A Danish and Dano-Norwegian Grammar/Etymology
ETYMOLOGY.
ARTICLES.—GENDERS.
150. The Dano-Norwegian language has a definite and an indefinite article. The definite article has two forms, one employed in connection with a noun alone, the other used with a noun qualified by an adjective or with an adjective alone. The former is called the post-positive article (also the definite article of the substantives). The latter is called the præ-positive article (also the definite article of the adjectives).
151. The Dano Norwegian language has two genders, common gender and neuter. The former comprises both the masculine and feminine of the old language.
Note. In colloquial Norwegian speech there is still sometimes made a distinction between the masculine and feminine genders. The cases where such distinction is made will be mentioned in their proper places.
152. The post-positive article is:
| common gender. | neuter. | plural. |
| -en (-n) | -et (-t) | -ne (-ene). |
| gen. -ens | -ets | -nes (-enes). |
Ex. : Hest-en the horse, Hus-et the house, Huse-ne the houses, Mængde-n the quantity, Værelse-t the room, Mœnd-ene the men. Thus it appears that the forms -n, -t are used in connection with nouns ending in -e and the form ene in connection with words forming their plural without an ending.
Note 1. This article was originally a demonstrative pronoun which in the old language has the form of hinn, hitt, hinir and by being used enclitically with nouns gradually lost its independent character and a part of its substance. This enclitic definite article is one of the chief characteristics distinguishing the Scandinavian languages from the other Teutonic tongues.
Note 2. The enclitic (post-positive) article, besides being used with substantives standing alone, is employed with substantives qualified by the following adjectives: al all, begge both, selv self; Ex. : ai Maden all the food, selve Kongen or Kongen selv the king himself, begge Brödrene both the brothers.
153. The præ-positive definite article is:
| comm. gender. | neuter. | plural. |
| den | de(t) | de |
den store Man(d) the great man, de(t) nye Hus the new house; plur.: de store Mænd the great men. This article may also be employed with an adjective alone when used substantively: den gode the good (man), de(t) skjönne the beautiful, beauty.
Note 1. With the following adjectives the postpositive and the præpositive article may be used promiscuously: hel whole, halv half; Ex. : hele Dagen or den hele Dag the whole day, halve Riget or det halve Rige half the kingdom, störste, mindste Delen the greater, smaller part. Sometimes, mostly in poetry, the postpositive article may be used where the præpositive is regularly employed: et Skud af gamle Heltestammen, a scion of the old stock of heroes, Svenske Kysten or den svenske Kyst the Swedish coast.
Note 2 Colloquially it is common in Norway to use both the post-positive and the præ-positive article at the same time with nouns qualified by an adjective; Ex. : den store Manden the big man. In the same manner the postpositive article is in Norwegian often added to nouns determined by demonstrative pronouns: i denne Villaen in this villa here; den Manden der that man there. This is not used in Danish.
Note 3. The præpositive article is sometimes in poetry and religious style used with nouns not qualified by adjectives; Ex. : Brevet til de Romere the Epistle to the Romans, de Vover saa sagtelig trille the waves roll leisurely along.
Note 4. The præpositive article is originally the same word as the demonstrative pronoun den, det, de which has lost its logical stress and consequently its accent stress and has come to be considered as a mere prefix.
154. Some words are in Danish used without an article, while the English language requires the article with the same words; Ex.: Verden the world, Verden er stor the world is great (but i Kunstverdenen in the world of art), Hojesteret the Supreme Court, Rektor the Principal (of the School).
Furthermore may be noted that the article is never affixed to a noun that is qualified by a genitive: Kongens Slot the palace of the king, Naboens Hits the house of the neighbor. But if a complement (af of, with a noun) is used instead of genitive, then the article is used: Ejeren af Huset or Husets Ejer the owner of the house.
Sometimes the præpositive article may be omitted with superlatives: förste Gang the first time, överste Stokværk the top floor, med störste Fornöjelse with the greatest pleasure. But in all these cases the article may also be used.
155. The indefinite article has the form:
| common gender. | neuter. |
| en | et |
Ex.: en Man(d) a man, et Hus a house.
Note 1. The indefinite article was originally the numeral en one.
Note 2. The indefinite article always has its place before the noun and also before a qualifying adjective: en Mand, en stor Mand. But when the noun is connected with an interrogative word or an adjective qualified by the adverb saa so, and for too, then the article is placed after the interrogative word, or adjective; Ex.: hvilken en Mand what a man? hvor stort et Hus what a big house! saa ungt et Menneske such a youth! for tyk en Hals too thick a neck. In connection with mangen the article has its place after that word but before another adjective: mangen en Mand many a man, mangen en tapper Mand many a brave man. In connection with saadan such, the article may be placed before or after that word: saadan en Mand or en saadan Mand. In connection with a comparative and jo—desto the article is placed between the comparative and the noun; Ex.: jo tykkere en Hals han har, desto snarere skal den hugges over the thicker a neck he has, the quicker he shall be decapitated. (In this case the article is more commonly omitted).
Note 3. The indefinite article is used in connection with numerals to indicate an approximate number; Ex.: Hr. Sörensen var her i fjorten Dage Mr. S. stayed here about two weeks.