[on "ormrinn langi" vs. "ormr inn langi"]

> Ok segi ek: That just looks like a difference in word division, which is
> somewhat arbitrary (or lacking) in the manuscripts.

Vel mælir þú. That's quite correct. Word division in the mss and
word division in normalized text isn't always the same thing.

> Ok spyr ek: What are the relative frequencies of noun-adjective and
> adjective-noun word order?
> Ok spyr ek: How frequently does the article ('inn') come before the noun?
> Ok spyr ek: What are the relative frequencies of these [name] forms?

Vel spyrr þú. Kann ek eigi svá vel svara.

I think adjective-noun is rather more common in Old Norse. I think that the
preceding article is more common than the succeeding one where it is allowed.
Remember that you can only have the article preceding the noun when there's
an adjective in between. I haven't got a clue on the proper names; my hunch
is that the "Þorsteinn rauðr" type may be the least common.

We can do a little test if you like. Let's do a "frequency analysis" of
the first chapter of Heimskringla - even though that's a way too small sample :)

"Kringla heimsins, sú er mannfólkit byggvir, er mjök vágskorin. Ganga höf
stór úr útsjánum inn í jörðina. Er þat kunnigt at haf gengr frá Nörvasundum
ok allt út til Jórsalalands. Af hafinu gengr langr hafsbotn til landnorðrs
er heitir Svartahaf. Sá skilr heimsþriðjungana. Heitir fyrir austan Asía en
fyrir vestan kalla sumir Evrópu en sumir Eneu. En norðan at Svartahafi gengr
Svíþjóð in mikla eða in kalda. Svíþjóð ina miklu kalla sumir menn eigi minni
en Serkland it mikla, sumir jafna henni við Bláland it mikla. Inn nyrðri
hlutr Svíþjóðar liggr óbyggðr af frosti ok kulda, svá sem inn syðri hlutr
Blálands er auðr af sólarbruna. Í Svíþjóð eru stórhéruð mörg. Þar eru ok margs
konar þjóðir ok margar tungur. Þar eru risar ok þar eru dvergar, þar eru blámenn
ok þar eru margs konar undarligar þjóðir. Þar eru ok dýr ok drekar furðuliga stórir.
Úr norðri frá fjöllum þeim er fyrir útan eru byggð alla fellr á um Svíþjóð, sú er
at réttu heitir Tanaís. Hon var forðum kölluð Tanakvísl eða Vanakvísl. Hon kømr
til sjávar inn í Svartahaf. Í Vanakvíslum var þá kallað Vanaland eða Vanaheimr.
Sú á skilr heimsþriðjungana. Heitir fyrir austan Asía en fyrir vestan Evrópa."


*Noun-adjective*

höf stór
drekar [furðuliga] stórir


*Adjective-noun*

langr hafsbotn
margar tungur
byggð öll
undarligar þjóðir


*Noun-article-adjective*
Svíþjóð in mikla
Svíþjóð in kalda
Serkland it mikla
Bláland it mikla


*Article-adjective-noun*
inn nyrðri hlutr
inn syðri hlutr

This slightly supports my contention that adjective-noun is more
common than noun-adjective. But obviously both are perfectly normal.


The typical modern Icelandic forms are:

langur hafsbotn
langi hafsbotninn

The following forms, while perfectly understandable, are probably
confined to literary usage:

hafsbotn langur
hinn langi hafsbotn

The latter is more common in the other Scandinavian languages;
in Faroese we would have:

tann langi havsbotnur (assuming 'havsbotnur' is a word)

> Ok segi ek: As a beginner, I want to use the more common word orders, etc.

Vel mælir þú ok hyggiliga.

Kveðja,
Haukr