20 Jan 2004

sjónlítill

Reading Þorsteins Þáttr Stangarhǫggs (The Short Story of Thorstein the Staff-Struck) we came across the adjective sjónlítill, meaning 'of poor eyesight.' This cames from the irregular strong verb at sjá, to see, combined with the cognate of English 'little.'

There are a great number of adjectives formed in this way in Icelandic:

sjónlítill blind (sightlittle)
vitlítill witless (witlittle)
ruðulítill making a small clearance in a battle (rowlittle)
válítill harmless (woelittle)
meginlítill weak (mightlittle)
snælítill with little snow (snowlittle)

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