Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 06:10:40 EDT
From: simonfittonbrown@...
Subject: �v�ttikollurinn �inn! (Mod. Ic.) & Bo�varr ba� bikkjuna hans �egja
(ON)

Hi,

I've become intrigued by this way of insulting people.
To take the Modern(ish) Icelandic "�v�ttikollurinn �inn!", to analyse this
as
YOUR RUBBISH BRAIN would seem a bit odd, as it is more the equivalent of YOU
RUBBISH BRAIN; what if we analyse it as RUBBISH BRAIN OF YOU (the OF being
analogous to the OF in e.g. AN IDIOT OF A MAN)?


========

Greetings, Simon!

The continental Scandinavian languages (Swedish/Norwegian/Danish) still use
these "genitive insults", but almost always in direct address (unlike Old
Norse). To give some Swedish examples:

_Din idiot!_ 'You idiot!'
_Din fuling!_ 'You ugly thing!'
_Din snuskhummer!_ 'You dirty old man!' (literally 'dirty lobster')

I've seen only a few rare exceptions to the direct-adress rule, and in those
cases the speaker is deprecating *himself*: _Jag min dumbom som gl�mde att
ringa_! 'Like a fool I forgot to call!' (literally: 'I, fool of mine, who
forgot to call!')

----
Ingeborg S. Nord�n
(runelady@...)
Ek Ingwibergo stabaz fahi�o