Examples of noun usage

To assist in the task of learning, examples will now be given of a selection of the different noun case-forms in function. The relevant inflexions are in bold (or the whole word where there is no difference from the root form). Two translations are normally provided, the first literal for a better understanding of the structure of the Old Norse sentence, the second idiomatic. Notes explain the relationship between form and function. Compare the case-forms used with those set out on pp. 29–30. Observe, too, the differences between Old Norse and Eng-lish phraseology and sentence formation.

(1) Ger›isk Eiríkr flá konungsma›r

‘Made-sk [see 3.6.5.3] Eiríkr then king’s-man’

‘Eiríkr then became a king’s man’

Eiríkr (strong nom. m. sg.) is the subject, konungsma›r (strong nom. m. sg.) the subject complement; for both subject and subject complement the nomi-native is almost always the case used. Subject is an extremely hard concept to get to grips with; it is sometimes loosely defined as ‘what the sentence is about’; where the verb denotes an action, the subject is often the agent, or

‘doer’ of the action. However, such definitions relate chiefly to meaning. Syn-tactically subjects may be defined both in English and Old Norse as the first noun phrase of a sentence in unmarked word-order (where ‘noun phrase’ means a noun or pronoun with or without accompanying modifiers — e.g. John, she,

the white-bearded old man — and ‘unmarked word-order’ word-order not deliberately altered for emphasis). The subject complement is Y in construc-tions like: X is Y, X becomes Y or X is called Y.

(2) Var bardagi milli fleira

‘Was battle between them’

‘There was a battle between them’

Bardagi (weak nom. m. sg.) is the subject, the first noun phrase in the sen-tence.

(3) Konur tvær vƒk›u yfir lei›inu

‘Women two watched over tomb-the’

‘Two women kept a vigil over the tomb’

Konur (weak nom. f. pl.), modified by tvær, is the subject; it is the first noun phrase in the sentence and the women perform the action denoted by the verb vƒk›u. Lei›inu (strong dat. n. sg. + def. art. — see 3.1.9) does not function here as a noun phrase, but is part of the preposition phrase yfir lei›inu, in which the noun is governed (i.e. has its case determined) by the preposition yfir (see 3.7, 3.7.4).

(4) Vápn bíta ekki á hann

‘Weapons bite not on him’

‘Weapons make no impression on him’

Vápn (strong nom. n. pl.) is the subject, the first noun phrase in the sentence;

whether the weapons are seen as the agent, or ‘doer’, of the action, will depend partly on the wider context, partly on the analysis; normally a human agent wields weapons and the weapons are thus the instrument, but they can also be portrayed as agent.

(5) Hann tekr eigi mat né drykk

‘He takes not food nor drink’

‘He takes neither food nor drink’

Mat and drykk (both strong acc. m. sg.) are objects of the verb tekr. Like subject, object is a hard concept to define; traditionally a distinction is made between ‘direct object’, the goal of an action, and ‘indirect object’ the benefi-ciary, as in: I sent Peter (indirect object) a letter (direct object), but such defi-nitions have to do with meaning rather than syntax. Syntactically objects may

be defined both in English and Old Norse as the second and third noun phrases of a sentence in unmarked word-order, with the accusative commonly mark-ing the direct and the dative regularly markmark-ing the indirect object in Old Norse, second position the indirect and third position the direct object (by and large) in English. Mat and drykk are both direct objects: they are the goal of the action, and whereas direct objects regularly appear unaccompanied by indi-rect objects, the reverse is very uncommon (cf. the impossibility of English *I gave him). The direct objects appear here in the accusative, the most common case for this function.

(6) fieir báru flar rei›a allan af skipinu

‘They bore there tackle all off ship-the’

‘There they carried all the tackle off the ship’

Rei›a (weak acc. m. sg.), modified by allan, is the second noun phrase in the sentence and the direct object of the verb báru. Skipinu (strong dat. n. sg. + def. art.) does not function here as a noun phrase, but as part of the preposition phrase af skipinu, and its case is determined by the preposition af (see 3.7.3).

(7) Hann átti margar orrustur í Englandi

‘He had many battles in England’

Orrustur (weak acc. f. pl.), modified by margar, is the second noun phrase in the sentence and the direct object of the verb átti. Englandi (strong dat. n. sg.) is part of the preposition phrase í Englandi, and its case is determined by the preposition í (see 3.7.4).

(8) fieir drukku flar of daga í skála miklum

‘They drank there during days in hall big’

‘They drank there by day in a big hall’

Daga (strong acc. m. pl.) is governed by the preposition of, skála (weak dat.

m. sg.), + its modifier miklum, by the preposition í.

(9) Lát flér flat ekki í augu vaxa

‘Let to-you that not into eyes grow’

‘Don’t make a mountain of it’

This is an idiomatic phrase, of which Old Norse has its fair share. Augu (weak acc. n. pl.) is governed by the preposition í, which requires the accusative here because a sense of motion is involved (contrast examples 7 and 8).

(10) Dval›isk Brúsi litla hrí›

‘Stayed-sk [see 3.6.5.3] Brúsi little while’

‘Brúsi stayed for a short time’

Brúsi (weak nom. m. sg.) is the subject; it is the first noun phrase in the sen-tence and the man bearing the name performs the action denoted by the verb dval›isk. Hrí› (strong acc. f. sg.), modified by litla, is an adverbial phrase expressing duration of time (it answers the question: ‘How long?’).

(11) Hann hefndi dráps fiorgríms

‘He avenged killing of-fiorgrímr’

‘He avenged the killing of fiorgrímr’

Dráps (strong gen. n. sg.), the second noun phrase of the sentence, is the direct object of the verb hefndi; hefna is one of the few verbs that take a direct object in the genitive. fiorgríms (strong gen. m. sg.) is an objective genitive, that is, it corresponds to English ‘of fiorgrímr’ and presents fiorgrímr as the object or goal of an action (cf. ‘NN killed fiorgrímr’).

(12) Hann sendi flá vestr at leita ƒndvegissúlna sinna

‘He sent them west to seek high-seat-posts REFL. POSS.’

‘He sent them west to look for his high-seat posts’

¯ndvegissúlna (weak gen. f. pl.), modified by sinna, is the direct object of the verb leita. It comes in an infinitive clause (i.e., we have the infinitive at leita

‘to seek’, but only an implied subject). A full sentence might run: fleir leitu›u ƒndvegissúlna ‘they sought the high-seat posts’, in which the direct object would be the second noun phrase.

(13) Gunnarr var eina nótt at Sigrí›ar, frændkonu sinnar

‘Gunnarr was one night at Sigrí›r’s, kinswoman’s REFL. POSS.’

‘Gunnarr stayed one night at Sigrí›r’s, his kinswoman’s’

Gunnarr (strong nom. m. sg.), the first noun phrase in the sentence, is the subject; he does the staying. Nótt (strong acc. f. sg.), modified by eina, is an adverbial phrase expressing duration of time. Sigrí›ar (strong gen. f. sg.) and frændkonu (weak gen. f. sg.) + sinnar are subjective (possessive) genitives, that is, they correspond to English ‘-’s’ and present Sigrí›r, the kinswoman, as the owner of the house where Gunnarr stayed (cf. ‘NN owns the house’);

note that ‘house’ is not expressed in the Old Norse sentence, paralleling English usage as above or in, e.g., I am at Peter’s.

(14) Ingólfr var frægastr allra landnámsmanna

‘Ingólfr was most-famous of-all settlers’

‘Ingólfr was most famous of all the settlers’

Ingólfr (strong nom. m. sg.) is the subject, the first noun phrase in the sen-tence and what it is about. Landnámsmanna (strong gen. m. pl.), modified by allra, is a genitive of type, that is, it corresponds to English ‘of the settlers’

and presents landnámsmenn as a type of which Ingólfr is a representative.

(15) Hann bar hann til vatns nƒkkurs

‘He bore him to lake some’

‘He carried him to a certain lake’

Vatns (strong gen. n. sg.), modified by nƒkkurs, is governed by the preposition til.

(16) Eigi leyna augu ef ann kona manni

‘Not hide eyes if loves woman man’

‘The eyes do not hide it if a woman loves a man’

This is an adage, consisting of two sentences. Augu (weak nom. n. pl.), the first (and only) noun phrase in sentence 1, is the subject of the verb leyna; the eyes fail to perform the action denoted by the verb. Kona (weak nom. f. sg.) is the subject of the verb ann, the first noun phrase in sentence 2 and what it is about. Manni (strong dat. m. sg.) is the direct object of ann, the second noun phrase; a good many verbs take a direct object in the dative.

(17) Hon skyldi bera ƒl víkingum

‘She should bear beer to-vikings’

‘She was to serve beer to the vikings’

¯l (strong acc. n. sg.) is the direct object of the verb bera; it is the goal of the action and the second noun phrase in the sentence. Víkingum (strong dat. m.

pl.) is the indirect object of bera; it denotes the beneficiary of the action and is the third noun phrase. In English the indirect object may be expressed by a preposition phrase (‘to the vikings’) or word-order (‘She was to serve the vikings beer’ — indirect object before direct); in Old Norse the indirect object appears in the dative.

(18) fieir hétu Rƒgnvaldi traustri fylg›

‘They promised Rƒgnvaldr firm support’

Rƒgnvaldi (strong dat. m. sg.) is the indirect, fylg› (strong dat. f. sg.), modi-fied by traustri, the direct object of hétu. As noted in connection with (16), many verbs take a direct object in the dative, and heita ‘promise’ is among these.

(19) fieir ljá jarli lífs

‘They grant earl life’

‘They spare the earl’s life’

Jarli (strong dat. m. sg.) is the indirect, lífs (strong gen. n. sg.) the direct object of ljá. As noted in connection with (11), a few verbs take a direct object in the genitive, and ljá ‘grant’ is among these.

(20) Hann kastar beinum smám um flvert gólfit

‘He throws bones small over crossways floor-the’

‘He throws small bones across the floor’

Beinum (strong dat. n. pl.), modified by smám, has instrumental sense; in Old Norse people are conceived as throwing with something (cf. the close seman-tic relationship between English: He threw water onto the ground and He splashed the ground with water). Instrumentality in Old Norse is expressed either by the dative on its own or by the preposition me› ‘with’ + dat. Gólfit (strong acc. n. sg. + def. art.), modified by flvert, is governed by the preposi-tion um.

(21) Hon var hverri konu frí›ari

‘She was than-every woman more-beautiful’

‘She was more beautiful than any other woman’

Konu (weak dat. f. sg.), modified by hverri, is the second proposition in a comparative construction — the proposition denoting the entity with which the comparison is made (i.e., taking every other woman as the basis — the standard by which ‘she’ is to be judged — ‘she’ is more beautiful); in Old Norse the basis of the comparison may be expressed either by the dative, as here, or by the conjunction en ‘than’ (3.8, 3.8.2.4) + the appropriate case.

(22) Váru dyrr á enda

‘Was doorway on end’

‘There was a doorway at the end’

Dyrr (nom. f. pl.) is the first noun phrase in the sentence and the subject. It has only plural forms, although it corresponds to the English singular ‘doorway’.

These forms are also in part irregular (see 3.1.7.2, 3.1.7.4), and the nom. f. pl.

is indicated by other means than the adding of -a, -i or -u + r to the root. Enda (weak dat. m. sg.) is governed by the preposition á.