Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2003, Page 103

A Note on nokkurr
101
Table 2 : Distribution of the main paradigms in the oldest manu-
scripts according to Hreinn Benediktsson, ordered by manu-
script.
H nekkver-
E nekkver-
R nekkver-
P nakkvar-
G nekkver-, nakkvar-
S nekkver-, nekker-, nakkvar-
In four of the six manuscripts involved a single paradigm is found, but
this is not very surprising, when one realizes how few forms are found
in these texts: H has one (necquerre), R one (nequer), P one (nac-
quarn), E 11 (necqueR, necquerer, necqueria, necquer, necquerra,
uecqueriom). Regrettably, Hreinn does not list the examples found in
G, but in his table 19 slots are occupied and subtraction of the totals
found in Ordförrádet from those given in his article gives a total of 93
nekkver- forms in G.
In S he finds the most complicated situation: necqueR, necqeR, nac-
quaR, necquaR, nacqueR, and forms with ‘o’ and ‘0’. A closer look at
S will show that the situation is somewhat less complicated than
Hreinn suggests.
In the first place I do not think that there is sufficient evidence for
a nekker- paradigm. All forms in S, which Hreinn Benediktsson, fol-
lowing Larsson in this respect, attributes to this paradigm, are abbre-
viated with a tittle over the ‘q’: “necq-”, “neq-”. Therefore, the para-
digm rests on the expansion of this abbreviation. In my analysis of
ihe orthography of S (de Leeuw van Weenen 1993) I found that in S
the character ‘q’ is used solely for /k/ in the group /kv/. It is always
either followed by ‘u’ or ‘v’ or accompanied by an abbreviation
toark. As abbrevation marks with ‘q’ occur the macron, the tittle and
superscript vowel symbols. ‘q’ stands always for ‘que’. When ‘q’ is
combined with a superscript vowel symbol, a combination which
°ccurs 306 times in S, the combination never stands for /krV/, but
always for /kvV/, where V denotes the vowel indicated by the super-