skipuðum

Skipuðum is an Icelandic term used as the past passive participle of the verb skipa, meaning appointed or commissioned. It functions as an adjective describing people or offices that have been appointed rather than elected. The form shown here is the dative plural of the participle, and it commonly appears in constructions such as skipuðum embættismönnum, meaning “the appointed officials.”

Etymology and grammar: The root skipa means to appoint, arrange, or order. The past participle is skipaður; in the dative plural the form is skipuðum. This form is used when modifying masculine or mixed-gender nouns in the dative plural, or in fixed phrases where the sense is “to the appointed officials” or “by the appointed officials,” depending on the surrounding syntax.

Usage and context: The term appears most frequently in historical, legal, or ceremonial Icelandic texts. It is characteristic of formal registers and older administrative language, where officials and offices were distinguished by whether they were appointed (skipuðum) as opposed to elected or hereditary.

See also: skipun (appointment), skipa (to appoint/command), embættisi (office/agency).

Notes: In contemporary Icelandic, the separate adjective form skipuðum remains recognizable to speakers but is largely confined to formal or historical writing.