Kljúfa létk í kaupfǫr dúfu
knarra minn við borð in stinnu.
Létk knarra minn kljúfa dúfu við in stinnu borð í kaupfǫr.
I made my vessel cleave the billow with its firm strakes on a trading voyage.
[2] við in stinnu borð ‘with its firm strakes’: (a) Við could be oppositional ‘against’ or instr. ‘by (means of)’. In either case the phrase would be adverbial, modifying kljúfa ‘cleave’ (l. 1), hence ‘cleave the billow with/against its firm strakes’. Analysed thus, the couplet gives a fine picture of the ship’s motion through the waves. (b) Finnur Jónsson in Skj B took the við-phrase to qualify knarra, hence ‘vessel with firm strakes’.
Pronouns and determiners: Definite article
The definite article is normally suffixed to nouns, except in some cases where it is used with an adjective. If the noun form ends in a vowel, the 'i' in the article is dropped. If the noun form ends in 'um', the 'm' and 'i' are both dropped. E.g. hesta (acc. pl.) > hestana (acc. pl. definite); hestum (dat. pl.) > hestunum (dat. pl. definite)
masc. | fem. | neut. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
sing. | N A G D | inn inn ins inum | in ina innar inni | it it ins inu |
pl. | N A G D | inir ina inna inum | inar inar inna inum | in in inna inum |