Anon Lil 39VII/1 — inn ‘The’
Undraz tók inn forni fjandi
fæddan mann, er skilja var bannað,
og þvílíkt, sem andinn segði
orðin slík af tungu forðum:
‘Þykki mier, sem nýjung nökkur
nálgiz heim og ættir beima;
eitthvað klókt mun drottinn dikta:
duldr em eg, því að ferr af huldu.
Inn forni fjandi tók undraz fæddan mann, er var bannað skilja, og þvílíkt sem andinn segði slík orðin af tungu forðum: ‘Mier þykki, sem nökkur nýjung nálgiz heim og ættir beima; drottinn mun dikta eitthvað klókt; eg em duldr, því að ferr af huldu.
The old fiend was amazed at the newborn man, whom he was prohibited from understanding, and it was as if the spirit spoke words like these with his tongue long ago: ‘It seems to me that some new thing draws near to the world and families of men [MANKIND]; the Lord will be devising something clever; I am ignorant, because it is being kept secret.
grammar
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 |