Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 13.07.1981, Page 222

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Janez Oresnik
‘hear’ is formally identical with the 3p. pl. pret. ind. heyrðu of the same
verb. This situation led to the introduction of rule (1), q.v. This rule
was in a few cases applied outside its original domain of regular ian-
and én-verbs. Thus two imp. sg. forms came into being which, while
identical with the 3p. pl. pret. ind. of the verbs in question, were not
equal to the present stem + affixed þú: keyptu and orktu.
(1) To form the long imp. sg., take the 3p. pl. pret. ind. of the verb.
A few further examples of the type can be added to keyptu and orktu,
see Table (2). The sources of the new imperatives given in (2c-f): sóttu
and studdu are from Jón Friðjónsson 1978:111 (ibidem 112 it is stated
that both forms are rarely used; the remaining present stem forms of
styðja contain y in o. c.), spurðu is from Páll Þorkelsson 1902:136 (who
has y in the remaining present stem forms of spyrja),* * 3 the existence of
numdu was confirmed by Magnús Pétursson per litteras 1979, in answer
to my express question. (Is Valtýr Guðmundsson’s imp. nimdu/nymdu
(1922:136) meant to have the pronunciation [nYmcjY]?) — The imp.
studdu and spurðu are not reliable examples of the type: they may be
remnants of stuðja and spurja, see Valtýr Guðmundsson 1922:5. — A
further example attu will be treated in section 2 below.
infinitive old imperative 3p. pl. pret. ind. new imperative
(a) kaupa kauptu keyptu keyptu
(b) yrkja yrktu orktu orktu
(c) sœkja sœktu sóttu sóttu
(d) styðja styddu studdu studdu
(e) spyrja spyrðu spurðu spurðu
(f) nema nemdu numdu numdu
A great many examples possibly belonging here have been left out of
Table (2), namely those ian-\erbs whose dental suffix in the non-present
forms is an inorganic t, and whose affixed þú begins with an inorganic
t in the imp. sg. (E.g. herða ‘harden’, imp. sg. and 3p. pl. pret. ind.
hertu.) The introduction of the t into the imp. sg. proceeded indepen-
dently of the introduction of the t into the non-present forms, as can be
only the root or the stem of the verb. For instance, kalla is the short, kallaðu the
long, imp. of kalla ‘call’.
3 My attention has been drawn to Páll Þorkelsson 1902 by Professor Jón
Helgason.