The impersonal verb in Old Icelandic

'
•• at hann mundi fljotara r ber a • • • (p. 62, 1.116)
Li terally this is II.. that him it might more
ftly over
bearll. IIRann ll by its form and posi tion before lImundi II c d
be nominative; but liberal! used personally means its cognate
IIbem",iI, IIbringll, or lIcarryH, which would be the liVI'Ong meaning
in the context. IIRel! was travell , as the next clause lief
hann ricH heldr en gengit' tells us.
something, something was bearing him.
So he was not bear
Hence the impersonal
use of "bera ll •
/
Hina bar skjott eptir. (p.82, 1.777)
lIHinal! is masculine accusative plural, so "bar" is impersonal.
The suppressed subject, seeming as "it!! does to aid the pursuers,
again foreshadows the dark fate awaiting Eyvindr
companions.
The dark Nemesis is now helping the pursuers and hindering the
pursued. For Hrafnkel -.- the boot is on the other foot now.
Hrafnkel and party now have the upper han.d over S~ and p8.rty.
This is good narrative technique; it reveals the irony that the
scales have svrung. But the writer have just unconsciously
used his natural idiom.
e-- • er daga lengoi ••• (p.85, 1.862)
IILengoi U is impersonal, since "daga ll is accusative plural by
its for-ill.
Brennu-Nj~lS
saga:
•• ef oss dregr undan.(p.94, 1.180)
Literally it is "•• it draws us away II , i.e. if we esc
Esc e is se~~ here as equivalent to our mysterious power
"it" being benevolent.