Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Blaðsíða 73

Linguistic and textual features
55*
as <i> appears more like <a). Examples are ‘þikkia’ (like ‘þak-’) 24.52,
‘kastiz’ 36.11, ‘isinn’ «i>‘) 38.34, ‘i’ 38.55, 59 (c/textual note), ‘*farnir’
(written ‘farnar’, perhaps with dot above ‘a’2) 45.65.
The word maðr in its unabbreviated form is always spelt with <ð>; that
graph is therefore used in expansions. It so happens that the only case where
the unabbreviated form of maðr- occurs with the definite article is also the
only time <d> is used in any form of this word: ‘madrinn’ 30.34. This is,
however, taken to be a coincidence, and the use of <ð> in the expansion has
been extended to the occasions where the -inn suffix is present.
‘Snorri’ is written in full only at 34.142, where it is followed by a point.
There are a few instances of scribal metathesis, see ‘Errors’.
2. ORTHOGRAPHY
The evidence provided by the orthography of the codex for the estimation
of its date is discussed by Jón Helgason;29 some of that evidence comes
from the Egils saga part of the MS.
Some of the following applies equally well to orthography, phonology,
and morphology. It is, not surprisingly, frequently impossible to distinguish
inconsistent representation of phonemes from record of actual changes in
pronunciation.
Vowels in stressed syllables Marking of the length of vowels by acute
accents is somewhat rare, except in the case of á, for which <áá> (also
written <aa>, <aa), and <m» is the most frequent representation ‘máál’ 22.5
- ‘Froðáá’ 49.56 (x 114), though <á> alone also occurs ‘sárum’ 20.5 - ‘frá’
50.31 (x 50).
Unorthodox spellings include <æ> used for short, or non-specific, e
‘huæ’ 28.9, ‘ræki’ 32.142, ‘þræuetr’ 48.63, ‘ræki’ 25.68; <e> is written for
expected ei ‘Þorlefr’ 32.117, <æ> is used for ei ‘suæt/>’ 19.37 and <æy> for
Q ‘æyfundar’ 41.106.
There are no examples of <eing> for eng, but the diphthongal develop-
ment of é is occasionally apparent. Jón Helgason instances, in Egils saga,
‘viel (ræði)’ for vél, f. 40v.24,3° but in Eyrbyggja saga this development is
with one exception restricted to the past of reduplicating verbs: fá ‘fiekk’
29.49-47.51 (x 4) (ct ‘fekk’ 21.41 -47.78 (x 16)), ‘fiengu’ 41.117 (sole)
(ct ‘fengiz’ 24.10 - ‘fengu’ 49.12 (x 7)f,falla ‘fiell’ 22.16 - ‘fielluz’ 40.34
- ‘fiell’ 45.95 (x 17), ‘fiællu’ 39.20 (sole) (ct ‘Fell’ 25.37 - 47.60 (x 8));
ganga ‘giekk’ 44.4 (sole) (ct ‘gekk’ 19.22 - 49.34 (x 71)), ‘gieng-’ does
29 Man Isl III, pp. viii-ix.
1(1 Man Isl III, p. viii.