Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1959, Page 27

UM FRAMBURÐINN RD, GD, FD
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minjar á þeim slóðum, sem greint er frá. Það skal játað, að ýmis
atriði, sem frain eru færð þessari kenningu til stuðnings, eru ekki
þungvæg. Einangrað rím, eins og hordome : morde, eða umbreyting
torskilins orðs, eins og torSyjill, eru ekki fullgild sönnunargögn ein
sér. En þegar öll þessi atriði koma saman og leggjast á eina sveif,
verða þau að sterkum líkum að minnsta kosti.
OrSabók Háskóla Islands,
Reykjavík.
SUMMARY
The pronunciation [r(J, qj, vj] of Icel. rS, gS, fS, instead of the usual [rff,
qð, vð] or [g'ff, þð], has heen known to exist first of all in VestjirSir (The
West Fjords) and also in a few other places, and the earliest direct evidence of
this pronunciation is as late as the end of the 19th century. Ilowever, in addition
to the examples from VestjirSir, Björn M. Ólsen mentions the occurrence of
this pronunciation in Mýrasýsla and in Snœjellsnes (in the West of Iceland)
and in Fljót (in SkagafjörSur in the North), and, besides, the author of the
present article has collected information about its occurrence in OlafsfjörSur
and HéSinsjjörSur (in the North) and in a few districts in the North-East. In
VcstjirSir the bilabial variant [/3cj, ^tl of jS, jt occurs, a fact whicli points to
an early origin of this feature.
The present article goes on to show that this pronunciation originated as
early as the 14th century in the West of Iceland, whence it spread to other
districts, without, however, ever becoming predominant; later this feature of
pronunciation retreated, leaving only scattered remnants. The development of
rS, gð, jS to rd, gd, /d is parallelled by other sound-changes in the 14th century,
such as the change of If, rj to Ib, rb and of S to d in various verbal endings and
nominal suffixes. An early example of the words hórdómi and morSi rhyming
together, as well as the cliange of tlie word torSyfill to tordýjill, seems to sup-
port the author’s hypothesis.