The person who experiences the dream is accusative, the content of the
dream (what appears to someone in a dream) is nominative, if
mentioned. When 'dreyma' is subordinated to an auxiliary verb such as
'hafa', the auxiliary can't agree with the experiencer since finite
verbs can only agree with a nominative subject.

> "Hvað hefir þig dreymt frændi?"

hvað = what (nominative, the content of the dream)
hefir = has (3rd person sg. to agree with 'hvað')
þig = you (accusative experiencer as required by 'dreyma')
dreymt = dreamt (past participle neuter, supine to go with 'hafa')
frændi = kinsman (nominative serving as vocative)

Lit. "what has appeared-in- a-dream to you?" (accusative experiencer,
nominative content of dream), but in English the grammar is the other
way round and we say "what have you dreamt?" (nominative experiencer,
accusative content).

> > "Það hefir mig dreymt," segir Gunnar, "að eg mundi eigi riðið hafa

úr Tungu

> svo fámennur ef mig hefði þá þetta dreymt."

það = that (nominative, anticipates the content of the dream as
described in the clause beginning 'að eg mundi...')
hefir = has (3rd person sg. to agree with 'það')
mig = me (accusative experiencer)
dreymt (past participle neuter, supine to go with 'hafa')

"I dreamt such a dream...that I would not have ridden from Tunga with
so few companions if I had dreamt this then (before I left)."

More examples:

1. Þórhallur mælti: "Draum vildi eg að þú réðir Finni þann er mig
hefir dreymt." (Ljósvetninga saga)
Th. said, "I wish you to interpret the dream that I have dreamt, Finni."

2. Þá sagði Faraó við Jósef: "Mig hefir dreymt draum, og enginn getur
ráðið hann.
"Then said Pharoa to Joseph, "I have dreamt a dream, and no one can
interpret it."

3. Fleira er til á himni og jörðu en heimspekina getur dreymt um.
"There are more things in heaven and earth then philosophy (accusative
in Icelandic) can dream of."

One reason for thinking of the accusative experiencer as the
grammatical subject of 'dreyma', at least in modern Icelandic, is that
the pronoun can be dropped in sentences like the following:

ég var að vakna eftir að hafa dreymt eftirfarandi. ..
"I was waking up after having dreamt the following... "

en mér virðist hafa dreymt það
"but I seem to have dreamt it"

Óliver dreymir oft heilu kvikmyndirnar, og það eru lang-oftast Harry
Potter eða Star Wars, og þá vaknar hann og segist hafa dreymt Harry
Potter-draum í nótt.

"O. often dreams whole films, typically Harry Potter or Star Wars, and
then he wakes up and says that he's dreamt a Harry Potter dream last
night."

LN

--- In norse_course@ yahoogroups. com, "Patricia Wilson"
<originalpatricia@ ...> wrote:

>
> I had some trouble with this to begin with - I could see alright the

Impersonal - use of the dream - almost it seemed that the dream was
visualised as part of the person but hefir was given as Have -
singular - got stuck there

>
>
>
> Kolskeggur mælti: "Hvað hefir þig dreymt frændi?"
>
> Kolskegg spoke "What have you got (as) a dream Kinsman?"
>
> "Það hefir mig dreymt," segir Gunnar, "að eg mundi eigi riðið hafa

úr Tungu

> svo fámennur ef mig hefði þá þetta dreymt."
>
> That I have to me a dream" saya Gunnar "that I would not have ridden

from Tongue with so few companions if then I had had this dream (if to
me had (past) this dream then