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

>
> I am working on the lessons from hi.is. In lesson 2, part of the
> exercise is to translate:
>
> Óláfr á bát. Hann heitir Ormr.
>
> I am thinking that it is supposed to be:
>
> Olaf owns a boat. It is called Ormr.

That's right.

> But the original uses the pronoun "hann," where I'm thinking it
> should be "þat." Otherwise, wouldn't it be, "he is called Ormr?"

In Old Norse, as in many modern European languages, all nouns
including inanimate objects have what's known as grammatical gender.
In Old Norse, there are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.
Each noun belongs to one of these three categories. Which category a
noun belongs to can seem quite arbitrary from an English point of
view. In English, we tend to only use masculine or feminine pronouns
to refer to a thing if we want (optionally) to personify it, as when
people call a ship "she". But in Old Norse it's just an inherent part
of the grammar and depends on the history of the word, rather than
being a deliberate personification of the object as male or female.
It's as much a part of the rules of the language as the distinction
between singular and plural.

The noun 'bátr' (meaning "boat") happens to be masculine, and so it's
grammatically correct that a masculine pronoun is used to refer to it.
On the other hand, 'skip' (meaning "ship") is neuter, so 'þat' would
be used to refer to "skip", and 'skeið', a type of warship, is
feminine, so that would be referred to with feminine pronouns.

> Óláfr á bát. "þat" heitir Ormr.
>
> Nominative case: I you he she it
> Accusative case: me you him her it
>
> Nominative case: ek þú hann hon þat
> Accusative case: mik þik hann hana þat
>
> Thank you!
>