{"id":3546,"date":"2013-08-01T15:03:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T15:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/islenzka.net\/?p=3546"},"modified":"2013-08-09T16:19:09","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T16:19:09","slug":"over-and-above","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/over-and-above\/","title":{"rendered":"Over And Above"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"over\"$ <\/p>\n

I’m not sure if it’s just more evidence of the extent of my Icelandic derangement, or simply a normal thing that people do when they study a language, but sometimes I sit and read…the dictionary. I mean not cover to cover, but randomly, seeing what catches my eye. Recently it was the ‘Y’ section, where I noticed there aren’t very many words \ud83d\ude42 And while looking at the words that start with ‘y’, I realized that about 75% of them were words that begin with the prefix ‘yfir<\/strong>‘. So thus the topic of this post \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

By itself, the preposition yfir<\/strong> means over, above, across<\/em>. It can take both the accusative or the dative case, which is typical in Icelandic, with accusative being used for motion and dative for location.<\/p>\n

\u00c9g hengdi myndina yfir bor\u00f0i\u00f0.<\/strong>
\nI hung the picture over the table. (direction\/motion – accusative)<\/p>\n

Myndin er yfir bor\u00f0inu.<\/strong>
\nThe picture is over the table. (location – dative)<\/p>\n

…
\n[UPDATE] I received an email from a native speaker (thanks \u00de\u00f3rey!) who said that the examples above for “hanging a picture” are better expressed as<\/p>\n

\u00c9g hengdi upp myndina fyrir ofan bor\u00f0i\u00f0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Myndin er fyrir ofan bor\u00f0i\u00f0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, upp<\/strong> is used after hengja<\/strong>, because otherwise it imparts the meaning of hang<\/em> as in a person…from a noose \ud83d\ude42
\n…<\/p>\n

As a prefix, yfir-<\/strong> usually imparts a similar meaning, like in<\/p>\n

yfir\u00b7ma\u00f0ur<\/strong> – boss, chief
\nyfir\u00b7l\u00e6knir<\/strong> – chief doctor
\nyfir\u00b7stj\u00f3rn<\/strong> – management, administration<\/p>\n

Here it creates the idea of a person who is above others, someone of rank or authority. Some words with more of a location sense are<\/p>\n

yfir\u00b7bor\u00f0<\/strong> – surface
\nyfir\u00b7skrift<\/strong> – title, heading<\/p>\n

The over-<\/em> meaning, as in too much, more, beyond<\/em>, can be seen in words like<\/p>\n

yfir\u00b7borga<\/strong> – overpay
\nyfir\u00b7bj\u00f3\u00f0a<\/strong> – outbid
\nyfir\u00b7kominn<\/strong> – overcome
\nyfir\u00b7hitna<\/strong> – overheat<\/p>\n

yfir<\/strong> is also used in telling time, for minutes past the hour:<\/p>\n

Kva\u00f0 er klukkan?<\/strong> – What time is it?
\nKorter yfir sj\u00f6.<\/strong> – Quarter past 7.<\/p>\n

Some are tricky and not always what they seem if taken literally:<\/p>\n

yfir\u00b7heyra<\/strong> – is not overhear<\/em>, but question, interrogate<\/em><\/p>\n

You can usually take a word apart to understand where its meaning came from, like yfir\u00b7tro\u00f0sla<\/strong> – violation, infraction<\/em>. The stem word likely comes from tro\u00f0a<\/strong> – to trample, step on<\/em>. So with yfir-<\/strong> it becomes like overstep<\/em>, tro\u00f0sla<\/strong> being the noun form.<\/p>\n

There are a lot more of course \ud83d\ude42 Many seem a bit abstract, but make more sense when you pick them apart (try tracking down yfir\u00b7kl\u00f3r<\/strong>). Do a wildcard search<\/a> at the wisc.edu dictionary site and check out all the ones they have.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"