Sæll Haukur!

Thanks for your feedback! I'd never thought about the way we use the
infinitive as a sort of subjunctive form before - but you're right, that's
just the sort of construction you find in newspaper articles etc. Thanks
for that - I'm learning more about English as well as Old Norse in this
group!

Bye for now,
Sarah.

----- Original Message -----
From: <haukurth@...>
To: <norse_course@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 2:52 AM
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Færeyinga saga - week 5


Heil Sarah!


You did well.


> kömr ... verb, 3rd person sing., present, indicative,
> active of KOMA

Correct.

You should note that 'ø' and 'ö' are not equivalent in
the orthography I'm using (though they are in modern
Scandinavian languages).



> Norðrlönd ... proper noun, neuter plural, accusative of NORÐRLAND

Correct.



> tíðenda ... noun, neuter plural, genitive of TÍÐENDI

Correct.



> Ólöfu ... proper noun, fem sing, accusative of ÓLÖFA

Correct - but the nominative is ÓLÖF.


> dóttur ... noun, fem sing accusative of DÓTTIR agreeing with Ólöfu

Correct.


> Þorsteins ... proper noun, masc sing, genitive of ÞORSTEINN

Correct.


> rauðs ... adjective, masc sing, genitive of RAUÐR agreeing
> with Þorsteins

Correct.


> þeim ... pronoun, 3rd person plural masc [could be fem or neut]
> dative of ÞEIR

Correct.


> vildi ... verb, 3rd pers plural, past, subjunctive,
> active of VILJA

Correct.


> kaupa ... verb, infinitive

Correct.



> Sentence 1
> vildu kaupa is in the indicative form because it is a
> definitive statement - wanted to buy
>
> Sentence 2
> vildi kaupa is in the subjunctive form because it is
> in a dependent clause implying possibility - what they
> might want to buy

Exactly.



> [The only example I can think of where we still have the
> subjunctive form in English is in ...If I were you, I would....
> but this would be less common in spoken English nowadays.]

Hmm... You sometimes seem to use the infinitive as a sort of
subjunctive:

"This report, while not recommending that the NRC immediately
halt the radioactive waste recycling program, did suggest THAT
IT TAKE a very cautionary approach..."

"And pray for our marriage, THAT IT BE reconciled..."

In such cases we could use subjunctive "at þat taki",
"at þat sé/verði".


> Maðr heitr Eyvindr

Not quite. You have to use the other form of 'heita'
in this case - the one that is supposedly descended
from the IE-medio-passive.

"Maðr heitir Eyvindr"


> hann bjó á Nóregum.

Many Norways now? :-)


> Broðir hans hét Gunnarr.

Correct. But don't neglect the accent in 'bróðir'.


> Broeðr váru báðir miklir ok sterkir.

A valid, if clumsy, sentence - but not quite what I intended.

"Brothers both were big and strong."

What I

"THE brothers were both big and strong."

I think we need some word for expressing the English
article in this sentence. That would be either the Old
Norse article or - better - the pronoun ÞEIR.

"ÞEIR broeðr váru bæði miklir ok sterkir."



> Now I´ve done this, I´ll make a start on week 6!!!

Good luck :-)

Kveðja,
Haukur


Sumir hafa kvæði...
...aðrir spakmæli.

- Keth

Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/

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