# Icelandic: sheep



## Alxmrphi

What's the most common word for sheep?
All the time I see translations and I can't fathom why you need so many 

The ones I am aware of are:

*Fé
Kind
Rolla*

Yet I know that* sauður* is a word that (I think) also means _sheep_.
Then I've also seen 'sauð' in front of both _fé_ and _kind_ as well to make the extra:
*
Sauðfé
Sauðkind*

What difference does it make adding* sauð-* to the start of the other words? Are they all just the same meaning or am I missing something?

Takk!


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## Silver_Biscuit

*Fé* means *livestock*, not just sheep (sauðfé means sheep livestock - don't think you could use it of an individual animal). Dating presumably from the days when sheep were how you measured your wealth, *fé* also means *cash*.

*Kind* is definitely the most common word for sheep. I'm not sure if it can be used of sheep of both sexes... But I think it probably could encompass the whole species as a generic sort of word, like *sheep* in English.

*Rolla* means *ewe*, so only a female sheep.

No idea what the point of *sauðkind* is.

Ram is, of course, *hrútur*.

I'm not sure whether to be proud or worried that I knew all this off the top of my head... Hopefully I am not wrong.

Edit: Apparently *sauður* means *wether*, which is a castrated male sheep, but can also just mean sheep. I did have to look that one up.


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## Silver_Biscuit

I had a look through my dictionary file on interlex and found you a few more 

*gimbur* - ewe lamb, gimmer
*lamb* - lamb (easy one)
*lambhrútur* - ram lamb
*ær* - ewe

I think any farming society is going to have a lot of livestock words. English has a lot as well: have a look on the wikipedia page 'Glossary of sheep husbandry'.


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## sindridah

Gimbur? Never heard of that, Thanks! 

But yeah "Kind" is the most common.

And for the fun, The declension of *Ær* is pretty awkward. 

*ær
á
á
ær
*


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## kepulauan

I guess sauðkind could be domestic sheep.


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## Silver_Biscuit

On the subject of livestock, although not sheep, I hope it wouldn't be too off topic to just ask about pigs quickly. For a long time the only word I knew for *pig* was *svín* - I'm pretty sure it is the most common word? And *sow* / *boar* are *gylta* / *göltur*. But what about *grís* and *gríslingur*? Do both of these words mean *piglet *or can they also refer to the adult animal?


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## Alxmrphi

Silver_Biscuit said:


> I hope it wouldn't be too off topic to just ask about pigs quickly.


Funniest sentence I've ever read 
I only know *svín *to mean pig, no other word, best to wait for a native


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## Silver_Biscuit

Alxmrphi said:


> Funniest sentence I've ever read


 
I didn't think about it when I wrote it, but yes, you are right. Still, if you can't just ask about pigs quickly on a language forum, where can you? Possibly a farming forum...


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## sindridah

Heheh nei, *grís* á einungis við um afkvæmi gylta. En hvort að hinn almenni ríkisborgari viti það veit ég ekki, pottþétt einhverjir sem gera ekki greina mun á *svíni *og* gyltu*


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## Silver_Biscuit

Takk, Sindri!
Er *Gríslingur* þá bara litli grísinn frá bókunum um Bangsímon eftir A.A. Milne? Þegar ég gúgglaði þetta fékk ég aðallega hluti varðandi Disney-persónuna, sem á ensku er kalluð *Piglet*.


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## sindridah

Nei alls ekki, getur alveg kallað grís, grísling/a þótt þeir séu ekki Disney persónur. En grís er karlkyns orð! Hafði ekki hugmynd um það. 

Fannst svo skrýtið þegar þú sagðir "Er gríslingur þá bara litl*i* grísin*n*.." . Ég var bara, er ég í ruglinu eða hún, en þú hafðir rétt fyrir þér!  var svo viss um að grís væri kvenkynsorð.


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## Silver_Biscuit

_Vissi _ég ekki að það væri karlkyns orð, ég bara fletti það upp í orðabókinni  En ég sagði *kalluð* í stað fyrir *kölluð*... úps. 
Takk fyrir hjálpinu


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## sindridah

Nei SB you're mis-understanding . Sorry for speaking not so clearly in Icelandic. I was talking to myself. I was kind of suprised that *grís* was a mascular word. I totally thought it was feminine.

Quote: "En grís er karlkyns orð! Hafði ekki hugmynd um það." Speaking to myself 

Quote: "Fannst svo skrýtið þegar þú sagðir "Er gríslingur þá bara litl*i* grísin*n*.." . Ég var bara, er ég í ruglinu eða hún, en þú hafðir rétt fyrir þér!  var svo viss um að grís væri kvenkynsorð."

Again talking to myself kind of  : Found it so strange that you said "Er gríslingur þá bara litl*i *grísin*n" *I was like, I'm i mistaken or is she? But you were right! ( it is mascular ) I was so sure that grís was a feminine.

Is it more clear for you now? And i'm so sorry for speaking so confusing


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## Silver_Biscuit

Nei ég skildi fullkomlega! I just wanted to say that I didn't know _either _- I only got it right because I looked it up in the dictionary.


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## sindridah

Ahh ok  

Just *Grís* sounded so much as a feminine word for me. I guess we have cleared that up hehehe


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