Question
Why do male last names in Icelandic end with -son instead of -sonur?
Asked By
Eric Eduard Heinen
Answer
In Old Icelandic, when the word sonr formed the second part of a compound, i.e. Magnús-son, Sigurðs-son, the final -r (-ur) was dropped in nominative singular, and the same morphology is used in Modern Icelandic. E.g.:- Nom. Magnús Sigurðsson (son(u)r)
- Acc. Magnús Sigurðsson (son)
- Dat. Magnúsi Sigurðssyni (syni)
- Gen.Magnúsar Sigurðssonar (sonar)
- Nom. Guðrún Sigurðardóttir (dóttir)
- Acc. Guðrúnu Sigurðardóttur (dóttur)
- Dat. Guðrúnu Sigurðardóttur (dóttur)
- Gen. Guðrúnar Sigurðardóttur (dóttur)
- Are portmanteau words frequent in Icelandic? by Guðrún Kvaran
- Is Icelandic the oldest language in Europe? How old is it? by Jón Axel Harðarson
- What is the origin of the Icelandic language? by Guðrún Kvaran
- Are there rules that say when words in Icelandic should be masculine, feminine and neuter? For a foreigner it is not enough to add an article. by Guðrún Kvaran
- How did the Icelandic language start? by Guðrún Kvaran
- What is the shortest sentence in Icelandic to contain all the letters of the Icelandic alphabet? by Guðrún Kvaran
- How many words are there in Icelandic? by Guðrún Kvaran
- How many words are there in Icelandic for the devil? by Guðrún Kvaran
Why is it that male last names in Icelandic are in accusative -son instead of nominative -sonur, even when referred to in nominative, whereas female last names are referred to in nominative case -dóttir and not -dóttur?
Um þessa spurningu
Dagsetning
Published 8.4.2011
Category:
Keywords
Citation
Guðrún Kvaran. „Why do male last names in Icelandic end with -son instead of -sonur?“. The Icelandic Web of Science 8.4.2011. http://why.is/svar.php?id=58065. (Skoðað 13.11.2024).
Author
Guðrún Kvaranprofessor