Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2023, Page 130

Talmálssafn Orðabókar Háskólans. Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum (2023).
Tímarit.is. Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn. ⟨http://www.timarit.is⟩ (2023).

Lykilorð:  íslensk málsaga, sagnarsamband, merkingarbreytingar, málsnið, málnotkunar -
fræði
Keywords:  history of the Icelandic language, phrasal verb, semantic change, register, prag-
matics

summary
ʻThe meaning and usage of the Icelandic verbal phrase henda í e-ð
with pancakes, weddings, and children’
The Icelandic verb henda, sometimes followed by a prepositional phrase, may be used in
many ways, for instance in the meaning ‘throw’, as in henda boltanum í vegginn ‘throw the
ball to the wall’. Among other meanings that merit attention is henda, often without a
direct object, with the preposition í ‘into’, followed by an accusative complement, usually
an indefinite noun. Together the verb and the prepositional phrase get the figurative mean-
ing ‘do, make, create’. The goal of this article is to shed light on the history of this verbal
phrase. The issues dealt with here mainly concern its meaning and usage. According to
sources, which are often rather informal texts, the oldest written examples are from aro-
und the turn of the 21st century. However, the phrase could easily be older. It should be
noted that informal texts have very seldom been used as a basis for Icelandic dictionaries,
which could explain the absence of henda í e-ð in such works. In Icelandic digital corpora
of various kinds, on the other hand, the expression can be easily found.
The complements of the preposition in henda í e-ð are of various types, including
nouns referring to food, household appliances/utensils, songs, texts, concerts, parties,
weddings, and even children. It is particularly interesting that examples of the noun pönnu-
kaka ‘(Icelandic) pancake’, in the phrase henda í pönnukökur ‘make pancakes’, can be found
in several kinds of texts. This includes obituaries, often written by women about other
women, most likely grandmothers, or aunts.
In most cases the usage of henda í e-ð is likely to be of native origin. There is, however,
at least one variant of the expression, henda í partí ‘throw a party’, that may be influenced
by English.

Margrét Jónsdóttir
Íslensku- og menningardeild
Háskóla Íslands
IS-102, Reykjavík, ÍSLAND
mjons@hi.is
Margrét Jónsdóttir130