Wiktionary:Icelandic entry guidelines
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This is a Wiktionary policy, guideline or common practices page. Specifically it is a policy think tank, working to develop a formal policy. |
| Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES. |
This page explains considerations (beyond those covered by general policies) which apply to Icelandic entries and Icelandic translations of English entries. For entries in Old Norse, sometimes referred to as Old Icelandic, see Wiktionary:Old Norse entry guidelines.
Wiktionary:Entry layout explained is the principal policy on formatting entries. You are advised to read that policy before continuing. This document supplements that policy.
Entry layout
[edit]Icelandic entries begin with a ==Icelandic== header, which is inserted into the article after any ==Translingual== or ==English== section, but otherwise in alphabetical order with other level 2 headers.
The basic structure of an Icelandic-language entry is thus:
==Icelandic== ===Etymology=== ... ===Pronunciation=== *{{IPA|is|...}}===Part of speech=== headword line # definition # definition ... ====Conjugation (verbs) or Declension (nouns and adjectives)===={{is-decl|...}}or{{is-conj|...}}
Headers
[edit]The headers allowed below the 'Icelandic' header are the same as those used in English entries, except for the “Translations” section, which is only allowed in English entries. The headers also have the same order and levels as in English entries, and the format of their content is generally identical, though certain differences between the two languages have to be taken into account.
Etymology
[edit]Icelandic nouns mostly derive from Old Norse (code: non). There are also many borrowed words, eg. from Danish (code: dk), Old Low German/Old Saxon (code: osx), Old English (code: ang), Modern English (code: en) or French (code: fr). These etymologies should be provided using {{inh|is|...|term}} (Old Norse) or {{bor|is|...|term}} (others). This will render as the ancestor language name plus the source word and add the entry to appropriate categories.
If you do not know or are unsure about the etymology, leave out the section or put {{rfe}} into it.
Be careful when adding or updating etymologies to Icelandic terms, more or different information may be available on the Old Norse entry (if present) or Old Norse dictionaries than is in a Modern Icelandic etymological dictionary. The most reliable Modern Icelandic dictionary is Íslensk orðsifjabók. As stated, Old Norse dictionaries (especially older ones) may have differing information but Íslensk orðabók uses many of these as sources and so may present a more coherent theory than other sources.
An example etymology, from taka (“to take”):
===Etymology=== From{{inh|is|non|taka}}, from{{der|is|gem-pro|*tēkaną}}.
Many other words are derived from affixation ({{prefix}}, {{suffix}}, {{affix}}) and many from compounding ({{compound}}). Compounding occurs in three ways:
- Most commonly by prefixing the stem to another word. This undoes any umlaut which may affect the prefixed word. For example, for the noun kattþrifinn (“spick and span”)
{{com+|is|köttur<t:cat>|þrifinn<t:clean>}}
Compound of köttur (“cat”) + þrifinn (“clean”).
- By using a connective letter which is not inflectional (
-a-,-i-,-u-or-s-). This may be confusing because the letters used are also found in inflectional endings, but they can be analyzed separately due to the fact they cannot occur as a genitive ending due to their gender or number. This type must use{{affix}}, not{{compound}}, to show the connective letter. For example, for stoppistöð (“bus stop”),{{af|is|stopp<t:stop><pos:noun>|-i-<pos:connective letter>|stöð<t:station>}}
From stopp (“stop”, noun) + -i- (connective letter) + stöð (“station”).
- By using either the genitive singular or genitive plural form, prefixed to the word. The choice between numbers is heavily dependent on meaning, eg. mannsnafn (“given name”) and mannanöfn (“given names”) being singular and plural only respectively, but the singular may also be chosen instead for all existing numbers, eg. götunafn (“street name”). For example, for the noun tölvupóstur (“e-mail”),
{{com+|is|tölva<t:computer>|póstur<t:mail>}}
Compound of tölva (“computer”) + póstur (“mail”).
Pronunciation
[edit]For an overview of the symbols used to transcribe Icelandic pronunciation, see Appendix:Icelandic pronunciation and the Wikipedia article on the function of symbols in Icelandic.
Parts of speech considerations
[edit]Nouns
[edit]Icelandic nouns can have any of 3 genders: neuter, masculine and feminine. The modern language has both singular and plural and most nouns are declined in four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. Nouns are also distinguished by definiteness, having both definite and indefinite forms.
Icelandic has robust noun declension, and the declension and noun headword template ({{is-ndecl}} and {{is-noun}}) are used to show this. Declension is specified in the declension template and the headword template scrapes the declension by using the parameter |@@ ({{is-noun|@@}}). Icelandic declension is very complex and the template reflects this by providing many endings by default but some endings and some other phenomena may need to be specified.
By default, only gender must be specified (eg. {{is-ndecl|n}}) but in many cases the genitive singular and nominative plural must also be specified (particularly strong masculine and feminine nouns, but also many weak nouns of all genders).
Additionally, several processes may appear in words which must be specified, such as i- or u-umlaut, j- or, rarely, v-insertion, stem contraction, suppletion, and some forms may be explicitly required by the noun declension template (eg. dative singular of strong masculine nouns). Because of extremely productive compounding many declensions can be scraped from the base form using a special syntax, and a derivative declension may also be specified where different from the base lemma.
See T:is-ndecl for detailed usage of the template, examples and default values for many forms.
Adjectives
[edit]Like nouns, adjectives are declined in the four cases and for number in the singular and plural. In addition, adjectives are declined in strong and weak forms in their positive and superlative forms, but only weakly in the comparative.
Adjective declension is not as complex as noun declension and is specified using {{is-adecl}} and the headword template {{is-adj}}, with the same |@@ syntax as for nouns.
Although defaults are provided for all adjective types some processes must be specified, including indeclinability, rare v- or (explicit) j-insertion, i-umlaut in comparison, suppletion in comparison and stem contraction.
See T:is-adecl for usage of the template and examples (some documentation still missing).
Verbs
[edit]Icelandic verbs inflect for tense, mood, person, number and voice. Verbs have three voices: active, passive and middle (or medial). There are also two moods for Icelandic verbs: indicative and subjunctive.
Icelandic verbs may be strong or weak, the former showing tense (and other features) through vowel changes (ablaut) and the latter through the addition of a dental suffix (-ð-, -d-, -t-). Some verbs may have a mixed declension, differing (especially between tenses) by showing vowel changes or a dental suffix. Some verbs also show the past tense through a rhotic suffix (-r-), see Wikipedia for more.
Many features and conjugations are not available with the current verb templates (verbs with mixed strong/weak inflection, verbs with multiple varying inflections, etc.) and so these inflections must be left blank, including less common strong conjugation patterns. Footnotes are also not currently available within verb templates.
See Category:Icelandic_verb_inflection-table_templates for the verb templates currently provided. Be aware that the headword syntax shared by nouns and adjectives is not yet used for verbs and must be specified with varying inflection templates. For these, see Category:Icelandic_headword-line_templates.
Adverbs
[edit]Adverbs only inflect based on degree of comparison and this inflection is only shown in the headword. The syntax is {{is-adv|COMP|SUP}} for comparatives and superlatives, while the positive is automatically provided from the entry name.
Multiple comparative/superlative forms are not available with the current template, although they may be given on BÍN or Íslensk orðabók. Footnotes are also not available for adverbs.
Numerals
[edit]The cardinal numbers 1-4 and powers of 10 are inflected (the number einn (“one”) like a strong adjective, the rest with a restricted declension similar to báðir (“both”)). The first 4 cardinals are built-in to the template {{is-adecl}}. Uninflected cardinals have no declension and thus only use the head template {{is-adj|indecl|pos=numeral}}, eg sex (“six”).
Ordinal numerals are weak-only and use the adjective template as well, with the added parameters weak.-comp, eg. tuttugasti (“twentieth”).
The collective numerals are nouns, and therefore use {{is-ndecl}}, eg. tugur (“(a group of) ten”).
The distributive numerals 2-4 also use the template {{is-adecl}}, eg. tvennur (“two; two pairs (of)”).
The multiplier numerals are adjectives and use {{is-adecl}}, eg. tvöfaldur (“double”)
The numerical adverbs 2-3 are adverbs without comparison, and thus use {{is-adv}}, eg. þrisvar.
Prepositions, Particles, Interjections, Conjunctions, Pronouns, Idioms, and Phrases
[edit]These parts of speech simply use {{head}}.
Spelling
[edit]Although Icelandic has an unbroken written tradition spanning almost a thousand years, spelling norms have varied over time and the Modern Icelandic orthography came to be standardised in the 19th century. A very similar orthography used in normalised representations of Old Norse also includes the letter Ǫ, which is instead represented by Ö in Modern Icelandic.
Obsolete spellings
[edit]Since 1973, the letter Z has been obsolete and all instances have been substituted by S. However, it is very occasionally used in some proper names and loanwords, by people educated before the reform, and by house style. See the Wikipedia article on Icelandic orthography for more.
The combination je has been replaced with é, except in the beginning of borrowings (Jesús (“Jesus”)), nouns suffixed in -jandi (eg. byrjandi (“beginner”)) and the noun fjandi (“enemy”). It is written e before the letters K or G.
Templates
[edit]See: Category:Icelandic templates
Help
[edit]- Using templates:
- Template:is-ndecl (mostly finished, some functions still missing)
- Template:is-adecl (mostly finished, some functions still missing)
- Category:Icelandic verb inflection-table templates (missing many functions)
- Template:is-adv (some functions missing)
- Category:Icelandic headword-line templates
- Maintenance for Icelandic entries: