King’s College 2004 v Mistress Gunnvör sílfrahárr
35
Construction
of Locatives with á
Requires a dative object.
Used in locatives in connection with proper names of countries, especially those ending in -land, for
instance;á Englandi, á Írlandi, á Skotlandi, á Bretlandi, á Groenlandi,
á Íslandi, á Saxlandi, á Vindlandi, á Viulandi, á Hálogalandi,
á Rogalandi, á Jótlandi, á Frakklandi, á Hjaltlandi,
á Jamtalandi, á Hvítramannalandi, á Norđrliindum, etc.
Used
in connection with other names of districts or counties: á Mćri, á Vörs, á Ögđum, á Fjölum (all districts of Norway). From Landnámabók á Myrum (in
Iceland), á Finnmörk, á Fjoni (a
Danish island); but í Danmörk, í Svipjóđ.
Used also before names of Icelandic farms denoting open and elevated slopes and spaces (not too high, because
then 'at' must be
used), such as -stađr, -völlr, -ból, -hjalli, -bakki, -heimr, -cyri, etc.: i.e. á Ţórisstöđum,
á Möđruvöllum, á Fitjum.
Place-names in -nes or -fjörđr sometimes take á, sometimes í (in modern usage always í).