Semantic contrasts and antonymy
The semantic relations of opposition are the basis for grouping antonyms. The term "antonym" is of Greek origin and means “opposite name”. It is used to describe words different in some form and characterised by different types of semantic contrast of denotational meaning and interchangeability at least in some contexts.
Structurally, all antonyms can be subdivided into absolute (having different roots) and derivational (of the same root), (e.g. "right"- "wrong"; "to arrive"- "to leave" are absolute antonyms; but "to fit" - "to unfit" are derivational).
Semantically, all antonyms can be divided in at least 3 groups:
a) Contradictories. They express contradictory notions which are mutually opposed and deny each other. Their relations can be described by the formula "A versus NOT A": alive vs. dead (not alive); patient vs. impatient (not patient). Contradictories may be polar or relative (to hate- to love [not to love doesn't mean "hate"]).
b) Contrariesare also mutually opposed, but they admit some possibility between themselves because they are gradable (e.g. cold – hot, warm; hot – cold, cool). This group also includes words opposed by the presence of such components of meaning as SEX and AGE (man -woman; man - boy etc.).
c) Incompatibles. The relations between them are not of contradiction but of exclusion. They exclude possibilities of other words from the same semantic set (e.g. "red"- doesn't mean that it is opposed to white it means all other colors; the same is true to such words as "morning", "day", "night" etc.).
There is another type of opposition which is formed with reversive antonyms. They imply the denotation of the same referent, but viewed from different points (e.g. to buy – to sell, to give – to receive, to cause – to suffer)
A polysemantic word may have as many antonyms as it has meanings. But not all words and meanings have antonyms!!! (e.g. "a table"- it's difficult to find an antonym, "a book").
Relations of antonymy are limited to a certain context + they serve to differentiate meanings of a polysemantic word (e.g. slice of bread - "thick" vs. "thin" BUT: person - "fat" vs. "thin").
North Germanic
The North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages is spoken by the Germanic-speaking people who stayed in northern part of the Germanic homeland. Between about 800 C.E. and 1000 C.E., the dialects of North Germanic diverged into West and East Norse. West Norse can be further divided into Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian, while East Norse developed into Old Danishand Old Swedish.
A characteristic of the North Germanic languages is the use of a postposed definite article.
Old Norse
Old Norse was a Western North Germanic language used in Iceland, Ireland, Norway, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, Shetland (see Norn), and the Faroe Islands from approximately the tenth to the thirteenth century. It started diverging from common North Germanic at about 800 C. E. It is the language of the Norse Eddas and Sagas. Its living descendents are Icelandic, Faroese, andNorwegian (but Norwegian has been affected by extensive contact with East Norse languages to a much greater degree than Faroese or Icelandic).
Terminology for varieties of Norse is vexed. Old Icelandic & Old Norwegian are sometimes called Old Norse or (Old) West Norse, and Danish and Swedish (Old) East Norse. Other people refer to Old Norse-Icelandic, excluding Norwegian. (Paul Acker).
Old Danish
Old Danish was an Eastern North Germanic language, spoken in Denmark, the ancestor of modern Danish and Bokmål. It is preserved in runic inscriptions and (in the Roman alphabet) in some 13th century documents.
Old Swedish
Old Swedish was an Eastern North Germanic language attested in about 2000 runic inscriptions of the eleventh and twelfth centuries C. E. Its contemporary descendant is modern Swedish. From the early 13th century onwards Old Swedish was also written in Roman script.
Norn
Norn was a mixed language of Old Norseand Irish spoken in the Shetland Islands. It is extinct.