--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "kunphuzil" <kunphuzil@...>
wrote:

>
> Sure, the stem letters seem easier to me as well, but if I learn a
new
> word how am I to know it's stem through Zoëga's dictionary (without
> having such a conversion chart that you provided). What do you do
> personally, when learning a new word?


I don´t know if it´s always possible to work out everything from
Zoega, but you can usually tell from the forms given once you´re
familiar with the declensions. If two endings are given in
brackets, the first is the gen.sg., the second the nom.pl. If more
or less forms are given, they are labelled. He´s not entirely
consistent: sometimes more information is given than usual, sometimes
less--for reasons I don´t always understand. Some examples of common
declensions (not a complete guide):

MASC.

a-stem, hleifr (-s, -ar), m. loaf.
Like: ormr "snake", konungr "king", etc. Very common declension.

ja-stem (long), flýtir (gen. -is), m. haste, speed.
Like: hellir "cave", hilmir "chief", etc. The nominative sg. ending -
ir distinguishes nouns of this class.

u-stem, háttr (gen. háttar, dat. hætti; pl. hættir, acc. háttu), m.
mode (of life); way of doing something, etc. Distinguishing feature,
acc.pl. -u.

weak (an-stem), skuggi, m. Identifiable by the ending -i and the
masc. gender.

________________________________________________________

masc. i-stems are a bit varied (some take gen.sg. -s, by analogy with
the a-stems), but look out for the nom.pl. ending -ir.

i-stem (short), staðr (-ar, -ir), m. place.
i-stem (long), bekkr (gen. -s or -jar, pl. -ir), m. bench.
i-stem (long), gestr (-s, -ir), m. guest.

The -j- before -a- or -u- is regular for i-stems ending in velar
consonants (k or g). The -s gen.sg. of 'gestr' is a not uncommon
irregularity. If it's masc. and has -ir nom.pl., but Zoega gives no
further information of other cases besides the gen.sg., it probably
belongs here.

It´s possible that where insufficient information is given the word
may not be attested in the relevant forms. I'm not sure if that
applies here: HEGGR (pl. -ir), m. "bird cherry (tree)". Looking in
the Orðabók Háskólans´s database [
http://www.lexis.hi.is/corpus/leit.pl ], I can only find a genitive
Heggs attested as a personal name, and no examples of 'heggjar', but
here it says that the genitive is HEGGJAR [
http://www.ullstad.com/index.htm?/vossaboki/hegg.htm ]. Is this
attested, I wonder, or a reconstruction?

__________________________________________________


FEM.

o-stem, fjöld, f. multitude. Identifying features: feminine and ends
in a consonant; no additional information given. Very common. Zoega
lets us know if the nom./acc. plural is -ir (the i-stem ending), or
fluctuates between -ar and -ir.

weak (on-stem), bera, f. she-bear. The -a ending and the gender
identifies this. Very common.

weak (in-stem), hlýðni, f. obedience, homage. This declension
contains a lot of abstract nouns. Identifiable from Zoega by gender
and the ending -i.


_________________________________________________

NEUT.

a-stem, skot, n. shooting, shot.

ja-stem (short), kyn (gen.pl. kynja), n. kin. Identifiable by -j-
before gen.pl. ending.

ja-stem (long), ríki, n. power; rule; kingdom. Idendifying features:
neuter with ending -i.

weak, eyra, n. ear. Quite declension, but unambiguous in dictionary,
due to -a ending and neuter gender.
________________________________________________


There´s too much to take in here in one sitting. But you´ll soon get
used to the most common declensions of each gender.

Lama Nom