Breakdown of Stórmeistarinn er kona mikillar greindar.
vera
to be
konan
the woman
mikill
great, much (adjective: snjórinn er mikill)
stórmeistarinn
the grandmaster
greindin
the intelligence
Questions & Answers about Stórmeistarinn er kona mikillar greindar.
Why is mikillar greindar in the genitive case without any preposition?
This is the genitive of description (eiginleikaeignarfall). When you want to describe someone as having a certain quality, you put the descriptive noun and its adjective straight into the genitive case. It translates directly to the English 'of [quality]' structure, like 'a woman of great intelligence,' but Icelandic doesn't use a preposition here.
Why does the adjective take the form mikillar?
Stórmeistari is grammatically masculine, but it refers to a kona (woman) here. Does this affect the grammar?
Grammatical gender is fixed to the word itself, regardless of who it describes. Stórmeistari is always a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine definite article (-nn). It is perfectly normal in Icelandic to use a masculine noun for a person's title and link it directly to a feminine noun like kona using the verb vera (to be).
Is greindar related to the adjective greindur (intelligent)? Could I just use that instead?
Yes, greind is the noun for intelligence and greindur is the adjective. You absolutely could say Stórmeistarinn er mjög greind kona (The grandmaster is a very intelligent woman). Using the genitive of description (kona mikillar greindar) just elevates the tone, making it sound more literary or formal.
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