mönnum

Mönnum is the dative plural form of the Icelandic masculine noun maðr (modern Icelandic maður), meaning man or person. In Icelandic grammar, nouns are declined by gender and case, and the dative plural form of maðr is mönnum. The corresponding nominative plural is menn, and the genitive plural is manna.

The form mönnum is used when the noun functions as the indirect object or after prepositions that govern the dative case. For example, in a sentence like Ég gaf mönnum bókina, the phrase mönnum marks the recipient “to the men” of the book. Another usage is after prepositions that require the dative, such as með mönnum meaning “with the men.”

Etymology and relatives: mönnum comes from the same root as the Old Norse and Proto-Germanic words for man, cognate with English man and German Mann. The basic semantic unit remains the idea of adult males or people in general, depending on context, and it appears in inflected forms across Icelandic texts from historic to modern periods.

Usage in modern Icelandic is common in formal or literary contexts and in fixed expressions; in everyday speech, speakers typically rely on the nominative or pronouns for straightforward references and reserve the dative plural form for recipients or complement phrases. Related terms include maðr/maður (man) and menn (men, nominative plural), with mönnum serving as the needed dative plural form.