visna

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse visna, from Proto-Germanic *wisnon, *wesaną (“to consume”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪstna/
• Rhymes: -ɪstna

Verb

visna (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative visnaði, supine visnað)

1. (intransitive) to wither, to dry up
   • Isaiah 40 (Icelandic, English)

     Heyr, einhver segir: "Kalla þú!" Og ég svara: "Hvað skal ég kalla?" "Allt hold er gras og allur yndisleikur þess sem blóm vallarins. Grasið visnar, blómin fölna, þegar Drottinn andar á þau. Sannlega, mennirnir eru gras. Grasið visnar, blómin fölna, en orð Guðs vors stendur stöðugt eilíflega."

     A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

Related terms

• visinn
• visnaður

See also

• fölna
• fölur

Further reading

• “wizen”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

visna

1. past tense of visne
2. supine of visne

Anagrams

• anvis, sniva, svina

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

visna (present tense visnar, past tense visna, past participle visna, passive infinitive visnast, present participle visnande, imperative visna/visn)

1. alternative form of visne

Anagrams

• sniva, svina

Old Norse

Etymology

From the adjective visinn (“withered”). This derivation could also have taken place at an earlier stage in the linguistic history.

Verb

visna

1. (intransitive) to wither

Conjugation

Conjugation of visna — active (weak class 2)

infinitive	visna
present participle	visnandi
past participle	visnaðr
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	visna	visnaða		visna	visnaða
2nd person singular	visnar	visnaðir		visnir	visnaðir
3rd person singular	visnar	visnaði		visni	visnaði
1st person plural	visnum	visnuðum		visnim	visnaðim
2nd person plural	visnið	visnuðuð		visnið	visnaðið
3rd person plural	visna	visnuðu		visni	visnaði
imperative	present
2nd person singular	visna
1st person plural	visnum
2nd person plural	visnið

Conjugation of visna — mediopassive (weak class 2)

infinitive	visnask
present participle	visnandisk
past participle	visnazk
	indicative			subjunctive
	present	past		present	past
1st person singular	visnumk	visnuðumk		visnumk	visnuðumk
2nd person singular	visnask	visnaðisk		visnisk	visnaðisk
3rd person singular	visnask	visnaðisk		visnisk	visnaðisk
1st person plural	visnumsk	visnuðumsk		visnimsk	visnaðimsk
2nd person plural	visnizk	visnuðuzk		visnizk	visnaðizk
3rd person plural	visnask	visnuðusk		visnisk	visnaðisk
imperative	present
2nd person singular	visnask
1st person plural	visnumsk
2nd person plural	visnizk

Descendants

• Danish: visne
  • Norwegian Bokmål: visne
• Icelandic: visna
• Norwegian Nynorsk: visna
• Swedish: vissna

Adjective

visna

1. strong feminine accusative singular of visinn
2. strong masculine accusative plural of visinn
3. weak masculine oblique singular of visinn
4. weak feminine nominative singular of visinn
5. weak neuter all cases singular of visinn

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “visna”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive