Distributive numerals in the Faroese language
Distributive numerals in the Faroese language ( Faro : skiftitøl [ ˈʃɪftɪˌtøːl ]; English: 'distributive numerals') exist as forms of numerals one , two and three when they refer to a plural tantum. In this case they are pairs or fixed units, like a set of similar things that belong together.
The distributive forms differ from the normal forms and, like these, are inflected in all four cases and three genders (see Wiktionary) .
Since an, eitt (one, one, one) is also the indefinite article , there is another peculiarity: Alongside Icelandic, Faroese is the only Germanic language that knows a plural of one .
Examples in the nominative :
| Masculine | Feminine | neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 normal |
a bátur (a boat) |
a bók (a book) |
eitt blað (a newspaper) |
| 1 distributive |
einir skógvar (a pair of shoes) |
einar buksur (a pair of pants) |
eini kort (a set of playing cards) |
| 2 normal |
tveir bátar (two boats) |
tvær bøkur (two books) |
tvey bløð (two newspapers) |
| 2 distributive |
tvinnir skógvar (two pairs of shoes) |
tvinnar hosur (two pairs of knee socks) |
tvinni hjún (two married couples) |
| 3 normal |
tríggir skógvar (three shoes) |
tríggjar hosur (three knee socks) |
trý hús * (three buildings) |
| 3 distributive |
trinnir skógvar (three pairs of shoes) |
trinnar hosur (three pairs of knee socks) |
trinni hús * (three houses) |
* Note: Faroese hús (house) means both “several buildings” and
“one home” in the plural , while the singular means any house. Presumably
the idea behind this is that a residential building is the home of several residents.
The plural of ein, eitt means "approximately" in its adjectival function: einar hundrað krónur "about one hundred crowns "
The distributive form of tveir, tvær, tvey and tríggir, tríggjar, trý can also appear in the modern language as an alternative variant of the normal form: tvinnir møguleikar "(exactly) two possibilities". Many native speakers perceive this to be of higher stylistic quality than tveir møguleikar . Of course, the semantic difference remains unaffected in the case of a reference to a homonymous plural tantum : tvey kort "two (game) cards" but tvinni kort "two card games (eg 56 cards each )".
literature
- Höskuldur Þráinsson et al .: Faroese. An Overview and Reference Grammar , 2004 (pp. 91 f., 113 f.)
- PDF download of chapter 3 (PDF pages 39 f. And 65 f.)
Web links
- FMN.fo - Máltáttur 3, "Tvinnir" (in Faroese)
