Orð og tunga - 01.06.2015, Page 27

Veturliði G. Óskarsson: Loanwords with the prefix be-
15
the personified newspaper uses a lot of Danicisms. And likewise, in
a satirical novel by Þorlákur O. Johnson from 1879, the author lets
one of his characters, a merchant in Reykjavík, use words such as be-
draga 'deceive', befala 'command', befundinn (að vera) 'regarded (to be),
reckoned', belasta 'load (a ship)', bestríða 'pay', and besvara 'answer'
(1879:5, 11). It is of course hard to trust such examples, as they are
used for stylistic and literary purposes. But they indicate at least that
the writers looked upon the language in Reykjavík as being mixed
with Danish, and that at least some be-words were to be found in it.
Criticism of Í7e-words has, however, never been a regular or pri-
mary subject in Icelandic language purism discourse, as it became
in Norway. Thus, the so-called Fjölnismenn, a radical group of young
Icelandic intellectuals based in Copenhagen before the middle of the
nineteenth century, hardly mention &c-words at all in their periodical
Fjölnir 1835-1847, in which they harshly criticized the language and
style of several contemporary printed publications. Only one exam-
ple has come to light: the noun befalling 'command' in a review from
1839, which is disapproved of with the native words skipan and boð
being suggested instead (Fjölnir 5 1839,11:28). And be-lbí-'words in Ice-
landic dictionaries are usually not commented upon, other than in
some books being marked with question marks or other such mark-
ings (cf. above).
However, in the early twentieth century, in two articles from 1926
and 1932, words with this prefix do play an interesting role.
Foreign words have entered [the language] in groups and dis-
appeared again, because the people felt that they did not fit the
language. Now hardly anyone says begrafelsi, bevís and begera, as
was common a generation or two ago. People found that the Ger-
man be- was not very appealing when it was used in a stressed
syllable.15 (Sigurður Nordal 1926:4; my translation.)
These are the words of the Icelandic scholar Sigurður Nordal (1886-
1974), one of the most influential Icelandic philologists of the twenti-
vellir, South Iceland, that summer. The editor/guarantor of the newspaper was
Rev. Sveinbjöm Hallgrímsson, nephew of Sveinbjörn Egilsson, rector of the Latin
school in Reykjavík, who had translated Homer into Icelandic.
15 “Erlend orð hafa komið hópum saman og týnst niður aftur, af því að landanum
þóttu þau fara illa í munni. Nú segir varla nokkur maður begrafelsi, bevís og begera,
sem var algengt mál fyrir 1-2 mannsöldrum. Menn hafa fundið, að be-ið þýska var
ekki sem fallegast, þegar það var komið í áhersluatkvæði."