Hi Alan,

I guess any estimate could be complicated by the fact that the same
person might use more "careful" grammar when writing, or talking in
a formal context, whereas they might revert to more "popular" forms
when talking to their friends.

I think Sarah mentioned "were" as possibly the only surviving
subjunctive in English, as in "were it not so" and "if I were you".
Here's a couple more: come what may; be that as it may; had it not
been for...

Llama Nom


--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "AThompson" <athompso@...>
wrote:
> Haukur & Sarah
>
> Thank you for your feedback. It's reassuring to get confirmation
that my
> question was not a silly one and that I hadn't overlooked something
> obvious – apart from the fact that there was more
grammatical "freedom"
> in the old days. With respect to Haukur's point about use of the
> subjunctive in Modern Icelandic among the "more educated" compared
with
> the "less educated" particularly in the spoken language, I would be
> interested in hearing an estimate of how many modern Icelanders
would
> fall into each category when it comes to the use of the
subjunctive. In
> English, I would guess that over 95% of all native English speakers
> would fall into the "less educated" category :-)
>
> Cheers
> Alan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sarah Bowen [mailto:sarahbowen@...]
> Sent: Friday, 14 January 2005 6:23 AM
> To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [norse_course] Auðun part 8
>
> Hi Alan,
>
> I spoke to my lecturer today briefly and it seems the rules on the
use
> of the subjunctive do not appear terribly hard and fast in ON. In
> borderline cases such as this where the meaning only marginally
affected
> by the mood of the verb, it was a matter of "authorial choice".
[I wish
> that argument would wash with my modern Icelandic lecturer when I
write
> essays!!!]
>
> Cheers,
> Sarah.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: HYPERLINK "mailto:athompso@..."AThompson
> To: HYPERLINK
> "mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com"norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 8:00 AM
> Subject: RE: [norse_course] Auðun part 8
>
> Góðan daginn
>
> Happy new year to everyone and thanks Sarah for the new post – I
was
> beginning to suffer Auðun withdrawal symptoms.
>
> The only question that occurs to me on translating this passage is
why
> `selr' (selja) and `skal' (skulu) are indicative and not
subjunctive,
> because the selling of the bear and its valuing by the king are not
> strictly factual statements but a desired way ahead.
>
> Kveðja
> Alan
>
> Translation - Auðun 8
>
> Ok er hann lítr á þetta, sýnisk honum nakkvat eptir,
> And when he looks on (considers) this, (it) seems to him somewhat
later
>
> sem ármaðrinn mælti fyrir honum,
> (just) as the steward said to him,
>
> ok sættask þeir á þetta, at hann selr Áka hálft dýrit,
> and they agreed on this, that he sells Áki half the animal,
>
> ok skal konungr síðan meta alt saman.
> and (the) king shall afterwards, value everything together.
>
> Skulu þeir fara báðir nú á fund konungs, ok svá gøra þeir;
> They shall now both go to a meeting with (the) king), and they do
so;
>
> fara nú báðir á fund konungs ok stóðu fyrir borðinu.
> both now go to a meeting with (the) king) and stood before the
table.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sarah Bowen [mailto:sarahbowen@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, 11 January 2005 9:23 AM
> To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [norse_course] Auðun part 8
>
> Auðun goes along with Aki´s plan
>
> Ok er hann lítr á þetta, sýnisk honum nakkvat eptir, sem ármaðrinn
mælti
> fyrir honum, ok sættask þeir á þetta, at hann selr Áka hálft dýrit
ok
> skal konungr síðan meta alt saman. Skulu þeir fara báðir nú á fund
> konungs, og svá gøra þeir; fara nú báðir á fund konungs ok stóðu
fyrir
> borðinu.
>
> If you want to post something up towards the end of the week, I
will get
> back to you over the weekend - honest!!
>
>
> A Norse funny farm, overrun by smart people.
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