Hi there,

Refreshing!

Hann drapst .
Hvernig?
"Hann var drepinn" or "Hann drukkaði" or,...

Hann bjargaðist?
Hvernig?
"Honum var borgið" or "Það byrjaði að rigna",...

Ég dái Almættið

að Almættinu : shows more respect (near< að)
Ég dáist: here submissive also passive.

Same as "feng" or "FengSamur" its meaning depends I'm sure lot on
the context. As it (Feng'ir þú) is the "conditional" part of "að fá"
to have, get, obtain, ....
Pragmatic reasoning?

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...> wrote:
>
>
> I've just been given some notes from the Icelandic schools edition
of
> Njáls saga. It defines 'rúm' as "bil milli þóftna í báti", the
space
> between the thwarts in a boat ('þóftur' "thwarts" are the
> benches/boards where the rowers sit). The Oxford English
Dictionary
> actually gives this exact sense as a rare localised meaning
of "room",
> "9.d. The space between the thwarts of a boat. (A Scandinavian
> sense.)" So used, apparently, in Norfolk, in the 19th century at
least.
>
> On 'fengsöm', the notes just say "fengsæl, ötul um aðdrætti", she
was
> good at getting provisions, or (pro)active in acquiring
provisions.
> Unlike the English words "acquisitive" or "grasping", it seems that
> 'fengsamur' doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation. In
fact
> some of the quotes I appear to use it as an outright positive
quality
> (fengsöm og staðföst vinum sínum; fengsöm og forvitra). So the
author
> may be using it here in a tongue in cheek way here.
>
> Regarding the line
>
> "Hann var að hlaða skútuna en þeir báru á út ..."
>
> it's been brought to my attention that the accepted text is a
little
> different; the schools edition and the Íslensk Fornrit edition
both have:
>
> "Hann var að að hlaða skútuna en þeir báru á út ..."
>
> In this version there is an extra (stressed) 'að' before the
> infinitive marker 'að'. It doesn't affect the meaning much,
except to
> emphasise the idea that that he's "busy loading", "in the middle of
> loading", "in the process of loading".
>
> Re. 'á út', I've been advised by a native Icelandic speaker that
the
> sense is indeed "out onto [the boat]". 'út' suggests that the
boat is
> in the water, so they have to go 'út' "out" to it from the shore to
> load the goods 'á' "onto" it. Some quotes from other sagas, with a
> preposition before 'út' either with a noun complement or without:
>
> hann af skafti og skaut skaftinu á sjó út, en vopnin
> batt hann í bagga í
>
> Tóku þeir til segls og sigldu á haf út. Tók þá byrinn
> að vaxa og gerði veður
>
> En ekki nenni eg draga hann úr húsum út." "Þú munt
> ráða að sinni," sagði
>
> varð fyrir þeim. Þar hljóp Kýlan á út en Þórir skaut
> eftir honum spjótinu því
>
> Lagið kom í skjöldinn og renndi af út og kom á nára
> hestinum og þar á hol.
>
> I've been told that it's more natural to put the preposition before
> 'út' when there's not noun.
>
> As for the whole middle voice / myðmynd thing, I'm not sure of the
> best terminology, clearly different writers use different terms
(I've
> also seen "reflexive middle" used in modern syntactic papers on
> Icelandic). I suppose there is potential for ambiguity in all
these
> terms, but hopefully the context will make things clear most of the
> time. For now I'll try to remember to specify "middle voice FORM"
or
> some such, if I think there's any doubt. And if anyone's confused
> they can ask. In case anyone read message 6806, "Icelanders take
> Miðmynd for verbs forms suffixed with -ST and in modern Icelandic
all
> of them I know give passive result", I'll just point out that the
> reflexive suffix doesn't always correspond to an English passive:
>
> dásk at e-u / e-m "to admire" (Modern: dást að)
> eignask "to acquire" (Modern: eignast)
>
> ...and that passive meaning can be expressed in other ways in Old
> Norse / Icelandic besides the reflexive suffix: 'hann var
drepinn' "he
> was slain"; 'honum var(ð) borgit' "he was saved".
>