MINN

my

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(mín, mitt), pron. my, mine.

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f., mín, n., mitt, poss. pron.:—in the possessive pronouns minn, þinn, sinn (meus, tuus, suus), mod. usage pronounces i long (í) before one consonant, but short (i) before a double consonant, and accordingly all modern editions of old writers make a distinction in the root vowel, thus, minn, minnar, minni, minna, but mín, mínir, mínar, mínum; whereas the ancients pronounced í throughout, as is seen from Thorodd, who distinguishes between the short i in minna (memorare) and the long í in mínna (meorum), Skálda 163; and still more clearly from rhymes, mítt and hvíti, Bjarn. 63; mínn (meum) and sína, Arnór (Orkn. 104); mítt, frítt, and mítt, sítt, Völs. R. 136, 137. As late as the 14th century, in the corrections by the second hand of the Flatey-book, mijtt = mítt; the older vellums do not distinguish between i and í; cp. also the cognate languages: [Goth. meins; A. S. and O. H. G. mîn; Engl. mine; Germ. mein; Dan. mîn.]

B. Mine and my = Lat. meus, in countless instances: the possessive pronoun is usually put after the noun, bróðir minn, faðir minn; for the sake of emphasis only can it stand before, minn hamar, Þkv. 3; minn dróttinn, Skm. 3; minn Sigurðr, Gkv. 1. 18; míns málvinar, 20; mínu bölvi, id.; mínir bræðr, 2. 3; minn herra, Fms. vii. 197; mínar eru sorgirnar þungar sem blý, Sturl. (in a verse): in eccl. writers, perhaps influenced by Luther’s Bible, this use has increased, and is freq. in the N. T., Pass., Vídal.; in popular speech, however, the old usage still holds good, (cp. Engl. mother mine, etc.)

2. in addressing, my dear! Jón minn! Sigríðr mín! móðir mín! barnið mitt! etc.

II. as neut. subst. mitt; [Gr. το ἐμόν; Lat. meum]:—mine, my part; skal ek ekki mitt til spara, mine, all I have, Nj. 3; malit hefi ek mitt, I have done my share, Gs. 16.

III. ellipt. usage; eru slíkar mínar, such are mine (viz. affairs), Ísl. ii. 245.