162. The following show mutation:

162. The following show mutation:

sęgja (_say_) sęgi sagða sagðr þęgja (_be silent_) þęgi þagða þagat hafa (_have_) hęfi hafða hafðr kaupa (_buy_) kaupi keypta keyptr

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

_Sing._ 1. hęfi sęgi þęgi 2, 3. hęfir sęgir þęgir

_Plur._ 1. hǫfum sęgjum þęgjum 2. hafið sęgið þęgið 3. hafa sęgja þęgja

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_.

III. 'Call'-conjugation

Active

INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE

_Pres. sg._ 1. kall-a kall-a 2. kall-ar kall-ir 3. kall-ar kall-i

_pl._ 1. kǫll-um kall-im 2. kall-ið kall-ið 3. kall-a kall-i

_Pres. sg._ 1. kall-aða kall-aða 2. kall-aðir kall-aðir 3. kall-aði kall-aði

_pl._ 1. kǫll-uðum kall-aðim 2. kǫll-uðuð kall-aðið 3. kǫll-uðu kall-aði

_Imper. sing._ 2. kall-a; _plur._ 1. kǫll-um, 2. kall-ið. _Partic. pres._ kall-andi; _pret._ kallaðr (_neut._ kallat). _Infin._ kalla.

Middle

INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE

_Pres. sg._ 1. kǫll-umk kǫll-umk 2. kall-ask kall-isk 3. kall-ask kall-isk

_pl._ 1. kǫll-umk kall-imk 2. kall-izk kall-izk 3. kall-ask kall-isk

_Pret. sg._ 1. kǫll-uðumk kǫll-uðumk 2. kall-aðisk kall-aðisk 3. kall-aðisk kall-aðisk

_pl._ 1. kǫll-uðumk kall-aðimk 2. kǫll-uðuzk kall-aðizk 3. kǫll-uðusk kall-aðisk

_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).

Strong-Weak Verbs

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

INFIN. PRES. SG. PRES. PL. PRT. PTC.

eiga (_possess_) ā eigu ātta āttr kunna (_can_) kann kunnu kunna kunnat _n._ mega (_can_) mā megu mātta mātt _n._ muna (_remember_) man munu munða munat _n._ munu (_will_) mun munu munða ---- skulu (_shall_) skal skulu skylda skyldr þurfa (_need_) þarf þurfu þurfta þurft _n._ unna (_love_) ann unnu unna unnt _n._ vita (_know_) veit vitu vissa vitaðr

167. Of these verbs _munu_ and _skulu_ have preterite infinitives: _mundu_, _skyldu_.

Anomalous Verbs

168. _Vilja_ (will):

Present

Sing. Plur.

1. vil viljum 2. vill vilið 3. vill vilja

_Subj. pres._ vili. _Pret. ind._ vilda. _Ptc. prt._ viljat.

169. _Vera_ (be):

INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE

_Pres. sg._ 1. em sē 2. ert sēr 3. er sē

_pl._ 1. erum sēm 2. eruð sēð 3. eru sē

_Pret. sg._ 1. var væra 2. vart værir 3. var væri

_pl._ 1. vārum værim 2. vāruð værið 3. vāru væri

_Imper. sg._ ver; _pl._ verið. _Ptc. prt._ verit _n._

COMPOSITION

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).

DERIVATION

Prefixes

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).

Endings

(a) Nouns

Personal

172. *-ingr*, *-ingi*, *-ing*: _vīkingr_ 'pirate,' _hǫfðingi_ 'chief,' _kęrling_ 'old woman.'

Abstract

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.'

(b) Adjectives

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.'

(c) Verbs

175. *-na*: _brotna_ 'be broken' (_brotinn_, broken), _hvītna_ 'become white,' _vakna_ 'awake.' Used to form intransitive and inchoative verbs of the third conj.

(d) Adverbs

176. *-liga* '-ly': _undar-liga_ 'wonderfully,' _stęrk-liga_ 'strongly' (_stęrkr_, strong).

*-um*, dat. pl.: _stōrum_ 'greatly' (_stōrr_, great).

SYNTAX

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

Concord

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...'

Cases

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.'

Adjectives

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.'

Pronouns

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.'

Verbs

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.'

TEXTS

[Note: The asterisks are to help find the spots mentioned in the notes. (I took out the line numbers to keep the line width as close to 65 characters as possible.) --B. C.]