At 2:12:00 PM on Sunday, September 2, 2007, tgpedersen
wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister
> <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
>> When did the pre vs post position dichotomy of articles
>> occur?
> I believe it's documented from the 16th century. Before
> that time many texts are law texts and they have no
> definite articles, like ON.
Eh? ON has both free and suffixed definite articles. Some
examples from Lokasenna:
Free-standing:
ketil inn mikla 'the great kettle' (acc.)
sveinn inn hvíti 'the white/shining lad'
sá inn lævísi Loki 'that the crafty Loki'
hendi inni hægri 'the right hand' (dat.)
Suffixed:
ulfinn 'the wolf' (acc.)
munnlaugin 'the basin' (acc.)
From Íslendingabók:
Free-standing:
Haraldr inn hárfagri 'Harald the fairhair(ed)'
konungrinn Haraldr 'the king Harald'
inir spökustu menn 'the wisest men'
Suffixed:
til vársins 'to the spring' (gen.)
drauminn 'the dream' (acc.)
landinu 'the land' (dat.)
Brian