The impersonal verb in Old Icelandic

48.
Er par tekit vel vic honum. (p.85, 1.866)
The Ii teral rendering is lilt is there welcomed to him.t!
This impersonal is interesting because it uses a present
tense amid other verbs in past tense. Perhaps the writer
did thi s for innnediacy, though why irmnediacy is necessary
just .here is hard to see • Perhaps he meant to d.Iilply that
the welcome at the brothers' farm(s) was al\~,iays
there for
S~ any time he cared to accept it.
Gret ti s saga:
/
Var pa fari t upp t. h£sin ok rioi t sk(lanum
ok bari t hrelunum, •
/
• • • pa var farit ofa~
/
husunum ok til dura gengit. (p.103, 1.46) (three examples,
af
also two of Class III (b), ~.v.
for notes).
/
pattr Auounar vestfir~:
. / . / I . /
•• ok nu er po a oroit mikit fyrir mer ••• (p.131, 1.66)
CLASS V (d):
Impersonal with a prepositional phrase and a
direct ob ject.
Leif's Voyage (Flateyjarbbk):
Hv'rki skorti par lax { ~i nt {vatninu ••• (p.46,1. 163)
"Skorti" is an impersonal verb;
/ /
"hvarki. • ne" are an adverb
pair meaning tlnei ther •. nor l ', therefore could not be the subject( s).
"Lax!1 is the direct object.
English would use the introductory
particle 1I there ll
vii th accompan;ying inversion of sub ject and
verb:
llThere was no lack of salmon ••• " Cf. p.47, 1.195(Cla8s II).