Mini-lesson - Ordinal Numbers


GRAMMAR

Numbers are quirky things. In Old Norse the first four ordinal
numbers are declined in cases, genders and numbers. The rest are
not declined at all.

The nominative and accusative singular masculine of the declined
ordinals are as follows.

nom. einn tveir þrír fjórir
acc. einn tvá þrjá fjóra

Numbers are often used with the partitive genitive; represented in
English by "of".

tveir þeira = two of them
tveir manna Hauks = two of Haukr's men

Sometimes the numeral 'einn' is used as an indefinite article

Hér er EINN maðr.
Here is A man. / Here is ONE man.



VOCABULARY

Numerals

Declined:

einn = one
tveir = two
þrír = three
fjórir = four

Not declined:

fimm = five
sex = six
sjau = seven
átta = eight
níu = nine
tíu = ten


Adjectives

helgr = holy
vándr = bad (more or less same as 'illr')



EXERCISES

1. Translate the following.

Hér eru tveir menn. Þeir heita Óláfr ok Eiríkr.
Er Óláfr helgr maðr ok góðr mjök en Eiríkr er bæði
vándr ok illr. Er Eiríkr sér Óláf vill hann hann vega.
Eiríkr hefir tíu menn en Óláfr fjóra. Óláfr vegr tvá
manna Eiríks. Menn Eiríks vega einn manna Óláfs. Nú vilja
sumir flýja því at þeir eru ragir. Tveir manna Eiríks
flýja. Þá hefir Eiríkr sex menn en Óláfr þrjá.

2. Make up the end of the story in Old Norse.



REAL TEXT

The following is from the Icelandic book of homilies; one of the
oldest extant Icelandic texts.

- - -
Tvá sonu átti inn fyrsti maðr Adam, ok var annarr
þeira góðr en annarr vándr. Abel var góðr, en Kain vándr.

Þrír váru synir Nóa í örkinni með honum. Váru tveir góðir,
en einn var vándr. Sem ok Jafet vóru góðir, en Kam var illr.

Tvá sonu átti Abraham, ok var annarr góðr, en annarr illr.
Ísak var góðr, en Ismael illr.

Átti Ísak ok tvá sonu. Var annarr góðr, en annarr vándr.
Er Jakob góðr ok inn helgasti maðr, en Esau vándr.
- - -

Glossary

synir (nom. pl.) = sons
sonu (acc. pl.) = sons
inn fyrsti = the first
inn helgasti = the holiest
í örkinni = in the ark
var, váru = was, were (an older form of 'var' is 'vas')
annarr = one of two