Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Qupperneq 283
X The Proto-Nordic frontier
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2) Various composite forms with two stressed syllables, examples:
modtrega, brodurbani, kostalaus, hynott- 15 occurrences in all.
3) Monosyllabic words, namely: mQg (twice), mey, iQgr, ætt, i (twice),
mjgd, nott, hér (twice), or, til, frå, gat, pess, vel - 17 occurrences in
all. If these monosyllabic words were reconstructed into Proto-Nor-
dic forms, they would again fail into three groups: a) Proto-Nordic
monosyllables, examples: hér, gat. b) Proto-Nordic bisyllables
with short first syllable, examples: mQg (< *magu), mjgd (< *medu).
c) Proto-Nordic bisyllables with long first syllable, namely: ætt, mey,
and, probably, nott. As for the latter word, the consonantal stem nott,
Noreen did not feel quite sure about its Proto-Nordic bisyllabicity,
and also concerning the jo-stem mey (<*mamu), he expressed some
doubt whether the first syllable could not be counted as short.
Noreen concluded that if Sklrnismdl were reconstructed in its Proto-
Nordic form, at most three verses would violate Bugge’s rule: “This
seems to me a remarkable result. A couple of exceptions is not much
given the amount of textual corruption in the Edda.”5
In the treatment of the remaining Ijodahåttr poems Noreen restricted
his examination to group 3, monosyllabic words, which is the only
group where a reconstruction into Proto-Nordic can be expected to af-
fed the relation to Bugge’s rule. Bisyllabic words with short first syl-
lable (group 1) will in most cases remain so also in Proto-Nordic form,
and if the ending is “full”, in Heusler’s terminology (group 2), it will
also remain so. Group 3, however, is apt to split into one group violating
the rule, and one (or two) other(s) not doing so. Noreen summarized the
result of this examination in Table 15 (Noreen 1921b: 12):
5 “Om man nu tanker sig Skfmismål återford till tiden fore synkopen skulle det alltså bli
hogst tre verser som icke stamde med Bugges regel om utgången e. x eller Detta sy-
nes mig vara ett ratt mårkligt resultat. [Note:] Ett par undantag från en regel ar ju inte
mycket i fråga om texter dar korruptel åro så pass talrika som i Eddadiktema” (Noreen
1921b: 7).