Atburða

Atburða is the genitive plural form of the Icelandic noun atburður, which means event or occurrence. In Icelandic, atburða is used to indicate possession or association with more than one event, and it typically appears in phrases governed by prepositions that require the genitive case, such as af or án, or in noun phrases describing the relationship to multiple events. For example, frásögn af atburðum can be translated as "a narrative of events."

The term's use reflects standard Icelandic noun inflection, where atburður belongs to a class of masculine nouns with various case endings. The genitive plural atburða specifically marks multiple events in a descriptive or relational context, for instance in headlines, historical writing, or reportage, where the emphasis is on the events themselves rather than a single incident. It is common to see atburða in combination with other modifiers to form compound phrases such as saga atburða (the story of events) or rannsókn á atburðum í sögu, illustrating its role in linking events to broader discourse.

Etymologically, atburðr derives from Old Norse and Proto-Nordic roots meaning an occurrence or happening, with atburða evolving as the genitive plural in Icelandic. The form is a standard part of everyday Icelandic usage for discussing multiple events in any register, from journalism to academic writing.

See also: atburður (the base noun meaning event), Icelandic grammar, genitive case.