The impersonal verb in Old Icelandic

60 ..
. .. geisar eimi ok aldrnari. (p.20, 1.506) Class 11:1.
lIEimi ok aldrnari il is the focus; the dative forms of .... L.[lese '
tvvo now'lS suggests their instr1..unentali ty rather than agency
in this holocaust.
The smoke illLd fire are not raging of
their OWll accord, some thing is making them rage ..
es. / ('I
Dvaluisk pa mjQk fyrir peim. p.82, 1.777) Class V.
Here tre focus lIpeir!l is in a preposi tiOl-:al phrase i1fyrir
The focus thus in a phrase transfers the weight of
meaning from the party being delayed to the delay for the
party ..
A fine nuance but significant in the context.(q.v.
Sometimes instead of a dative focus .... ve }1.8-Ve
.J.. •
an aCCUSal,lVe one.
The ty-pe impeT'sonal plus direct object or accusative is my
Class II, e.g.
Mik grunaoi. . .
TI1e
(-0 \..1.: • ." ..L..L, ..., ..1.. 2r. 2 " (" 1" S" T-I
141 U ) '....R 0.. .::> .l.._.
. -'-'
genlL.lVe can also appear, adverbially or as focus.
is Class IV, e.g.
. . freista P ' ~ . /
skal a fessar ~iprbttar. (p.12, 1.238) Class IV.
The lac1--: of ex-plici tness of the impersonal subject sometimes
makes it suggest a mysterious, perhaps supernatural,
source of the actio11.
Take tile Quotation mentioned above,
and a little more ..
/ /
Dvaloi sk fa mjQk f'Y"-"'ir peim. Bina bar sk jott
Class -v, Class II.
Here the impersonal idiom suggests a dark, mysterious PorJer
which is hindering the pur sueo. and helping the pursuers. The
..." " T":; .p -I -, . [..... 1..:1 .D -'-h ~ ~ \
SCa...L8S nave SY{lJ.TIg Ior .LlI'a~n~.z:::e.L now. \Ai. .. V. ,JOv_J O.L l, es.LO).