# Icelandic: death (noun, animals/humans)



## Alxmrphi

Hi all,

I know there is a distinction to be made in the use of the adjective _dead_ in Icelandic, where an animal is* dauður *and a human is *dáinn* (i.e. 06:22-07:00 here*).
Then when I was watching the Lion King with Icelandic subtitles I noticed when they were talking about Mufasa's death it was something like (goes to check)Við erum viðbúin! Við erum viðbúin!
Hverju?
Fyrir *dauða* konungsins!

We are ready! We are ready! (or rather: prepared)
For what?
For the *death* of the king!
​So my question is, is there a special word for *death* (noun) when it is for a human? I know sometimes these sort of generalisations don't hold for a lot of things though, because in the same series they make a _borða_/_éta_ distinction that an animal_ étur_ but a human _borðar_, but lots of other things like HÍ's course say that_ hvalir borð__a_.... etc. I guess maybe that can be true that animals can do both but maybe it's true that humans never_ éta_.

So in the same sense maybe there not an exact relationship here.
But also I guess maybe it can just be the same word.

Ævilok
(Manns)lát / (and)lát
Fráfall
Bani

These are all words the dictionary says are nouns that mean 'death', all of which I've never heard before so maybe one is used for humans-only.

Thoughts?

Alex

*video approved by hanne


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## Silver_Biscuit

_Bani_ is like something you would see in the sagas. I _think_ it's synonymous with the English _bane_ - probs not something you'd see outside of literature these days. Might be wrong.

As far as I remember, _lát_ is pretty common when the newspapers are talking about someone who's died. They also use _að látast_ rather than _að deyja_, so I think that might be a good bet if you want to adopt a respectful tone.

Don't know anything really about the other two - never seen _fráfall_ before. I feel like _ævilok_ might be a bit poetic, as well.


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## Alxmrphi

Actually I see _látur _used a lot as well, so maybe _að látast_ might be the verb for humans and_ lát _the relevant noun. Maybe that's the distinction?

Dauði - death (animals)
Lát - death (humans)

But I imagine it's not that simple, but just checking.


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## sindridah

No Alex you don't see látur used a lot!  

Masculine: Látinn
Feminine: Látin
Neutral: Látið

Are you maybe mixing it up with latur as in lazy? Or I don't know


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## Alxmrphi

sindridah said:


> No Alex you don't see látur used a lot!
> 
> Masculine: Látinn
> Feminine: Látin
> Neutral: Látið



That's what I meant! 
I think you'd have to be extremely lazy for people to think you're actually _dead_. haha


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## sindridah

Ok so you meant *lát* instead of *látur*, Because látur doesn't exist. Well in case if some specific person would show up then I better now inform you that látur does exist but then it's a combination form, for example: dramblátur which I think means that something is tall or something like that, I don't even care


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## Ben Jamin

sindridah said:


> No Alex you don't see látur used a lot!
> 
> Masculine: Látinn
> Feminine: Látin
> Neutral: Látið
> 
> Are you maybe mixing it up with latur as in lazy? Or I don't know


 
Is it related to English 'late' in the meaning dead/departed?


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## Silver_Biscuit

Ben Jamin said:


> Is it related to English 'late' in the meaning dead/departed?



Yes.


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## Alxmrphi

Silver_Biscuit said:


> Yes.



Is it? I can see the connection with Icelandic's _*latur*_ (lazy) and English's_* late *_(not on time / slow). For me I can easily understand a connection, and I know words can change meaning radically over time. This would mean* latur* and *láta* would be related, and I'm not too sure of that. Etymologyonline says the 'dead' meaning appeared in English in the late 1400s. _*Latur*_ did come from _*latr*_ (Old Norse) which is cognate with* late*. Where _láta_ fits into the picture I'm not sure.


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## Gavril

_láta _is cognate with English _let _"allow".

Does Icelandic also distinguish between humans and animals when talking about health? For ex., would you say both _heilbrigður_/_hraustur maður _and _heilbrigt/hraust dýr_?


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## Alxmrphi

Gavril said:


> _láta _is cognate with English _let _"allow".



Hi Gav, can you tell us what source you used to back up this claim?
Takk


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## Gavril

Alxmrphi said:


> Hi Gav, can you tell us what source you used to back up this claim?
> Takk



Koebler's _Altnordisches Wörterbuch_, available here: click on the link for "L" and scroll down to the entry for _láta_ (written as "lā-t-a"). One of the cognates listed is Old English _lǣtan_ = Modern _let._


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## Alxmrphi

Gavril said:


> Koebler's _Altnordisches Wörterbuch_, available here: click on the link for "L" and scroll down to the entry for _láta_ (written as "lā-t-a"). One of the cognates listed is Old English _lǣtan_ = Modern _let._


Thanks!


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