Re: "Little Brother?"

Hi Runadis,

Do you know if there was any change in the frequency of the
definite/demonstrative pronoun over time in Norse? I've read that
it's much rarer in the oldest Old English, originally only used
where we would say "that" in Modern English, but became steadily
more common and in later Old English is often used like a definite
article "the". On the other hand, in the oldest Old English, and
sometimes in Gothic, definite adjectives can appear without the
pronoun where we would say "the" (there is some variation in Gothic:
in spedistin daga; in þamma spedistin daga "in the last day"), and
cf. ON nicknames:

I'varr beinlausi (alongside I'varr inn beinlausi)

Looking again at those examples I had, the one from Gautreks saga
probably does involve line of sight. I should have written "good
ox" there, not "best ox". Sorry I forgot to identify example 5:
that was from Hervarar saga, ch. 11. The brother in question is the
addressee's only brother, but then the actual superlatives are often
used to mean "a very" rather than literally "the most". Maybe we
could say "that most warlike brother of yours" = "your very warlike
brother"?

I found some modern examples of 'frændi minn góður', as a vocative.
So do you think it would be best, if addressing this brother to
say 'bróðir minn lítill'? Or 'bróðir minn litli', or 'litli bróðir
minn'? I haven't found *bróðlir yet. I wonder if the runic
inscriptions have anything like this.

Llama Nom





--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, Annika Larla Evensen McKibbin
<runadis@...> wrote:

> Hi Llama
>
> In norse the definite and the demonstrative pronouns are expressed

the same ((h)inn), which can sometimes be confusing semantically.
They are as a rule ( though no rules are followed through without
fault in the norse litterature), only used in the cases mentioned,
and one other i forgot to mention as i didn't see it as applying to
the case, when you wish to point out what one's talking about as the
most 'what ever adjective is in question' among its like. (I don't
think it was the smallest brother in the world who was in question.)

> In the first 5 examples I might add -which is the best/sharpest/

most warlike of all. Which probbably fits quite well into the
transelations. Often it will be a case of iterpetation, are we
talking about somethin exeptional, or someting we have prior
knowlege of? Thogh, in (2) it seems like the man is in sight, or at
least within ear shot, which would amont to the same, as it seems
he's beeing spoken directly to.

>
> Your other examples I don't see any hindrance for applying theese

rules to either, but then I don't know much about the habits of
these languages...

>
> As to your Norweigan example, it's quite standard for the runic

inscriptions, no definite pronouns.

>
> How this applies to modern Icelandic I do not know, but i do know

that it doesn't apply to modern Norweigan... I probbably will find
out though, as I've gotten curious...

>
> The coupeling of the demonstrative and possesive I'd attribute to

the norse love of bragging/putting forth of their possesons and
gifts.

>
> To me it seems the definite article as we use and know it, doesn't

really apply to the norse language.

>
> The use of the diminuative has continued in the use of names until

today, and I only assume it has it's roots in everyday use of the
language, and that it would be used and affect the words much the
same as when making superlatives... I freely admit I'm on thin ice
here, I realise it's something I've been taking for granted, though
it feels quite natural to do this with the language.

>
> Eaters of the Dead, never heard abuot it before ( just got a short

brief of the action), Don't really know what to say about that...

>
> Runadis
>
> llama_nom <600cell@...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Annika,
>
> > _the '(h)inn' would of course only be used if the brother had
> recently been mentioned in the same conversation or was in sight

at

> the time of the conversation...
>
> Does this rule about (h)inn apply to Modern Icelandic? And if the
> brother was not in sight and had not been recently mentioned,

would

> the adjective still be weak? Here are some examples from Old
> Icelandic where I think the thing/person is being mentioned for

the

> first time in the conversation:
>
> 1) Gillingr skal hafa uxa minn inn góða
> "G. shall have my best ox"
> (Gautreks saga, ch. 2)
>
> 2) Upp rístu Þakkráðr,
> þræll minn in bezti.
> "Arise Th., my best thrall"
> (Völundarkviða, st. 39)
>
> 3) ok minn inn hvassi hjörr
> "and my sharp sword"
> (Fáfnismál, st. 6)
>
> 4) Skaltu nú drekka brullaup til hennar ok fara í skrúða minn inn
> besta.
> You must/shall now marry her and go in my best raiment.
> (Sturlaugs saga starfsama, ch. 22)
>
> 5) bróðir þinn inn böðskái
> "your warlike brother"
>
> Admittedly in 3, though not mentioned, the sword has been felt.

In

> 1 and 4 I'm not sure if the item in in sight, but maybe. Gilling

is

> a poor man so perhaps he keeps his ox indoors. I don't know the
> context of 4, I'm afraid. In 5, the brother is probably NOT IN
> SIGHT, as he's just arrived and instructed the speaker to go

inside

> the hall to announce his arrival.
>
> Not strictly relevant, but the use of possessive + demonstrative

is

> also found in Old English:
>
> 6) broþer þin se selesta
> "your blessed brother"
> (Guþlac 1332-3)
>
> ...and weak adjectives with or without definite/demonstrative
> pronouns in Gothic:
>
> 7) þu is sunus meins sa liuba
> you are my own beloved son
> (Luke 3,22)--speaker = voice from heaven, who hasn't mentioned
> anything till now
>
> 8) sa sunus meins dauþs was jah gaqiunoda
> my son was dead but came to life
> (Luke 15,24)--speaker = father of the Prodigal Son, speaking in
> private to his jealous other son
>
> 9) Þu nu, barn mein waliso
> so you, my dear child
> (2Tim 2,1)
>
> In vocatives like 9, the weak/definite declension of the adjective
> is a matter of convention, used even in writing a letter, as in 9,
> or a Gospel, where the adressee is not in sight: batista
> Þaiaufeilu "most excellent Theophilus" (Luke 1,1). This is the

very

> beginning of the Gospel, so Th. hasn't been mentioned previously
> either. On the other hand, an early 5th c. inscription from

Norway

> has the vocative adjective declined strong, and without
> demonstrative/article:
>
> 10) Birg, Inguboro, swestar minu liubu meR Wage
> "Save/protect [me], Inguboro, my dear sister, me WagaR."
> (Opedal runestone)
>
> It has been speculated that this was a prayer addressed to the
> occupant of a nearby grave-mound (20m away, according to Arild
> Hauge's site). I don't know if that affects the grammar though.
> The Opedal inscription conflicts with Gothic usage. Would this
> require a definite pronoun in Old Norse? Modern Icelandic?
>
>
>
> > Also I think it's likely that instead of using the word little
> they would maybe only use a diminuative, so you could get

something

> like bróð + le (the diminuative) + ur/ir, which with vocal
> subtraction would give an end result somthing like bróðlir, which
> would mean little or small brother...
>
>
> Do you have any examples of this method of forming a diminutive?
> Did it survive in Old Icelandic as a productive affix? The old
> diminutives -ill and -li were added to the end of the word and
> affect the declination, but I hadn't heard of this diminutive

infix

> in ON. I'm not sure that even -ill and -li were freely combined
> with roots in historical times.
>
> Where did the speaker come from in Eaters of the Dead? I haven't
> read the book, but in the film (13th Warrior) I think they end up

in

> Norway don't they? But could it be an East Norse peculiarity?
> Maybe we should be looking for parallels on Swedish runestones.
> Lots of examples of bróþir, anyway, but are there any with an
> adjective?
>
> Llama Nom
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, Annika Larla Evensen McKibbin
> <runadis@...> wrote:
> > _the '(h)inn' would of course only be used if the brother had
> recently been mentioned in the same conversation or was in sight

at

> the time of the conversation... Also I think it's likely that
> instead of using the word little they would maybe only use a
> diminuative, so you could get something like bróð + le (the
> diminuative) + ur/ir, which with vocal subtraction would give an
> end result somthing like bróðlir, wich would mean little or small
> brother...
> >
> > Runadis
> >
> > llama_nom <600cell@...> wrote:
> >
> > --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "absnt_mnd_prof"
> > <hilandfox@...> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Can anyone give me the old norse for this?
> >
> >
> > Google turns up a lot of Modern Icelandic examples of both:
> >
> > litli bróðir minn (1990)
> > bróðir minn litli (52)
> >
> > Also a few with: hinn litli bróðir minn. I don't know if that
> adds
> > the same kind of emphasis as English "that little brother of

mine".

> >
> > Perhaps the most likely way to say it in Old Norse would be:
> >
> > bróðir minn inn litli
> >
> > Llama Nom
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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