At 2:10:37 PM on Sunday, August 4, 2013, rob13567 wrote:

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

>> •I cannot find the translation for Hvað. I know it´s an
>> interrogative pronoun, i´m thinking "what" based on
>> "hvaða," and I'm sure it's just a spelling difference
>> that makes me not able to find it. Which entry should I
>> look under to find the definition?

> Yes, I took "Hvað" as the interrogative "What." One trick
> I often use is to search the Modern Icelandic dictionary
> http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/IcelOnline/Search.TEId.html,
> which identifies those words with modern spellings that I
> can't find in Zoega.

Yes, this is ON <hvat>. Final ON <-t> becomes modern <-ð>
in <at>, <þat>, <hvat>, <vit>, <þit>, the neuter inflection
<-it> in <annat>, <mikit>, etc., the postposed neuter
definite article (as in <kveldit> 'the evening', now
<kveldið>), and verbal inflections like <farit>, <kallat>,
etc. And yes, the modern Icelandic dictionary at the Univ.
of Wisc. is very useful, especially when you’re working from
a text that uses modern spellings. Just remember that in
some cases the meanings have changed a bit.

>> •Nokkura means any? or could you point me toward the
>> definition? I am trying to change it from masc. pl. dat
>> to mas. sing. nom. in order to find it in the dictionary,
>> but am not sure how it declines. Like an adjective, but I
>> don't see any "ra" endings.

The full set of inflections is given on the Pronouns page in
the set of tables at the back of Zoëga.

> I took "Nokkura" to mean some or several. This word
> doesn't show up in the Modern Icelandic dictionary. I
> found it in Zoega as nökkurr.

Depending on context it can also be 'any', though here it’s
'some'. This form is specifically either the fem. acc.
sing. or the masc. acc. plur., in this case the latter.

>> •I am finding many different definitions of "Mund"
>> "Mundr" and "Munda", so I'm not sure about the part of
>> speech, given the position after the object.

> "Mundu" is "would." See Zoega "munu," but note the entry
> for the past tense as "would." This is a very common
> auxiliary verb, so it's worth making a note of.

<Munu> is an irregular verb, specifically, a so-called
preterite-present verb; its conjugation is given in the
table of irregular verbs in the section of tables at the
back of Zoëga. <Mundu> is 3rd plur. past indic., '[they]
would'.

>> •I can´t find how "kveld" is declined to make "kveldið"

> "kveldið" should be "the evening." In other words, the
> change comes from the neuter definite article as a suffix.

Which in the older spelling is <kveldit>. Specifically,
this is either the nom. sing. or the acc. sing.; after <um>
it must be the latter.

>> •One more, pretty off-topic question: I've read that
>> there is sometimes a "u" mutation where the letter u does
>> not occur in the following syllable. is this something
>> that I am seeing in the Declension of "barn" in the Nom.
>> plural?

Yes, it is.

<Barn> is a neuter a-stem; in Proto-Scandinavian the
nom./acc. plur. was *barnu, and the *-u caused labial
mutation of the <a> to <ǫ>, later <ö>, before it was lost
altogether.

Brian