Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 273

IX Contracted forms
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forms of Old Norse verse. Nevertheless, I am well aware that also in this
respect there is great need for a new examination of all the material, with
more respect for the actual transmitted texts.18
In Table 14 I display the total material as far as poems in fornyrdislag
are concemed. The actual occurrences are given in full in cases where
the metrical test seems to decide whether a form is contracted or not.
Occurrences where such a decision is impossible according to the
chosen criteria are only mentioned.
Table 14. Contracted and uncontracted forms in fomyrSislag poems.
Vgluspå
Uncontracted:
21.5: oc i hpll Håars
22.3: vqIo velspåa
64.4: å Gimlé;
Inconclusive: st. 8.5, 17.1, 20.3, 24.7, 42.419
Hymiskvida
Uncontracted:
1.6: oc å hlaut såo
9.5: Er minn fru20
21.4: up senn tvåo
22.6: su er go5 im/fia
23.3: orm eitrfåon
Inconclusive: st. 15.8, 32.4
18 The general objection to the test, that the uncontracted forms may be taken from tradi-
tion, has even more weight in this case than in the vr- case, since they are found in skaldic
poetry as late as in the Sturlung period, cf. Reichardt: “Die von F. Jonsson, Litt. hist.2 a. a.
o., angefiihrten formen såo, [—\fi'a sind fur eine zeitbestimmung unbrauchbar, da es sich
um traditionell poetische formen handeln kann” (Reichardt 1933: 153). But although this
explanation is possible, the alternative explanation, that the forms are left over from the
period when they were normal linguistic forms, is possible as well, and ceteris paribus it
is to be preferred, since it does not presuppose any particular stylistic motivation.
19 gladr Eggfrér, cf. Faulkes 1991: 50.
20 Hapax legomenon. “Bugges vermutung, daB fridill das richtige sei, ist wahrscheinlich”
(Reichardt 1933: 140).