einhver

From Old Norse einnhverr.

• IPA^(key): /ˈein.xʷɛːr/
• IPA^(key): /ˈein̥kvɛːr/
• IPA^(key): /ˈeihkvɛːr/ (colloquial)

einhver (feminine einhver, neuter eitthvert or eitthvað)

1. (indefinite) somebody, some, someone, something (abbreviation e-r)
   • Isaiah 40 (Icelandic, English)

     Heyr, einhver segir: "Kalla þú!" Og ég svara: "Hvað skal ég kalla?" "Allt hold er gras og allur yndisleikur þess sem blóm vallarins. Grasið visnar, blómin fölna, þegar Drottinn andar á þau. Sannlega, mennirnir eru gras. Grasið visnar, blómin fölna, en orð Guðs vors stendur stöðugt eilíflega."

     Hark, someone's voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

   Þekkir þú einhvern sem notar Linux?

   Do you know someone who uses Linux?

   Ég kann eitthvað í japönsku.

   I know a little Japanese.

• The neuter singular form eitthvert is used attributively (hliðstætt), i.e. with a noun while the neuter singular form eitthvað is used substantively (sérstætt):

  Heyrðirðu eitthvað? ― Did you hear something?

  Icelandic Web of Science: Er eitthvert sannleikskorn í grísku goðsögunum? (“Is there some grain of truth to the Greek myths?”)

• This word has a peculiar style of abbreviation, one that is not used with any other word:

  • einhver is abbreviated as e-r
  • eitthvað is abbreviated as e-ð
  • einhverju is abbreviated as e-u
  • einhverjum is abbreviated as e-m
  • einhvern is abbreviated as e-n
  • einhvers is abbreviated as e-s
  • einhverri is abbreviated as e-i
  • einhverja is abbreviated as e-a

The above abbreviation is the standard and is used in both formal and informal writing. It is however rarely used by younger speakers (born after ca. 1985). Instead younger speakers often either do not abbreviate this word or they use the non-standard eh or e-h (abbreviated from einhver), with eh being very widespread in online messaging, although many consider it extremely informal or simply invalid.