manninn

Manninn is a form found in North Germanic languages referring to “the man” or “the human.” In modern Icelandic, the standard word for “the man” is maðurinn, formed from the noun maður with the definite suffix -inn. The form manninn is not common in contemporary Icelandic outside linguistic discussion; it appears primarily in historical texts and in reconstructions of older language stages.

In etymology, the word traces to the Proto-Germanic root *mannaz- meaning “man.” The development of definite forms in North Germanic languages typically involved adding a suffix to the noun stem. In Old Norse and earlier Icelandic varieties, a form like manninn could occur as the definite singular of a stem such as mann- or maðr-, depending on dialect and orthography, whereas the modern Icelandic standard uses maðurinn as the ordinary definite form.

Usage and context

Historically, manninn appears in scholarly descriptions of Old Norse grammar and in editions of medieval texts as the definite singular of words meaning “man.” In everyday Icelandic, the unmarked form appears as maður, and the definite form as maðurinn. The exact spelling and pronunciation of the definite form varied across the medieval period and among North Germanic languages.

Related terms

- Maðr: an older Old Norse word for “man,” commonly encountered in sagas and poems.

- Maður: the modern Icelandic word for “man.”

- Mann-: an older or dialectal stem found in linguistic descriptions and comparative studies of North Germanic languages.

See also

Maðr, Maðurinn, Mann (Germanic root), Old Norse orthography.