The masculine word 'hamarr' illustrates this well:

Singular
N hamarr
G hamars
D hamri
A hamar

Plural
N hamrar
G hamra
D homrum
A hamra

The unstressed vowel of the root is dropped when adding a syllabic
suffix (that is suffix with vowel). This happens with words with
derivational suffixes in their root. Exceptions: masc. nouns ending
in -nað, fem. nouns ending in -an/-un and when the definite forms of
all nouns.

Havard

--- In norse_course@..., Arlie Stephens <arlie@...> wrote:
> On Fri, May 31, 2002 at 10:11:02AM -0400, Lazarus wrote:
>
> >
> > Thank you. That's what my other source tells me as well. I
suspected it,
> > but was expecting to see Oðinni instead if it were Dative. I was
unclear
> > about it as an exception.
>
> It's not really an exception, but one of those general rules that
modify
> everything with a certain pattern. I think it may even be covered
in one
> of the lessons for this course, even though it's not complete. (I
don't
> remember where I encountered it.)
>
> First of all, Oðinn (nominative singular) is stem Oðin + ending -n.
> The -n replaces -r because of a rule about stems ending in -n, -l, -
s.
> So the dative would seem to be Oðini. Except that hits another rule,
> which as a non-specialist I just see as "patterns like '-ðini'
sound awkward".
> (Haukur or someone, what's the actual rule?) And the -ðini becomes -
ðni.
> Lots of other words do the same thing; it's not specific to Oðinn.
>
> [note: writing from memory, and by no means an expert. I've
probably got
> some details fuzzed.]
>
> >
> > -Laz
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Dan Bray
> > To: norse_course@...
> > Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 11:45 PM
> > Subject: Re: [norse_course] Havamal
> >
> >
> > Hi Lazarus,
> > 'Oðni' is simply 'Oðinn' in the dative case (ie. given to
Oðinn).
> >
> > Dan
> >
> > Lazarus wrote:
> >
> > Okay, here's a REAL Old Norse literary question about
translation.I've been staring and staring at the Konungsbok
Eddukvaeda (Codedx Regius) and in the passage commonly referred to as
stanza 138 (page 6v), the word 'oðni' is used where translators
usually use 'Odin' and it's driving me crazy. Here's the sentance:
Ueit ec at ec hecc vinðga meiði a netr allar nío.geiri vnðaþr oc
gefin oðni, sialfr sialfum mer, a þeim meiþi er mangi veithuerf han
af rótom ren. So how does 'oðni' turn into Oðinn? Since we know that
Oðinn is less a name than a word used as a proper noun, what is it in
the sentance structure that tells us that it's supposed to be read as
the god Oðinn and not simply a variation of a word like 'oddr'
meaning "the furthest tip of a spear"? (Happy now, Haukur? I've
finally got a meaty question for you.)-Laz
> > --
> > Daniel Bray
> > dbray@...
> > School of Studies in Religion A20
> > University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> > ADVERTISEMENT
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Sumir hafa kvæði...
> > ...aðrir spakmæli.
> >
> > - Keth
> >
> > Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > norse_course-unsubscribe@...
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.
> >
>
> --
> Arlie
>
> (Arlie Stephens
arlie@...)