Old Norse morphology
Encyclopedia
Old Norse
has three categories of verb (strong, weak, & present-preterite) and two categories of noun (strong, weak). Conjugation and declension are carried out by a mix of inflection
and two nonconcatenative
morphological processes: umlaut, a backness-based alteration to the root vowel; and ablaut, a replacement of the root vowel, in verbs.
Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined
in four grammatical cases – nominative
, accusative
, genitive
and dative
, in singular and plural. Some pronouns (first and second person) have dual number
in addition to singular and plural. The nouns have three grammatical gender
s – masculine, feminine or neuter - and adjectives and pronouns are declined to match the gender of nouns. The genitive is used partitively
, and quite often in compounds and kennings (e.g.: Urðarbrunnr
, the well of Urðr; Lokasenna
, the gibing of Loki). Most declensions (of nouns and pronouns) use -a as a regular genitive plural ending, and all declensions use -um as their dative plural ending.
All neuter words have identical nominative and accusative forms, and all feminine words have identical nominative and accusative plurals.
The gender of some words' plurals does not agree with that of their singulars, such as lim and mund.References to words labelled heterogeneous in gender: Lilja-Linditre; Muna-Mundr
s can cause some forms of a word to mismatch, or match in some words but not others. When speakers can't determine these conditions, but the effects remain, they are re-analyzed by speakers as rules for changing sounds during inflection, the morphophonology
of the language. In this way, the history of a language affects its speakers.
shifted Proto-Germanic /*h/ > /*g/ after an unstressed syllable. Afterwards, stress shifted to the first syllable in all words.:1 In many Old Norse verbs, a lost /g/ reappears in the forms of some verbs, which makes their morphology abnormal, but remain regular because the forms containing /g/s are the same for each verb they appear in.
was originally an assimilation
of root vowels to suffixes having the front phonemes /i, j/ (i-umlaut) and the back phonemes /u, w/ (u-umlaut) in Proto-Germanic. The suffixes were not on all forms of the same words, so when the suffixes underwent syncope during the transition into Old Norse, the remaining umlaut of the vowel indicated the form. From then on speakers would alternate the vowel as an act of inflection.
in person and number, in present and past tense, in indicative, imperative and subjunctive
mood
. There are elements of repetition and minor variation in the inflections, but the type of verb also determines which patterns are present. The subjunctives show the largest and widest spread pattern among the inflections, with both strong and weak classes ending subjunctives (past and present) with ek/þú/þat -a/-ir/-i, vér/þér/þau -im/-ið/-i, excepting only a minor variation in the 3rd and 4th strong conjugations.
The active participle is used to form a gerund
or a verbal noun:2 with weak masculine singulars but strong masculine plurals in r, or else with weak neuter declension. As a plain participle, it is a weak adjective.Adjectives, Remarks on the Weak Declension The participle appears in two genders within the same verse in Hávamál
: "gínanda úlfi / galandi kráku." The general sense of the noun is of the English suffix -er or of being able to perform the action.:3 The plural as a prefix, ęndr-, is equivalent to the English and Latin prefix re-.
The case of the object of an Old Norse verb is lexically assigned, meaning that the case is determined on a per-verb basis. Most verbs take an accusative object, but some, such as gefa (give) have primary and secondary objects in the accusative and dative, while still others have nominative, genitive, or dative direct objects.
, a process that replaces, rather than modifies, their root vowel. The English sing uses ablaut to conjugate to sang in the past tense and sung as the past participle. Like weak verbs, strong verbs use inflections and umlaut, but they rely on them much less to distinguish forms and conjugations. While the strongs' umlaut
and inflection
al patterns are largely the same from verb to verb, there are different sets and numbers of vowels involved in ablaut, and so their patterns are used to classify the strong conjugations. If there are 2 vowels in the pattern (as in the 5th & some 6th conjugation patterns), the 2nd is used for all the past tenses. If there are 3, the 2nd vowel is used for the indicative past singulars, & the 3rd for the other past tenses. The 1st vowel is used for the remaining forms: the infinitive
, present forms, and imperative
, and usually the past participle. However, some 3-vowel words have a 4th vowel appearing only in the participle.
The third and fourth conjugation have an i, rather than an a, in the 1st person subjunctive past ending. Third conjugation words ending in n, g, or k have a u for their past participles' root vowel. The jas of the 3rd conjugation are due to breaking.
The 5th conjugation is cognate with English's take/took/taken conjugation. The 6th conjugation is a heterogenous category. Its ablaut patterns include a/á, e/é; au, jó; a, jó, jo; and ý, jó, ú.
. When the pre-contraction form of the verb contained a velar, it persisted in the past indicative plurals, past subjunctives, and past participle, and the verb assumed the characteristics (ablaut, inflection) of normal strong conjugation. Alternate, regularized past-tenses for these were also in use in some dialects, with an -ø-r or -e-r format. Verbs like kjósa and snúa follow the ú/jú/jó, au, u, (o) ablaut pattern, and verbs like slá follow the a, ó ablaut.:3
The forms of slá without the g have absorbed said consonant, lengthening the vowel in the process. When this process is taken into account, the conjugation can be seen as that of a regular verb with an a, ó ablaut pattern. The -ø-r past tense forms were used in some dialects, with sløri and sløru as attested forms, but was rare in writing.:3
vowel changes characteristic of the strong verbs. Preceded by the dental, the subjunctive past tense endings take the form of their present tense endings, changing the inflectional vowel to i in the plural. The indicative forms take the subjunctive forms, changing the inflectional vowel to u in the plural. The dental is preceded by an a in some verbs, causing the past tenses to become trisyllabic.
The first conjugation contains a class of derivates with characteristic suffixes: inchoatives
in -na, such as vakna; causals in -ga from adjectives in -igr; causals in -ka; iteratives in -sa; verbs in -la, a kind of diminutive; and verbs in -ja, -va, and -ra.:1 The -n suffix is applied to the infinitive of some of these verbs to derive feminine nouns from them.:3 The inflections containing ǫð (see table) may spell and pronounce the ǫ as a reduced u or an a depending on the dialect.
Many 2nd conjugation verbs are derived by i-umlaut of the second ablaut form of a strong verb, often serving as a causal equivalent to it. For example, bręnna — to make burn derives from brenna (ek brann, þau brunnu) — to burn; be burning.:2 All of these verbs originally sported a characteristic i or v at the beginning of their inflections, but these were lost except in roots ending in g, k, or a vowel, as in fylgja.:2 The -ing & -ingr suffixes are added to a finite form of some of these verbs to derive feminine and masculine nouns from them.:3
All forms of the 3rd conjugation are i-umlauted except indicative preterites and past participles. The -ning & -ningr suffixes are added to a form of some of these verbs which isn't umlauted to derive feminine and masculine nouns from them. ex. spurning (a speering) from spyrja:3
Subjunctive preterites of the 4th conjugation are i-umlauted.
classes: groups of nouns distinguished by the historical or present morphophonological characteristics that the nouns of each class's stems share(d). Their names take after their Proto-Germanic or PIE
ancestors, and refer to the suffixes present on those older nouns. Because umlaut was caused by these suffixes, there is a strong correlation between the phonetic characteristics of the suffix and the type of umlaut seen among stems of a class. Besides the latter classification, the stems may be grouped into the root noun, consonant stem, and vocalic stem declensions, in Proto-Germanic terms.
In Proto-Germanic, the neuter stems modeled their nominative/accusative singulars after masculine accusative singulars, while their nominative/accusative plurals were modeled after the nominative singular of the corresponding feminine declension.:3.3.1
Though the a-declension masculines tend towards a genitive -s, and the i- and r-declension words towards -ar, many words are found going against the norm. Grautr, skógr, and hǫfundr, for example, are a-declension nouns with -ar for a genitive singular. The -i of the dative singular is frequently dropped from many words, particularly in the i-declension. Bisyllabic proper names in -arr (Einarr) or -urr (Gizurr) do not contract as hamarr does before an inflectional syllable, due to differing etymologies. The following words demonstrate two PIE o-stem reflexes, one bisyllabic, a yo-stem reflex, and an iyo-stem reflex. The latter stem type consists mainly of poetic words.
Among the i-declension masculines are the wa-stem reflexes. These have a u-umlauted root caused by a radical v.
The strong feminines descend from PIE ā stems.3.3 PIE -ā developed into PGmc. -ō and finally Proto-Norse -u,3.3.1 leading to the singulars of these words being u-umlauted under that inflection's influence. Their plurals are the same as those of the analogous masculine declension, except for the nominative and accusative being the same. A dative singular u inflection is found in some nouns, most noticeably in the i-declension where it is sometimes accompanied by an accusative singular u. Some nouns, prominently among the nouns in ęrmr, carry a nominative singular r inflection. However, many nouns do not have any inflectional distinctions among the singulars except from the genitive. Under these circumstances the case system aligns with that of most English nouns. e.g.: "A mouse's (G) mouse (N) gave a mouse (A) to a mouse (D)."
The neuter declensions' genitive and dative mirror the masculine a declension's.:3.3.1 The nom./acc. plural is u-umlauted from the singulars, but this only alters nouns without a as their root, leaving number indistinct in many strong neuters for these cases. PGmc -ja stem reflexes, such as nęs and klæði, are umlauted without regard to stem
weight
.
-oblique case
dynamic confined to the weak singulars. Historically, the Proto-Germanic weak nouns were characterized by a nasal suffix applied as a case marker. These were mostly absorbed by their preceding vowels by the time Old Norse developed, with the main exceptions being those suffixes in the weak feminine and neuter declensions' genitive plurals.:1 As a result, weak nouns are referred to as the n stems, a consonant stem class.
The plural inflection of the weak masculine declension is that same as the strong masculine a declension. The weak declension contains the endings -ingi and -yrki/-virki, as well as some weak versions of strong masculine nouns, names, and endings.:1
The weak feminines with the -a ending vary greatly in the genitive plural, but most fall into a few groups: Nouns with -na as ending; nouns with no genitive plural; nouns that form the genitive plural by attaching the definite article's genitive plural to the nominative singular; nouns whose genitive singular is used collectively
.:2
As the nominative of neuter words is also the accusative, and as weak nouns have the same dative and genitive as accusative in the singulars, all of the singular forms are the same for the weak neuters. One subset of the neuter declension contains 6 nouns for parts of the body. Another contains words for objects, forming no genitive plural.:4
The Indeclinable Feminines are an additional class of weak noun. They are conceptual in meaning, and because of this have no plurals and do not differentiate case.:3 They may, in charts, be included with the feminines in -a, in which case said chart becomes:
There are two relative particles, er or es and sem, which can also be used as relative pronouns or adverbs. Both are completely indeclinable. The former carries the relative (non-interrogative) senses of the words which, who, when, where, and that. The latter corresponds to as, as if, alike, same as, or about the same time as, and may take on any function of er as well.
Some pronouns, such as hvárr, hvęrt, nekkvęrt,Nokkurnig - Nema, "[…] but nekkvert, nokkvort, nokkurt (answering to hvert), as an adjective." and sá, have adjectival function. This usage generally requires a different translation than their pronominal one.
For the 1st and 2nd person, actions with one's self as an object simply use mik, þik, etc.. For the 3rd person, a separate reflexive pronoun is used, which follows the declension of the 1st and 2nd personal pronouns' singulars.
* Tvau "two" or bœði "both" may be used as substitute for a true 3rd personal dual.
The possessive pronouns are derived from the genitives of the personal pronouns. They are mitt, þitt, sitt, okkart, ykkart, várt, and yðart. The í of those derived from the singulars is shortened before nn or tt.
, though not generally in Icelandic. As the past participle of strong verbs, it appears as a verbal suffix. As a suffix, it turns nouns and strong verbs into adjectives with pronominal declension (like itself). The h is always dropped, and the root i is replaced by any vowel at the end of the noun or verb. The expected dative plural *umnum is contracted to unum. In other uses, it can appear before an adverb, after a pronoun, between two nouns, or between an adjective and a pronoun (including another adjective).
The first form of the definite article was et/enn/en. It was originally a distinct word, placed after the noun. Later, it appeared as it/inn/in, and in its free form also as hit/hinn/hin. In the late 14th century (particularly in Old Norwegian), an indeclinable form was popular, inu or hinu, but nowhen else.
A related word, hitt, should not be confused with hit, as they are distinct in meaning and stress, and in that the h can never be dropped from hitt.Hitt/hinn/hin: Hinn; Hinn-Hitta
The distributives and multiplicatives are all strong adjectives. The ordinals are weak, except for fyrst and annat, which are strong.
Notes
Notes from Cleasby-Vigfússon:
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
has three categories of verb (strong, weak, & present-preterite) and two categories of noun (strong, weak). Conjugation and declension are carried out by a mix of inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
and two nonconcatenative
Nonconcatenative morphology
Nonconcatenative morphology, also called discontinuous morphology and introflection, is a form of word formation in which the root is modified and which does not involve stringing morphemes together...
morphological processes: umlaut, a backness-based alteration to the root vowel; and ablaut, a replacement of the root vowel, in verbs.
Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
in four grammatical cases – nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
, genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
and dative
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
, in singular and plural. Some pronouns (first and second person) have dual number
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
in addition to singular and plural. The nouns have three grammatical gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
s – masculine, feminine or neuter - and adjectives and pronouns are declined to match the gender of nouns. The genitive is used partitively
Partitive case
The partitive case is a grammatical case which denotes "partialness", "without result", or "without specific identity". It is also used in contexts where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, or with numbers....
, and quite often in compounds and kennings (e.g.: Urðarbrunnr
Urðarbrunnr
Urðarbrunnr is a well in Norse mythology. Urðarbrunnr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
, the well of Urðr; Lokasenna
Lokasenna
Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki....
, the gibing of Loki). Most declensions (of nouns and pronouns) use -a as a regular genitive plural ending, and all declensions use -um as their dative plural ending.
All neuter words have identical nominative and accusative forms, and all feminine words have identical nominative and accusative plurals.
The gender of some words' plurals does not agree with that of their singulars, such as lim and mund.References to words labelled heterogeneous in gender: Lilja-Linditre; Muna-Mundr
Morphophonology
Conditioned sound changeSound change
Sound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation or sound system structures...
s can cause some forms of a word to mismatch, or match in some words but not others. When speakers can't determine these conditions, but the effects remain, they are re-analyzed by speakers as rules for changing sounds during inflection, the morphophonology
Morphophonology
Morphophonology is a branch of linguistics which studies, in general, the interaction between morphological and phonetic processes. When a morpheme is attached to a word, it can alter the phonetic environments of other morphemes in that word. Morphophonemics attempts to describe this process...
of the language. In this way, the history of a language affects its speakers.
During Proto-Germanic
Verner's lawVerner's law
Verner's law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s, *h, *hʷ, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively the fricatives *b, *d, *z,...
shifted Proto-Germanic /*h/ > /*g/ after an unstressed syllable. Afterwards, stress shifted to the first syllable in all words.:1 In many Old Norse verbs, a lost /g/ reappears in the forms of some verbs, which makes their morphology abnormal, but remain regular because the forms containing /g/s are the same for each verb they appear in.
- ex.: Proto-Germanic *slōhúm > *slōgúm (we struck) had an unstressed first syllable, but the corresponding singular, *slṓh (I struck), had only a stressed syllable. These became Old Norse slógum and sló.:1
Before Old Norse
UmlautGermanic umlaut
In linguistics, umlaut is a process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term umlaut was originally coined and is used principally in connection with the study of the Germanic languages...
was originally an assimilation
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
of root vowels to suffixes having the front phonemes /i, j/ (i-umlaut) and the back phonemes /u, w/ (u-umlaut) in Proto-Germanic. The suffixes were not on all forms of the same words, so when the suffixes underwent syncope during the transition into Old Norse, the remaining umlaut of the vowel indicated the form. From then on speakers would alternate the vowel as an act of inflection.
Verbs
Verbs are conjugatedGrammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
in person and number, in present and past tense, in indicative, imperative and subjunctive
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
. There are elements of repetition and minor variation in the inflections, but the type of verb also determines which patterns are present. The subjunctives show the largest and widest spread pattern among the inflections, with both strong and weak classes ending subjunctives (past and present) with ek/þú/þat -a/-ir/-i, vér/þér/þau -im/-ið/-i, excepting only a minor variation in the 3rd and 4th strong conjugations.
The active participle is used to form a gerund
Gerund
In linguistics* As applied to English, it refers to the usage of a verb as a noun ....
or a verbal noun:2 with weak masculine singulars but strong masculine plurals in r, or else with weak neuter declension. As a plain participle, it is a weak adjective.Adjectives, Remarks on the Weak Declension The participle appears in two genders within the same verse in Hávamál
Hávamál
Hávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom....
: "gínanda úlfi / galandi kráku." The general sense of the noun is of the English suffix -er or of being able to perform the action.:3 The plural as a prefix, ęndr-, is equivalent to the English and Latin prefix re-.
The case of the object of an Old Norse verb is lexically assigned, meaning that the case is determined on a per-verb basis. Most verbs take an accusative object, but some, such as gefa (give) have primary and secondary objects in the accusative and dative, while still others have nominative, genitive, or dative direct objects.
Strong verbs
Strong verbs, unlike weak verbs, are conjugated by ablautIndo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
, a process that replaces, rather than modifies, their root vowel. The English sing uses ablaut to conjugate to sang in the past tense and sung as the past participle. Like weak verbs, strong verbs use inflections and umlaut, but they rely on them much less to distinguish forms and conjugations. While the strongs' umlaut
Germanic umlaut
In linguistics, umlaut is a process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term umlaut was originally coined and is used principally in connection with the study of the Germanic languages...
and inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
al patterns are largely the same from verb to verb, there are different sets and numbers of vowels involved in ablaut, and so their patterns are used to classify the strong conjugations. If there are 2 vowels in the pattern (as in the 5th & some 6th conjugation patterns), the 2nd is used for all the past tenses. If there are 3, the 2nd vowel is used for the indicative past singulars, & the 3rd for the other past tenses. The 1st vowel is used for the remaining forms: the infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
, present forms, and imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
, and usually the past participle. However, some 3-vowel words have a 4th vowel appearing only in the participle.
| 1st: í, ei, i, i/e 2nd: ú/jú/jó, au, u, (o) |
rísa (í, ei, i, i) (rise) | bjóða (jó, au, u, o) (bid) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | rís-a | Imp | rís | Pr P | rís-andi | Inf | bjóð-a | Imp | bjóð | Pr P | bjóð-andi | ||
| Pa P | Pa P | ||||||||||||
| N | ris-it | M | ris-inn | F | ris-in | N | boð-it | M | boð-inn | F | boð-in | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | rís | rís-s | rís-um | rís-ið | rís-a | býð | býð-r | bjóð-um | bjóð-ið | bjóð-a | ||
| Subj | rís-a | rís-ir | rís-i | rís-im | rís-i | bjóð-a | bjóð-ir | bjóð-i | bjóð-im | bjóð-i | |||
| Pa T | Ind | reis | reis-t | reis | ris-um | ris-uð | ris-u | bauð | baut-t | bauð | buð-um | buð-uð | buð-u |
| Subj | ris-a | ris-ir | ris-i | ris-im | ris-ið | ris-i | byð-a | byð-ir | byð-i | byð-im | byð-ið | byð-i | |
The third and fourth conjugation have an i, rather than an a, in the 1st person subjunctive past ending. Third conjugation words ending in n, g, or k have a u for their past participles' root vowel. The jas of the 3rd conjugation are due to breaking.
| 3rd: i/e/ja, a, u, (u/o) 4th: e/o, a, á, (u/o/ó) |
brenna (e, a, u, u) (burn) | gefa (e, a, á) (give) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | brenn-a | Imp | brenn | Pr P | brenn-andi | Inf | gef-a | Imp | gef | Pr P | gef-andi | ||
| Pa P | Pa P | ||||||||||||
| N | brunn-it | M | brunn-inn | F | brunn-in | N | gef-it | M | gef-inn | F | gef-in | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | brenn | brenn-r | brenn-um | brenn-ið | brenn-a | gef | gef-r | gef-um | gef-ið | gef-a | ||
| Subj | brenn-a | brenn-ir | brenn-i | brenn-im | brenn-i | gef-a | gef-ir | gef-i | gef-im | gef-i | |||
| Pa T | Ind | brann | brann-t | brann | brunn-um | brunn-uð | brunn-u | gaf | gaf-t | gaf | gáf-um | gáf-uð | gáf-u |
| Subj | brynn-i | brynn-ir | brynn-i | brynn-im | brynn-ið | brynn-i | gæf-i | gæf-ir | gæf-i | gæf-im | gæf-ið | gæf-i | |
The 5th conjugation is cognate with English's take/took/taken conjugation. The 6th conjugation is a heterogenous category. Its ablaut patterns include a/á, e/é; au, jó; a, jó, jo; and ý, jó, ú.
| 5th: a, ó 6th: Various |
fara (a, ó) (go) | gráta (á, é) (greit, weep) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | far-a | Imp | far | Pr P | far-andi | Inf | grát-a | Imp | grát | Pr P | grát-andi | ||
| Pa P | Pa P | ||||||||||||
| N | far-it | M | far-inn | F | far-in | N | grát-it | M | grát-inn | F | grát-in | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | fęr | fęr-r | fǫr-um | far-ið | far-a | græt | græt-r | grát-um | grát-ið | grát-a | ||
| Subj | far-a | far-ir | far-i | far-im | far-i | grát-a | grát-ir | grát-i | grát-im | grát-i | |||
| Pa T | Ind | fór | fór-t | fór | fór-um | fór-uð | fór-u | grét | grét-st | grét | grét-um | grét-uð | grét-u |
| Subj | fœr-a | fœr-ir | fœr-i | fœr-im | fœr-ið | fœr-i | grét-a | grét-ir | grét-i | grét-im | grét-ið | grét-i | |
Verbs in -ra
The -ra conjugation consists of strong verbs with weak preterites that use an r rather than a dental in their inflection. These arose as contractions of reduplicated verbs. They correspond to modern Icelandic ri-verbsRi-verbs
Ri-sagnir are four verbs in the Icelandic language which have the special status of being the only verbs in the language ending with -ri in the past tense, as well as being the only verbs in Icelandic which inflect with the mixed conjugation except for the preterite-present verbs.-Overview:The...
. When the pre-contraction form of the verb contained a velar, it persisted in the past indicative plurals, past subjunctives, and past participle, and the verb assumed the characteristics (ablaut, inflection) of normal strong conjugation. Alternate, regularized past-tenses for these were also in use in some dialects, with an -ø-r or -e-r format. Verbs like kjósa and snúa follow the ú/jú/jó, au, u, (o) ablaut pattern, and verbs like slá follow the a, ó ablaut.:3
| -ra | snúa (turn)Snúa forms: Snúa, þeir snöri: snorri-snyðja; Kjósa, ek kjöra, kjörit/keyrit (alt. kosit), keyrinn (alt. kosinn): kitlur-kjósa; Frjósa, frjósanda: friðsæla-frost; Gnístan - goð quoth: at þú sitir mjótt ok gnúir saman lærum þínum | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | snú-a | Imp | snú, snúðú | Pr P | snú-andi | ||
| Pa P | |||||||
| N | snú-it, snør-it |
M | snú-inn snør-inn |
F | snú-in snør-in |
||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | sný | sný-r, snýrðu | sný-r | snú-m | snú-ið | snú-a |
| Subj | snú-a | snú-ir | snú-i | snú-im | snú-i | ||
| Pa T | Ind | snø-ra | snø-rir | snø-ri | snø-rum | snø-ruð | snø-ru |
| Subj | snø-rim | snø-rið | snø-ri | ||||
The forms of slá without the g have absorbed said consonant, lengthening the vowel in the process. When this process is taken into account, the conjugation can be seen as that of a regular verb with an a, ó ablaut pattern. The -ø-r past tense forms were used in some dialects, with sløri and sløru as attested forms, but was rare in writing.:3
| -ra: Velar stem |
slá (a, ó) (strike, slay)Slá forms: Outlines of Grammar - rýja-svimma; Þvá, þógum, þógut: þúsund-þvál; Flá, flegin: fjörgamall-fleinn | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | slá | Imp | slá, sláðú | Pr P | slá-ndi | ||
| Pa P | |||||||
| N | slęg-it | M | slęg-inn | F | slęg-in | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | slæ | slæ-r | slá-(u)m | slá-ið | slá | |
| Subj | slá | slá-ir | slá-i | slá-im | slá-i | ||
| Pa T | Ind | sló | sló-(tt-(ú)) | sló | slóg-um | slóg-uð | slóg-u |
| Subj | slœg-a | slœg-ir | slœg-i | slœg-im | slœg-ið | slœg-i | |
Weak verbs
Weak verbs distinguish the tenses of the indicative and subjunctive primarily by adding a suffix with a dental (t, d, or ð). This is the primary mode of distinction of tenses, in contrast with the radicalRoot (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
vowel changes characteristic of the strong verbs. Preceded by the dental, the subjunctive past tense endings take the form of their present tense endings, changing the inflectional vowel to i in the plural. The indicative forms take the subjunctive forms, changing the inflectional vowel to u in the plural. The dental is preceded by an a in some verbs, causing the past tenses to become trisyllabic.
The first conjugation contains a class of derivates with characteristic suffixes: inchoatives
Inchoative verb
An inchoative verb, sometimes called an "inceptive" verb, shows a process of beginning or becoming. Productive inchoative infixes exist in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek, and consequently some Romance languages. Not all verbs with inchoative infixes have retained their...
in -na, such as vakna; causals in -ga from adjectives in -igr; causals in -ka; iteratives in -sa; verbs in -la, a kind of diminutive; and verbs in -ja, -va, and -ra.:1 The -n suffix is applied to the infinitive of some of these verbs to derive feminine nouns from them.:3 The inflections containing ǫð (see table) may spell and pronounce the ǫ as a reduced u or an a depending on the dialect.
| 1st: a |
boða (að) (bode) | kalla (að) (call) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | boð-a | Imp | boð-a | Pr P | boð-andi | Inf | kall-a | Imp | kall-a | Pr P | kall-andi | ||
| Pa P | Pa P | ||||||||||||
| N | boð-at | M | boð-aðr | F | boð-ǫð | N | kall-at | M | kall-aðr | F | kǫll-ǫð | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | boð-a | boð-ar | boð-um | boð -ið (-it) |
boð-a | kall-a | kall-ar | kǫll-um | kall-ið | kall-a | ||
| Subj | boð-ir | boð-i | boð-im | boð-i | kall-ir | kall-i | kall-im | kall-i | |||||
| Pa T | Ind | boð-aða | boð-aðir | boð-aði | boð-ǫðum | boð-ǫðuð | boð-ǫðu | kall-aða | kall-aðir | kall-aði | kǫll-ǫðum | kǫll-ǫðuð | kǫll-ǫðu |
| Subj | boð-aðim | boð-aðið | boð-aði | kall-aðim | kall-aðið | kall-aði | |||||||
Many 2nd conjugation verbs are derived by i-umlaut of the second ablaut form of a strong verb, often serving as a causal equivalent to it. For example, bręnna — to make burn derives from brenna (ek brann, þau brunnu) — to burn; be burning.:2 All of these verbs originally sported a characteristic i or v at the beginning of their inflections, but these were lost except in roots ending in g, k, or a vowel, as in fylgja.:2 The -ing & -ingr suffixes are added to a finite form of some of these verbs to derive feminine and masculine nouns from them.:3
| 2nd: i |
dœma (da, dr) (judge) | fylgja (ða, t) (help) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | dœm-a | Imp | dœm | Pr P | dœm-andi | Inf | fylg-ja | Imp | fylg | Pr P | fylg-jandi | ||
| Pa P | Pa P | ||||||||||||
| N | dœm-t | M | dœm-dr | F | dœm-d | N | fylg-t | ||||||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | dœm-i | dœm-ir | dœm-um | dœm-ið | dœm-a | fylg-i | fylg-ir | fylg-jum | fylg-ið | fylg-ja | ||
| Subj | dœm-a | dœm-ir | dœm-i | dœm-im | dœm-i | fylg-ja | fylg-ir | fylg-i | fylg-im | fylg-i | |||
| Pa T | Ind | dœm-da | dœm-dir | dœm-di | dœm-dum | dœm-duð | dœm-du | fylg-ða | fylg-ðir | fylg-ði | fylg-ðum | fylg-ðuð | fylg-ðu |
| Subj | dœm-dim | dœm-dið | dœm-di | fylg-ðim | fylg-ðið | fylg-ði | |||||||
All forms of the 3rd conjugation are i-umlauted except indicative preterites and past participles. The -ning & -ningr suffixes are added to a form of some of these verbs which isn't umlauted to derive feminine and masculine nouns from them. ex. spurning (a speering) from spyrja:3
| 3rd: suppressed i |
glęðja (ða, ðr) (gladden) | spyrja (ða, ðr) (ask) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | glęð-ja | Imp | glęð | Pr P | glęð-jandi | Inf | spyr-ja | Imp | spyr | Pr P | spyr-jandi | ||
| Pa P | Pa P | ||||||||||||
| N | glat-t | M | glad-dr | F | glǫd-d | N | spur-t | M | spur-ðr | F | spur-ð | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | glęð | glęð-r | glęð-jum | glęð-ið | glęð-ja | spyr | spyr-r | spyr-jum | spyr-ið | spyr-ja | ||
| Subj | glęð-ja | glęð-ir | glęð-i | glęð-im | glęð-i | spyr-ja | spyr-ir | spyr-i | spyr-im | spyr-i | |||
| Pa T | Ind | glad-da | glad-dir | glad-di | glǫd-dum | glǫd-duð | glǫd-du | spur-ða | spur-ðir | spur-ði | spur-ðum | spur-ðuð | spur-ðu |
| Subj | ględ-da | ględ-dir | ględ-di | ględ-dim | ględ-dið | ględ-di | spyr-ða | spyr-ðir | spyr-ði | spyr-ðim | spyr-ðið | spyr-ði | |
Subjunctive preterites of the 4th conjugation are i-umlauted.
| 4th: i |
vaka (ta, tr) (be awake) | duga (ða, at) (help) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | Imp | Pr P | | Pa P | Inf | Imp | Pr P | | Pa P | ||||||
| vak-a | vak(-i) | vak-andi | N | vak-at | dug-a | dug(-i) | dug-andi | N | dug-at | ||||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Pr T | Ind | vak-i | vak-ir | vǫk-um | vak-ið | vak-a | dug-i | dug-ir | dug-um | dug-ið | dug-a | ||
| Subj | vak-a | vak-ir | vak-i | vak-im | vak-i | dug-a | dug-ir | dug-i | dug-im | dug-i | |||
| Pa T | Ind | vak-ta | vak-tir | vak-ti | vǫk-tum | vǫk-tuð | vǫk-tu | dug-ða | dug-ðir | dug-ði | dug-ðum | dug-ðuð | dug-ðu |
| Subj | vęk-ta | vęk-tir | vęk-ti | vęk-tim | vęk-tið | vęk-ti | dyg-ða | dyg-ðir | dyg-ði | dyg-ðim | dyg-ðið | dyg-ði | |
Present-preterite verbs
Present-preterite, or present-in-past, verbs form their present tenses using the ablaut patterns of strong verbs' past tenses. Their past tenses are formed like weak verbs'.| The Verb Substantive Indo-European copula A feature common to all Indo-European languages is the presence of a verb corresponding to the English verb to be. Though in some languages, such as Russian, it is vestigial, it is present nonetheless in atrophied forms or derivatives.-General features:... vera (e, a, á, e) (be Indo-European copula A feature common to all Indo-European languages is the presence of a verb corresponding to the English verb to be. Though in some languages, such as Russian, it is vestigial, it is present nonetheless in atrophied forms or derivatives.-General features:... ) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inf | ver-a | Pr P | ver-andi | Pa P N | ver-it | ||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ||
| Imper | ver | ver-tu | ver | verit | |||
| Pr T | Ind | em | er-t | er | er-um | er-uð | er-u |
| Subj | sé | sé-r | sé | sé-m | sé-ð | sé | |
| Pa T | Ind | va(r/s) | var-t | va(r/s) | vár-um | vár-uð | vár-u |
| Subj | vær-a | vær-ir | vær-i | vær-im | vær-ið | vær-i | |
| Ten verbs with Present in Preterite form. | |||||||||||||
| INDIC. | Pres. | Sing. | 1. | á | kná | má | skal | kann | mun (mon) | man | þarf | ann | veit |
| 2. | á-tt | kná-tt | má-tt | skal-t | kann-t | mun-t | man-t | þarf-t | ann-t | veiz-t | |||
| 3. | á | kná | má | skal | kann | mun | man | þarf | ann | veit | |||
| Plur. | 1. | eig-um | kneg-um | meg-um | skul-um | kunn-um | mun-um | mun-um | þurf-um | unn-um | vit-um | ||
| 2. | eig-uð | kneg-uð | meg-uð | skul-uð | kunn-uð | mun-uð | mun-ið | þurf-ið | unn-ið | vit-uð | |||
| 3. | eig-u | kneg-u | meg-u | skul-u | kunn-u | mun-u | mun-a | þurf-a | unn-a | vit-u | |||
| Pret. | Sing. | 1. | á-tta | kná-tta | má-tta | kunn-a | mun-da | mun-da | þurf-a | unn-a | vis-sa | ||
| as regular weak verbs | |||||||||||||
| IMPERAT. | eig | kunn | mun | unn | vit | ||||||||
| SUBJ. | Pres. | Sing. | 1. | eig-a | kneg-a | meg-a | skyl-a | kunn-a | myn-a | mun-a | þurf-a | unn-a | vit-a |
| as regular weak verbs | |||||||||||||
| Pret. | Sing. | 1. | ætt-a | knætt-a | mætt-a | skyl-da | kynn-a | myn-da | myn-da | þyrf-ta | ynn-a | vis-sa | |
| as regular weak verbs | |||||||||||||
| INFIN. | Pres. | eig-a | meg-a | skyl-u | kunn-a | mun-u | mun-a | þurf-a | unn-a | vit-a | |||
| Pret. | knúttu | skyl-du | mun-du | ||||||||||
| PART. | Act. | eig-andi | meg-andi | kunn-andi | mun-andi | þurf-andi | unn-andi | vit-andi | |||||
| PART. | Pass. | Neut. | ú-tt | má-tt | kunn-at | mun-at | þurf-t | unn-(a)t | vit-at | ||||
Suffixes and clitics
The reflexive pronoun's accusative, sik, is contracted and suffixed to the verb as -k, -sk, or -zk in order to form the reflexive suffix. This suffix is often referred to as Old Norse's "middle voice." In the early 13th century, the suffixes became -z and -s, and later -zt and -zst. As a middle voice, it can be thought of as passivizing an action without using passive voice syntax. This usage of reflexivity is paralleled in English with sentence pairs such as "he sat down" and "he sat himself down."| Reflexive/reciprocal suffix or middle voice | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On a Weak Verb: kalla (að) (call) / | On a Strong Verb: láta (let) | ||||||||||||
| ek | þú | þat | vér | þér | þau | ek/þú/þat | vér | þér | þau | ||||
| Pr T | Ind | kǫllu-mk/ kalla-sk |
kalla-sk | kǫllu-m(s)k | kalli-sk | kalla-sk | læzk | látu-mk | láti-zk | láta-sk | |||
| Subj | kǫllu-mk/ kalli-sk |
kalli-sk | kalli-m(s)k | kalli-(s/z)k | kalli-sk | láti-sk | láti-mk | láti-zk | láti-sk | ||||
| Pa T | Ind | kǫlluðu-mk/ kallaði-sk |
kall(i/a)ði-sk | kallaði-sk | kǫlluðu-m(s)k | kǫlluðu-(s/z)k | kǫlluðu-sk | lézk | létu-mk | létu-zk | létu-sk | ||
| Subj | kallaði-sk | kallaði-m(s)k | kallaði-(s/z)k | kallaði-sk | léti-sk | léti-mk | léti-zk | léti-sk | |||||
| Pa P | N | kalla-zk | Pa P | N | láti-zk | ||||||||
| Verbs with the Negative Suffix. | ||||||||||
| Pres. | Pret. | Pres. | Pret. | Pres. | Pret. | Pres. | Pret. | |||
| INDIC. | Sing. | 1. | em-k-at | var-k-at(vas-k-at) | skal-k-at | skyldi-g-a | mon-k-a | mundi-g-a | hyk-k-at | átti-g-a |
| 2. | ert-at-tu | vart-at-tu | skalt-at-tu | skyldir-a | mont-at-tu | mundir-a | hyggr-at | áttir-a | ||
| 3. | er-at (es-at) | var-at (vas-at) | skal-at | skyldi-t | mon-at | mundi-t | hyggr-at | átti-t | ||
| Plur. | 3. | eru-t | váru-t | skulu-t | skyldu-t | monu-t | mundi-t | hyggja-t | áttu-t | |
| IMPERAT. | ver-at-tu (be not thou!), lát-at-tu (let not thou!), grát-at-tu (weep not thou!), etc. | |||||||||
Nouns
Old Norse and other Germanic languages had two types of regular declension. They are called the strong and weak declensions by analogy with the strong and weak conjugations. These declensions are further subdivided into stemWord stem
In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
classes: groups of nouns distinguished by the historical or present morphophonological characteristics that the nouns of each class's stems share(d). Their names take after their Proto-Germanic or PIE
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
ancestors, and refer to the suffixes present on those older nouns. Because umlaut was caused by these suffixes, there is a strong correlation between the phonetic characteristics of the suffix and the type of umlaut seen among stems of a class. Besides the latter classification, the stems may be grouped into the root noun, consonant stem, and vocalic stem declensions, in Proto-Germanic terms.
In Proto-Germanic, the neuter stems modeled their nominative/accusative singulars after masculine accusative singulars, while their nominative/accusative plurals were modeled after the nominative singular of the corresponding feminine declension.:3.3.1
Strong nouns
Old Norse has 2 strong neuter declensions, and 3 strong masculine and feminine declensions. The masculine and feminine declensions may be referred to as the a, i, and r declensions, after their nominative plural inflections of -ar, -ir, and -r respectively.Though the a-declension masculines tend towards a genitive -s, and the i- and r-declension words towards -ar, many words are found going against the norm. Grautr, skógr, and hǫfundr, for example, are a-declension nouns with -ar for a genitive singular. The -i of the dative singular is frequently dropped from many words, particularly in the i-declension. Bisyllabic proper names in -arr (Einarr) or -urr (Gizurr) do not contract as hamarr does before an inflectional syllable, due to differing etymologies. The following words demonstrate two PIE o-stem reflexes, one bisyllabic, a yo-stem reflex, and an iyo-stem reflex. The latter stem type consists mainly of poetic words.
| Masculine a declension | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| armr (arm) | | hamarr (hammer) | | hęrr (a people)Hęrr | | hęllir (cave) | |||||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | arm-r | arm-ar | hamar-r | ham'r-ar | hęr-r | hęr-jar | hęll-ir | hęll-ar |
| Accusative | arm | arm-a | hamar | ham'ra | hęr | hęr-ja | hęll-i | hęll-a |
| Genitive | arm-s | arm-a | hamar-s | ham'ra | hęr-jar | hęr-ja | hęll-is | hęll-a |
| Dative | arm-i | ǫrm-um | ham'r-i | hǫm'r-um | hęr-i | hęr-jum | hęll-i | hęll-um |
Among the i-declension masculines are the wa-stem reflexes. These have a u-umlauted root caused by a radical v.
The strong feminines descend from PIE ā stems.3.3 PIE -ā developed into PGmc. -ō and finally Proto-Norse -u,3.3.1 leading to the singulars of these words being u-umlauted under that inflection's influence. Their plurals are the same as those of the analogous masculine declension, except for the nominative and accusative being the same. A dative singular u inflection is found in some nouns, most noticeably in the i-declension where it is sometimes accompanied by an accusative singular u. Some nouns, prominently among the nouns in ęrmr, carry a nominative singular r inflection. However, many nouns do not have any inflectional distinctions among the singulars except from the genitive. Under these circumstances the case system aligns with that of most English nouns. e.g.: "A mouse's (G) mouse (N) gave a mouse (A) to a mouse (D)."
| Feminine a declension | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gjǫf (gift) | | Hęl | | ęrmr (arm/sleeve) | | ǫr (arrow) | |||||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | gjǫf | gjaf-ar | Hęl | Hęl-jar | ęrm-r | ęrm-ar | ǫr | ǫr-var |
| Accusative | ęrm-i | |||||||
| Genitive | gjaf-ar | gjaf-a | Hęl-jar | Hęl-ja | ęrm-ar | ęrm-a | ǫr-var | ǫr-va |
| Dative | gjǫf | gjǫf-um | Hęl-ju | Hęl-jum | ęrm-i | ęrm-um | ǫr-u | ǫr-um |
The neuter declensions' genitive and dative mirror the masculine a declension's.:3.3.1 The nom./acc. plural is u-umlauted from the singulars, but this only alters nouns without a as their root, leaving number indistinct in many strong neuters for these cases. PGmc -ja stem reflexes, such as nęs and klæði, are umlauted without regard to stem
Word stem
In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
weight
Syllable weight
In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....
.
| Neuters with masculine a singulars | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| barn (baby) | | nęs (ness Promontory Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed... ) | | klæði (cloth) | | ríki (power) | |||||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nom. & Acc. | barn | bǫrn | nęs | klæði | ríki | |||
| Genitive | barn-s | barn-a | nęs-s | nęsi-a | klæði-s | klæð-a | ríki-s | ríki-a |
| Dative | barn-i | bǫrn-um | nęsi | nęsi-um | klæði | klæð-um | ríki | ríki-um |
| Neuters with masculine i singulars | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tré (tree)Tré | | hǫgg (strike) | |||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nom. & Acc. | tré | hǫgg | ||
| Genitive | tré-s | trjá | hǫgg-s | hǫggu-a |
| Dative | tré | trjá-m | hǫggu-i | hǫgg-um |
Weak nouns
One main feature of weak nouns is that they do not distinguish the non-nominative singular cases from each other. This effectively forms a nominativeNominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
-oblique case
Oblique case
An oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of synthetic languages that is used generally when a noun is the object of a verb or a preposition...
dynamic confined to the weak singulars. Historically, the Proto-Germanic weak nouns were characterized by a nasal suffix applied as a case marker. These were mostly absorbed by their preceding vowels by the time Old Norse developed, with the main exceptions being those suffixes in the weak feminine and neuter declensions' genitive plurals.:1 As a result, weak nouns are referred to as the n stems, a consonant stem class.
The plural inflection of the weak masculine declension is that same as the strong masculine a declension. The weak declension contains the endings -ingi and -yrki/-virki, as well as some weak versions of strong masculine nouns, names, and endings.:1
| Masculines in -i | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bogi (bow) | bandingi (prisoner) | |||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | bog-i | bog-ar | band-ing-i | band-ing-jar |
| Accusative | bog-a | bog-a | band-ing-ja | band-ing-ja |
| Genitive | bog-a | band-ing-ja | ||
| Dative | bog-um | bǫnd-ing-jum | ||
The weak feminines with the -a ending vary greatly in the genitive plural, but most fall into a few groups: Nouns with -na as ending; nouns with no genitive plural; nouns that form the genitive plural by attaching the definite article's genitive plural to the nominative singular; nouns whose genitive singular is used collectively
Collective number
In linguistics, singulative number and collective number are terms used when the grammatical number for multiple items is the unmarked form of a noun, and the noun is specially marked to indicate a single item...
.:2
| Feminines in -a | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| varta (wart) | saga Saga Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru... (story) |
gyðja (goddess) | ||||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | vart-a | vǫrt-ur | sag-a | sǫg-ur | gyði-a | gyði-ur |
| Accusative | vǫrt-u | sǫg-u | gyði-u | |||
| Genitive | vart-na | gyði-a-nna | ||||
| Dative | vǫrt-um | sǫg-um | gyði-um | |||
As the nominative of neuter words is also the accusative, and as weak nouns have the same dative and genitive as accusative in the singulars, all of the singular forms are the same for the weak neuters. One subset of the neuter declension contains 6 nouns for parts of the body. Another contains words for objects, forming no genitive plural.:4
| Neuters in -a | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| auga (eye) | síma (rope) | |||
| Case | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| Nom. & Acc. | aug-a | aug-u | sím-a | sím-u |
| Genitive | aug-na | |||
| Dative | aug-um | sím-um | ||
The Indeclinable Feminines are an additional class of weak noun. They are conceptual in meaning, and because of this have no plurals and do not differentiate case.:3 They may, in charts, be included with the feminines in -a, in which case said chart becomes:
| Indeclinable Feminines | |
|---|---|
| ævi (life) | |
| Case | Singular |
| N., A., D., & G. | æu-i |
Pronouns and adjectives
Pronouns and adjectives are generally separate in declension. However, in semantic and syntactic usage the boundary is less clearly cut. Adjectives may be used as in English, to modify a noun (e.g., gótt vatn, good water), or may stand alone as a de facto pronoun (e.g., gótt, a good thing). The only difference in their declensions is the masculine accusative singular ending, which is -n in pronouns and -an in adjectives. Genitive and dative plurals are indistinct in gender for all pronominal and adjectival declensions. The nominative and accusative neuter singular ends in -t when the word's root vowel is short, and -tt when long.Pronouns
The interrogatives include hvat "what", hví "why", and hvess "what sort", derived from þat, hvar "where" and hveim "whom", derived from þar, hvárt "which of two, each," and hvęrt, "whether, which of many."There are two relative particles, er or es and sem, which can also be used as relative pronouns or adverbs. Both are completely indeclinable. The former carries the relative (non-interrogative) senses of the words which, who, when, where, and that. The latter corresponds to as, as if, alike, same as, or about the same time as, and may take on any function of er as well.
Some pronouns, such as hvárr, hvęrt, nekkvęrt,Nokkurnig - Nema, "[…] but nekkvert, nokkvort, nokkurt (answering to hvert), as an adjective." and sá, have adjectival function. This usage generally requires a different translation than their pronominal one.
Personal and possessive
Þat's singulars follow the pronominal declension irregularly, and with different lemmata for each gender. Its plurals follow the declension of the cardinal numbers irregularly, and are especially similar to tvau's forms. Variants of hánum include honum and hǫnum.For the 1st and 2nd person, actions with one's self as an object simply use mik, þik, etc.. For the 3rd person, a separate reflexive pronoun is used, which follows the declension of the 1st and 2nd personal pronouns' singulars.
| Personal Pronouns | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd rflx. | 3rd | ||||
| Number | Case | Neuter | Masc. | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Nominative | ek | þú | þat | han-n | hón (hon) | |
| Accusative | mik | þik | sik | han-a | |||
| Genitive | mín | þín | sín | þess | han-s | hęn-nar | |
| Dative | mér | þér | sér | því | hán-um | hęn-ni | |
| Dual | Nominative | vit | (þ)it | As sing. | None* | ||
| Accusative | okkr | ykkr | |||||
| Genitive | okkar | ykkar | |||||
| Dative | okkr | ykkr | |||||
| Plural | Nominative | vér | (þ)ér | þau | þei-r | þæ-r | |
| Accusative | oss | yðr | þá | ||||
| Genitive | vár | yð(v)ar | þei-rra | ||||
| Dative | oss | yðr | þei-m | ||||
The possessive pronouns are derived from the genitives of the personal pronouns. They are mitt, þitt, sitt, okkart, ykkart, várt, and yðart. The í of those derived from the singulars is shortened before nn or tt.
| Possessive Pronouns | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mitt (mín) | yð(v)art (yð(v)ar) | várt (vér) | ||||||||
| Number | Case | Neuter | Masc. | Feminine | Neuter | Masc. | Feminine | Neuter | Masc. | Feminine |
| Singular | Nominative | mi-tt | min-n | mín | yð(v)ar-t | yð(v)ar-r | yður | vár-t | vár-r | vár |
| Accusative | mín-a | yð(va)r-an | yð(va)r-a | vár-(a)n | vár-a | |||||
| Genitive | mín-s | min-nar | yð(v)ar-s | yð(var)-rar | vár-s | vár-rar | ||||
| Dative | mín-u | mín-um | min-ni | yð(u)r-u | yð(u)r-um | yð(var)-ri | vár-u | vár-um | vár-ri | |
| Plural | Nominative | mín | mín-ir | mín-ar | yð(v)ar | yð(va)r-ir | yð(va)r-ar | vár | vár-ir | vár-ar |
| Accusative | mín-a | yð(va)r-a | vár-a | |||||||
| Genitive | min-na | yð(v)ar-ra | vár-ra | |||||||
| Dative | mín-um | yð(u)r-um | vár-um | |||||||
Adjectives
The comparative and superlative forms are formed by inserting -r- and -st- or -ar- and -ast- between the uninflected form of the adjective and a strong or weak ending. In the strong adjectives, the definite and superlative are strong when indefinite, weak when definite. The comparatives are weak when both definite and indefinite, and are declined like the active participle. Some strong adjectives i-umlaut their root vowel in their comparatives and superlatives, so that stórt hús (a large house) becomes stœrst (a house most large). The past participles of weak verbs decline as strong adjectives.Hit
As the definite article, hit appears before a definite adjective and suffixed to a noun. Double definiteness occurs when hit/hinn/hin or the other definite article, þat/sá/sú, is used before a definite noun or adjective, e.g. "sá konungrinn," "inn hvíti." This type of construction persists to some extent in all modern North Germanic languagesNorth Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages, the languages of Scandinavians, make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages...
, though not generally in Icelandic. As the past participle of strong verbs, it appears as a verbal suffix. As a suffix, it turns nouns and strong verbs into adjectives with pronominal declension (like itself). The h is always dropped, and the root i is replaced by any vowel at the end of the noun or verb. The expected dative plural *umnum is contracted to unum. In other uses, it can appear before an adverb, after a pronoun, between two nouns, or between an adjective and a pronoun (including another adjective).
The first form of the definite article was et/enn/en. It was originally a distinct word, placed after the noun. Later, it appeared as it/inn/in, and in its free form also as hit/hinn/hin. In the late 14th century (particularly in Old Norwegian), an indeclinable form was popular, inu or hinu, but nowhen else.
A related word, hitt, should not be confused with hit, as they are distinct in meaning and stress, and in that the h can never be dropped from hitt.Hitt/hinn/hin: Hinn; Hinn-Hitta
| Words in Hit | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hit (the) | komit (is come) | hundrinn (the hound) | eyrat (the ear) | ||||||||||
| Number | Case | Neut. | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Masc. | Fem. | Masc. | Neut. | ||||
| Singular | Nominative | hi-t | hin-n | hin | komi-t | komin-n | komin | hundr-inn | eyra-t | ||||
| Accusative | hin-a | komn-a | hund-inn | ||||||||||
| Genitive | hin-s | hin-nar | komin-s | komin-nar | hunds-ins | eyra-ns | |||||||
| Dative | hin-u | hin-um | hin-ni | komn-u | komin-um | komin-ni | hundi-num | eyra-nu | |||||
| Plural | Nominative | hin | hin-ir | hin-ar | komin | komn-ir | komn-ar | hundar-nir | eyru-n | ||||
| Accusative | hin-a | komn-a | hunda-na | ||||||||||
| Genitive | hin-na | komin-na | hunda-nna | eyra-nna | |||||||||
| Dative | hin-um | komn-um | hundu-num | eyru-num | |||||||||
Strong declension
Jarpt demonstrates the general case for declension. Gótt displays dental assimilation, while nekkvęrt demonstrates pronominal declension.| Strong Adjectival Declension | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jarpt (brown) | gótt (good) | nekkvęrt (indefinite pronoun) | ||||||||
| Number | Case | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine |
| Singular | Nominative | jarp-t | jarp-r | jǫrp | gót-t | góð-r | góð | nekkvęr-t | nekkvęr-r | nekkvęr |
| Accusative | jarp-an | jarp-a | góð-an | góð-a | nękkvęr-n | nekkvęr-a | ||||
| Genitive | jarp-s | jarp-rar | góð-s | góð-rar | nekkvęr-s | nekkvęr-rar | ||||
| Dative | jǫrp-u | jǫrp-um | jarp-ri | góð-u | góð-um | góð-ri | nekkvęr-u | nekkvęr-um | nekkvęr-ri | |
| Plural | Nominative | jǫrp | jarp-ir | jarp-ar | góð | góð-ir | góð-ar | nekkvęr | nekkvęr-ir | nekkvęr-ar |
| Accusative | jarp-a | góð-a | nekkvęr-a | |||||||
| Genitive | jarp-ra | góð-ra | nekkvęr-ra | |||||||
| Dative | jǫrp-um | góð-um | nekkvęr-um | |||||||
Weak declension
The singulars of the weak adjectival declension are modelled after those of the weak noun declensions, and likewise have a nominative-oblique case dynamic. The plurals are not distinguished in gender, nor in case except the dative.| Weak Adjectival Declension | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| þriðja (third) | Active participle | ||||||
| Number | Case | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine |
| Singular | Nominative | þriði-a | þrið-i | þriði-a | -and-a | -and-i | -and-i |
| A., G., & D. | þriði-a | þriði-u | -and-a | ||||
| Plural | N., A., & G. | þriði-u | -and-i | ||||
| Dative | þriði-um | -ǫnd-um | |||||
Indeclinable
The indeclinable adjectives end in -i or -a. They are not comparable. They originated from regular weak adjectives, the different endings marking gender.Numbers
Eitt (one) follows the pronominal declension, and hundrað is a strong neuter noun. Tvau, bæði, þrjú, and fjǫgur have only plural, and their declension is given below. All other cardinal numbers are indeclinable.The distributives and multiplicatives are all strong adjectives. The ordinals are weak, except for fyrst and annat, which are strong.
| Cardinal Numbers | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bæði (both) | tvau (two) | þrjú (three) | fjǫgur (four) | |||||||||
| Case | Neut. | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Masc. | Fem. |
| Nominative | bæð-i | báð-ir | báð-ar | tvau (tvǫ) | tvei-r | tvæ-r | þri-ú | þri-r | þri-ár | fjǫg-ur (fjug-ur) | fjór-ir | fjór-ar |
| Accusative | báð-a | tvá | þri-á | fjór-a | ||||||||
| Genitive | bę-ggja | tvę-ggja | þri-ggja | fjǫg-urra | ||||||||
| Dative | báð-um | tvei-m (tvei-mr) | þri-m (þri-mr) | fjór-um | ||||||||
Footnotes and References
Sources- Gutasagan, Lars Aronsson, ed. Project RunebergProject RunebergProject Runeberg is an initiative patterned after Project Gutenberg that publishes freely available electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries...
(1997) - Harbert, Wayne. The Germanic Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
(2007) - Lass, Roger. Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1993)
- Cleasby, Richard. Vigfússon, Guðbrandur. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, (1874). @: Germanic Lexicon Project (images, text), Northvegr (images), Google Books (images)
Notes
Notes from Cleasby-Vigfússon:
See also
- Old NorseOld NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
- Old Swedish Grammar
- Proto-Germanic morphology
External links
- Alaric's Magic Sheet paradigm chart.