Stúfr Stúfdr 8II/8 — it ‘the’
Gekk sem vind, sás vættki,
varðandi, fjǫr sparði,
geira regns í gǫgnum
glaðr orrostu þaðra.
Gramr flýðit sá síðan
— sœm eru þess of dœmi
éls und erkistóli —
eld né jarn it fellda.
Varðandi regns geira, sás vættki sparði fjǫr, gekk þaðra glaðr í gǫgnum orrostu sem vind. Síðan flýðit sá gramr eld né it fellda jarn; eru sœm of dœmi þess und erkistóli éls.
The warden of spears’ rain [BATTLE > WARRIOR], who not at all heeded his life, went there, exultant, through battle like the wind. Later that prince fled neither fire nor the pure iron; there are fitting proofs of that under the archiepiscopal seat of the storm [HEAVEN].
readings
[8] jarn it: jarðar Hr
notes
[8] it fellda jarn ‘the pure iron’: Felldr is the p. p. of the weak verb fella ‘purify iron’ (Fritzner: fellujarn; Falk 1914, 1-2). Finnur Jónsson suggests ‘the drawn sword’ (LP: fella 2; so also ÍF 29), which is not immediately obvious.
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 |