Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Blaðsíða 104
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INTRODUCTION
The scribe writes (ð) after m in ‘sæmð’ in NRA 80, (d) in ‘nytsemdar’
in NRA 57.
A.fb are assimilated in ‘klybbera’ 169 39vl8;/apparently becomes
a plosive in ‘ob drambs’ NRA 80 (b) v31, ‘til probs’ 169, 63rl6, 70v2-
3. Intervocalic/is more and more often written with (u)/(v> as the text
of 169 progresses; on the other hand, intervocalic (fu)/(fv> is rare and
probably inadvertent when it does occur. (f) is never written in the
verb þarfnast, pret. subj. ‘þyrti’ also occurs. On (ft)/(pt> forms see 11
below. ‘iafn-’ and ‘iam-’ forms exist side by side; ‘nefna’ is usual but
also ‘nemna’, e.g. 169, 62vl0.
5. g is omitted in ‘mart’ and before ð in past part. ‘bruðit’ and subst.
‘abyrþ’. The only evidence of palatalisation is in past. part. ‘gior(-)’
forms and subst. ‘giorð’.
6. The word hlutr is usually but not always spelt without initial (h).
Some others occur with both (hl) and (1) or only with (hl): ‘hlytr' 169,
31rl2, Tyttt’ 169, 31vl; ‘liþ’ 169, 41r7,‘hlidi’ 169, 41rl9; in NRA57
‘hlyþa’, ‘hlioþan’, ‘hlioþa’. There are fewer exx. of words in hn-, but
the dolphin name hnísa is regularly spelt with (n> in 169. The words
hryggr, hrútr and hrafn usually have initial (r) but both ‘hross’ and
‘ross’, ‘hreppr’ and ‘reppr’ occur, though exx. in (hr> are fewer than
those in (r>. It may be noted that NRA 80 has no ex. where initial (h>
is omitted.
7. k is commonly written (c) in almost all positions; long k is writ-
ten (cc) in e.g. ‘noccur’, ‘ecci’, ‘þicci’, or (c> with geminating dot in
e.g. ‘fecc’, ‘gecc’, ‘þycci’; or (ck) in ‘þeckir’, ‘ecki’, ‘ockar’. There is
a tendency to prefer (c) to (k> for short k in final position, ‘oc’, ‘ec’,
‘toc’, ‘sic’, ‘þic’, and initial (sc) is more frequent than (sk> in a ratio of
about 3:1. The same preference for initial (sc> may be observed in
169, though use of (c> and (cc> there is in general less marked, and the
position is reversed in NRA 80, where initial (sk) outnumbers (sc> by
three to one. kk is simplified in the compound ‘míolkvm’, 169, 36rl3
(= ‘miolk kvm’). Lenition is indicated in enclitic ek, ‘heyrðag’, and in
‘þig’, both solitary exx. in NRA 57 v28. Forms in (qv> are common in
parts of the verb kveða and the noun kváma, usually compounded, e.g.
‘aquámur’, ‘samqvamu’. Note also ‘myrqa’ in NRA 80.
8. (11) is written before d and t, e.g. ‘alldri’, ‘skylldvgt’, ‘avallt’,
‘stillti’; (1> before d from older ð, e.g. ‘dueldiz’, ‘skildu’, ‘scilduz’, and
in the pret. of selja, ‘seldo’. There is an occasional irregularity, e.g.
acc. sg. ‘Egill’. The practice is similar in 169 but less consistent; com-