1. Articles in Norse & German

1) Articles in Norse and German

Runadis skrifa�i:

> a wild guess: it might be that the language in this way
distinguishes different functions of 'the king' in the text. 
Without the definite article it might relate primarily to his office
as king, as a general title with general functions.  With the
definite article it might be making a special point of him as a
person whom is also king... Or the other way around?

Another interesting thought.  I wonder how we could test that. 
Other guesses: does anyone get the impression that the article is
more common with a collective noun like 'hir�', than with an
individual like 'konungr'?  I was reading a passage of modern (well,
20th century) Icelandic yesterday that seemed to have a similar
pattern with 'prestr' = "the priest", but 's�fnu�urinn' "the
congregation".  Or is there any difference in the usage with animate
or inanimate nouns?


Imre skrifa�i:

> It sounds quite like the German example that I wrote. What is still
interesting about the German article usage is that they often use a
definite article in everyday speech (`der' or `die' according to the
gender) before the name of a person, e.g.  ...But this is a bit
offline from ON.

Not off-topic at all, Icelandic has a very similar idiom to this in
which the personal pronoun is placed before the name: hann Sigmundr,
h�n Sign� (these are just two made up examples: I can�t remember
where to find a real one just now).  I think it has the same idea of
familiarity as the German definite article + name.  In some parts of
England we might say "our" in a similar way, but I think this would
tend to be used mainly of relatives.

Come to think of it, I am using this my self.

Me and my family often call each other by our names with an attatched definite article, I've always thought of this as our private family nonsense, but maybe there's more to it...

In norweigan, the definite article has changed to -en , or in neutrum -et (many, maybe most, dialects also to -a for the feminine, but I don't consider this, as it's not so in my dialect).  So I become Annikaen, or Annien, My brother (Erik), Eriken and my daughter (Hulda)Huldaen (or Huldien, which makes me think it's even more more modyfieable, fitting better for a smaller child).  I can even remember my grandmother speaking of my father (Geir) as Geiren.  -Especially when we are taling to each oter about one of the others.  To each other directly only in mushy moments.

Also I think, in my single days, I might have allowed myself to say this to a good dear, old friend I was more or less seriously considering an affir with, -and knowing I was not the only one considering it.

This all leads me to think of a tie to a sense of posession, belongingness.  And come to think of it, if I was to tell you why I was late for a meeting, and during this said '-and when I got into the car...', I think you would assume it was my own car, or at least a car I had general access to.

I've never thought of if other norweigans do this, but at least I can't say I havn't heard others use it, I must keep my ears open...

This makes me think of at least one other oddity about the norweigan language, (which I bet one can find in several other languages, the interresting thing is which...), I'll leave that for now, one thing at a time, but I bet I could get some clues from you all.

 

 

 

 

 

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