Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Side 61
THE S RECENSION
23*
VII. Orthography. Vowels and sonants.
l. (i) (ai) is common for long a, especially in monosyllables. Hand A
writes <æ) sporadically for short a, e.g. ‘briotaa’ 1 vaö, ‘vaatnið’ 10rb4,
‘gamaall’ 13vbl2, ‘aalldregi’ 15vb20, ‘aat’ 22ra7, ‘maan ek’ 23ra28,
‘hvaar’ 24va39.
(ii) (ái) is very rare in Hand A (see ex. noted in VI 3 above). (á) oc-
curs exceptionally once for short a, ‘vánit’ llrb29. (á) is more fre-
quent in Hand B (see VI 3), most often in monosyllables and again ex-
ceptionally for short a, ‘mát’ 65ra5.
Pres. part. ‘sian(n)di’ 75vb26 shows normal contraction, but in
‘þvaandi’ 19rb39 and ‘siaandi’ 76ra28, 78rall-12 (aa> are not liga-
tured and -andi appears to be restored.
(iii) For vá Hand A writes (va) or rarely (vá) (see exx. noted in VI
3), but a mutated vowel is commonly indicated where -u follows in the
ending: ‘vorv’ (third pret. pl. of vera, n. dat. sg. of várr), usually ab-
breviated ‘v0’; ‘þeir kvomv’ 57vbl (usually ‘komv’); ‘tvnglkvomvm’
58vb34, ‘vamvm’ (dat. pl. ván) 56va40, ‘vavndvm’ (dat. pl. vándr)
58va26. At 57ra29 váða, gen. sg., is written ‘vaiða’ with (°> above
(aa), perhaps to make plain what word it is. Outside Jóns saga Hand A
has rare further exx. of <vo> irrespective of the following vowel, e.g.
‘vorar’ (poss. adj.) 2rb9, ‘vor’ (gen. pron.) 2vb33, ‘vopnazt’ 6rb36,
‘vondra’ 7ra22, ‘vopnin’ 7vbl.
There is reduction in ‘aa sogvrtt’ 61rb44 (similarly in 25ral5,
53vb37).
Hand B more commonly writes (vo)/(vó> for vá, e.g. ‘von’ 63vbl,
65ral0, ‘vón’ 65ral8, ‘voða’ 63ral2, ‘vogR’ 64ra23, ‘vora’ (acc. pl.
m. várr) 63va27-28, ‘vovifligvm’ 64val3-14 (cf. ‘vafigliga’ (!)
78va7).
Hands A and B both have a solitary instance of ‘oiv’, apparently for
váru: 18vb31 ‘otv þessir ok vanir ...’ (Antonius saga, printed ‘(v)orv’
Hms. I, 117/40); 69vb38 ‘þessi orð otv ...’ (Augustinus saga, printed
‘oru’ Hms. I, 133/37). In neither case is it likely that the form repre-
sents the rarely attested archaic óru = váru. Ordförrádet cites three
comparable instances from Hóm.bók and an isolated ‘orvm’ from AM
645 4to. (There are of course a good many more exx. of poss. adj. várr
showing similar sound changes.)
(iv) Short a is mutated in ‘hvetvetna’ 49va43, ‘hvervetna’ 70ra8.