Yesterday I tried to find out more about the word "nær" that
seems to have a slightly different usage in Icelandic than
in the Scandinavian languages and English.
Please take a look at the sequence:
near - nearer - nearest (E)
nära - närmare - närmast (Sw)
And let us assume that you want to use the word in the
middle (the comparative form) as an adverb in a sentence.
Here are some examples that I found: (Icelandic sentences
are from the dictionary)
gå inte för nära! - farðu ekki of nærri!
{don't go too close!}
hún er nær og þá svo fjær
{she is near and yet so far}
komdu nær! - please come closer!
nær er skinnið en skyrtan (Prov.)
{the skin is closer than the shirt}
veturinn er nærri - winter is near
flytta sig närmare - færa sig nær
{to move closer}
Here also an example from Ólavs saga (Heimskringla).
I am including a somewhat more extended section of
the text, hoping some may find it a useful reading
excercise:
Steig hann á skíð. Þau voru bæði breið og löng. En þegar
er Arnljótur laust við geislinum þá var hann hvar fjarri
þeim. Þá beið hann og mælti að þeir mundu hvergi komast
að svo búnu, bað þá stíga á skíðin með sér. Þeir gerðu svo.
Fór Þóroddur nærri honum og hélt sér undir belti Arnljóts
en förunautur Þórodds hélt honum. Skreið Arnljótur þá svo
hart sem hann færi laus. Þeir komu til sáluhúss nokkurs
er þriðjungur var af nótt, drápu sér þar eld og bjuggu til
matar.
He then put on skis. They were both broad and long. But as
soon as Arnljot had put his ski-pole into the snow, he was
far away from them. Then he waited for them and said that
they wouldn't be able to get very far like this, and he asked
them to stand on his skis. This they did. Thorodd went
closest to him and held onto Arnljot's belt, and Thorodd's
mate held onto him. Then Arnljot went ahead with the same
speed as if he'd been all by himself. When a third part
of the night had passed, they came to an inn, and they made
a fire and cooked food. {= a loose translation, so that
students will know approximately what it says.}
The part I am interested in here is
"Fór Þóroddr nærri honum" {= And Thorodd went closest to him}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My question then is what is the exact difference between
nær and nærri. I am asking this, because if you use naive
analogy, you get the scheme:
near - nearer - nearest (E)
nära - närmare - närmast (Sw)
nær - nærri - næst (I)
And yet, according to what I was able to find out, this
is not entirely correct. O.E.H. even says that ON "nær" is
an example of an adverb that lacks the positive form,
and thus has only the comparative and superlative forms.
Can this be correct?