Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 318
298
Part Two
Rule 6: Verbs are negated with the particle -a, -at, -t only if the resulting
compound has not more than two syllables, or three syllables with a
short first syllable (letr-at, hafda-t, farid-a, but not f>ottisk-a, an-
gradi-t).10
Definitions: The proclitic particle ne (= Goth. ni, Lat. ne), which
negates the verb, is to be distinguished from the negative connective né
(= Goth. nih, Lat. neque), which introduces a sentence or a part of a sen-
tence (Kuhn 1936: 431 = 1969: 124).* 11
By free use of the particle -gi is meant that it is not combined with an-
other word making compound negative adverbs and pronouns (eigi, frey-
gi, vilgi, etc.) (Kuhn 1936: 434 =1969: 126-27).
Rule 7: Deviation from rules 5 and 6 are found only in kinds of poetry
that also contain the negative particle ne and make free use of the par-
ticle -gi (Kuhn 1936: 433-35 = 1969: 126-27).
Evaluation of Kuhn’s rules
In Table 24 I have tabulated the examples of deviations from these rules
given by Kuhn. In principle, this should be a survey of the evidence that
has led to the definition of “foreign” poems as a distinet group. The table
shows the total number of deviations from rules 1-6, as well as the ap-
plication of the corollary rule 7, for each of the poems in question. In
some cases the material on which the conclusions are founded can easily
be recovered, as the examples are explicitly mentioned and discussed by
Kuhn, and the evidence can thus be given in full. But in some other
cases, unfortunately, Kuhn has only given figures summing up the total
amount of instances, without explicit reference to each example, thus
10 “Sie treten nicht an dreisilbige verbformen und solche zweisilbigen, deren stammsilbe
lang ist und die auf consonanten auslauten, so daB an sie eine silbische form des suffixes
(-a oder -al) antreten miiBte und sie dadurch dreisilbig wtirden, also nicht an verbformen
der typen vaknadi und vaknar, sondem nur an solche der typen haf, hefr, hQfum und
haf da” (Kuhn 1936: 437 = 1969: 129).
11 The orthographic distinetion, found in NeckeTs Edda edition, is not kept up in Kuhn’s
revised edition (1962), where both are written né, “da alte kurze Vokale im Auslaut ein-
silbiger Worter im Altnordischen gedehnt sind” (Kuhn 1960-61: 247 = 1969: 336).