Examples of adverb usage

On the pattern of exemplification, see the preambles to 3.1.5, 3.2.6, 3.3.6 and 3.4.2. Adverbs are given in bold type.

(1) fieir kurru›u illa um brottvist sína

‘They grumbled badly about absence REFL. POSS.’

‘They grumbled a lot about their having to be away’

Illa is an adverb of manner; it describes the way in which ‘they’ grumbled.

(2) fiar eru jafnan dregin skip yfir

‘There are regularly dragged ships across’

‘Ships are regularly dragged across there’

fiar is an adverb of place; it is the ‘rest’ counterpart to flangat ‘thither’ and fla›an ‘thence’ (cf. (5) below), denoting neither movement to nor from a place.

Jafnan may loosely be described as an adverb of time; it denotes the regular-ity with which the event described takes place. Yfir is a preposition used here as an adverb of place; it denotes movement within a specified area.

(3) Tóku menn flá ró›r mikinn ok fóru ákafliga

‘Began men then rowing big and went furiously’

‘Then men began to row hard and they travelled at a furious pace’

fiá is an adverb of time; it denotes the point in time at which men started to row. Ákafliga is an adverb of manner; it describes the way in which the ves-sels moved.

(4) fiessu var skjótt neitat

‘This was quickly refused’

Skjótt is an adverb of manner derived from the nom./acc. n. sg. of the adjec-tive skjótr ‘quick’; it describes the speed with which the refusal was made.

(5) Magnús konungr helt fla›an í Su›reyjar

‘Magnús king continued thence to Hebrides’

‘King Magnús went on from there to the Hebrides’

fia›an is an adverb of place; the -an suffix imparts to it the sense of move-ment from a place.

(6) Magnús konungr helt sunnan me› Skotlandi

‘Magnús king continued from-south along Scotland’

‘King Magnús continued northwards along the coast of Scot-land’

Sunnan is an adverb of place; the -an suffix imparts to it the sense of move-ment from a place. Note, however, that here it seems more natural in English to render the movement as motion towards, i.e. ‘northwards’ (cf. further: ofan

‘from above’ ‘down’, ne›an ‘from underneath’ ‘up’).

(7) Hann eignar sér svá allar eyjar fyrir vestan Skotland

‘He assigns to-self thus all islands west of Scotland’

‘He thus takes possession of all the islands west of Scotland’

Svá is an adverb of manner; it refers to the way in which ‘he’ takes possession of the islands. Note the compound preposition fyrir vestan incorporating the adverb of place vestan (see 3.5.1).

(8) Hann fór flegar austr til Nóregs

‘He went immediately east to Norway’

fiegar is an adverb of time; it denotes the lack of any interval before ‘he’ left for Norway. Austr is an adverb of place, here denoting movement towards the place.

(9) Eysteinn konungr tók vi› honum forkunnar vel

‘King Eysteinn received him exceedingly well’

Forkunnar is an adverb of degree; it describes how well ‘he’ was received (as the -ar ending suggests, this is in origin the gen. sg. form of a noun, forku›r f.

‘strong desire’, see 3.1.7.4 point (5)). Vel is an adverb of manner; it describes the way in which Eysteinn received ‘him’.

(10) fiá rœddi Kali um, at fleir myndi eigi fara lengra

‘Then spoke Kali about that they would not go farther’

‘Then Kali said that they would not go any farther’

For flá, see (3) above. Lengra is an adverb of place in the comparative; it denotes movement additional to that already made towards a place.

(11) Litlu sí›arr gekk ma›rinn út

‘A little later the man went out’

Sí›arr is an adverb of time in the comparative; it compares the time the man

went out with an earlier event. Út is an adverb of place; it denotes movement towards the outside. Although litlu is in form the strong dat. n. sg. of the adjective lítill (cf. 3.3.8.4 point (3)), it functions here as an adverb of degree, expressing how much later the event described took place.

(12) fiór›r vann flá allra s‡sligast

‘fiór›r worked then of-all most-briskly’

‘Then fiór›r worked more briskly than ever’

For flá, see (3) above. S‡sligast is an adverb of manner in the superlative; it describes the way in which fiór›r worked and defines it as the highest degree of that manner of working. Although allra is in form the gen. pl. of the adjec-tive allr, it functions here as an intensifying adverb: fiór›r did not just work most briskly, but most briskly of all (things).

3.5.1/3.5.2/3.5.3 Adverb formation/Inflexion for degree/Examples of adverb usage — Exercise

1. In what ways do adverbs inflect in Old Norse?

2. Give examples of three common ways of deriving adverbs in Old Norse.

3. What is the basic meaning of (a) the -i and (b) the -an adverb suffix?

4. How are the comparatives and superlatives of adverbs formed?

5. Give the positive and superlative forms of the following adverbs:

minnr, lengra, betr, fljótara, sí›arr.

6. Explain the form (where appropriate) and the function of the ad-verbs (printed in bold) in the following sentences.

(a) Heldu fleir flá flegar su›r í Eyjar

‘They then at once went south to the Orkneys’

(b) fieir vƒr›usk drengiliga

‘They defended themselves manfully’

(c) Hundrinn hljóp ofan til skipa

‘The dog ran down to the ships’

(d) fieir kómu heldr sí›

‘They came rather late’

(e) Skip Sveins gekk meira

‘Sveinn’s ship went faster’

(f) Sveinn var› seinst búinn

‘Sveinn was ready last’