Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2002, Síða 68

66
Joan Maling
rugga ‘rock, swing’, ýta ‘push’. It makes no difference whether or not
the object is a human experiencer/undergoer:
(61) a. rugga barninu ‘rock the child(D)’ rugga bátnum ‘rock the boat (D)’
b. ýta manninum ‘push the man(D)’ ýta bílnum ‘push the car(D)’
For these verbs, the case on the verbal object has clearly been gram-
maticalized, and is insensitive to the semantics of the sentence. The
same might be said about trufla e-n ‘bother someone’, whose object is
usually an animate experiencer (or by extension trufla fundinn ‘dis-
turb the meeting’), but here the accusative has been generalized.
4.4 Verbs ofbodily and heavenly emissions
One of the more curious classes of verbs goveming dative is the
semantic class which might be characterized as “verbs of bodily and
heavenly emissions”. Without exception (as far as I know), verbs
meaning ‘vomit’ and verbs referring to other bodily excretions govem
dative when used transitively. One example is the colloquial expres-
sion Heldurðu að ég skítipeningum? ‘Do you think I shit money(D)?’
which is the functional equivalent of the English Do you think money
grows on trees? These verbs include:
(62) gubba, spúa, æla ‘vomit’; pissa, míga, sprœna ‘urinate’; drul-
la, hægja sér, kúka, skíta ‘defecate’; skyrpa, spýja, spýta ‘spit’;
slefa ‘drool’; hósta slímilblóði ‘cough up mucous/blood’; snýta
(sér) ‘blow one’s nose’; ropa ‘belch, burp’; freta, prumpa
‘fart’; brunda ‘ejaculate’; blœða ‘bleed’; fganga blóði ‘hem-
orrhage’
Examples can be found throughout the recorded period, as illustrated
by the following examples; (63a), taken from the OH, is from the mid
19th century (collection of folk tales), whereas (63b) is from a late
20th century novel:
(63) a. Nautið meig þá öllu vatninu, sem það drakk úr móðunni.
bull-the urinated then all water-the(D) that it drank from river-the
‘Then the bull urinated all the water that it drank from the river.’