From: llama_nom
Message: 5791
Date: 2005-12-04
> Síðan gerði hann myrkvastofu; þat er þessi heimr, er vér byggjum.sakir
> "Then he made a dungeon; that is this world which we inhabit."
> ('myrkvastofa' "dungeon" = feminine; þat = neuter; 'þessi
> heimr' "this world" = masculine).
>
> Þat er ómennska ef maðr gengr með húsum fyrir nenningarleysis
> eða ókosta annarra þeira er góðir menn vilja fyrir þeim sökum eigihave
> hafa þau.
> "It is ''perversity'' if a person goes from house to house because
> of indolence or other failings which make good men unwilling to
> them."not
> (A legal definition: 'ómennska' "perversity" = feminine).
>
> Þat er hin þriðja náttúra jarðar, þá er hon er opnuð ok grafin, þá
> groer gras á þeiri moldu er efst er á jörðunni.
> "That/this/it is the third property of earth, [that] when it is
> opened up and dug, grass grows on that soil which is uppermost on
> the earth."
> (þat = neuter; hin þriðja náttura = feminine; hon = feminine,
> referring to 'jörð' "earth".)
>
>
> Neuter also used as default where the reference is abstract and
> to any particular noun: 'þat er sagt' "it is said". Similarlywith
> adjectives. Here's a curious quote:in
>
> ok er því gott góðu at trúa, en illt er at trúa illu, þótt satt sé
> "and so it is good to believe in good things, but bad to believe
> bad things, even if they are true" (!) [er
> http://narrowshore.blogspot.com/2004/11/tt-satt-s-again-with-
> information.html ].
>
> With people, 'hverr' "who" may be used: 'Hverr er sá maðr, er svá
> spurull?' "who is that who is so curious/questioning?" (The2nd 'er'
> here is the relative, the 3rd = "is".) But even when thereferrence
> is to a noun that is clearly animate and grammatically non-that"
> neuter, 'hvat' may be used together with the genitive plural:
>
> hvat er þat fiska?
> "what fish is that" (literally "what [one] of fishes").
>
> hvat er þat manna?
> "what man is that", "what sort of a man is that", "who is that"
>
> hvat manna ertu?
> "what sort of a man/person" are you", "who [exactly] are you"
> (the answer might include any or all of details such as name,
> lineage, status/occupation (king, beggar, etc.), place of origin,
> country ruled over, etc.)
>
> Also dat. sg. is possible: hvat er þat drykki? "what drink is
> (what sort of a drink is that). But the genitive constrctionseems
> to be more common.
>