Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2023, Síða 101

b. Sér hann kvinnan sefur án þjóst / með sætum
sees he woman-the sleeps without anger(A) with sweet
lífsins anda.
lifeʼs-the spirit
‘He sees the woman sleeping gracefully, with sweet spirit of the
life.’ (ROH)
c. ráðgjafi kirkjumálanna treystist eigi til að
advisor of-ecclesiastical-matters-the trusted-oneself not to to
veita henni leyfið án ráði erkibiskups.
offer her permission-the without consent(D) archbishop(G)
‘Advisor of the ecclesiastical matters did not feel up to offering her
the permission without archbishopʼs consent.’ (ROH)
d. þessir menn litu til himins án afláti.
these men looked to sky without cessation(D)
‘These men incessantly looked towards the sky.’ (ROH)
Owing to the lack of relevant examples, it is difficult to draw firm con-
clusions about the use of án. However, while the genitive seems to be the
primary prepositional case in the 17th century (12a), the accusative clearly
became less frequent towards the 16th and 17th century (12b). Eventually,
the accusative seems to have fallen out of use as a prepositional case of án.
Conversely, the dative occurs sporadically in younger texts (12c, d), and
at first glance, this may appear inconsistent with the descriptions in the
above dictionaries. However, as shown above, án was most frequently
used with the dative in Old Icelandic, and such dative use as in (12c, d) is
likely to be based on the authors’ preference for an archaic style where
expressions such as án e-s ráði ‘without somebody’s advice’ are frequently
encountered. The example in (12c) is originally from the journal Skírnir
34 (1860, p. 35), occurring in an article written by Arnljótur Ólafsson
(1823–1904), a clergyman, economist and politician, who is known for
his use of archaic language (cf. Ásgeir Jónsson 2012). A search using the
database at Tímarit.is shows that the genitive is chosen in all the other
examples of án in this volume, so the use of this expression in (12c) seems
to be based on its high frequency in Old Icelandic. (12d) is taken from
Gerpla by Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902–1998), published in 1952, and
can also be explained in the same way. This novel portrays the Old Ice -
landic heroes of Fóstbræðra saga and was intended to imitate the literary
style of the Sagas. Since the expression án afláti ‘incessantly’ in (12d) is
also fairly frequent in old texts, it is understandable that the dative was
Case government of the Icelandic preposition án 101