Orð og tunga - 01.06.2015, Page 126

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Orð og tunga
Lykilorð
málbreytingar, áhrifsbreytingar, merkingarbreytingar, þýðingar, beygingarfræðileg
virkni, orðagengi
Keywords
language change, analogy, semantic change, translations, inflectional productivity,
lexical gang
Abstract
Icel. hjalt is mostly used in the plural. In Modem Icelandic two different plural forms
(i.e. in nom./acc.) are known, hjölt and hjöltu (def. hjöltin and hjöltun). The latter form
is not listed in the dictionaries. It is, however, well documented in the modem lan-
guage, and its history can be traced to the 16th century. According to the dictionaries
the meaning of hjalt in the plural is 'cross-guard and pommel' or even (at least in Old
Icelandic) 'cross-guard, grip and pommel'. However, many people believe that hjölt
(or hjöltu) refers to the cross-guard only. This is thus an instance of semantic nar-
rowing. The meaning of Engl. hilt offers an interesting comparison. It seems to have
two meanings, 'grip' and 'cross-guard, grip and pommel'. This is another instance
of semantic narrowing, although slightly different. Translating Engl. hilt with lijölt
(or hjöltu) can be problematic. An attempt is made to explain the change hjölt(in) ->
hjöltu(n). This analogical change is quite unexpected, since hjölt belongs to a large and
productive inflectional class (a-stems, e.g.fjall (pl.fjöll)), hjöltu on the other hand fol-
lows a tiny class (flíz-stems, e.g. hjarta, (pl. hjörtuj). Two explanations are offered: First,
the phonetic similarity between hjalt and hjarta. Secondly, the existence of a semantic
"lexical gang" within the tiny class, consisting of the words aitga, eyra, lunga, nýra
and eista, all of which usually refer to a pair in the plural ('eyes, ears, lungs, kidneys,
testicles'), just as hjölt (or lijöltu) does, both in its old and new meaning.
Katrín Axelsdóttir
íslensku- og menningardeild
Háskóla Islands
Nýja-Garði
katax@hi.is