An Icelandic Primer | Page 4

as in the masc. nominatives jarl (earl), hrafn (raven), vitr (wise), ??urs (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 br??nnr (burns).
36. z often stands for ?��s as well as ts, as in _???��r ??ykkizk (ye seem) = *??ykki?��-sk, Vest-firzkr_ (belonging to the West Firths) = -*fir?��skr (f??r?��r, firth).
37. Inflectional t is generally doubled after a long accented vowel: f?r (few) neut. f?tt (cp. allr 'all,' neut. allt), s? (I saw), s?tt 'thou sawest.'
INFLECTIONS
Nouns
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 (br???��r, bride) take r[5] in the nom. sg. Most strong feminines show the bare root in the nom. sg. with u-mutation, if possible (?st, favour, f??r, journey). The nom. pl. of all strong masc. and fem. nouns ends in r (fiskar, ?stir). The acc. pl. of fem. nouns is the same as the nom. pl. (?stir). 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 (h??s, houses, l??nd, lands).
[Footnote 5: Subject, of course, to the assimilations described above.]
41. The declensions are most conveniently distinguished by the acc. plur.
Strong Masculines
(1) a-plurals
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. fisk-r (fish) fisk-ar Acc. fisk fisk-a Dat. fisk-i fisk-um Gen. fisk-s fisk-a
42. So also heimr (home, world); konungr (king); ???rr (Thor), acc. ???r, gen. ???rs; steinn (stone), acc. stein, gen. steins, pl. nom. steinar; hrafn (raven), acc. hrafn, pl. nom. hrafnar; ??urs (giant), acc. gen. ??urs, pl. nom. ??ursar.
43. Dissyllables in -r, -l, -n generally throw out the preceding vowel before a vowel-inflection: hamarr (hammer), dat. hamri; j??tunn (giant), pl. nom. j??tnar. k??till (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 H?kon, gen. H?konar.
45. Some nouns add v before vowels: s?|r (sea), gen. s?|var.
46. The dat. sometimes drops the i: s?| (sea), ???r. dagr (day) mutates its vowel in the dat. d??gi.
47. Nouns in -ir keep the i in the sing., and drop it in the plur.:
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. h??lli-r (cave) h??ll-ar Acc. h??lli h??ll-a Dat. h??lli h??ll-um Gen. h??lli-s h??ll-a
48. So also a number of proper names, such as Skr��3mir, ???rir.
(2) i-plurals
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. sta?��-r (place) sta?��-ir Acc. sta?�� sta?��-i Dat. sta?�� st???��-um Gen. sta?��-ar sta?��-a
49. So also gripr (precious thing), salr (hall).
50. g??str (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: b??kkr (bench), b??kk, b??kk, b??kkjar; b??kkir, b??kki, b??kkjum, b??kkja. So also m??rgr (marrow), str??ngr (string).
(3) u-plurals
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. skj??ld-r (shield) skild-ir Acc. skj??ld skj??ld-u Dat. skild-i skj??ld-um Gen. skjald-ar skjald-a
52. So also v??ndr (twig), v??llr (plain), vi?��r (wood). ?ss (god) has plur. nom. ?|sir, acc. ?su. 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).
(4) r-plurals
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. f?t-r (foot) f?��t-r Acc. f?t f?��t-r Dat. f?��t-i f?t-um Gen. f?t-ar f?t-a
53. So also fingr (finger), gen. fingrar, pl. fingr; vetr (winter), pl. vetr. ma?��r (man) is irregular: ma?��r, mann, manni, manns; m??nn, m??nn, m??nnum, manna.
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. fa?��ir (father) f???��r Acc. f???��ur f???��r Dat. f???��ur f???��rum Gen. f???��ur f???��ra
54. So also br??��ir (brother), pl. br?��?��r.
55. Pres. participles used as nouns follow this decl. in the pl., following the weak class in the sg.:
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. b?ndi (yeoman) b?��ndr Acc. b?nda b?��ndr Dat. b?nda b?ndum Gen. b?nda b?nda
56. So also fr?��ndi (kinsman), pl. fr?��ndr.
Strong Neuters
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. skip (ship) skip Acc. skip skip Dat. skip-i skip-um Gen. skip-s skip-a
57. So also or?�� (word), land (land) pl. l??nd, sumar (summer) pl. sumur (?�� 25).
58. m??n (necklace), kyn (race), grey (dog) insert j before a and u: greyjum. h??gg (stroke) inserts v before a vowel: h??ggvi. kn?�� (knee), kn?��, kn?��, kn?��s; kn?��, kn?��, kj?m, knj?. So also tr?�� (tree).
59. f?�� (money)