Here's my favorite Old Norse Q&A:

Hverr deyr? Hjarðar stýrir ;
hví? Fyrir sauða lífi ;
hvessu? Hekk á krossi ;
hvar? Þar er Lazarús jarðask ;
hvénær helzt? At nóni ;
hverir knúðu at? Júðar ;
hverr nýtur? Heiðni bötnuð ;
hvat geldr? Djöfuls veldi.

Quick and dirty translation:

Who dies? The shepherd.
Why? For the life of the sheep.
How? He hung on a cross.
Where? Where Lazarus is buried.
When quite? At "nón".
Who forced it? Jews.
Who benefits? Heathendom cured.
What yields? The devil's power.

Kveðja,
Haukur

> Lots of nice examples in Chapter 2 of Eireks saga víðförla, which is
> largely a series of questions and answers:
> ________________________________________________________
>
> 1. Eirekr mælti: "Hver er gröf sú, er þú mæltir, at í jörðu væri?"
> Konungr segir: "Þat er jörð dauðans, er fyrir er búin syndugum
> mönnum..."
>
> E. said, "What is that pit which you said was in the earth?"
> The king says, "That is the land of death which is prepared for
> sinful people."
>
> hver = feminine, agreeing with 'gröf sú'.
> þat = neuter, even though 'jörð' is feminine.
> _______________________________________________________
>
> 2. "Hverjar eru þær þrjár greiningar?"
> "What are those three aspects?"
>
> hverjar = fem.pl. of 'hverr'
> _______________________________________________________
>
> 3. "Hverr er sá?"
> "Who is that?"
>
> Both masculine.
> _______________________________________________________
>
> But 'hvat er...?' introduces those questions where Eirek doesn't
> know what gender the answer will be. Also used when someone does
> know but is being a bit distainful. Both these examples refer to
> people, the first from Arrow-Odd's Saga (Örvar-Odds saga), the
> second spoken by Loki in the Eddic poem Lokasenna:
>
> 4. "Hvat er þat?" sagði Oddr.
> "Þat er skjaldmær (f.), er lengi hefir mér fylgt," sagði konungr,
>
> "What is that?" said Oddr.
> "She's a shield-maiden who has been with me for a long time," says
> the king,
>
> 5. hvat er þat it litla
> "what is that little [puny] thing"
> ______________________________________________________
>
> ON Online, 35 [ http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/norol-7-
> X.html#Nor07_GP35 ], "In the later language 'er' is found combined
> with the interrogative pronouns to produce relative pronouns, e.g.
> hverr er '(he) who, whoever'; hvárr er 'whoever (of two)'; hvat(ki)
> er 'whatever'; etc. This usage is an innovation in ON, imitative of
> Latin."
>
> I guess that applies to the following example from Eireks saga
> víðförla, which was written (in this form at least) by a priest and
> inspired by the Eleucidarius a collection of ecclesiastical lore
> translated from Latin into Icelandic in the 12th century:
>
> En til þess at ek fylli spurning þína, þá heyr þú, hvat er ek segi
> þér, ok nem eptir.
>
> But so that I may answer your question, hear what I say and learn.
> _________________________________________________________
> _________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...>
> wrote:
>
>> Síðan gerði hann myrkvastofu; þat er þessi heimr, er vér byggjum.
>> "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
> sakir
>> eða ókosta annarra þeira er góðir menn vilja fyrir þeim sökum eigi
>> 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
> have
>> them."
>> (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
> not
>> to any particular noun: 'þat er sagt' "it is said". Similarly
> with
>> adjectives. Here's a curious quote:
>>
>> 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
> in
>> bad things, even if they are true" (!) [
>> 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
> er
>> spurull?' "who is that who is so curious/questioning?" (The
> 2nd 'er'
>> here is the relative, the 3rd = "is".) But even when the
> referrence
>> is to a noun that is clearly animate and grammatically non-
>> 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
> that"
>> (what sort of a drink is that). But the genitive constrction
> seems
>> to be more common.
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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