Studia Islandica - 01.06.1960, Síða 23

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vowel, e.g. kirku and ættinga for “kirkju” and “ættingja”. This
confusion is found in MSS from all parts of the country, and the
writer therefore considers erroneous the theory of Professor Didrik
Arup Seip of Oslo that these spelling features are characteristic of
Norwegian (“norske málmerker”) in old West-Norse manuscripts.
In the MSS there are also several examples of a confusion be-
tween post-vocalic g (voiced guttural fricative) and gj (voiced
palatal fricative) before a and u, e.g. se(i)ga for “segja” (infini-
tive), but this can also be found in older manuscripts.
Many scribes write þaug for “þau” and þettaö for “þetta”. The
oldest examples are from the 17th and 18th centuries respectively.
There are many examples of the disappearance of a consonant
between two other consonants (e.g. sjálsagt for “sjálfsagt”), and
between a vowel and a consonant (e.g. brizla for “brigzla”).
Some examples from the South of Iceland of the spelling hinga
and þánga occur instead of “hingað” and “þangað”. Many MSS also
have fyri (preposition and adverb) for “fyrir”.
From all parts of the country there are examples of the spelling
öst instead of (r)st in the superlatives “hæstur” and “stærstur”, a
spelling feature which can be found in Icelandic since the 16th
century. Corresponding pronunciation is common in Modern Ice-
landic.
One scribe from the South of Iceland always writes ustur for
“austur”, even in compounds, representing a pronunciation well-
known in Modern Icelandic, and the form ystri for “Eystri” also
occurs. In the second element of compound proper names u or ö
often appears instead of au, e.g. Gunnlög(ur), and in the genitive
the form Þórlagar (< Þórlög) even occurs instead of “Þórlaugar”.
In the verb ætla monophthongization is common (atla, past tense
pl. ötluöu).
Evidence of the so-called “flámæli” (i.e. confusion between two
front vowels closed to different degrees, i — e and u — ö) can be
seen in some places in manuscripts written by scribes from Breiða-
fjörður, Strandasýsla, Þingeyjarsýsla, Suður-Múlasýsla, Rangár-
vallasýsla, and Seltjarnarnes near Reykjavík. This type of pro-
nunciation is, however, considered much older than these MSS.