# Icelandic: declension of "langafasta"



## Cobold

My Routledge Colloquial Icelandic inflects "langafasta" into the genitive singular with the strange construction "löngöföstu". I find that hard to believe, since the rules of the u-mutation state that a's in unstressed positions become "u". I would have expected "langaföstu" or "lönguföstu". Which is correct?


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## Alxmrphi

"Löng_*ö*_föstu" is not correct, as you guessed.
The correct form is "löng_*u*_föstu" (heimild).

If you have a word that isn't a compound, usually the pattern is that *a* -> *u* and then the first one (with natural Germanic initial-stress) contains the '*ö*' (all to do with what's allowed in stressed and unstressed syllables). Sometimes other vowels block this pattern when *u*'s are added, but as you can see in -langa-fasta- they're all 'a' so you might expect this _hljóðvarp_ (umlaut) to occur.

Now, with some compounds you can expect the _head _to be the only thing to change, but with _-langa-_, as a prefix, it behaves in a way where it sort of declines as if it would were it the head and then joins alongside the word it is modifying. Now, as I said, this is usually blocked in compounds (sbr. et. nf. _langamma_ (lang-amma) -> ft. þgf. _langömmum_) but you will find this more equal sort of declension with words that have the -langa- prefix. So just as if it was langa -> löngu + fasta > föstu = _l*ö*ng*u*f*ö*stu_. This is one of the only times you'll see u-hljóðvarp have an effect of connecting two ö-umlauts with a 'u' in the middle. If it was a singular morpheme (i.e. a word as one unit) it'd have changed to ->_ löngufustu_, but that's not the case here because -langa- and -fasta- are so readily identifiable.

It's probably best to not to treat this as a prefix, come to think about it. You can see in other words which there is no way u-umlaut can be triggered, yet a change in -langa- can be noted. If you take the word for _middle finger_ (_langatöng_), one of the alternative declensions can be -tangir- which wouldn't trigger a mutation, but you still see _löngutangir _in the (possible) declension. I'd say note it as an exception rather than a rule.


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## Cobold

So to summarize, when a noun starts with "langa-", I change it to "löngu" everywhere except in the nefnifall eintölu?


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## sindridah

And here it is:  Nominative:Langafasta and langaföstu in the other 3 cases.
 Prural : Langaföstur - Langaföstur - Langaföstum - Langafasta.


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## Alxmrphi

Yeah, but there aren't really many words where that happens. 'Langafasta' and 'langatöng' are the only ones I can think of. I don't imagine there are many more.
Be careful to not mix up the true prefix lang- with a following word in a compound that starts with 'a' as this -langa- form. For example the words for relatives more than one generation away:

Langamma
Langafi
Langafabarn

The division is usually pointed out in dictionaries, but for clarity it's:

Lang-_amma_
Lang-_afi_
Lang-_afabarn_

So, it's lang- and not langa- and this means when it's a true prefix the 'a' there won't be affected.


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## Cobold

sindridah said:


> And here it is:  Nominative:Langafasta and langaföstu in the other 3 cases.
> Prural : Langaföstur - Langaföstur - Langaföstum - Langafasta.



But that's contradicting with that Alxmprhi said and what is listed here. <- that uses "löngu-" in all of the plural forms as well. I'm confused now.


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## Alxmrphi

Cobold said:


> But that's contradicting with that Alxmprhi said and what is listed here. <- that uses "löngu-" in all of the plural forms as well. I'm confused now.


This is another possibility. It's the older form and when you have prefixes that work in one way and a seeming oddity, it's natural for a bit of regularisation to occur, though in this case I think the older form did used to be_ langaföstu_ and then it changed at a later stage (or, I should say, another option became possible).

For example, the Icelandic Wikipedia uses this form in its article on it:


> Föstuinngangur er upphaf *langaföstu *sem stendur yfir þrjá daga fyrir öskudag, frá sunnudegi til þriðjudags.
> _"Föstuinngangur" is the start of Lent, which lasts for three days before Ash Wednesday, from Sunday to Tuesday._



As for which is more common, I can't tell you as a non-native speaker.


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## NoMoreMrIceGuy

As a native speaker: lönguföstu, löngutöng, langömmu. (all in accusative)


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## sindridah

As a native speaker: Langafasta, langatöng, langömmu


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