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dative like the native eyða ‘destroy, delete’. But some verbs in this
semantic class take accusative objects:
(127) skemma, ónýta, eyðileggja e-ð ‘destroy something, lay waste’ (cf.
that leggja ‘lay’ which govems accusative); fella, rífa e-ð ‘pull
something down (e.g. a buildingf ,jafna e-ð við jörðu ‘level’
4.9.9 Verbs of killing and of bodily harm
Many verbs of killing take dative objects:
(128) bana, granda, kála, sálga ‘kill jfarga, lóga, slátra ‘slaughter’;
fyrirfara e-m/sér ‘kill sbd/oneself’; fyrirkoma e-m ‘kill sbd’33
Many verbs of killing take accusative objects, however:
(129) aflífa, deyða, drepa ‘kill’; hálshöggva, höggva ‘behead’; hengja
‘hang’; myrða ‘murder’; skera ‘slaughter’ (lit. “cut”); skjóta
‘shoot’, stinga ‘stab’
Verbs of bodily harm can be said to be semantically related and
these too frequently take dative objects:
(130) misbjóða e-m ‘offend, injure’; misþyrma e-m ‘torture, inflict
bodily harm’; nauðga e-m ‘rape’
But here too there are exceptions as several verbs in this semantic
class take accusative objects:
(131) meiða e-n ‘hurt’, misnota e-n ‘abuse’, pína e-n ‘torture’, pynta
e-n ‘torture (mainly as punishment or to extract information)’
We can say, then, that most verbs meaning ‘kill’ govem dative,
although the basic verb, drepa ‘kill’, govems accusative.34 Note that
all the verbs which govem dative generally take sentient animate beings
33 HH suggests that the case govemed “by at least some” of these verbs is deter-
mined by the prefix fyrir-, which is “a preposition which becomes a prefix”; however,
as a preposition, )>’/•('/■ can govem either accusative or dative. Besides, we have seen that
*he prefix of verbs rarely influences their case marking properties (cf. section 4.8.1).
34 The verb drepa govems dative in other uses, including the fixed expression
drepa e-u á dreif'avoid the issue’ a sense far removed from ‘kill’; drepafingri í vatn
dip a finger in water’ and drepa smjörinu á brauðið ‘slather butter(D) on the bread’.