Old Norse for Beginners - Numbers
by Haukur Þorgeirsson and Óskar Guðlaugsson
Table of Contents
Grammar
Numbers are quirky things. In Old Norse the first four ordinal
numbers are declined in cases, genders and numbers. The rest are
not declined at all.
The nominative and accusative singular masculine of the declined
ordinals are as follows.
nom. einn tveir þrír fjórir
acc. einn tvá þrjá fjóra
Numbers are often used with the partitive genitive; represented in
English by "of".
tveir þeira = two of them
tveir manna Hauks = two of Haukr's men
Sometimes the numeral 'einn' is used as an indefinite article
Hér er EINN maðr.
Here is A man. / Here is ONE man. Vocabulary
Numerals
Declined:
einn = one
tveir = two
þrír = three
fjórir = four
Not declined:
fimm = five
sex = six
sjau = seven
átta = eight
níu = nine
tíu = ten
Exercises
1. Translate the following.
Hér eru tveir menn. Þeir heita Óláfr ok Eiríkr. Er Óláfr helgr maðr ok góðr mjök en Eiríkr er bæði vándr ok illr. Er Eiríkr sér Óláf vill hann hann vega. Eiríkr hefir tíu menn en Óláfr fjóra. Óláfr vegr tvá manna Eiríks. Menn Eiríks vega einn manna Óláfs. Nú vilja sumir flýja því at þeir eru ragir. Tveir manna Eiríks flýja. Þá hefir Eiríkr sex menn en Óláfr þrjá.
2. Make up the end of the story in Old Norse.
Real Text
The following is from the Icelandic book of homilies; one of the
oldest extant Icelandic texts.
- - -
Tvá sonu átti inn fyrsti maðr Adam, ok var annarr
þeira góðr en annarr vándr. Abel var góðr, en Kain vándr.
Þrír váru synir Nóa í örkinni með honum. Váru tveir góðir,
en einn var vándr. Sem ok Jafet vóru góðir, en Kam var illr.
Tvá sonu átti Abraham, ok var annarr góðr, en annarr illr.
Ísak var góðr, en Ismael illr.
Átti Ísak ok tvá sonu. Var annarr góðr, en annarr vándr.
Er Jakob góðr ok inn helgasti maðr, en Esau vándr.
- - -
Glossary
synir (nom. pl.) = sons
sonu (acc. pl.) = sons
inn fyrsti = the first
inn helgasti = the holiest
í örkinni = in the ark
var, váru = was, were (an older form of 'var' is 'vas')
annarr = one of two How can I help support Awaken the North?
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