The impersonal verb in Old Icelandic

33.
the distraction of a defi~ite doer in the syntax. The
nearest equivalent to the impersonal English could get would
be IIThere were sounds of going up on to the roof. • • 11,
which conveys something of the mystery surrounding the author
of the sounds, yet loses much of the vividness and drmaa and
fllJ.ency of the Icelandic.
This is "because the English verb
equivalent IIThere were sounds of going up!! is much less concise
and much weaker in force than the Icelandic ver"b llvar fari t Upp".
On the other hand, if English wanted conciseness it would have
to sacrifj.ce the irr"personal: IISomeone was going up on to the
roof. • • II
This would completely dispel the m;yster;y which is
supposed to ensl1.roud the mi screan t clim"ber; it would reduce
him to ffierely an unknovm human person. Another fairly concise
Engli sh rendering would be "by the passive: "The roof was beLg
climbed up.. • • II This has the merit of being reasona"b1y
impersonal in sense; but it puts the stress in the vvrong place ..
The roof "being mentioned first in the sentence stresses the
fact that the roof was being clirr:.bed on rather than that someone
(or thing~)
was doing the climbing, vv-hen the latter is much
more impor ta.Yl t.
Ok er upp va~ lokit huroUlli~i ••• (p.103, 1.49)
The focus "hurounnill is dative. The door was opened b~T
a
mysterious indefinable thing. Of. 1. 46 above.
/
~attr
AuoQYlar vestfirzka:
Haraldi konungi val' sagt ••• (p.130, 1819)
Note that ilHaraldi konungi 11
is a dative dependent on the verb