Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Blaðsíða 52

34*
E (AM 162 Efol.)
2. ORTHOGRAPHY
Vowels in stressed syllables E shows considerable fluctuation in the
representation of vowel phonemes, especially in the mutated vowels (other
than y, ý, ey).
Long vowels are sporadically distinguished by the acute accent, e g Tá’
41.118, ‘Flóa’ 46.8, ‘þá’ 45.36. In some cases, however, the accent appears
just as likely to represent stress: ‘at þig skaðe eigi í’ 41.90, ‘komz þar vt’
46.17 and ‘komo hðndvm á’ 46.18. In these cases stress would be likely in
that the word in which the accent occurs is an adverb. The same situation
could account for ‘dro oc skiott áf’ 41.66, where the vowel is short. It is not
easy, however, to account for the accented vowel in ‘vég’ 41.108
(‘hverngan vég sem breytt er’).
Unmutated vowels bearing primary stress, short or long, are usually
represented by the traditional, unmodified graphs. The following, however,
are examples of occurrences where such vowels are represented by
ligatures or modified letters:
01 é <æ> Tæt’ (= lét) 41.4, Tætta’ (= létta) 41.91, Tætt’ (= lét) 41.102,
‘þær’ (= þér) dative 41.79 (all)
OI é <?> T?t’41.8 (sole)
01 o <ö> ‘höld[ig]’ 41.43, ‘kðmit’ 41.53, ‘sðnr’ 41.49, 46.10, ‘hóllt’
41.86, st[ð]fv 45.31, ‘bðttz’ 46.11, ‘brött’ 47,4 (all)
01 ó <ð> ‘þðtt’ 41.29 - ‘sðtt’ 41.74 - ‘íyðsöttligir’ 47.7 (x 21, ‘þðtti’ 47.9
is ambiguous, ó or œ).
The precise function, if there is any, of this hook above <o>, apparently
added indiscriminately whether the vowel is short, long or mutated, is
puzzling. <ð> is often used in hon, where it is uncertain whether it indicates
o or ó. Apart from the above, <ð> is used: for œ ‘verkfðr’ 41.27 - ‘bðndr’
45.3 (x 4) (in ‘bðndvw’ 45.74 <ð> could represent ó or œ), for 0 ‘tðg’ 41.49
(sole). With the one exception of ‘hofðv’ 45.28, hQf- is always written with
<ð> ‘hðfðv’ 41.14 - ‘hðfvm’ 45.41 - ‘hðfþv’ 47.6 (x 17). This includes
‘hðfir’ (= hefir) 41.82.
The 01 diphthong ei is always spelt <ei>; 01 au is <a/> ‘Ra/ni’ 41.5 -
‘a/ðsðttligfr’ 47.7 (x 11) or <av> ‘kavpa’ 41.13 - ‘þav’ 47.11 (x 6). The
graphic representations used for au are also used, along with others, for 01
q, and in one case for 01 0 (‘a/xi’ 45.17).
The front mutation of a (OI e) is almost always spelt <e>, but appears as
<æ> in ‘sættar’ 41.84, ‘hæstar’ 45.40, ‘hæstana’ 45.43 (all), ct ‘hestar’
41.115, ‘hestvm’ 45.32. The front mutation of o (OI 0) is <e> in ‘ervent’
J