Gripla - 01.01.1990, Blaðsíða 359

MAGNÚS FJALLDAL
THE QUESTION OF I-UMLAUT IN THE
PRETERITE OPTATIVE OF CLASS III
WEAK VERBS OF OLD NORSE AND
MODERN ICELANDIC
The old norse é-verbs are relatively few in number. Characteristically
these verbs are short stems and usually intransitive. In recent years the
irregular verbs of this class, especially hafa and segja, have received a
good deal of attention, whereas less has been said of the morphology
of its more typical representatives.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the preterite optative of this
class with special attention to the presence of i-umlaut and the lack of
it. To simplify the issue, all verbs that deviate from the normal para-
digm of this class (i.e. hafa, kaupa, segja, þegja), verbs with j-presents
(lýja, hlýja etc.), as well as verbs that have joined other classes in
Modern Icelandic (spara, flaka, luma etc.) have been left out. Also
omitted in this discussion are all verbs that have disappeared from
common use in Modern Icelandic (e.g. skolla and kroka).
Typical representatives of Class III weak verbs in Old Norse can be
grouped as follows:
1) With a as a root vowel:
hjara, lafa, stara, vara, blaka, blasa, gapa, vaka, gnapa.
2) With á as the root vowel:
brá, dá, fá, há, hvá, já, lá, má, sá, skrá, gá, smá, spá, strá,
þrá, glápa.
3) With i as the root vowel:
lifa.
4) With o as the root vowel:
horfa, vofa, þora, brosa, glotta, skorta, hvolfa, loða, tolla,
þola.
5) With ö as the root vowel:
glóa, glóra, slóra, tóra, góna, sóma, móka.