Re: "Little Brother?"

May I add a comment to this please  Haukur,

This is just as I feel it might be, -  a sort of "heart reaction" -

Litli Broðir minn - could be a loving way of an older Brother to a younger, in a very possessive way of speaking perhaps justifying the minn because "he's mine and dear to me"

Broðir minn litli yes it would be contrived I see that, but they had large families inn those days, and this form could be valid if it was the persons youngest (whether little or not) brother being referred to, unless there is a better way of expressing it, like the English phrase my younger or indeed youngest brother. (it sounds patronizing)

I tend with my Grandmother's influence to use  old forms of speech, and because of her influence I am resistant to changing, and I understand when older people than am I, also have a tendency to use the old forms and dialects

They try to root out this "inferior" declension in the
schools and I think now it may mostly be heard from older
people = You have said Haukur =

 

and that I can understand, maybe I should go live in Iceland, I could come to terms with the language and the fondness of the older folk for the old forms of speech - for the reason that my Grandmother was brought up by her greatgrandmother, I even find today with amusement the modern forms of speech elusive, and that is in English included.

Kveðja

Patricia

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Haukur Þorgeirsson

To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 10:58 PM

Subject: Re: [norse_course] Re: "Little Brother?"

> The forms 'minn  kæri (faðir/bróðir)' "my dear (father/brother)"
> suggest that 'minn litli bróðir' might be acceptable after all.

The normal modern address is: "Litli bróðir!"
I suppose you *could* say: "Litli bróðir minn!"
But I'm not sure why the 'minn' is needed.

A concocted Old Norse form might be:
"Bróðir (minn) inn litli!" but I don't
recall seeing that anywhere.

Incidentally the use of weak adjectives with
nouns without article sort of creates a vocative
case in modern Icelandic.

Without article the words are declined like this:

nom. lítill bróðir     litlir bræður
acc. lítinn bróður     litla bræður
dat. litlum bróður     litlum bræðrum
gen. lítils bróður     lítilla bræðra

With the article the words are declined like this:

nom. litli bróðirinn   litlu bræðurnir
acc. litla bróðurinn   litlu bræðurna
dat. litla bróðurnum   litlu bræðrunum
gen. litla bróðursins  litlu bræðranna

But then we get:

voc. litli bróðir!     litlu bræður!

And there is no word like 'sá' or 'þessi' to
turn the adjective weak.

Also incidentally I hadn't realized what an excellent
exercise declining "litíll bróðir" is. Several cute
little irregularities in both words :)

And on the subject of 'bróðir' I might mention that
some people use the same form (bróðir) for all cases
of the singular (same with 'dóttir' and 'systir').
They try to root out this "inferior" declension in the
schools and I think now it may mostly be heard from older
people.

Kveðja,
Haukur



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