Breakdown of Andlitið hennar Önnu geislaði af stolti.
hennar
her / hers (genitive)
Anna
Anna
andlitið
the face
af
from (out of, cause)
geisla
to radiate
stoltið
the pride
Questions & Answers about Andlitið hennar Önnu geislaði af stolti.
Why do we use af here instead of með for "with pride"?
In Icelandic, the preposition af (followed by the dative case) is often used to express the cause or source of a physical or emotional state. While English says "with pride," Icelandic conceptualizes the action as beaming from the pride. Thus, the neuter noun stolt (pride) takes its dative form stolti.
Why is it Andlitið hennar Önnu instead of just Andlit Önnu?
While Andlit Önnu is grammatically correct, it sounds quite formal or literary. In everyday Icelandic, it is much more natural to use the definite noun (Andlitið) followed by the genitive personal pronoun (hennar) and the person's name in the genitive case (Önnu). Literally, this construction translates to "The face her Anna's".
Why does the name Anna change to Önnu here?
It is in the genitive (possessive) case to show ownership of the face. As a quick refresher: female names ending in -a almost always drop the -a and add an -u in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases.
Does the verb geisla only refer to emotional beaming, or can it be used for actual light?
It works exactly like "to beam" or "to radiate" in English, meaning it is used for both physical light and metaphorical emotions. It comes directly from the noun geisli, which means a ray or a beam of light.
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