eiga hālft dȳrit 'to have half of the animal,' ǫnnur þau 'the rest of them,' of miðja nātt 'in the middle of the night.'

183. sā is often put pleonastically before the definite article inn, both before and after the subst.: sā inn ungi maðr 'that young man,' hafit þat it djūpa 'the deep sea.'

184. The definite article is generally not expressed at all, or else einn, einnhvęrr is used.

185. A noun (often a proper name) is often put in apposition to a dual pron. of the first and second persons, or a plur. of the third person: þit fēlagar, 'thou and thy companions,' með þeim Āka 'with him and Āki.' Similarly stęndr Þōrr upp ok þeir fēlagar 'Thor and his companions get up.'

186. The plurals vēr, þēr are sometimes used instead of the singulars ek, þū, especially when a king is speaking or being spoken to.

187. sik and sēr are used in a strictly reflexive sense, referring back to the subject of the sentence, like se in Latin: Þorr bauð honum til matar með sēr 'Thor asked him to supper with him.'

188. The tenses for which there is no inflection in the active, and all those of the passive, are formed by the auxiliaries skal (shall), hafa (have), vera (be) with the infin. and ptc. pret., much as in modern English.

189. The historical present is much used, often alternating abruptly with the preterite.

190. The middle voice is used: (1) in a purely reflexive sense: spara 'spare,' sparask 'spare oneself, reserve one's strength.' (2) intransitively: būa 'prepare,' būask 'become ready, be ready'; sętja 'set,' sętjask 'sit down'; sȳna 'show,' sȳnask 'appear, seem.' (3) reciprocally: bęrja 'strike,' bęrjask 'fight'; hitta, 'find,' hittask 'meet.' In other cases it specializes the meaning of the verb, often emphasizing the idea of energy or effort: koma 'come,' komask 'make one's way.'

191. The impersonal form of expression is widely used in Icelandic: rak ā storm (acc.) fyrir þeim 'a storm was driven in their face.'

192. The indef. 'one' is expressed in the same way by the third pers. sg., and this form of expression is often used when the subject is perfectly definite: ok freista skal þessar īþrōttar 'and this feat shall be tried (by you).'

193. The abrupt change from the indirect to the direct narration is very common: Haraldi konungi var sagt at þar var komit bjarndȳri, 'ok ā Īslęnzkr maðr,' 'King Harold was told that a bear had arrived, and that an Icelander owned it.' The direct narration is also used after at (that): hann svarar at 'ek skal rīða til Hęljar' 'he answers that he will ride to Hel.'

Freyja kvað:

Þrymr kvað:

Loki kvað:

Þrymr kvað:

Loki kvað:

The references marked Gr. are to the paragraphs of the Grammar.

Line 3. Hann ā þar rīki er Þrūð-vangar heita, 'he reigns (there) where it is called Þ.,' i.e. in the place which is called Þ. The plur. heita agrees with þrūðvangar, as in l. 14 below: þat eru jārnglōfar 'that is (his) iron gloves.'

l. 5. þat er hūs mest, svā at męnn hafa gǫ̈rt, 'that is the largest house, so that men have made (it),' i.e. the largest house that has been built. Note the plur. hūs of a single house; each chamber was originally regarded as a house, being often a detached building.

l. 13. spęnnir þeim, Gr. § 154; cp. 2. 49.

l. 1. fōr með hafra sīna...ok með honum sā, āss er... We see here that með generally takes an acc. to denote passive, and a dat. to denote voluntary accompaniment.

l. 5. soðit refers to some such subst. as slātr (meat) understood.

l. 11. sprętti ā... ā is here an adv.

l. 12. til męrgjar. til here implies intention--to get at the marrow.

l. 20. þat er sā augnanna, 'the little he saw of the eyes.'-- Thor frowned till his eyebrows nearly covered his eyes, and the man felt as if he were going to fall down dead at the mere sight of them.

l. 21. The second hann refers, of course, to Thor.

l. 34. til myrkrs, till it was dark.

l. 36. þeir, the masc. instead of the neut. pl., as in l. 32 foll., showing that leituðu is meant to refer only to the men of the party, and not to include Rǫskva. (Gr. § 179.)

l. 46. sēr hvar lā maðr, 'saw where a man lay,' i.e. saw a man lying.

l. 51. einu sinni, for once in his life.

l. 52. nęfndisk Skrȳmir, said his name was Skr.

l. 66. būið til (prp.) nātt-verðar yðr, prepare supper for yourselves.

l. 77. Er þat þēr satt at sęgja. satt is in apposition to þat--'that is to be told you as the truth, (namely) that...'

l. 88. sjā sik, see himself alive.

l. 104. þann = þann veg, that way, course.

l. 108. at æsirnir bæði þā heila hittask. The full sense is, 'that Thor and Loki expressed a wish that they and Skrȳmir might meet again safe and sound.'

ll. 111, 112. sęttu hnakkann ā bak sēr aptr, threw back the backs of their heads till they touched their backs, i.e. threw back their heads.

l. 118. œrit stōra, 'rather big,' i.e. very big.

l. 120. glotti um tǫnn, 'grinned round a tooth,' i.e. showed his teeth in a malicious grin. Two MSS. read við instead of um.

l. 121. er annan veg en ek hygg, at...? is it otherwise than as I think, namely that...? i.e. am I not right in thinking that...?

l. 127. engi er hēr sā inni er... = engi er hēr-inni sā-er...

l. 129. freista skal, Gr. § 192.

l. 140. kallar þess meiri vān at hann sē... 'says that there is more probability of that, namely that he is...than of the contrary,' i.e. says that he will have to be...

l. 150. fōthvatari en svā, 'more swift-footed than so--under these circumstances,' i.e. than you.

l. 156. ok er Þjālfl eigi þā kominn... = þā er Þjālfi eigi kominn...

l. 172. at sinni, this time.

l. 172. hann, acc.

l. 173. laut ōr horninu, bent back from the horn.

l. 188. mestr refers to drykkr understood.

l. 218. kalli, Gr. § 192.

l. 241. þō refers to uni.

l. 7. engi agrees with dōmr.

l. 11. hann, acc.

l. 20. ungr, too young.

l. 31. ū-happ is in apposition to þat; cp. 3. 7.

ll. 33, 34. vāru með einum hug til... had the same feelings towards.

l. 36. var...fyrr, was beforehand, prevented.

l. 42. vili, subj. 'whether he will';--change of construction.

l. 55. nema, 'unless,' here = 'until.'

l. 89. heim. This use of heim in the sense of 'someone else's home.' is frequent. Cp. our 'drive a nail home.'

l. 94. svā refers to ok ef allir hlutir..., the ok being pleonastic.

l. 108. hvar, cp. 2. 46.

l. 113. karl, 'old man,' here = Odin.

l. 6. Hēðinn = hann; this use of a proper name instead of a pronoun is frequent.

l. 9. þar. Cp. 1. 3.

l. 17. svā at, so that, i.e. just when.

l. 30. er, namely that.

l. 33. austan at sigla, is in a kind of apposition to fęrðina.

l. 40. svā, also.

l. 48. muni fyrir, awaits you, is impending.

l. 53. meira, adv., better, faster.

l. 149. bar hann hātt, impers. w. acc.; he was in a conspicuous place.

l. 244. við fimtānda mann, one of fifteen, with fourteen men.

l. 259. vāpna is governed by the second half of the genitival compound klæða-būnað, which is here considered as two independent words.

l. 17. var fyrir, was to be found.

l. 26. tvau verð slīk, double the price you gave.

l. 55. fē is probably dat. here, but may be nom.

l. 56. ęptir sem..., according as, in accordance with what.

l. 64. nū...nū, lately...just now.

l. 116. hęldr is here used pleonastically in a kind of apposition to the preceding bętr.

l. 125. en, and = while.

l. 129. þessi einn var svā hlutrinn, at..., this single thing is the case, namely that... i.e. the only thing is that...

l. 7. jarðar is governed by hvęrgi.

l. 9. tūna. Poetical construction of gen. to denote goal of motion.

l. 15. þō goes with the following at = ok sęlja, þōat (þōtt) væri ōr silfri.

l. 32. fœri may be either sg. or pl. 3 pers.

æ follows að, ð follows d, ę follows e, œ follows oð, ǫ follows o, ö follows ǫ, þ follows t.

The declensions of nouns are only occasionally given.

(-rs) etc. means that the r of the nom. is kept in inflection.