Forget about the swallows returning to Capistrano…the plovers have returned to Iceland, spring is here!
It’s just a short story from RÚV, with a couple of interesting words. It never ceases to amaze me the words I find in the online dictionary I use. Pretty much every species of bird mentioned in this article was in there, things I had to look up because I didn’t know what they were 🙂
ló/a f (-u, -ur) - golden plover spók/a sig v - stroll, saunter veður·blíð/a f (-u) - mild weather far·fugl m (-s, -ar) - migratory bird maríu·erl/a f (-u, -ur) - white wagtail álft f (-ar, -ir) - whooper swan dugg/önd f - scaup (type of duck) grá·gæs f (-ar, -ir) - greylag goose
The word for the season spring is a neuter noun:
| vor (n) – spring | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nom | vor | vor |
| acc | vor | vor |
| dat | vori | vorum |
| gen | vors | vora |
Á vorin lóan kemur til landsins.
fugl is actually an ordinary masculine noun similar to those discussed in this post:
| fugl (m) – bird | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nom | fugl | fuglar |
| acc | fugl | fugla |
| dat | fugli | fuglum |
| gen | fugls | fugla |
It’s interesting to note the meaning that the prefix far- adds to a word, imparting the sense of mobility or distance. In farfugl the idea of migration is added. Some others are:
far·tölv/a f (-u) – laptop (a mobile computer of sorts)
far·sím/i m (-a, -ar) – cell phone (mobile phone)
far·þeg/i m (-a, -ar) – passenger (migratory human? :))
far n (-s, för) – ride, passage
Má bjóða þér far? – Can I offer you a ride?
för f (farar, farir) – journey, trip
You can read more about the heiðlóa here:
http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiðlóa