Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Blaðsíða 270
228*
INTRODUCTION
vowel is written <i> or (j>, most often the latter, and there are rare exx.
of <i> for í intemally. Otherwise <ij> is used for both í and ý. It pre-
sumably denotes lengthening in e.g. ‘sijngia’ 9/11, ‘sijngiumm’ 76/7-
8, ‘stijginn’ (pp. adj.) 35/21, ‘-tijgi’ 81/9, but less certainly in ‘Gijls-
son’ 4/17, ‘Þorgijlsson’ 12/74, ‘Brijxludu’ 26/12 (this last spelling is
shared by H2).
In H2 the form of <y> is occasionally <y> but usually <ij>, though
most often written with only one superior dot. The same <ij> is used in
e.g. ‘ij1’ = ‘tueimur’ 74/1 (‘ij.’ H'). (For convenience ‘y’ is used here
for both forms.) Short i and y are not interchanged as freely as in H',
but there are exx. of <y> for i (e.g. ‘sylke’, ‘sytia’, ‘vyrding’, always in
forms of birta vb. and proper name Gissur (spelt ‘Gyssur’), unexpect-
ed in ‘predykadi’ 19/13; <ij> probably represents í in ‘tijguligr’, H1
‘tigu-’ 83/16); and of <i> fory (e.g. ‘filldi’, ‘hlipi’, ‘slis-’, adj. ‘skilld(-)’).
<y> is always written in forms of þyk(k)ja and almost invariably in
pret. subj. forms of skulu.
Long í and ý are usually both written <ij> in H2 (and this form is re-
tained here for the long vowels); but <i>/<j> in the words hví, því, <J>
for prep. í, and <I> or <J> as an initial capital.
Sonant i is expressed by <i> in H1, by <i> or <y> in H2. It has been re-
introduced in forms like ‘vilie’, ‘þridie’ (cf. 10 below). It is sometimes
omitted, more often in H2 than in H1, after ey before a or u, e.g. ‘meyar’
45/7, ‘deya’ 73/11, 14, ‘meyunnj’ 40/5, ‘Orkneyumm’ 74/1, and inter-
vocalic in e.g. ‘Bæar’ 78/58, ‘bæumm’ 33/20 (cf. Málblöndun, 85).
On the rising diphthongs see 8 below.
4. In H1 both o and ó are virtually always written <o>. <ð> in ‘vðru’
(pret. pl. of vera) 17/7 and ‘gðdumm’ (subst.) 21/21 is exceptional,
but the superscript curl in these perhaps represents a misplaced <u>
marker. ó is occasionally marked: <ö> in e.g. ‘Kömnumm’ 14/13, ‘sö’
(adv.) 16/8, ‘Rödu 26/3, ‘öpi’ 36/15, ‘blöd’ 43/3, once <ó> (see 1
above), and written double in ‘hoof’ 17/9 (cf. Málblöndun, 79). In H2
o is written <o>, ó commonly as <ö> (sometimes <ó». Odd <ö> occurs
for o in e.g. ‘þröskadur’ 9/1 and twice in ‘þöku(r)’ 74/4, 11. The
double-marked <o> in H2 in ‘fgraadum’, 78/52, seems to have no sig-
nificance.
In both H1 and H2 the privative prefix is always written <o>/<ö>.
The words sjór, snjór, spónn are infrequent, always with <o>; simi-
larly in the word nótt (compounded ‘natt-’, 71/13). Gen. pl. of skór