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Grammar

6 Further Sound Rules

The major sound rules of Old Norse are treated in Lesson 1. In an attempt at greater completeness, a few of the more dominant sound rules are discussed below.

6.1 Syncope and Contraction

Syncope refers to the situation in which short, unaccented vowels were dropped, e.g. himin + i > himni. Short vowels bearing secondary accent are weakened.

Contraction occurrs when an unaccented vowel comes to stand directly after an accented vowel. They contract if both are back vowels (except úa, óa, and sometimes úu), or if both front vowels. Hence fá from *fáa. A back vowel followed by a front vowel remains, e.g. búinn. A front vowel followed by a back vowel creates a diphthong, e.g. *féar > fjar (G sg. of fé); *knéum > knjám or knjóm (D pl. of kné).

6.2 Breaking

Breaking, or fracture, is a process by which a simple vowel becomes a diphthong in certain environments. In ON, the only vowel subject to breaking was the underlying *e in Proto-Norse (PN). The mechanism of fracture in ON continues to be debated. Heuristically, we may say that *e > ja; hence ON gjalda beside OE geldan; ON jafn beside OE efen. Such fracture is typical in verbs of the strong third conjugation, but not in verbs of the fourth or fifth conjugations, e.g. PN *getan > ON geta. When the following syllable contains u (which may or may not have disappeared by the time of ON), then there is the further evolution *e > ja > jǫ; e.g. PN *meku > ON mjǫk. Fracture does not occur at all if *e is preceded by v, l, or r, e.g. verða, leðr. In a few masculine nouns, all forms exhibit fracture except the dative singular and nominative plural, where the original PN *e remains as ON i: skjǫldr 'shield' has A Sg. skjǫld, G sg. skjaldar, A pl. skjǫldu, G pl. skjalda, D pl. skjǫldum; but D sg. skildi (perhaps from *skeldiu), N pl. skildir (perhaps from *skeldiur). All such nouns have jǫ in the N sg.

6.3 Raising

Original *e may be raised, or fronted, to i in the j-augmented present stem of certain class five strong verbs, e.g. *beðjan > biðja. The shift *e > i happens elsewhere, and seems to date to a period different from that in which i-umlaut affected the back vowels. It is often a matter of some dispute as to whether a given form is the result of this process or the process of i-umlaut discussed in Lesson 1.

6.4 Lengthening and Shortening

A stressed vowel in final position is long, e.g. þú. This occurs even when loss of a final consonant leaves a stressed vowel in final position, e.g. *vag > vá 'slew', past tense of vega 'to slay'.

Long vowels are often shortened before consonant clusters. This occurs particularly before double consonants. Compare neuter gott with masculine góðr; minn with feminine mín. The diphthong ei is shortened to e, hence ekki from eitt + gi.

6.5 Retention of Semi-Vowels

Original j dropped at the beginning of words. Hence ON ungr beside OE geong. Initial j in ON is of different origin (see above on Breaking). Medial j dropped before the front vowels i, y, ø, œ, and sometimes e. Medial j remains before other vowels, if it follows a short syllable (including in many instances those ending in a long vowel or diphthong), or following a g or k: e.g. veljum (1st pl.) vs. velið (2nd pl.).  This j appears as i after a long syllable, or after a g ending a short syllable.  By contrast the i of a stem appears before back vowels a and u as j when it follows a long syllable with final velar g or k: e.g. elgja (gen. pl.) from elgr 'elk', beside elgi (acc. pl.).

Original w (v in Icelandic orthography) dropped initially when preceding l or r, hence ON líta beside OE wlitan. w dropped before round vowels u, y, o, ø, œ, but not ǫ. Thus urðu and orðinn, past tense and participle of verða; also ON œpa beside OE wēpan. w dropped after ó and ú, hence ON glóa beside OE glowan. w disappeared before consonants and at the end of words, cf. sær, with G sg. sævar; ǫr, with G sg. ǫrvar. Medial w remains when following a short syllable, or following g or k: bǫð, with G sg. bǫðvar.  The -w- stem augment in verbs generally appears before a and i.  Thus søkkva (infinitive) 'to sink', but søkkum (1st pl.) 'we sink'.

7 Strong Declension

7.1 i-Stems

Several nouns have stems with an i-suffix. In some nouns, such as gestr, this caused i-umlaut which carried through the entire paradigm (contrast Goth. gasts). In other nouns, such as staðr, this situation did not obtain. The nouns staðr 'place', gestr 'guest', and bekkr 'bench' illustrate the masculine forms.

		Masculine
Stem		stað-i-		gest-i-		bekk-i-
N Sg.		staðr		gestr		bekkr
A		stað		gest		bekk
G		staðar		gests		bekks, bekkjar
D		stað		gest(i)		bekk
N Pl.		staðir		gestir		bekkir
A		staði		gesti		bekki
G		staða		gesta		bekkja
D		stǫðum		gestum		bekkjum

On the appearance of the j in certain forms, see Section 6.5 above.

The nouns nauð(r) 'distress', þǫkk 'thanks', and hǫll 'hall' illustrate the declension of feminine i-stems.

		Feminine
Stems		nauð-i-		þakk-i-		hall-i-
N Sg.		nauð(r)		þǫkk		hǫll
A		nauð		þǫkk		hǫll
G		nauðar		þakkar		hallar
D		nauð		þǫkk		hǫll(u)
N Pl.		nauðir		þakkir		hallir
A		nauðir		þakkir		hallir
G		nauða		þakka		halla
D		nauðum		þǫkkum		hǫllum

These forms are actually a confluence of the feminine ō-stems and the i-stems. nauðr may be traced back to an original i-stem (cf. Goth. nauþs, N pl. nauþeis), but other words like þǫkk and hǫll were original ō-stems which adopted the N pl. of the i-stems.

7.2 u-Stems

The u-stem nouns were all masculine. Some of these underwent fracture in the root vowel in all forms but the D sg. and N pl. These latter forms, however, were subject to i-umlaut. Elsewhere, the remaining root vowel underwent u-umlaut where possible. The words skjǫldr 'shield', vǫllr 'ground', and fǫgnuðr 'entertainment' illustrate the forms.

		Masculine
Stem		skeld-u-		vall-u-		fagnað-u-
N Sg.		skjǫldr		vǫllr		fǫgnuðr
A		skjǫld		vǫll		fǫgnuð
G		skjaldar		vallar		fagnaðar
D		skildi		velli		fagnaði
N Pl.		skildir		vellir		fagnaðir
A		skjǫldu		vǫllu		fǫgnuðu
G		skjalda		valla		fagnaða
D		skjǫldum		vǫllum		fǫgnuðum

Note the absence of i-umlaut in the D sg. and N pl. of fǫgnuðr, since this process rarely applied to syllables which did not carry the primary accent.

8 Personal Pronouns

Old Norse verbal inflection is robust enough that, strictly speaking, use of subject pronouns is unnecessary. The subject pronouns are often added for emphasis. The first and second person pronouns distinguish not only singular and plural, but also dual ('we two', 'us two', 'you two', etc.).

8.1 First and Second Person Pronouns

The forms of the first and second person pronouns are as follows.

		1st Pers.		2nd Pers.
N Sg.		ek		þú
A		mik		þik
G		mín		þín
D		mér		þér
N Du.		vit		it, þit
A		okkr		ykkr
G		okkar		ykkar
D		okkr		ykkr
N Pl.		vér		ér, þér
A		oss		yðr
G		vár		yðar
D		oss		yðr

The nominative forms are often suffixed to the verb, e.g. mæli-k 'I speak', má-k-at 'I cannot' (-at 'not', frequent in poetry). Similarly heyrðu and skaltu < skalt þú. Such occurrences with the dual and plural forms of the second person pronoun led to re-analysis on the part of the speakers: skuluð ér > skuluðér was subsequently interpreted as skulu þér. Hence the alternate forms þit and þér, and the frequent use of the 3rd person plural in place of the 2nd person.

The oblique cases are often used reflexively. The D sg. mér is often suffixed to the verb as -m, e.g. biðjum 'I ask for myself', and the A sg. mik as -mk. When added to the 3rd singular of a verb, the plural form of the verb is used instead. The suffix -mk often doubles as a form for the dative as well, hence þóttumk for þótti mér 'it seemed to me'.

8.2 Third Person Pronouns

The third person pronoun is actually a suppletive system. The masculine and feminine singular forms are built from the demonstrative hann 'this one, he'; the neuter singular and the plural of all genders are built from the þ-forms found in the demonstrative sá (masc.), sú (fem.), þat (neut.). The paradigm for the third person pronoun is given below.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		hann		hon		þat
A		hann		hana		þat
G		hans		hennar		þess
D		honum		henni		því, þí
N Pl.		þeir		þær		þau
A		þá		þær		þau
G		þeir(r)a		þeir(r)a		þeir(r)a
D		þeim		þeim		þeim

This system parallels that found in modern English, with the singular forms him, her, etc., but plural forms they, them. These pronouns are not used reflexively. Instead, the following pronoun is used.

		Reflexive
N		-
A		sik
G		sín
D		sér

These forms are used regardless of the gender or number of the referent. Thus sik might equally represent 'himself', 'herself', 'itself', 'themselves'; similarly for the other forms.

The form sik was often used enclitically following a verb, reduced to -sk. This form was then generalized as the marker of the middle voice.

9 Weak Conjugation

The weak verbs stand in contradistinction to the strong verbs. Unlike strong verbs, weak verbs are not characterized by vocalic alternation within the stem. This is not to say that there is no vocalic alternation; rather the vocalic alternation is a very predictable result of the applied weak verbal endings. The past forms exhibit a dental suffix -ð (in certain enviroments -d or -t), to which are appended the endings -- verbal to arrive at the finite verb forms, or nominal to yield the past participle. The same is found in English walk, with past tense walked. The d suffix is found in both the past tense ('I called my friend') and the past participle ('called on to answer, he tried to divert the question').

9.1 Weak Verb Classes

There are three classes of weak verbs. We may list the same principal parts as with the strong verbs. The verbs krefja 'demand', kalla 'call', and vaka 'wake' illustrate the classes.

Class		Infinitive		(3 Sg. Pres.)		3 Sg. Past		3 Pl. Past		(3 Sg. Past Subj.)		Past Ptcple
I		krefja 'demand'		krefr		krafði		krǫfðu		krefði		krafðr
II		kalla 'call'		kallar		kallaði		kǫlluðu		kallaði		kallaðr
III		vaka 'wake'		vakir		vakþi		vǫkþu		vekþi		vakat (nt.)

The 3rd pers. sg. of the present is often used as an indicator of class. At times this conflicts with historical considerations, so that some authors may assign a given verb to different classes depending on the characterization chosen. For instance, some authors assign heyra 'hear' to the first class based on historical grounds, while others assign it to the third class based on the present form. Its principal parts are given below.

Class		Infinitive		(3 Sg. Pres.)		3 Sg. Past		3 Pl. Past		(3 Sg. Past Subj.)		Past Ptcple
I or III		heyra 'hear'		heyrir		heyrði		heyrðu		heyrði		heyrðr

9.2 Active Paradigm

The active endings of the weak verb paradigms are as follows.

Weak Verbs		Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative
Present
1 Sg.		- / -a / -i		-a
2		-r / -ar/ -ir		-ir		-
3		-r / -ar/ -ir		-i
1 Pl.		-um		-im		-um
2		-ið		-ið		-ið
3		-a		-i
Past
1 Sg.		-ða		-ða
2		-ðir		-ðir
3		-ði		-ði
1 Pl.		-ðum		-ðim
2		-ðuð		-ðið
3		-ðu		-ði

The endings are in essence the same as those for the strong verbs, except in the past singular. The singular of the Present Indicative retains a linking vowel depending on the class of the verb (or, more specifically, on historical grounds -- cf. mention of heyra above). The -ð- in the Past forms is a suffix intervening between root and ending, and is included only to call attention to this difference from the past tense of the strong verbs (i.e. the -ð- only appears once in the verb). This -ð- may be realized as -d- or -t- in certain phonetic environments.

The conjugation of the first class verb berja 'beat' illustrates the endings.

Weak Verbs		Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative
Present
1 Sg.		ber		berja
2		berr		berir		ber
3		berr		beri
1 Pl.		berjum		berim		berjum
2		berið		berið		berið
3		berja		beri
Past
1 Sg.		barða		berða
2		barðir		berðir
3		barði		berði
1 Pl.		bǫrðum		berðim
2		bǫrðuð		berðið
3		bǫrðu		berði
Infinitive		berja
Pres. Ptc.		berjandi
Past Ptc.		bar(i)ðr

These forms are derivable from a minimal set of three principal parts, fewer than are necessary for the strong verbs. Specifically, these are the following principal parts:

• infinitive: berja;
• 3 (or 1) sg. past indic.: barði (barða);
• past participle: bariðr (neuter sg. barit).

The procedure for arriving at the verb forms is as follows:

• present indic., subjunct., imperat. forms: take the infinitive stem berj-, add endings (use verb class to distinguish -r / -ar / -ir).
• past indic. forms: take second principal part barði, apply u-umlaut when appropriate, add endings.
• past subjunct. forms: take second principal part barði, apply rule all disyllabic past subjunctive forms with original back root vowels show i-umlaut, add endings.
• present participle: take infinitive stem berj-, add endings.
• past participle: take third principal part stem bar(i)ð-, add endings.

Labelling the principal part stems as (1), (2), (3), this gives the following schematic representation.

Weak Verbs		Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative
Present
1 Sg.		(1) + - / -a / -i		(1) + -a
2		(1) + -r / -ar/ -ir		(1) + -ir		(1) + -
3		(1) + -r / -ar/ -ir		(1) + -i
1 Pl.		(1) + (u-mut.) + -um		(1) + -im		(1) + (u-mut.) + -um
2		(1) + -ið		(1) + -ið		(1) + -ið
3		(1) + -a		(1) + -i
Past
1 Sg.		(2) + -ða		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ða
2		(2) + -ðir		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðir
3		(2) + -ði		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ði
1 Pl.		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðum		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðim
2		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðuð		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðið
3		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðu		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ði
Infinitive		(1) + -a
Pres. Ptc.		(1) + -andi
Past Ptc.		(3) + -ðr

9.3 Middle Paradigm

The middle voice of the weak verbs is formed exactly as above, with the active endings replaced by the middle endings, involving the -sk suffix. The forms are given below for ease of reference.

Weak Verbs		Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative
Present
1 Sg.		-umk		-umk
2		-sk / -ask / -isk		-isk		-sk / -ask
3		-sk / -ask / -isk		-isk
1 Pl.		-umsk		-imsk		-umsk
2		-izk		-izk		-izk
3		-ask		-isk
Past
1 Sg.		-ðumk		-ðumk
2		-ðisk		-ðisk
3		-ðisk		-ðisk
1 Pl.		-ðumsk		-ðimsk
2		-ðuzk		-ðizk
3		-ðusk		-ðisk

As above, the conjugation of the first class verb berja 'beat' illustrates the endings.

Weak Verbs		Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative
Present
1 Sg.		berjumk		berjumk
2		bersk		berisk		bersk
3		bersk		berisk
1 Pl.		berjumsk		berimsk		berjumsk
2		berizk		berizk		berizk
3		berjask		berisk
Past
1 Sg.		bǫrðumk		berðumk
2		barðisk		berðisk
3		barðisk		berðisk
1 Pl.		bǫrðumsk		berðimsk
2		bǫrðuzk		berðizk
3		bǫrðusk		berðisk
Infinitive		berjask
Pres. Ptc.		berjandisk
Past Ptc.		bar(i)zk

This gives the following schematic representation.

Weak Verbs		Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative
Present
1 Sg.		(1) + (u-mut.) + -umk		(1) + (u-mut.) + -umk
2		(1) + -sk / -ask/ -isk		(1) + -isk		(1) + -sk / -ask
3		(1) + -sk / -ask/ -isk		(1) + -isk
1 Pl.		(1) + (u-mut.) + -umsk		(1) + -imsk		(1) + (u-mut.) + -umsk
2		(1) + -izk		(1) + -izk		(1) + -ið
3		(1) + -ask		(1) + -isk
Past
1 Sg.		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðumk		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðumk
2		(2) + -ðisk		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðisk
3		(2) + -ðisk		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðisk
1 Pl.		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðumsk		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðimsk
2		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðuzk		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðizk
3		(2) + (u-mut.) + -ðusk		(2) + (i-mut.) + -ðisk
Infinitive		(1) + -ask
Pres. Ptc.		(1) + -andisk
Past Ptc.		(3) + -zk

As mentioned with the strong verbs, the present participle middle is declined like the active, with -sk added after the declensional endings. The past participle is formed analogously, but is only found in the neuter.

10 Particles

Old Norse makes significant use of small words or function words to display coordination or subordination, or to shift nuance. The coordinating conjunctions ok 'and' and en 'but' typically join two parallel constructions. Less common are eða 'or' and né 'nor'. Sometimes two words are used to link constructions, such as bæði... ok 'both... and'; annattveggja... eða 'either... or'; hvárki... né 'neither... nor'.

One of the most common particles is er, which is used as an all-purpose relative (not to be confused with er, 3rd sg. pres. of vera 'be'). er most often follows a demonstrative, making it into the corresponding relative: þá 'then', beside þá er 'when'; sá 'he, that one', beside sá er '(the one) who'. More will be said concerning this particle in a later lesson.

Old Norse makes amazing use of prepositions to add nuance to verb phrases. For example, sœkja 'seek' vs. sœkja at 'attack'. One must understand that, while a preposition so added may govern its own object, it often does not. The preposition may be used in an absolute sense, while the verb itself governs an object. When the preposition is able in principle to govern nouns in the same case as the verb, the distinction may be difficult to make; certain situations, however, do make it clear that a verb may govern its object, while the preposition serves only to modify nuance. For example: sóttu at í annat sinn 'they attacked another time'. In this instance the preposition at is used absolutely, serving only to modify the verb's meaning. Another example: Gunnarr... skaut til þeira, ok kom á Eilíf Ǫnundarson, ok fekk hann af sár mikit 'Gunnar shot at them, and [the arrow] came at Eilif Onundarson, and he received a great wound.' In the last clause, fekk governs the accusative sár mikit; the latter phrase cannot be governed by af, which only takes the dative. Sometimes another particle may imply an object for the preposition, as in the following: hann finnr, at þar var stungit í sverði Sigmundar 'he notices that there it was thrust in with the sword of Sigmund'. The adverb þar points to the location to which í refers. The word sverði is an instrumental dative, and not governed by í itself.

The Old Norse use of prepositions is very close to modern English usage. For example, one can 'work a problem', or one can 'work out a problem'. In the latter, 'work' governs the object, not 'out' (we may rephrase as 'work a problem out'). What is more, one can 'work out at the gym', where now the preposition 'out' changes entirely the meaning of the verb, so that 'work out' is synonymous with 'exercise'.

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