flœð-i, öx-i; otherwise they retain the full declension and must not be confounded with the indeclinable weak feminines gleð-i, ell-i, etc. In the west of Icel. the -r is still in use in flœð-r, veið-r, reyð-r (steypi-reyð-r), and all over Icel. in ký-r, æ-r; as also in brúð-r, only here the -r is kept through all cases, so that the word has an indeclinable sing., cp. the use of this word in Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 340, 341 (omitted s.v. p. 84). 2. a great many fem. pr. names: simple, Auð-r, Fríð-r, Gerð-r, Hild-r, Þrúð-r, Unn-r, Urð-r (mythol.): compds, Sigríð-r, Ástríð-r, Guðríð-r, Þuríð-r, Ragnheið-r, Alheið-r, Hallgerð-r, Ingigerð-r, Valgerð-r, Þorgerð-r, Gunnhild-r, Ragnhild-r, Ingveld-r, Þórhild-r, Hólmfríð-r, etc.: those in -uðr, qs. -unnr, Steinun-n, Ingun-n, Iðun-n, Þórun-n: in -dís, Ás-dís, Her-dís, Vig-dís, Þór-dís, Álf-dís, dat. acc. dísi (ommitted s.v.p. 100), and by way of analogy the foreign abbadís, (abbess), as if compounded with dís; foreign pr. names, Margrét, Elizabet, etc.: in pr. names the inflexive -r is in full use over Icel., so that Baugeið, Randíð, etc. in old MSS. are only Norwegianisms. ☞ The Icel. feminines in -r answers to Gothic -is, and are different from the Gothic feminines in -s, such as anst-s, alþ-s; of these latter the Icel. nauð-r (need, decl. as tíð) is the sole remnant. It is worth noticing that the Icel. feminine proper names have preserved and represent the oldest and fullest declension of feminines.
Remarks on the 3rd Declension, which contains about two score words: 1. eik, steik, geit, greip, grind, gnit, kinn, kind (in mod. usage), flík, spík, tík, vík, rít, mjólk, kverk (but in mod. usage kverk-ar). 2. with changed vowel, bók, brók, glóð, nót, rót, gát, nátt, tönn, hönd, önd (anas), mörk, fló, kló, ló, ró, tá, gás, lús, mús, brún, stoð, hnot; plur. bœk-r, glœð-r, gæt-r, næt-r, tenn-r, hend-r, end-r, flœ-r, tæ-r, gæs-s, mýs-s, brýn-n, steð-r, hnet-r (but in the present use, stoð-ir, hnot-ir). ☞ A very few of these words have also -r in nom. sing., viz. mjólk, mörk, nátt, vík; bœk-r from ból also occurs, though seldom; rist-r from rist, Pass. 33. 4, is poët. 3. to this class we may refer the plur. dyr-r (q.v.), gen. dura; the latter r is inflexive, and the form analogous to ký-r from kú; the plur. ký-r, æ-r (q.v.) 4. to this declension may also be referred the plur. of dóttir, systir, móðir, although the r is here radical. ☞ The monosyllabic feminines with a final long vowel are contracted, á, brá, gjá, Gná, ljá, lá, krá, rá, slá, skrá, spá, þrá; as to the declension of these words vide á, p. 48, and brá, p. 77; 16, Ey-gló, sló, stó, þró, dat. 16-m...; ásjá (q.v.) has no r in gen., nor trú, frú (q.v.) The root vowel of these words is not changed, and accordingly they are classed with the 1st declension of feminines, but in a contracted form.
Neuter.
Remarks on the 1st Declension: I. skip: forms like this are regular, and occur throughout the book, simply marked ‘n.’ II. barn: to this belong neuters with a as root vowel, which in plur., answering to -a in Goth., -u in A.S. (cp. Lat. cornu): as a radical a is the only vowel which is affected by an inflexive u, the remains of this inflexion are only found in the words with that root vowel; these words are many: 1. single words, barð, blað, vað, haf, vaf, flag, drag, bak, flak, rak, þak, skjal, far, skar, svar, glas, fat, gat, afl, tafl, fall, fjall, kall, band, grand, barð, skarð, bjarg, bragð, flagð, nafn, safn, gagl, hagl, tagl, agn, gagn, hald, vald, magn, lamb, mark, rann, happ, hapt, skapt, hlass, gjald, spjall, spjald, tjald, hvarf, starf, barn, kast, ax, fax, sax, vatn:—only in plur., lög, glöp, sköp, rök: many have no plur. 2. with an inflexive -að, -al, etc., changed into u, hér-að, hundr-að, for-að, óð-al, plur. hér-uð, hundr-uð, óð-ul: sum-ar (pro. a masc.), plur. sum-ur: gaman, dat. contr. gamni: höfuð, dat. höfði. III. nes: to this belong more than a score of words, with characteristic j, geð, veð, nef, stef, egg, hregg, skegg, él, sel, ben, fen, gren, men, ber, sker, nes, flet, net, fley, grey, hey, kið, rif, gil, þil, fyl, kyn, ný. IV. högg: to this belong a score of words, with characteristic v, högg, skrök, kjöt, böl, öl, föl, mjöl, fjör, smjör, bygg, glygg, lyng, fræ, læ, hræ, hey: only plur. söl. ☞ The dat. högg-vi, kjöt-vi, böl-vi, smjör-vi, bygg-vi, fræ-vi, hey-vi, etc. began to be uncommon even in old writers and are in mod. usage sounded högg-i, skrök-i, kjöt-i, etc., whereas n plur. the v still remains, e.g. sölva-fjara. For fé, kné, tré, see these words.
Remarks on the 2nd Declension, contining bisyllabic derivatove wors with characteristic i. Most of these words are derivative and with a changed vowel wherever possible. A great number are declined like klæð-i, so that it is difficult to give a complete list of them, e.g. fresli (by misprint called fem., p. 172); in the Dictionary they are simply marked ‘n.’ II. ríki: to this belong those with a final g, k, which have j (the characteristic i) in gen. and dat. plur., e.g. fylki, ríki, síki, vígi, lægi, and many others.
Weak Nouns.—Masculine.
The original characteristic of weak nouns in Teutonic languages is the inflexive -n, of which in Icel. the sole remnant is the gen. plur. of the feminines and neuters.
Remarks on this Declension: I. tími: forms like this occur almost in every page of the Dictionary, and are simply marked ‘a, m.’ II. steði: to this belong only a few primitive words with characteristic j, as aðil-i, bryt-i, steð-i, vil-i, nið-i; the poët. and obsolete skyt-i, tygg-i; poët. pr. names, Bel-i, Ið-i, Skyl-i, Þrið-i, Víg-i; compds in -skegg-i, eyjar-skeggjar; names of people in -ver-jar, Gaulver-jar, Oddaver-jar, and in mod. usage, Þjóðver-jar, Spánver-jar, etc., cp. varii in old Teutonic names in Latin writers:—compds in -ingi, höfðing-i, heiðing-i, kunning-i, fœðing-i, banding-i, leysing-i, auming-i, ræning-i, Væring-i, Skræling-i, etc., pl. höfðing-jar, etc.: in -yrki or -virki, ein-virki, spell-virki, etc., pl. einvirk-jar, Tyrki (a Turk, mod.), etc.:—for lé, gen. ljá (léa), and klé, gen. kléa, see these words. There is a curious inflexive -n left in pl. of the obsolete poët. words, brag-nar, gum-nar, got-nar, from bragi, goti, gumi. ☞ Some masculines have a double declension, both strong and weak, hug-r and hug-i, hlut-r and hlut-i, hólm-r and hólm-i, stall-r and stall-i, mun-r and munn-i, garð-r and garð-i, odd-r and odd-i, nið-r and nið-i, drang-r and drang-i, linn-r and linn-i, líkam-r and líkam-i, glugg-r and glugg-i, -ingr and -ingi; all derivative words in -leikr have both forms, -leik-r and -leik-i; cp. also pr. names as Örn and Árn-i, Björn and Bjarn-i, Finn-r and Finn-i, Odd-r and Odd-i, Gísl and Gísl-i, Geir-r and Geir-i, etc.
Feminine.
Remarks on the 1st Declension: I. tunga: this form, marked ‘u, f.’ in the Dictionary, contains many hundreds of appellatives, and several pr. names, Halla, Ása, Þóra, Hall-dóra, etc.: frú (q.v.) is contracted; so also trú-a, gen. trú; the pr. names Gró-a, Gó-a, gen. Gró, Gó. II. alda: to this belong all the feminines with a as root vowel, cp. introduction to letter A: völv-a, a sibyl, gen. völ-u, pl. völ-ur. ☞ Only a few of the words of this declension (little more than a score, or about two or three per cent. of the whole) form a gen. plur.; these are esp. the following, vaka, vika, klukka, ekkja, rekkja, kirkja (gen. ekk-na ... kirk-na), stúlka, tala, vala, sála (sálna, Mar. passim), kúla, súla, gata, gáta, sáta, varta, dúfa, þúfa, rjúpa, ríma, vísa, hosa, messa, kelda, skylda; kona has kven-na; the nom. of stjarna (a star) and skepna (a creature) may also serve for gen. plur., skaparinn stjarna, creator stellarum, in a hymn: in some few cases the gen plur. is formed by adding the article to the nom. sing., thus gyðja-nna (dearum) gryfja-nna (fovearum): in many cases the gen. sing. is used collectively, thus Icel. say, öldu-gangr, impetus undarum,—the words denoting wave, alda, bára, bylgja-nna; sögu-bók, liber historiarum; the gen. sagn-a, historiarum (sagna-ritari), is rarely used and is borrowed from sögn. Sometimes this deficiency may become puzzling, chiefly in translating Latin into Icel.; in original writers it is not felt. In olden times the number of those words that allowed of a gen. was still more limited.
Remarks of the Indeclinable Feminine:—with perhaps the sole exception of ævi (life) and elli (age) all the words of this declension are derivatives from adjectives and formed by a change of vowel, whenever the root vowel of the adjective is changeable; almost all these words are abstract (denoting quality), and so have no plural; forms like gleði-r (ludi) or æfi-r (vitae) are quite exceptional and ungrammatical: 1. single nouns, about two score of words; gleði, helgi (holiness), ergi, leti, gremi, helti, speki, hugrekki, frœði, mœði, œði (fury), hæsi, kæti, reiði, feiti, bleyði, hreysti, veyki, háreysti, fylli, hylli, fysi, syki, birti, snilli, girni, teiti, hvíti, örvi, mildi, blindi, atgörvi, hnöggvi, myki: lygi and görsimi in sing., but heteroclite in plur. 2. derivatives; -semi from adj. -samr, skyn-semi (very many): compds in -fræði, -speki, but if prefixed as a double compd they take s, thus e.g. frœði-bók, but huðfrœðis-bók; skynsemi (rationis), but skynsemis-trú (fides rationis, i.e. rationalismus): -ni from adjectives in -inn, e.g. heið-ni, Krist-ni, hlýð-ni, and many others: -skygni, -sýni, e.g. glám-skygni, víð-sýni: -gi from adj. igr, e.g. græð-gi, kyn-gi; -ýðgi,harð-ýðgi, etc.: -gli from adj. -gull, sann-sögli (veracitas) from sann-sögull (verax): in -andi only a few, kveð-andi, hyggj-andi, afr-endi, Verð-andi (the Norn): in local names, Skáni, Erri, Ylfi (islands): Skaði (the goddess) is declined as masc.
Neuter.
Remarks on this Declension: it contains, 1. six words denoting parts of the body, auga, eyra, hjarta, lunga, nýra, eista. 2. a few appellatives, almost obsolete, none of which from a gen. plur., bjúga, ökla, sima, leika, hnoða, viðbeina, vetta (in ekki vetta, no wight; hvat-vetna, every wight).
