Löndum

Löndum is an Icelandic grammatical form referring to the lands, i.e., countries or territories, in plural. Specifically, löndum is the dative plural form of the noun land (land, country/territory) and is used when the language requires the dative case in a phrase. It appears in contexts indicating location, direction, or movement concerning multiple lands, often after prepositions that govern the dative, such as í (in) or til (to).

Etymology and relation to related languages: the word land comes from Old Norse and traces back to the common Germanic root for “land” or “country.” Its Icelandic form löndum reflects standard Germanic inflection patterns, with cognates seen in other languages such as English land, German Land, and Swedish land. The plural forms in Icelandic include varieties for nominative, genitive, and dative, of which löndum represents the dative plural.

Usage and scope: in modern Icelandic, löndum is a routine form in geographical, political, and historical writing when referring to multiple lands or countries in a dative sense. It can occur in narratives about regions, comparisons between lands, or descriptions of movement across lands. In literary or historical texts, the form may appear in phrases that describe actions or relationships involving several lands, often alongside other case-inflected forms of land.

Notes: as a standard part of Icelandic grammar, löndum coexists with other plural forms of land (e.g., lönd in the nominative). Its use is governed by prepositions and the syntactic role of the noun within a sentence.