Gripla - 01.01.1977, Qupperneq 163

MODERN ICELANDIC U-UMLAUT
159
and söfnuða.) For a list of non-archaic stems in -uður showing u-umlaut
see (8). If the only or main morphological cut in these nouns is after uð,
the forms manifest Initial umlaut. On the other hand, the stems of these
examples, excepting mánuður, are readily identified with the respective
stems of the lexical items in the rightmost column of (8). Therefore the
nouns sub (8) are perhaps analyzed by at least some Icelanders as stem
+ -uð-/-að-initial desinences. In that case it can be said that in the
genitive plural the ending / + aða/ alternates with / + Yða/, the latter
accompanied by u-umlaut, söfnuða.
There is a further set of non-phonetic representations utilizing /ö/
as the basic root vowel, /y/ as the basic vowel of uð, and changing
them to /a/ in the genitives; this is also Initial umlaut (in the direction
/ö, y/ ~»/a/) according to my definition of u-umlaut. Alternatively,
the root could be /söfn/, changed to /safn/ in the genitives, whereas
/ + aða(r)/ would be lexicalized desinences; this would be umlaut
(again in the direction /ö/ -> /a/) in monosyllabic stems. That the
basic shape of the root is /söfn/, rather than /safn/, is made probable
by the following: All case forms but the genitives contain /ö/ on the
systematic phonetic level; the maximally unmarked case, nominative (of
both numbers), contains /ö/. An example of such an analysis will be
found sub (9), q.v.
(9) nom. sg. söfn + YðYr pl. söfn + Yðir
acc. söfn + Yð söfn + Yði
dat. söfn + Yði söfn + YðYm
gen. söfn + aðar -» safn + aðar söfn + aða safn + aða
Under all the analyses operating with non-umlauting (lexicalized)
desinence-initial /að/ and /Yð/, for instance under the analysis of (9),
the nouns like those in (8) form their own declension class. Their stems
are monosyllabic, and thus fall outside the scope of Initial umlaut.
The -uður of the non-derived noun mánuður has probably been
identified with the -uður of the -uður nouns, so that whatever analysis
is correct for, say, söfnuður, is correct also for mánuður. The identi-
fication in question may have been facilitated by folk-etymologizing the
noun as containing the stem mán- of máni ‘moon’.
The masculine nouns in -ari. They form an open set and mostly
denote performers of action or occupation. For examples see (10).