-inn

Icelandic

Etymology

From hinn (“the”).

Suffix

-inn m (feminine -in, neuter -ið)

1. marks definiteness of a noun; the

   Maðurinn er hávaxinn. ― The man is tall.

   Ég elska barnið mitt. ― I love my child.

   Hvar er hesturinn minn? ― Where is my horse?

Irish

Alternative forms

• -ainn (broad form)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ən̠ʲ/

Suffix

-inn

1. synthetic first person singular past habitual tense ending in the first conjugation
2. synthetic first person singular past subjunctive ending in the first conjugation

Related terms

• -aínn (second-conjugation broad form)
• -ínn (second-conjugation slender form)

Old Norse

Etymology 1

From Proto-Norse *-īna-, from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos. Originally, this suffix was used to create adjectives that refer to materials, such as Old Norse eikinn (“oaken”), from eik (“oak”) and gullinn (“golden”), from gull (“gold”). Later, use of this suffix was extended to create adjectives from verbs, such as Old Norse lyginn (“prone to lying”), from ljúga (“to lie”).

Suffix

-inn m (feminine -in, neuter -it)

1. Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning "made from"
2. Used to create adjectives from verbs, meaning "prone to"

Declension

Note that the positive degree strong masculine accusative singular is -inn, and not the would-be expected form *-nan.

Derived terms

When used, it often causes i-umlaut.

Descendants

Etymology 2

From Proto-Norse -ᛁᚾᚨᛉ (-inaʀ) (cf. ᚺᚨᛁᛏᛁᚾᚨᛉ (haitinaʀ) and ᛊᛚᚨᚷᛁᚾᚨᛉ (slaginaʀ), ancestors of heitinn and sleginn), from Proto-Germanic *-anaz, the ending of all past participles of strong verbs. The ending also results in a-mutation, except before a nasal consonant. It itself came from Proto-Indo-European *-nós.

Suffix

-inn m (feminine -in, neuter -it)

2.  Denotes the past participle form of a strong verb.

Declension

Note that the masculine accusative singular is -inn, and not the would-be expected form *-nan.

Derived terms

Descendants

Etymology 3

Suffixed form of inn (definite article), hinn, from Proto-Norse *ᚺᛁᚾᚨᛉ (*hinaʀ).

Alternative forms

• enn, hinn, inn

Suffix

-inn m (feminine -in, neuter -it)

1. the (definite article)

Usage notes

The definite suffix is added to a noun to make it definite, but this is not nearly as common as English the, and is never done in the earliest texts, including most poetry, legal texts and runic inscriptions. There are four rules for how to apply the definite suffix to a given noun.

1. There must be agreement between the suffix and the noun, in gender, case and number.
2. The suffixed article will lose its -i- after the short closing vowels -a, -i, and -u. Note that, usually, contraction will happens also after a long closing vowel, but not if it leaves the word monosyllabic.

   ‎arma + ‎-inna → ‎armanna, from armr m (“arm”)

   ‎á + ‎-ina → ‎ána, from á f (“river”)

   ‎hesti + ‎-inum → ‎hestinum, from hestr m (“horse”)

   ‎sǫgu + ‎-innar → ‎sǫgunnar, from saga f (“tale”)

   ‎tré + ‎-inu → ‎trénu, from tré n (“tree”)

3. In the plural, the suffixed article will lose its -i- after -r.

   ‎ormar + ‎-inir → ‎ormarnir, from ormr m (“serpent”)

   ‎bœnir + ‎-inar → ‎bœnirnar, from bœn f (“request, prayer”)

   ‎hendr + ‎-inar → ‎hendrnar, from hǫnd f (“hand”)

4. In the dative plural, the suffixed article will lose its -i-, and the noun will lose its final -m.

   ‎lǫndum + ‎-inum → ‎lǫndunum, from land n (“land”)

   ‎mýrum + ‎-inum → ‎mýrunum, from mýrr f (“mire”)

Declension

Descendants

References