hestur

From Old Norse hestr, from Proto-Germanic *hangistaz, *hanhistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱanḱest-, *kankest- (“horse”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛstʊɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɛstʊɹ

hestur m (genitive singular hests, plural hestar)

1. stallion
2. horse in general

• ryssa (“mare”)

• ross (“horse”)

From Old Norse hestr, from Proto-Germanic *hangistaz, *hanhistaz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛstʏr/

  Rhymes: -ɛstʏr

hestur m (genitive singular hests, nominative plural hestar)

1. a horse ^syn.
   • Revelation 6-11 (English and Icelandic)

     Og ég sá, og sjá: Bleikur hestur, og sá er á honum sat, hann hét Dauði, og Hel var í för með honum. Þeim var gefið vald yfir fjórða hluta jarðarinnar, til þess að deyða með sverði, með hungri og drepsótt og láta menn farast fyrir villidýrum jarðarinnar.

     I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

2. (gymnastics) a horse, a pommel horse, a vaulting horse

• The noun hestur is the de facto noun used to determine the case of another noun by substitution.

  Using the noun maður (“a man”) as an example:

  ég þekki mann ― I know a man

  →

  ég þekki hest ― I know a horse

  since hest is known to be the accusative form of hestur it may be deduced that mann is in the accusative case as well.

• A commonly taught mnemonic to find the cases of nouns is reciting a set of prepositions followed by an agreeing noun and hestur is often used as an example:

  nominative:

  hér er hestur ― there is a horse here

  accusative:

  um hest ― about a horse

  dative:

  frá hesti ― from a horse

  genitive:

  til hests ― to a horse

• (horse): ^def. hross, (poetic) drösull, (archaic, poetic) drasill, (poetic) fákur, (poetic) jór

• flóðhestur (“a hippopotamus”)
• keppnishestur (“a competition horse”)
• stóðhestur (“a horse intended for stud purposes”)
• trójuhestur
• veðhlaupahestur (“a racehorse”)

• klár