A NP complement is either in the dative or in the genitive, depending on the adjective. These are lexical cases.
(18) a. þat er líkt feðr ykrum that.n is like.neu.n father.d your(du) ‘That is like your father’ (Hkr II.133.14) b. ker fullt mjaðar
cup.a full mead.g
‘a cup full of mead’ (Hkr I.133.13)
A NP complement usually follows the adjectival head, as in (18), but it may also precede it, especially if the complement is a pronoun:
(19) a. konungrinn mun verða þér reiðr, ef hann verðr king.n-the will become you.d angry if he becomes þessa víss
this.neu.g aware
‘The king will be angry with you if he gets to know about this’ (Hkr II.122.5)
b. þessi maðr var ekki oðrum líkr this man.n was not others.d like.m.n ‘This man was not like others’ (Hkr II.472.6)
(i) Dative
Adjectives taking dative complements are first of all those that denote a state of mind or an attitude towards the referent of the complement, as reiðr in (19a). This is the benefactive or recipient role, which is the basic meaning of the dative case (cf. 3.1.1). Further examples follow:
(20) a. þú ert hollari Agli en Eiríki konungi you.n are.2s more-loyal.m.n Egil.d than Eirik.d king ‘You are more loyal to Egil than to King Eirik’ (Eg 223.8)
b. ef ukunn eru þér kaup í bœ
if unknown.p.neu.n are.3p you.d trades.n in town.d ‘if you are not familiar with the trade in town’ (Kgs 4.24)
The dative is also used with the adjective líkr ‘alike’ and other adjectives with similar meanings; cf. (18a). Further examples may be cited:
(21) a. at gera eitt mikit skip, er líkt væri ork eða to make one big ship.a which like.neu.n were.sub ark.d or húsi
house.d
b. eigi þykkir þú hlutgengr eða jafn hinum not seem.2s you.n capable.m.n or equal.m.n the fremstum í ollum mannraunum
foremost.p.d in all man-trials.d
‘You will not seem fit for it or as good as the best in all trials’ (Eg 17.10) The dative is used with adjectives to express the cause of a sentiment, but when used with adjectives denoting appearance it expresses the notion ‘with respect to’:
(22) a. byskop var því mjok feginn bishop.n was it.d very happy.m.n
‘The bishop was very happy about it’ (Barl 58.7)
b. oll váru born Óláfs konungs fríð
all.p.neu.n were.3p children.n Olaf.g king beautiful.p.neu.n sýnum
looks.d
‘All King Olaf ’s children were good looking’ (Hkr II.162.22)
(ii) Genitive
The genitive may also be used with certain adjectives with the meaning ‘with respect to’. This is, however, much less common than the dative.
(23) a. er konungsgarðr rúmr inngangs ok þrongr is king-palace.n broad.m.n entrance.g and narrow.m.n brottfarar
exit.g
‘A king’s palace has a broad entrance and a narrow exit’ (Eg 349.1) b. váru menn þess verks fljótir
were.3p men.n that work.g quick.m.n
‘The men were quick doing that work’ (Hkr II.465.11) The genitive is used with certain adjectives with a patient role: (24) a. ek skal verða víss ins sanna
I shall.1s become sure.m.n the true.def.neu.g ‘I will find out the truth’ (Band 21.1)
b. er fúsir váru fararinnar who eager.p.m.n were.3p journey.g-the ‘who were eager to leave’ (Hkr II.308.9)
Typical genitive complements of adjectives have a partitive meaning. There- fore adjectives meaning ‘full’, ‘empty’, ‘lacking’, ‘needing’, etc., take a genitive complement.
(25) a. ker fullt mjaðar cup.a full mead.g
‘a cup full of mead’ (Hkr I.133.13)
b. þar er honum þótti ábóta vant
there where him.d seemed improvements.g needing.neu.n ‘where he thought improvements were needed’ (Hkr II.279.15) A partitive genitive is used with the neuter singular of adjectives, quantifiers, and adverbs.
(26) a. var þar fátt manna við statt was there few.neu.n men.g by stood.neu.n ‘There were few people present’ (Hkr II.266.8) b. ok dvaldist þar lengi sumars
and stayed.rfl there long summer.g
‘and stayed there for a long time in the summer’ (Hkr I.163.13)
6.2.2
Prepositional phrases
Adjectives may take prepositional phrases as their complement. These are usu- ally alternatives to nominals in the dative or genitive. The use of prepositions presumably represents a younger stage of the language, since this is the pre- dominant construction type in modern Norwegian. Instead of the benefactive or recipient dative, the preposition við is used with the accusative, or til with the genitive. Compare (27) here with (20) above.
(27) a. þat gerir mann vinsælan við alla góða menn it.n makes man.a popular.m.n with all good men.a ‘That makes a man popular among all good men’ (Kgs 4.20) b. ert þú til þess skyldr
are.2s you.n to it.neu.g obliged ‘It is your duty to do it’ (Hkr II.222.11)
The notion ‘with respect to’ may be expressed with a prepositional phrase instead of a NP alone. Compare (28) here with (22b) and (23) above.
(28) a. heill at hondum, en hrumr at fótum sound.m.n at hands.d but ill.m.n at feet.d ‘with good hands but bad feet’ (Hkr III.241.10) b. ef þú vilt verða fullkominn í fróðleik
if you.n want.2s become perfect.m.n in wisdom.d ‘if you want to become perfect in wisdom’ (Kgs 5.7)
Instead of a NP with a patient role we may find the preposition til plus gen- itive, and a partitive genitive can be replaced by af plus dative. Compare (29a) here with (24) above, and (29b) with (25a).
(29) a. nú em ek búinn til ferðar now am I prepared.m.n to journey.g ‘Now I am ready to go’ (Laxd 131.20) b. Óðinn var gofgastr af ollum
Odin.n was noblest.m.n of all.p.d ‘Odin was the noblest of all’ (Hkr I.17.3)
6.2.3
Clauses
Adjectives that may take nominal or prepositional complements, may also take clauses with similar roles.
(30) a. em ek þó fúss at svara am I though eager.m.n to answer ‘I am eager to answer, though’ (Kgs 3.18)
b. ek em nú allbúinn at ganga til fundar við I am now all-prepared.m.n to go to meeting.g with Sigurð
Sigurd.a
‘I am now fully prepared to meet Sigurd’ (Hkr III.388.21)
An infinitival clause may also express ‘with respect to’ and similar notions. (31) svá mjúkr ok léttr var honum þegar fótrinn
so soft.m.n and light.m.n was him.d immediately foot.n-the bæði at ríða ok renna
both to ride and run
‘At once his foot was so soft and light both for riding and running’ (Hóm 129.16)
The infinitive may be a transitive verb with an empty object position, where the missing object is coreferential with the matrix subject. These are then object-raising constructions; cf. 9.3.5.
(32) a. fogr var sú kveðandi at heyra beautiful.f.n was that singing.n to hear ‘It was beautiful to hear that singing’ (Laxd 111.18)
b. var áin allill at sœkja
was river.n-the all-bad.f.n to seek
‘The river was very difficult to cross’ (Laxd 34.28)
Note a special expression which uses the infinitive at kalla ‘to call’:
(33) [þeir] váru sáttir at kalla
they.m were.3p reconciled.p.m.n to call ‘They were, so to speak, reconciled’ (Hkr II.89.15)