Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Blaðsíða 114
72*
INTRODU CTION
noted above. <x) is used in standard fashion and found e.g. in ‘neyxla’.
<z) is written finally according to custom, and internally in e.g.
‘hvÍNzkv’, ‘eillzti’. It stands for ts in ‘limalaz’.
(iv) As noticed above, fols. 76v-78v show various deviations from
the practice evidenced in the earlier text written by Hand II. The most
notable are <aa> for á in ‘vaar’ (nom. sg. f. poss. adj.), ‘maal’, ‘raaði’;
indication of diphthongal é in ‘riett’, Teins maN’, ‘vrietliga’, ‘sier’
(dat. refl. pron.); ‘ver’, ‘vér’ and ‘vær’ as forms of the first person pl.
pron.; the curious ‘nietr’ for nætr; the appearance of suffix -leg(-) be-
sides -lig(-); <d)/<ð> for þ in ‘samdykki’, ‘samðykt’; long k written
<kk> rather than <ck> in e.g. ‘nokkvR’, ‘ekki’; <mm> in ‘framm’; for-
lags spelt ‘forlax’.
(v) Hand II prefers the subst. form ‘pengar’. Superlatives are usual-
ly in <st) but he writes both ‘hellzt’ and ‘hellst’ and naturally <zt> after
other dental stems, ‘bezt(-)’, ‘eillzti’; ‘vittrvztu’ appears exceptional.
The fem. pron. is ‘hon’. Demonstrative ‘þessor’ is used as a fem. sg.
form. Dat. of tveir is ‘tveim’, of þrír ‘þrimr’. The neg. adv. is various-
ly expressed: ‘eigi’, ‘eigz’, ‘egi’, ‘æigi’, ‘æ1’. In the neg. pron. and adj.
<ong> forms are met in nom. pl. m. and f. ‘ongir’, ‘ongar’; dat. sg. n.,
usually ‘engu’, occurs once as ‘eyngu’. The verb geralgjöra is in
‘ger-’ in the present and pret., with past. part. ‘gort’ and ‘giort’. The
pres. sg. of höggva is ‘hoggr’, past part. adj. ‘hoggÍN’. Pret. sg. of kjósa
is ‘kaus’. Past part. offá is ‘fingit’ and ‘fengit’, of ganga ‘gingit’ and
‘gengit’, of valda ‘volldit’. Third pres. sg. of vilja is ‘vil’ and ‘vill’.
Third pres. pl. of mega and vita is ‘megu’, ‘vito’, of eiga both ‘eigu’
and ‘eiga’. The middle voice ending is <z>, usually with omission of a
preceding dental, e.g. third present sg. ‘skyz’ and ‘liz’, past part. ‘beiz’
and ‘eyz’. Among adverbs may be noted ‘hvarvetna’ and ‘hvarvitna’
alongside ‘hveruitna’; ‘ellar’ and ‘ella’; ‘(a)brot(t)’; ‘alldri’; and the
pleonastic ‘fyr meir’. Prep. við and með are usually written ‘við’,
‘með’ (‘vit’, ‘met’ are rarities) but viðr and meðr also occur. No vari-
ant form of eða has been noted. Concessive clauses are usually intro-
duced by ‘þo at’, occasionally by ‘þott’.
3. Hand III writes fol. 9v7 (last two words)-14 (first word). He uses
a two-storey <a>, with the top element apical; long a is not marked; vá
is written <ua>. Only <u> is used for vowel and sonant. <y> is <y4>, dot-
ted with a very brief descender. Two words with original œ are written
with <e>: ‘eði’, ‘feraz’. The zz-mutation of a is expressed as <o>. The ei