An Icelandic-English Dictionary/Outlines of Grammar/Substantives

by Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Richard Cleasby

SUBSTANTIVES.

A. STRONG NOUNS, i.e. the more complex kind of Declension in which the gen. sing. ends in a Consonant.

Masculine.

Sing.	1st Declension, gen. sing. -s, nom. pl. -ar.				2nd Declension, gen. sing. -ar, nom. pl. -ir.				3rd Declension, nom. pl. -r.
	Nom.	heim-r	himin-n	lækn-ir		fund-r	bekk-r	kött-r		vetr
	Gen.	heim-s	himin-s	lækn-is		fund-ar	bekk-jar	katt-ar		vetr-ar
	Dat.	heim-i	himn-i	lækn-i		fund-i	bekk	kett-i		vetr-i
	Acc.	heim	himin	lækn-i		fund	bekk	kött		vetr
Plur.
	Nom.	heim-ar	himn-ar	lækn-ar		fund-ir	bekk-ir	kett-ir		vetr	eigend-r
	Gen.	heim-a	himn-a	lækn-a		fund-a	bekk-ja	katt-a		vetr-a	eigand-a
	Dat.	heim-um	himn-um	lækn-um		fund-um	bekk-jum	kött-um		vetr-um	eigund-um
	Acc.	heim-a	himn-a	lækn-a		fund-i	bekk-i	kött-u		vetr	eigend-r

Feminine.

Sing.	1st Declension, gen. sing. -ar, nom. pl. -ir.				2nd Declension, gen. sing. and nom. pl. -ar.				3rd Declension, nom. pl. -r.
	Nom.	tíð	höfn	sól		nál	fit	heið-r		eik	bók
	Gen.	tíð-ar	hafn-ar	sól-ar		nál-ar	fit-jar	heið-ar		eik-ar	bók-ar
	Dat.	tíð	höfn	sól-u		nál	fit	heið-i		eik	bók
	Acc.	tíð	höfn	sól		nál	fit	heið-i		eik	bók
Plur.
	Nom.	tíð-ir	hafn-ir	sól-ir		nál-ar	fit-jar	heið-ar		eik-r	bœk-r
	Gen.	tíð-a	hafn-a	sól-a		nál-a	fit-ja	heið-a		eik-a	bók-a
	Dat.	tíð-um	höfn-um	sól-um		nál-um	fit-jum	heið-um		eik-um	bók-um
	Acc.	tíð-ir	hafn-ir	sól-ir		nál-ar	fit-jar	heið-ar		eik-r	bœk-r

Neuter.

B. WEAK NOUNS, i.e. the simpler kind of Declension in which the gen. sing. ends in a Vowel.

Strong Nouns.—Masculine.

Remarks on the 1st Declension:    I. heimr: words of this form are found almost in every column of the Dictionary, and are therefore usually only marked ‘m.’    2. about half a score of masculine have a characteristic v, which appears before a vowel, hör-r, hjör-r, bör-r (poët.), söng-r, má-r, sæ-r, snjá-r (sjó-r, snjó-r), sör-var (poët., pl.); in dat. sing. hör-vi,...söng-vi, má-vi, sæ-vi, snjá-vi; in pl. hör-var, söng-var, snjó-var. The dat. in -vi is now obsolete, but the pl. is still used.    3. remarks on the inflexion,    α. the nominative: -r assimilates with the final radicals l, n, s: in words with long root vowel, ál-l, gál-l, hvál-l, hól-l, kjól-l, stól-l, fíl-l, hæl-l, þræl-l, flein-n, stein-n, svein-m, brún-n, dún-n, hún-n, ás-s, bás-s, lás-s, ás-s ... ós-s is dropped, as is the -r after a radical r, in ár-r, aur-r, hver-r, her-r, geir-r, leir-r, hör-r, mör-r, Þór-r, hamar-r, and thus the nom. becomes like the acc., ás, bás, ... ár, hver, hamar, etc.:—the r is dropped, in words like afl, gafl, skafl, nagl, vagl, fugl, karl, jarl, jaxl, lax, hrafn, stafn, ofn, stofn, þorn, vagn, svefn, þegn, geisl, gísl, háls, fress, sess, foss, koss, kross, þurs, dans, fans, angr, klungr, hungr, akr, hafr, sig, otr, lúðr, hrúðr, naðr, nykr, veðr (wether), vikr, gróðr, aldr, Baldr, galdr, öldr, meldr, arðr, hlátr, bólster, austr, lestr, bakstr, mokstr, apaldr.    β. the genitive; graut-r, skóg-r, höfund-r have -ar in gen. as the 2nd declension.    γ. the dative; some words of this declension drop the -i, but it is difficult to draw an exact line, as this use is rather a license than a law:—all the words in -leik-r, kær-leik (charitati), frið-leik (venustati), sann-leik (veritati); as also leik-r, fíl-l, kíl-l, skríl-l, (dat. fíl, kíl, skríl), hrepp-r, lepp-r: words with long root vowel and a final p or f, hóf-r, hóp-r, sóp-r: words with ei as root vowel, dat. hleif, Hm. 51 (but hleif-i, 140); sveip, meis, sveig, dverg (but dvergi, Ýt. 2), strák, snáp, skáp, bát, and bát-i (scapbae); Þór, kór, flór, bor, hor, from Þór-r, etc.; daun (odori), dún, Brún, hún, múl, múr, dúr, etc. for dún-i ... dúr-i, which are obsolete; so also búk and búk-i, dúk and dúk-i, múg and múg-i, reit and reit-i: those with a long vowel as final, e.g. jó, skó, ná, Frey, þey, from jó-r ... þey-r:—in masculine with a characteristic v the old dat. form is -vi, whereas the mod. drops both letters, thus dat. mör, hör, má, snjó, for the old mör-vi, hör-vi, má-vi, snjó-vi. Nouns with the inflexive endings -ingr, -ungr seldom drop the i, konung-i, búning-i: words with a radical r never, e.g. galdr-i, aldr-i, not aldr, galdr: the proper names of this declension very seldom drop it, e.g. Þorleif-i, Þorlák-i, Þorleik-i: dag-r, dat. deg-i, but as pr. name Dag. In old writers many of these apocopate forms begin to appear, e.g. Þór-i (the god) is only found in a single instance used by a poet of the 8th century; yet the decay of the dat. inflexion is a little increasing, though the use, ancient and modern, is in the main still the same.    II. himinn: the contraction in dat. sing. and plur. is to be noted, and the assimilation in the nom.; hereto belong all masc. with inflex. -inn, -unn, -arr, -urr, -ill, -ull:    1. -nn, aptan-n, arin-n, dróttin-n, himin-n, Óðin-n, morgin-n.    2. -arr, hamar-r, kamar-r, humar-r, jaðar-r, nafar-r, etc.: pr. names in -arr (the -ar in these is etymologically different) are not contracted, e.g. Einar-r, dat. Einar-i.    3. -urr, fjötur-r, tötur-r, jöfur-r; but not so in the pr. names, e.g. Gizur-r, dat. Gizur-i.    4. -ll, bagal-l, kaðal-l, vaðal-l, biðil-l, ketil-l (q.v.), lykil-l, jökul-l, röðul-l, stöðul-l, söðul-l, möndul-l, öngul-l, þöngul-l, etc.: even the pr. names are contracted, e.g. Egil-l, dat. Agli; Ketil-l, dat. Katli.    III. læknir: hereto belong only a score of common words used in prose writing, bætir, ein-ir, elr-ir, end-ir, eyr-ir, fell-ir, hell-ir, hers-ir, hirð-ir, kæs-ir, kyll-ir, létt-ir, lækn-ir, miss-ir, mæl-ir, mœn-ir, nenn-ir, reyn-ir, skelm-ir, steyp-ir, verm-ir, víð-ir, vís-ir, þerr-ir: pr. names as, Grett-ir, Brest-ir, Bein-ir, Styrm-ir, Sverr-ir, Þór-ir, Æg-ir: local names, Geys-ir, Keil-ir.    2. a great many (more than a hundred) poët. and obsolete words. ☞ In mod. usage the declension of these words is altered and the r is kept throughout, whereby nom. dat. acc. sing. becomes alike, hell-ir, gen. helli-rs, dat. acc. hell-ir, pl. hell-rar, hell-re, hell-rum, or lækn-irar, lækn-ira, lækn-irum:—the words with an inflex. -ari were originally, as shewn by Gothic bôcar-eis, of this declension, but now they are all weak masc., and the sole instances left on record of the old inflexion are the gen. mútar-is by Sighvat, and vartar-is, Landn. 197 (v. l. 18) in a verse of the 10th century.

Remarks on the 2nd Declension: the words belonging hereto are far less in number than those of the 1st, perhaps seven score of simple nouns or thereabout, but they are often irregular, we shall therefore try to give a list of them; their marks, besides the plur. -ir, are the freq. dropping of the dat. sing. -i, the acc. plur. -u, and the characteristic i:    I. fundr: skrið-r, stuld-r, sull-r, sult-r, veg-r, frið-r, kvið-r (a womb), feld-r, verð-r, brest-r, gest-r, rétt-r, kost-r, burð-r, skurð-r, þurð-r, fund-r, mund-r, grís-s, ná-r:—inflex. -aðr, -uðr, búnað-r, fögnuð-r, hagnað-r, jöfnuð-r, getnað-r, söknuð-r, dugnað-r, þrifnað-r, skilnað-r, etc.:—stað-r, brag-r, mat-r, sal-r, ham-r, svan-r, val-r, sauð-r, óð-r, snúð-r, þrótt-r, bol-r, dug-r, hug-r, bug-r, grun-r, mun-r, hlut-r, skut-r, vin-r, grip-r, glœp-r, lýð-r,—in these words the dat. -i is dropped, as also in compd nouns in -skap-r, gleðskap-r, fíflskap-r, etc.:—pr. names in -rðr, -ndr, -kon have also -ar in gen., Bárð-r, Þórð-r, Sigurð-r, Þránd-r, Eyvind-r, Geirröð-r, Sigröð-r, Há-kon, etc.:—in pl., pr. names of some people (countries or counties), Danir, Frísir, Valir, Indir, Vindir, Lappir, Grikkir, Tyrkir, Kyrjalir, Kvenir, Serkir, Vanir (the gods): Egðir, Eynir, Háleygir, Mœrir, Synir, Þilir, Þrœndir (in Norway): -dœlir, Lax-dœlir, Vatns-dœlir, etc. ☞ Irregularities; some of the words above have -s in gen. sing. like those of the 1st declension, e.g. hal-r, val-r, ham-r, svan-r, bol-r, dug-r, grun-r, brest-r, gest-r, grís-s, glœp-r, lýð-r, ná-r:—dal-r, hval-r, staf-r, mar-r, hver-r, ref-r, sel-r, mel-r, have now usually -ir in pl. but in olden times they had -ar, and belonged to the 1st declension; they also drop the -i in dat. sing.    II. bekkr: with characteristic j, which appears before a vowel in a score and a half of words; beð-r, vef-r, bekk-r, hrekk-r, stekk-r, flekk-r, leyg-r, eyk-r, reyk-r, legg-r, vegg-r, belg-r, elg-r, merg-r, streng-r, þveng-r, hrygg-r, drykk-r, hlykk-r, byl-r, hyl-r, ryf-r, byr-r, hyr-r, styr-r, lœk-r, bœ-r.    2. dreng-r, segg-r, stegg-r, etc. have -s in gen. sing. ☞ Almost all those above (with characteristic j) also drop. the dat. -i in sing.    III. köttr: with an old acc. pl. in -u, prob. caused by a characteristic u (cp. the Goth. airus, qviþus, tigus, vabstus, valus), three score words:    1. with a plain root vowel; kvið-r (dictum), kvist-r, kvitt-r, lið-r, lim-r, lit-r, sið-r, smið-r, stig-r, tig-r, við-r, réttr (a fold), bur-r: most of these words drop the -i in dat. (lið, lim. lit. sið, smið, stig).    2. with a change in the root vowel,—ö, a, e, lög-r, mög-r, völ-r, völl-r, vönd-r, vörð-r, mörð-r, svörð-r, böll-r, börk-r, knörr, gröpt-r, örn, flöt-r, hött-r, knött-r, kött-r, vött-r, köst-r, vöxt-r, löst-r, mökk-r, Höð-r, Hörð-r, Snört-r, spöl-r (vide bring-spelir):—jö, ja, i, björn, fjörð-r, hjört-r, kjöl-r, mjöð-r, skjöld-r, Njörð-r (the god):—ó, æ, bóg-r:—o, y, son-r: the acc. pl. -u has been changed into -i, first, in árr, áss, making áru, ásu, which changed to æri, æsi, a change which took place very early, and later in other words, which have now all got a regular acc. in -i (limi, firðo, ketti, hetti, syni, etc.); syni for sonu occurs even in old MSS. ☞ To björn (p. 66) add that when used as a pr. name it has in mod. usage a gen., Björn-s, not Bjarnar (e.g. Sigurðr Björnsson).

Remarks on the 3rd Declension:    I. ordinary substantives,    1. gen. -ar, mánað-r, pl. -r, mod. -ir; fót-r, q.v.; vetr, fingr, q.v.    2. gen. -s, mað-r, gen. mann-s, pl. menn (með-r); nagl, gen. nagl-s, pl. negl.    II. eigendr: the plur. of participles, when used as subst. as grátend-r, fagnend-r, gefend-r: hereto belong the plur. of bóndi, frændi, fjándi, q.v.    III. the plur. of faðir, bróðir may also be reckoned in this declension.

☞ The Icel. is the only of of all Teutonic languages, except Gothic, that has preserved (up to the present day) the masc. inflexive -r (Goth. -s); even in the earliest Anglo-Saxon it is dropped, and the nom. sing. represents the naked root in the masculines as well as in the feminines and neuters.

Feminine.

Remarks on the 1st Declension:    I. tíð: almost in every column or page of the Dictionary, and simply marked ‘f.’    II. höfn: about four score words, with a in the root vowel changed into ö, caused by a hidden characteristic u, which appears in dat. sing. of a few of them:    1. fönn, önn, bönn, högld, hrönn, hvönn, spönn, ögn, lögn, sögn, þögn, dröfn, höfn, körf, mörk (sylva), örk, þökk, Hlökk, vömb, þömb, skömm, vömm, klöpp, löpp, ösp, vöst, öxl, mjölt, björg, björk, tjörn, Gjöll (mythol.), löð, tröð, sög, kör, kröm, möl; and in mod. usage, dögg, lögg, öx, kvörn (kvern), q.v.    2. with -u in dat. sing.; rödd, rönd, strönd, önd (anima), jörð, hjörð, höll, þöll, mjöll, mörk (sylva), stöng, töng, röst.    3. -r in nom. pl.; önd (a duck), mörk (marca), hönd (dat. hendi), röng, tönn.    4. the following had in olden times -ar in plur. and thus belonged to the 2nd declension, but changed into -ir at an early date, so that this is the usual form in Editions of Sagas and the sole form in mod. usage,—    α. with a single final, röð, döf, gröf, gjöf, nöf, töf, fjöðr, spjör, sök, vök, dvöl, fjöl, kvöl, löm, grön, mön, þön, för, skör, kös, nös, hvöt.    β. with double final, vörr, þörd, gjörð, görn. ☞ It is likely that at earlier times many more of these words had the plur. -ar and dat. -u; the -ar remained longest in those with a single final, and the dat. -u in those having dd, nd, ll, ng as final; dat. sak-u (culpae) occurs on Runic stones, and gjaf-u, dval-u, etc. may also be supposed.    III. sól: with a characteristic u, which appears sometimes in dat. sing. alone, sometimes in both dat. and acc.:    1. only in dat. in sál, ván, sól, braut, laut, þraut, fold, mold, þjóð, grund, lund, mund, stund, und, ull, hurð, urð, dögg (irreg.), rödd, etc. (above); nótt, night, in plur. næt-r (3rd declension); ey dat. ey-ju, and egg dat. egg-ju belong to the 2nd declension: mæ-r, dat. mey-ju; even röddu (vocem), Pass. 19. 9, but that is a poët. license.    2. fem. pr. names ending in björg, -laug, -rún, -ný, -ey, -leif, Ingi-björg, Guð-björg, Þor-björg, Vil-borg, Ás-laug, Guð-laug, Guð-rún, Sig-ný, As-ný (gen. -nýjar), Þór-ey, Guð-leif, Ingi-leif; in names of foreign origin, Kristín, Katrín, Elín; in all the pr. names the -u fixedly remains (in the appellatives it is often dropped), and this not inly in dat. but as a common case for dat. and acc.    3. feminines with the inflexive -ing, fœð-ing, eld-ing, drottn-ing, kerl-ing, kenn-ing, þekk-ing, virð-ing, send-ing, bygg-ing, uppstign-ing, sæ-ing, etc., so many that it would be in vain to try and record them all; they have -ar in plur. and thus belong to the 2nd declension: in mod. usage many of them have the -u in common for dat. and acc., thus drottning-u = reginae and reginam, kenning-u = doctrinae and doctrinam, fœðing-u = nativitatem and nativitati, but this is very rare in old writers, yet drottningu reginam (acc.), Mr. 232, 304.    β. in -ung, djörf-ung, hörm-ung, laun-ung, etc. but only in dat.; they have also -ar in plur.

Remarks on the 2nd Delension:    I. nál:    1. the feminines in ing, -ung, vide above.    2. over two score simple nouns, ár, ál, nál, skál, tág, flaug, laugh, rauf, dreif, kleif, veig, geil, seil, hlein, rein, vél, heið, rim, sin, hlíf, smíð, flík, kví, for, brú (q.v.), rún, lend, kvern, öx (the old form), alin:—with radical r, gymbr, lifr, vinstr, vigr:—only in plur., leif-ar, hrœr-ar (poët.): heterogene are, lim-ar, tál-ar, (lim, tál in sing. are neut.): heteroclyte are, lyg-ar, görsim-ar (sing. indecl. weak fem.)    3. add the words röð, döf, etc. above recorded (1st devlension II. 4).    II. fit: over a score of words, with characteristic j, which appears before a vowel, hel, skel, ben, eng, egg, dregg, ey, des, fles, il, vin (only in local names, e.g. Björg-vin), fit, klyf, lyf, nyt, dys, nauðsyn, Frigg (the goddess), fiski (q.v.), mæ-r (q.v.), pl. mey-jar:—only in plur., ref-jar, sif-jar, skef-jar, men-jar, skyn-jar, hreð-jar.    2. with characteristic v, ör, gen. sing. nom. plur. ör-var, stöð, böð, dögg, gen. stöð-var, böð-var, dögg-var; only in plur. göt-var (obsolete). ☞ Heterogene are the local names in Norway; in fem. plur., Holt-ar, Hús-ar, Hrís-ar, Torg-ar, Tún-ar, Þorp-ar, Nes-jar (holt, hús, hrís, torg, tún, þorp, nes are all neut. appellatives), Ló-ar, Les-jar, Vág-ar, Vin-jar, Kvild-ar, etc., see Munch’s pref. (p. x) to Norge’s Beskriv.    III. heiðr: feminines with an inflex. -r in nom. and characteristic i, which has caused a vowel change in most of them, and which appears in dat. acc. sing.:    1. about a score of appellatives; heið-r, veið-r, Hleið-r, erm-r, helg-r, (a holiday), eyr-r, mer,-r, reyð-r, brúð-r, byrð-r, fyll-r, flœð-r, æð-r (an eider-duck), æð-r (vena) mýr-r, vætt-r, öx (qs. öx-r); ký-r, æ-r, sý-r (q.v.), all three contr. in dat. and plur.; the obsolete þý-r, rýg-r, gýg-r (pl. þý-jar, rýg-jar, gýg-jar):—in mod. usage the -r has changed into -i, in heið-i, veið-i, erm-i, eyr-i, mer-i, byrð-i, fyll-i, flœð-i, öx-i; otherwise they retain the full declension and must not be confounded with the indeclinable weak feminines gleð-i, ell-i, etc. In the west of Icel. the -r is still in use in flœð-r, veið-r, reyð-r (steypi-reyð-r), and all over Icel. in ký-r, æ-r; as also in brúð-r, only here the -r is kept through all cases, so that the word has an indeclinable sing., cp. the use of this word in Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 340, 341 (omitted s.v. p. 84).    2. a great many fem. pr. names: simple, Auð-r, Fríð-r, Gerð-r, Hild-r, Þrúð-r, Unn-r, Urð-r (mythol.): compds, Sigríð-r, Ástríð-r, Guðríð-r, Þuríð-r, Ragnheið-r, Alheið-r, Hallgerð-r, Ingigerð-r, Valgerð-r, Þorgerð-r, Gunnhild-r, Ragnhild-r, Ingveld-r, Þórhild-r, Hólmfríð-r, etc.: those in -uðr, qs. -unnr, Steinun-n, Ingun-n, Iðun-n, Þórun-n: in -dís, Ás-dís, Her-dís, Vig-dís, Þór-dís, Álf-dís, dat. acc. dísi (ommitted s.v.p. 100), and by way of analogy the foreign abbadís, (abbess), as if compounded with dís; foreign pr. names, Margrét, Elizabet, etc.: in pr. names the inflexive -r is in full use over Icel., so that Baugeið, Randíð, etc. in old MSS. are only Norwegianisms. ☞ The Icel. feminines in -r answers to Gothic -is, and are different from the Gothic feminines in -s, such as anst-s, alþ-s; of these latter the Icel. nauð-r (need, decl. as tíð) is the sole remnant. It is worth noticing that the Icel. feminine proper names have preserved and represent the oldest and fullest declension of feminines.

Remarks on the 3rd Declension, which contains about two score words:    1. eik, steik, geit, greip, grind, gnit, kinn, kind (in mod. usage), flík, spík, tík, vík, rít, mjólk, kverk (but in mod. usage kverk-ar).    2. with changed vowel, bók, brók, glóð, nót, rót, gát, nátt, tönn, hönd, önd (anas), mörk, fló, kló, ló, ró, tá, gás, lús, mús, brún, stoð, hnot; plur. bœk-r, glœð-r, gæt-r, næt-r, tenn-r, hend-r, end-r, flœ-r, tæ-r, gæs-s, mýs-s, brýn-n, steð-r, hnet-r (but in the present use, stoð-ir, hnot-ir). ☞ A very few of these words have also -r in nom. sing., viz. mjólk, mörk, nátt, vík; bœk-r from ból also occurs, though seldom; rist-r from rist, Pass. 33. 4, is poët.    3. to this class we may refer the plur. dyr-r (q.v.), gen. dura; the latter r is inflexive, and the form analogous to ký-r from kú; the plur. ký-r, æ-r (q.v.)    4. to this declension may also be referred the plur. of dóttir, systir, móðir, although the r is here radical. ☞ The monosyllabic feminines with a final long vowel are contracted, á, brá, gjá, Gná, ljá, lá, krá, rá, slá, skrá, spá, þrá; as to the declension of these words vide á, p. 48, and brá, p. 77; 16, Ey-gló, sló, stó, þró, dat. 16-m...; ásjá (q.v.) has no r in gen., nor trú, frú (q.v.) The root vowel of these words is not changed, and accordingly they are classed with the 1st declension of feminines, but in a contracted form.

Neuter.

Remarks on the 1st Declension:    I. skip: forms like this are regular, and occur throughout the book, simply marked ‘n.’    II. barn: to this belong neuters with a as root vowel, which in plur., answering to -a in Goth., -u in A.S. (cp. Lat. cornu): as a radical a is the only vowel which is affected by an inflexive u, the remains of this inflexion are only found in the words with that root vowel; these words are many:    1. single words, barð, blað, vað, haf, vaf, flag, drag, bak, flak, rak, þak, skjal, far, skar, svar, glas, fat, gat, afl, tafl, fall, fjall, kall, band, grand, barð, skarð, bjarg, bragð, flagð, nafn, safn, gagl, hagl, tagl, agn, gagn, hald, vald, magn, lamb, mark, rann, happ, hapt, skapt, hlass, gjald, spjall, spjald, tjald, hvarf, starf, barn, kast, ax, fax, sax, vatn:—only in plur., lög, glöp, sköp, rök: many have no plur.    2. with an inflexive -að, -al, etc., changed into u, hér-að, hundr-að, for-að, óð-al, plur. hér-uð, hundr-uð, óð-ul: sum-ar (pro. a masc.), plur. sum-ur: gaman, dat. contr. gamni: höfuð, dat. höfði.    III. nes: to this belong more than a score of words, with characteristic j, geð, veð, nef, stef, egg, hregg, skegg, él, sel, ben, fen, gren, men, ber, sker, nes, flet, net, fley, grey, hey, kið, rif, gil, þil, fyl, kyn, ný.    IV. högg: to this belong a score of words, with characteristic v, högg, skrök, kjöt, böl, öl, föl, mjöl, fjör, smjör, bygg, glygg, lyng, fræ, læ, hræ, hey: only plur. söl. ☞ The dat. högg-vi, kjöt-vi, böl-vi, smjör-vi, bygg-vi, fræ-vi, hey-vi, etc. began to be uncommon even in old writers and are in mod. usage sounded högg-i, skrök-i, kjöt-i, etc., whereas n plur. the v still remains, e.g. sölva-fjara. For fé, kné, tré, see these words.

Remarks on the 2nd Declension, contining bisyllabic derivatove wors with characteristic i. Most of these words are derivative and with a changed vowel wherever possible. A great number are declined like klæð-i, so that it is difficult to give a complete list of them, e.g. fresli (by misprint called fem., p. 172); in the Dictionary they are simply marked ‘n.’    II. ríki: to this belong those with a final g, k, which have j (the characteristic i) in gen. and dat. plur., e.g. fylki, ríki, síki, vígi, lægi, and many others.

Weak Nouns.—Masculine.

The original characteristic of weak nouns in Teutonic languages is the inflexive -n, of which in Icel. the sole remnant is the gen. plur. of the feminines and neuters.

Remarks on this Declension:    I. tími: forms like this occur almost in every page of the Dictionary, and are simply marked ‘a, m.’    II. steði: to this belong only a few primitive words with characteristic j, as aðil-i, bryt-i, steð-i, vil-i, nið-i; the poët. and obsolete skyt-i, tygg-i; poët. pr. names, Bel-i, Ið-i, Skyl-i, Þrið-i, Víg-i; compds in -skegg-i, eyjar-skeggjar; names of people in -ver-jar, Gaulver-jar, Oddaver-jar, and in mod. usage, Þjóðver-jar, Spánver-jar, etc., cp. varii in old Teutonic names in Latin writers:—compds in -ingi, höfðing-i, heiðing-i, kunning-i, fœðing-i, banding-i, leysing-i, auming-i, ræning-i, Væring-i, Skræling-i, etc., pl. höfðing-jar, etc.: in -yrki or -virki, ein-virki, spell-virki, etc., pl. einvirk-jar, Tyrki (a Turk, mod.), etc.:—for lé, gen. ljá (léa), and klé, gen. kléa, see these words. There is a curious inflexive -n left in pl. of the obsolete poët. words, brag-nar, gum-nar, got-nar, from bragi, goti, gumi. ☞ Some masculines have a double declension, both strong and weak, hug-r and hug-i, hlut-r and hlut-i, hólm-r and hólm-i, stall-r and stall-i, mun-r and munn-i, garð-r and garð-i, odd-r and odd-i, nið-r and nið-i, drang-r and drang-i, linn-r and linn-i, líkam-r and líkam-i, glugg-r and glugg-i, -ingr and -ingi; all derivative words in -leikr have both forms, -leik-r and -leik-i; cp. also pr. names as Örn and Árn-i, Björn and Bjarn-i, Finn-r and Finn-i, Odd-r and Odd-i, Gísl and Gísl-i, Geir-r and Geir-i, etc.

Feminine.

Remarks on the 1st Declension:    I. tunga: this form, marked ‘u, f.’ in the Dictionary, contains many hundreds of appellatives, and several pr. names, Halla, Ása, Þóra, Hall-dóra, etc.: frú (q.v.) is contracted; so also trú-a, gen. trú; the pr. names Gró-a, Gó-a, gen. Gró, Gó.    II. alda: to this belong all the feminines with a as root vowel, cp. introduction to letter A: völv-a, a sibyl, gen. völ-u, pl. völ-ur. ☞ Only a few of the words of this declension (little more than a score, or about two or three per cent. of the whole) form a gen. plur.; these are esp. the following, vaka, vika, klukka, ekkja, rekkja, kirkja (gen. ekk-na ... kirk-na), stúlka, tala, vala, sála (sálna, Mar. passim), kúla, súla, gata, gáta, sáta, varta, dúfa, þúfa, rjúpa, ríma, vísa, hosa, messa, kelda, skylda; kona has kven-na; the nom. of stjarna (a star) and skepna (a creature) may also serve for gen. plur., skaparinn stjarna, creator stellarum, in a hymn: in some few cases the gen plur. is formed by adding the article to the nom. sing., thus gyðja-nna (dearum) gryfja-nna (fovearum): in many cases the gen. sing. is used collectively, thus Icel. say, öldu-gangr, impetus undarum,—the words denoting wave, alda, bára, bylgja-nna; sögu-bók, liber historiarum; the gen. sagn-a, historiarum (sagna-ritari), is rarely used and is borrowed from sögn. Sometimes this deficiency may become puzzling, chiefly in translating Latin into Icel.; in original writers it is not felt. In olden times the number of those words that allowed of a gen. was still more limited.

Remarks of the Indeclinable Feminine:—with perhaps the sole exception of ævi (life) and elli (age) all the words of this declension are derivatives from adjectives and formed by a change of vowel, whenever the root vowel of the adjective is changeable; almost all these words are abstract (denoting quality), and so have no plural; forms like gleði-r (ludi) or æfi-r (vitae) are quite exceptional and ungrammatical:    1. single nouns, about two score of words; gleði, helgi (holiness), ergi, leti, gremi, helti, speki, hugrekki, frœði, mœði, œði (fury), hæsi, kæti, reiði, feiti, bleyði, hreysti, veyki, háreysti, fylli, hylli, fysi, syki, birti, snilli, girni, teiti, hvíti, örvi, mildi, blindi, atgörvi, hnöggvi, myki: lygi and görsimi in sing., but heteroclite in plur.    2. derivatives; -semi from adj. -samr, skyn-semi (very many): compds in -fræði, -speki, but if prefixed as a double compd they take s, thus e.g. frœði-bók, but huðfrœðis-bók; skynsemi (rationis), but skynsemis-trú (fides rationis, i.e. rationalismus): -ni from adjectives in -inn, e.g. heið-ni, Krist-ni, hlýð-ni, and many others: -skygni, -sýni, e.g. glám-skygni, víð-sýni: -gi from adj. igr, e.g. græð-gi, kyn-gi; -ýðgi,harð-ýðgi, etc.: -gli from adj. -gull, sann-sögli (veracitas) from sann-sögull (verax): in -andi only a few, kveð-andi, hyggj-andi, afr-endi, Verð-andi (the Norn): in local names, Skáni, Erri, Ylfi (islands): Skaði (the goddess) is declined as masc.

Neuter.

Remarks on this Declension: it contains,    1. six words denoting parts of the body, auga, eyra, hjarta, lunga, nýra, eista.    2. a few appellatives, almost obsolete, none of which from a gen. plur., bjúga, ökla, sima, leika, hnoða, viðbeina, vetta (in ekki vetta, no wight; hvat-vetna, every wight).