Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 13.07.1981, Page 56

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M. P. Bcirnes
in Faroese, so that the accusative masculine singular form sjálvan is
often invariable. Lockwood (1955:116) gives the following example:
heítar er nakað fyri seg sjálvan.6
3.11 Fyri hv<þ— + noun phrase; jyri + ordinal or pronoun + ferð
This is one of two (Danish inspired and relatively minor) fyri + acc.
categories defined partly by their formal properties. Time When, its
meaning often somewhat obscured, can be expressed (a) by fyri + an
accusative form of hv<fir + a temporal noun phrase (occasionally with
some notion of comparison), or (b) by fyri + an ordinal number or a
demonstrative pronoun in the accusative + ferð. Examples are:
(97) Hann drekkur av krukkuni tríggjar ferðir og stirknar so ógvu-
liga firi kvprja ferð
(98) fyri hvprt eygablik, ið gongur, verður vandin meira
(99) Hegar til okkara kemur postskip eina ferð fyri hv0rja tjúgundi
ferð tað kemur til Hjatlands (sic)
(100) Nú gevist eg fyri hesa ferð
(101) Tá hann fór á húsagang fyri aðru ferð . ..
It appears that fyri can often be omitted when it is part of an adverbial
phrase of time (97, 100-1), but when what follows has the force of a
temporal clause (98-9) it is usually included.7
3.12 Noun phrase + fyri + identical noun phrase
This construction which comes into Faroese from German via Danish
(Falk and Torp 1900:327-8) can be regarded as a manner adverbial. It
indicates that a process or action is gradual. In addition it can imply
that the process or action is careful, purposeful or inexorable. Of the
six examples I have found in my material, I give four (103 contains
two):
(102) maðurin fer fót fyri fót niðan móti húsunum hjá B0vu, vendir
sær fyri og setir kassan inn á trappuna
6 It should be noted, however, that the dative masculine singular sjálvum can
sometimes replace the feminine sjálvari as well, cf: “Hann man óivað ikki vera
viknaður í vilja, meðan hann hevur verið har úti”, helt Kristina fyri sœr sjálvum.
On the function of fyri in this sentence cf. 4.2.
7 (97) can in fact be taken either way, which in part perhaps explains the pre-
sence of fyri: ‘on each occasion’ or ‘with the drinking of each draught’.