An Icelandic Primer

With Grammar, Notes, and Glossary

By Henry Sweet, M.A.

Second Edition
1895

Preface

The want of a short and easy introduction to the study of Icelandic has been felt for a long time--in fact, from the very beginning of that study in England. The Icelandic Reader, edited by Messrs. Vigfusson and Powell, in the Clarendon Press Series, is a most valuable book, which ought to be in the hands of every student; but it still leaves room for an elementary primer. As the engagements of the editors of the Reader would have made it impossible for them to undertake such a work for some years to come, they raised no objections to my proposal to undertake it myself. Meanwhile, I found the task was a more formidable one than I had anticipated, and accordingly, before definitely committing myself to it, I made one final attempt to induce Messrs. Vigfusson and Powell to take it off my hands; but they very kindly encouraged me to proceed with it; and as I myself thought that an Icelandic primer, on the lines of my Anglo-Saxon one, might perhaps be the means of inducing some students of Old English to take up Icelandic as well, I determined to go on.

In the spelling I have not thought it necessary to adhere strictly to that adopted in the Reader, for the editors have themselves deviated from it in their Corpus Poeticum Boreale, in the way of separating ǫ from ö, etc. My own principle has been to deviate as little as possible from the traditional spelling followed in normalized texts. There is, indeed, no practical gain for the beginner in writing tīme for tīmi, discarding ð, etc., although these changes certainly bring us nearer the oldest MSS., and cannot be dispensed with in scientific works. The essential thing for the beginner is to have regular forms presented to him, to the exclusion, as far as possible, of isolated archaisms, and to have the defective distinctions of the MSS. supplemented by diacritics. I have not hesitated to substitute (¯) for (´) as the mark of length; the latter ought in my opinion to be used exclusively--in Icelandic as well as in Old English and Old Irish--to represent the actual accents of the MSS.

In the grammar I have to acknowledge my great obligations to Noreen's Altisländische Grammatik, which is by far the best Icelandic grammar that has yet appeared--at least from that narrow point of view which ignores syntax, and concentrates itself on phonology and inflections.

The texts are intended to be as easy, interesting, and representative as possible. With such a language, and such a master of it as Snorri to choose from, this combination is not difficult to realise. The beginner is indeed to be envied who makes his first acquaintance with the splendid mythological tales of the North, told in an absolutely perfect style. As the death of Olaf Tryggvason is given in the Reader only from the longer recension of the Heimskringla, I have been able to give the shorter text, which is admirably suited for the purposes of this book. The story of Auðun is not only a beautiful one in itself, but, together with the preceding piece, gives a vivid idea of the Norse ideal of the kingly character, which was the foundation of their whole political system. As the Reader does not include poetry (except incidentally), I have added one of the finest of the Eddaic poems, which is at the same time freest from obscurity and corruption--the song of Thor's quest of his hammer.

In the glossary I have ventured to deviate from the very inconvenient Scandinavian arrangement, which puts þ, æ, œ, right at the end of the alphabet.

I have to acknowledge the great help I have had in preparing the texts and the glossary from Wimmer's Oldnordisk Læsebog, which I consider to be, on the whole, the best reading-book that exists in any language. So excellent is Wimmer's selection of texts, that it was impossible for me to do otherwise than follow him in nearly every case.

In conclusion, it is almost superfluous to say that this book makes no pretension to originality of any kind. If it contributes towards restoring to Englishmen that precious heritage--the old language and literature of Iceland--which our miserably narrow scheme of education has hitherto defrauded them of, it will have fulfilled its purpose.

HENRY SWEET
London,
February, 1886

Contents

[Grammar]
[Texts]

[Notes]
[Glossary]
[Proper Names]

Grammar

1. This book deals with Old Icelandic in its classical period, between 1200 and 1350.

Pronunciation

2. The Icelandic alphabet was founded on the Latin, with the addition of þ and ð, and of the modified letters ę, ǫ, ø, which last is in this book written ö, ǫ̈.

Vowels

3. The vowel-letters had nearly the same values as in Old English. Long vowels were often marked by (´). In this book long vowels are regularly marked by (¯)¹. The following are the elementary vowels and diphthongs, with examples, and key-words from English, French (F.), and German (G.):--

[Footnote 1: Note that the longs of ę, ö are written æ, œ, respectively.]

[Footnote 2: Where no keyword is given for a long vowel, its sound is that of the corresponding short vowel lengthened.]

4. The unaccented i in systir, etc. (which is generally written e in the MSS.) probably had the sound of y in pity, which is really between i and e. The unacc. u in fōru (they went), etc. (which is generally written o in the MSS.) probably had the sound of oo in good.

Note that several of the vowels go in pairs of close and open, thus:

Consonants

5. Double consonants followed by a vowel must be pronounced really double, as in Italian. Thus the kk in drekka (to drink) must be pronounced like the kc in bookcase, while the k in dręki (dragon) is single, as in booking. When final (or followed by another cons.) double conss. are pronounced long, as in munn (mouth acc.), hamarr (hammer nom.), steinn (stone nom.), distinguished from mun (will vb.), and the accusatives hamar, stein.

6. k and g had a more front (palatal) sound before the front vowels e, ę, i, ö, ǫ̈, y, and their longs, as also before j, as in kęnna (known), keyra (drive), gǫ̈ra (make), liggja (lie).

7. kkj, ggj were probably pronounced simply as double front kk, gg, the j not being pronounced separately.

8. f had initially the sound of our f, medially and finally that of v, as in gefa (give), gaf (gave), except of course in such combinations as ft, where it had the sound of f.

9. g was a stopped (back or front--guttural or palatal) cons. initially and in the combination ng, the two g's in ganga (go) being pronounced as in go. It had the open sound of G. g in sagen medially before the back vowels a, o, ǫ, u, and all conss. except j, and finally:--saga (tale), dǫgum (with days); sagði (he said); lag (he lay). Before the front vowels and j it had the sound of G. g in liegen, or nearly that of j (our y), as in sęgir (says), sęgja (to say).

10. Before voiceless conss. (t, s) g seems to have been pronounced k, as in sagt (said), dags (day's).

11. The g was always sounded in the combination ng, as in single, not as in singer.

12. h was sounded before j in such words as hjarta (heart) much as in E. hue (= hjū). hl, hn, hr, hv probably represented voiceless l, n, r, w respectively, hv being identical with E. wh: hlaupa (leap), hnīga (bend), hringr (ring), hvat (what).

13. j is not distinguished from i in the MSS. It had the sound of E. y in young: jǫrð (earth), sętja (to set).

14. p in pt probably had the sound of f: lopt (air).

15. r was always a strong point trill, as in Scotch.

16. s was always sharp.

17. v (which was sometimes written u and w) had the sound of E. w: vel (well), hǫggva (hew).

18. z had the sound of ts: bęztr (best).

19. þ and ð were used promiscuously in the older MS., the very oldest using þ almost exclusively. In Modern Icelandic þ is written initially to express the sound of E. hard th, ð medially and finally to express that of soft th; as there can be no doubt that this usage corresponds with the old pronunciation, it is retained in this book: þing (parliament), faðir (father), við (against). In such combinations as pð the ð must of course be pronounced þ.

Stress

20. The stress (accent) is always on the first syllable.

Phonology

Vowels

21. The vowels are related to one another in different ways, the most important of which are mutation (umlaut), fracture (brechung), and gradation (ablaut).

Mutation

22. The following changes are i-mutations (caused by an older i or j following, which has generally been dropped)³:

[Footnote 3: Many of the i's which appear in derivative and inflectional syllables are late weakenings of a and other vowels, as in bani (death) = Old English bana; these do not cause mutation.]

a (ǫ) ... ę :-- mann (man acc.), męnn (men); hǫnd (hand), hęndr (hands).

ā ... æ :-- māl (speech), mæla (speak).

e (ja, jǫ) ... i :-- verðr (worth), virða (estimate).

u (o) ... y :-- fullr (full), fylla (to fill); lopt (air), lypta (lift).

ū ... ȳ :-- brūn (eyebrow), pl. brȳnn.

o ... ö :-- koma (to come), kömr (comes).

ō ... œ :-- fōr (went), fœra (bring).

au ... ey :-- lauss (loose), leysa (loosen).

jū (jō) ... ȳ :-- sjūkr (sick), sȳki (sickness); ljōsta (strike), lȳstr (strikes).

23. The change of a into ę is sometimes the result of a following k, g, or ng, as in dęgi dat. sg. of dagr (day), tękinn (taken), gęnginn (gone), inf. taka, ganga. i appears instead of e, and u instead of o before a nasal followed by another cons.: cp. binda (to bind), bundinn (bound) with bresta (burst) ptc. prt. brostinn.

24. There is also a u-mutation, caused by a following u, which has often been dropped:

a ... ǫ :-- dagr (day) dat. pl. dǫgum; land (land) pl. lǫnd.

25. Unaccented ǫ becomes u, as in sumur pl. of sumar (summer), kǫlluðu (they called), infin. kalla.

Fracture

26. The only vowel that is affected by fracture is e: when followed by original a it becomes ja, when followed by original u it becomes jǫ, as in jarðar gen. of jǫrð (earth)⁴. When followed by original i, the e is, of course, mutated to i, as in skildir plur. nom. of skjǫldr (shield), gen. skjaldar.

[Footnote 4: Cp. German erde.]

Gradation

27. By gradation the vowels are related as follows:--

a ... ō :-- fara (go) pret. fōr, whence by mut. fœra (bring).

e (i, ja) ... a ... u (o) :-- bresta (burst), prt. brast, prt. pl. brustu, ptc. prt. brostinn; finna (find), fundinn (found ptc.), fundr (meeting).

e ... a ... ā ... o :-- stela (steal), prt. stal, prt. pl. stālu, ptc. prt. stolinn.

e ... a ... ā ... e :-- gefa (give), gaf (he gave), gāfu (they gave), gefinn (given), gjǫf (gift), u-fracture of gef-, gæfa (luck) mut. of gāf-.

ī ... ei ... i :-- skīna (shine), skein (he shone), skinu (they shone). sōl-skin (sunshine).

jū (jō) ... au ... u ... o :-- ljūga (tell a lie), prt. laug, prt. pl. lugu, ptc. prt. loginn. lygi (lie sbst.) mut. of lug-. skjōta (shoot), skjōtr (swift), skotinn (shot ptc.), skot (shot subst.).

Other changes

28. All final vowels are long in accented syllables: þā (then), nū (now).

29. Inflectional and derivative vowels are often dropt after long accented vowels: cp. ganga (to go) with fā (to get), the dat. plurals knjām (knees) with hūsum (houses).

30. Vowels are often lengthened before l + cons.: hālfr (half adj.), fōlk (people); cp. fōlginn (hidden) with brostinn (burst ptc.).

Consonants

31. v is dropped before o and u: vaxa (to grow), prt. ōx, vinna (to win), unninn (won ptc.), svelta (to starve), soltinn (starved, hungry).

Final r is often assimilated to a preceding cons.

32. *-lr, *-nr, *-sr always become -ll, -nn, -ss after a long vowel or diphthong, as in stōll (chair nom.), acc. stōl, steinn (stone nom.), acc. stein, vīss (wise masc. nom. sg.), vīs fem. nom. sg., and in unacc. syllables, as in the masc. sg. nominatives mikill (great), fem. mikil, borinn (carried), fem. borin, ȳmiss (various) fem. ȳmis.

33. Words in which l, n, r, s are preceded by a cons. drop the r entirely, as in the masc. nominatives jarl (earl), hrafn (raven), vitr (wise), þurs (giant), lax (salmon).

34. If l and n are preceded by a short accented vowel, the r is generally kept, as in stelr (steals), vinr, (friend), sr becoming ss, as elsewhere.

35. r is kept after ll, and generally after nn, as in the masc. nom. allr (all), and in bręnnr (burns).

36. z often stands for ðs as well as ts, as in þēr þykkizk (ye seem) = *þykkið-sk, Vest-firzkr (belonging to the West Firths) = -*firðskr (fǫrðr, firth).

37. Inflectional t is generally doubled after a long accented vowel: fār (few) neut. fātt (cp. allr 'all,' neut. allt), sā (I saw), sātt 'thou sawest.'

Inflections

Nouns

38. Gender. There are three genders in Icelandic--masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender is partly natural, partly grammatical, generally agreeing with the gender in Old English. Compound words follow the gender of their last element.

39. Strong and Weak. All weak nouns end in a vowel in the nom. sg. and in most of the other cases as well. Most strong nouns end in a cons. in the nom. sg.

40. Cases. There are four cases--nominative, accusative, dative, genitive. All nouns (except a few contractions) have the gen. pl. in -a (fiska, of fishes), and the dat. pl. in -um (fiskum). All strong masculines (fiskr) and some strong feminines (brūðr, bride) take r⁵ in the nom. sg. Most strong feminines show the bare root in the nom. sg. with u-mutation, if possible (āst, favour, fǫr, journey). The nom. pl. of all strong masc. and fem. nouns ends in r (fiskar, āstir). The acc. pl. of fem. nouns is the same as the nom. pl. (āstir). The acc. pl. of masc. strong nouns always ends in a vowel (fiska). The plur. nom. and acc. of neuters is the same as the sing. nom. and acc., except that in the plur. nom. and acc. they take u-mutation, if possible (hūs, houses, lǫnd, lands).

[Footnote 5: Subject, of course, to the assimilations described above.]

41. The declensions are most conveniently distinguished by the acc. plur.

Strong Masculines

(1) a-plurals

42. So also heimr (home, world); konungr (king); Þōrr (Thor), acc. Þōr, gen. Þōrs; steinn (stone), acc. stein, gen. steins, pl. nom. steinar; hrafn (raven), acc. hrafn, pl. nom. hrafnar; þurs (giant), acc. gen. þurs, pl. nom. þursar.

43. Dissyllables in -r, -l, -n generally throw out the preceding vowel before a vowel-inflection: hamarr (hammer), dat. hamri; jǫtunn (giant), pl. nom. jǫtnar. kętill (kettle) and lykill (key) show unmutated vowels in the contracted forms, as in the acc. plur. katla, lukla.

44. Some nouns of this decl. take -ar in the gen. sing., especially proper names, such as Hākon, gen. Hākonar.

45. Some nouns add v before vowels: sær (sea), gen. sævar.

46. The dat. sometimes drops the i: sæ (sea), Þōr. dagr (day) mutates its vowel in the dat. dęgi.

47. Nouns in -ir keep the i in the sing., and drop it in the plur.:

48. So also a number of proper names, such as Skrȳmir, Þōrir.

(2) i-plurals

49. So also gripr (precious thing), salr (hall).

50. gęstr (guest) takes -i in the dat. sg., and -s in the gen. sg.

51. Those ending in g or k (together with some others) insert j before a and u: bękkr (bench), bękk, bękk, bękkjar; bękkir, bękki, bękkjum, bękkja. So also męrgr (marrow), stręngr (string).

(3) u-plurals

52. So also vǫndr (twig), vǫllr (plain), viðr (wood). āss (god) has plur. nom. æsir, acc. āsu. sonr (son) has dat. sg. syni, plur. nom. synir. It regularly drops its r of the nom. in such compounds as Tryggva-son (son of Tryggvi).

(4) r-plurals

53. So also fingr (finger), gen. fingrar, pl. fingr; vetr (winter), pl. vetr. maðr (man) is irregular: maðr, mann, manni, manns; męnn, męnn, mǫnnum, manna.

54. So also brōðir (brother), pl. brœðr.

55. Pres. participles used as nouns follow this decl. in the pl., following the weak class in the sg.:

56. So also frœndi (kinsman), pl. frœndr.

Strong Neuters

57. So also orð (word), land (land) pl. lǫnd, sumar (summer) pl. sumur (§ 25).

58. męn (necklace), kyn (race), grey (dog) insert j before a and u: greyjum. hǫgg (stroke) inserts v before a vowel: hǫggvi. knē (knee), knē, knē, knēs; knē, knē, kjām, knjā. So also trē (tree).

59. fē (money) is contracted: gen. fjār, dat. fē.

60. So also klæði (cloth). Those in k insert j before a and u: męrki (mark), męrkjum, męrkja. So also rīki (sovereignty).

Strong Feminines

(1) ar-plurals

61. So also mǫn (mane), gjǫrð (girdle), ār (oar).

62. ā (river) contracts: ā, ā, ā, ār; ār, ār, ām, ā.

63. Many take -u in the dat. sg.: kęrling (old woman), kęrling, kęrlingu, kęrlingar; kęrlingar, kęrlingar, kęrlingum, kęrlinga. So also laug (bath).

64. Those with a mutated root-vowel (or i) insert j in inflection: ey (island), ey, eyju, eyjar; eyjar, eyjar, eyjum, eyja. So also Frigg, Hęl. mær (maid), mey, meyju, meyjar; meyjar, meyjar, meyjum, meyja.

65.

(2) ir-plurals

66. So also sorg (sorrow), skipun (arrangement), hǫfn (harbour) pl. hafnir, and the majority of strong feminines.

67. Many have -u in the dat. sg.: sōl (sun), sōl, sōlu, sōlar; sōlir, sōlir, sōlum, sōla. So also jǫrð (earth), stund (period of time).

68. One noun has r in the nom. sg., following heiðr in the sg.: brūðr (bride), brūði, brūði, brūðar; brūðir, brūðir, brūðum, brūða.

(3) r-plurals

69. So also nātt (night) pl. nætr, bōt (compensation) pl. bœtr, tǫnn (tooth) gen. tannar pl. tęnnr.

70. hǫnd (hand) pl. hęndr has dat. sg. hęndi.

71. kȳr (cow) has acc. kū, pl. kȳr.

72. brūn (eyebrow) assimilates the r of the pl.: brȳnn.

73. So also dōttir (daughter) pl. dœtr; systir (sister) pl. systr.

Weak Masculines

74. So also māni (moon), fēlagi (companion).

75. hǫfðingi (chief) and some others insert j in inflection: hǫfðingja, hǫfðingjar, hǫfðingjum.

76. lē (scythe) is contracted; its gen. sg. is ljā.

77. oxi (ox) has pl. öxn.

78. herra (lord) is indeclinable in the sg.

Weak Neuters

79. So also auga (eye).

Weak Feminines

80. So also stjarna (star) pl. stjǫrnur, kirkja (church), gen. plurals stjarna, kirkna.

81. So also glęði (joy) and many abstract nouns.

82. lygi (falsehood) has pl. lygar; so also gǫ̈rsimi (precious thing).

Adjectives

83. Adjectives have three genders, and the same cases as nouns, though with partly different endings, together with strong and weak forms.

Strong Adjectives

84. So also fagr (fair), fem. fǫgr, neut. fagrt.

85. Some insert j before a and u: nȳr (new), nȳjum, nȳjan.

86. Some insert v before a vowel: hār (high), hāvan, dökkr (dark), dökkvir, kykr (alive), kykvir.

87. The t of the neut. is doubled after a long vowel: nȳtt, hātt. Monosyllables in ð, dd, tt form their neut. in -tt: breiðr (broad), breitt; leiddr (led), leitt. gōðr (good) has neut. gott. sannr (true) has neut. satt. In unaccented syllables or if a cons. precedes, tt is shortened to t: kallaðr (called), kallat; blindr (blind), blint, harðr (hard), hart, fastr (firm), fast.

88. l and n assimilate a following r: gamall (old), fem. gǫmul, fem. acc. gamla, dat. gamalli. vǣnn (beautiful), gen. pl. vænna.

89. So also lītill (little).

90. Dissyllables in -inn have -it in the neut., and -inn in the masc. sg. acc.: tīginn (distinguished), tīgit, tīginn, pl. tīgnīr. So also kominn (come).

91.

Weak Adjectives

92. So also fagri, hāvi, mikli, etc.

93. So also all comparatives, such as meiri (greater), and pres. partic. when used as adjectives, such as gefandi (giving), dat. pl. gefǫndum.

Comparison

94. (1) with -ari, -astr: rīkr (powerful), rīkari, rīkastr; gǫfugr (distinguished), gǫfgari, gǫfgastr.

95. (2) with -ri, -str and mutation: langr (long), lęngri, lęngstr; stōrr (big), stœrri, stœrstr; ungr (young), yngri, yngstr.

96. The following are irregular:

Numerals

97.

einn is declined like other adjectives:--

98.

It also has a pl. einir, einar, ein; gen. einna, etc. in the sense of 'some.'

The next three show various irregularities.

99.

Similarly bāðir (both):

100.

101.

102.

103. The others are indeclinable up to þrīr tigir, etc.; the tigir being declined regularly as a plural strong u-masculine tigir, tigu, tigum, tiga.

104. hundrað is a strong neut.: tvau hundruð (240), tveim hundruðum, etc. It governs the gen. (as also does þūsund): fimm hundruð gōlfa, 'five (six) hundred chambers.'

105. þūsund is a strong ir-feminine: tvær þūsundir (2400).

106. hundrað and þūsund are rarely = 100 and 1000.

107. Of the ordinals fyrstr and annarr (§ 91) are strong, the others weak adjectives. þriði inserts a j: þriðja, etc.

Pronouns

108.

Personal

109. ek was often suffixed to its verb, especially in poetry, being sometimes added twice over: mætta-k (I might), sā-k-a-k (I saw not; a='not'). So also þū: er-tu (art thou), skalt-u (shalt thou) = *skalt-tu.

Possessive

110. So also þinn (thy), sinn (his, etc., reflexive).

111. vārr, vārt, vār (our) is regular: acc. masc. vārn, masc. plur. vārir, vāra, vārum, vārra, etc.

112. So also okkarr (our two) and ykkarr (your two).

113. hans (his), þess (its), hęnnar (her), and þeira (their) are indeclinable.

Demonstrative

114.

115. hinn, hitt, hin (that) is inflected like minn (except that its vowel is short throughout): acc. masc. hinn, plur. masc. hinir, hina, hinum, hinna.

116.

Definite

The prefixed definite article is declined thus:

117.

118. When suffixed to its noun it undergoes various changes. In its monosyllabic forms it drops its vowel after a short (un-accented) vowel, as in auga-t (the eye), but keeps it after a long vowel, as in ā-in (the river), trē-it (the tree). The dissyllabic forms drop their initial vowel almost everywhere; not, however, after the -ar, -r, of the gen. sg., nor in męnninir (men, nom.), męnn-ina (men, acc.). The -m of the dat. pl. is dropped before the suffixed -num.

Relative

119. The ordinary relative pron. is the indeclinable er, often preceded by sā: sā er = he who, who, sū er who fem.

Interrogative

120. The neut. hvat has gen. hvess, dat. hvī, which last is chiefly used as an adverb = 'why.'

121.

122.

Indefinite

123. einn-hvęrr, eitthvęrt, einhvęr (some one) keeps an invariable ein- in the other cases, the second element being inflected as above.

124. sumr (some) is declined like an ordinary adjective.

125.

126.

127. In hvār-tvęggja (each of the two, both) the first element is declined as above, the second is left unchanged.

Verbs

128. There are two classes of verbs, strong and weak. Strong verbs are conjugated partly by means of gradation, weak verbs by adding ð (d, t).

129. The ð of the 2 pl. is dropt before þit (ye two) and þēr (ye): gefi þēr, gāfu þit.

130. There is a middle voice, which ends in -mk in the 1 pers. sg. and pl., the rest of the verb being formed by adding sk to the active endings, r being dropt, the resulting ts, ðs being written z (§ 36): kvezk (active kveðr 'says'), þu fekkzk (fekkt 'gottest').

131. The following is the conjugation of the strong verb gefa (give), which will show those endings which are common to all verbs:

Active

Imperative sg. 2 gef; pl. 1 gef-um, 2 gef-ið.
Participle pres. gef-andi; pret. gef-inn.
Infin. gefa.

Middle

Impers. sg. 2 gef-sk; pl. 1 gef-umk, 2 gef-izk.
Partic. pres. gef-andisk; pret. gef-izk neut.
Infin. gef-ask.

Strong Verbs

132. In the strong verbs the plur. of the pret. indic. generally has a different vowel from that of the sing. The 1 sg. pret. of the middle voice always has the vowel of the pl. pret.: gāfumk. The pret. subj. has the vowel of the pret. indic. plur. mutated: skaut (he shot), skutu (they shot), skyti (he might shoot). But there is no mutation in verbs of the first conj.: hljōpi, inf. hlaupa (leap).

133. The pres. indic. sing. mutates the root-vowel in all three persons: ek skȳt, þū skȳtr, hann skȳtr, infin. skjōta (shoot). e however is not mutated: ek gef, þū gefr. The inflectional r is liable to the same modifications as the r of nouns (§ 32): skīnn, vęx, infin. skīna (shine), vaxa (grow).

134. Verbs in ld change the d into t in the 1, 3 sg. pret. indic. and in the imper. sg.: helt (held), halt (hold!), infin. halda. nd becomes tt, and ng becomes kk under the same conditions: binda (bind), ganga (go), pret. batt, gekk, imper. bitt, gakk.

135. The t of the 2 sg. pret. indic. is doubled after a long accented vowel: þū sātt (thou sawest). If the 1 sg. pret. indic. ends in t or ð, the 2 sg. ends in zt: lēt (I let), þū lēzt, bauð (I offered) þū bauzt.

136. There are seven conjugations of strong verbs, distinguished mainly by the characteristic vowels of their preterites.

137.

I. 'Fall'-conjugation

138. The following have weak preterites in r:

139. heita in the passive sense of 'to be named, called' has a weak present: ek heiti, þū heitir.

140.

II. 'Shake'-conjugation

141. The following have weak presents:

142.

III. 'Bind'-conjugation

143. The following have weak presents (which makes however no difference in their conjugation):

144.

IV. 'Bear'-conjugation

145.

V. 'Give'-conjugation

[Footnote 6: sē, sēr, sēr; sjām, sēð, sjā. Subj. sē, sēr, sē; sēm, sēð, sē.]

[Footnote 7: sām, sāið, sā.]