Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2004, Page 57

Norn
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d. shorter or longer pieces of Norn recorded while the language
was still in use
e. relics of the language recorded after it had ceased to be spoken
f. place-names
These will now be reviewed in turn.
3.1 Runic inscriptions
At the latest count Orkney can boast some fifty complete or fragmen-
tary runic inscriptions (the exact total depends both on definitions of
“inscription” and on what is accepted as genuinely Viking-Age or
medieval). Shetland is less well endowed, having but seven (for dis-
cussion of the Orkney and Shetland runic material, see Barnes 1992,
1994, 2000, 200 la). The Orkney total includes the thirty-three inscrip-
tions found in Maeshowe — the Orkahaugr of Orkneyinga saga — a
prehistoric chambered cairn situated near the southern end of the Loch
of Harray on Mainland (medieval Hrossey). These texts, however,
appear to have been carved chiefly if not entirely by visiting
Norwegians in the middle of the twelfth century. Apart from the
Maeshowe collection, few of the Northem-Isles runic inscriptions can
be satisfactorily dated. In many cases interpretation offers serious
problems too. Nor does the language — what little there is of it —
contain any features that can confidently be interpreted as local. The
West Scandinavian character of Northern-Isles Scandinavian is con-
firmed, but nothing further.
3.2 Scaldic verse
Such scaldic verse as we have that was or may have been composed by
Orkneymen is preserved in Icelandic manuscripts. Nevertheless there
are suggestions that the poems Jómsvíkingadrápa, Krákumál and
Málsháttakvœði contain specifically Orcadian words and probable
Orcadian or “island” forms (Marwick 1929:xviii-xix; Olsen 1932:
147-53). There is little here, however, that points to a distinct form of
West Scandinavian speech. Forms such as <fva> for fóa ‘fox’ and