Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Blaðsíða 74
56*
W (Wolfenbiittel 9.10. Aug. 4to)
not occur; halda ‘hellt’ 21.39 - 48.106 (x 18), ‘hiællzt’ 39.27 (sole, no (ie)
forms); heita ‘het-’, as ‘het’ 23.8, ‘hetu’ 49.9 (no (ie) forms); láta ‘Liet’
31.31 (sole) (ct ‘let’ 19.20 - ‘letz’ 29.22 - ‘let’ 49.49 (x ca 75)). Also the
(non-reduplicating) verb létta occurs once with past ‘lietti’ 47.2.
Occasionally, before /, the spelling is with (iæ> ‘fiællu’ 39.20, ‘hiællzt’
39.27. ‘alldrie’ 31.69 may be a scribal error for ‘-ei’, as must be the case
with ‘mariefar’ 32.130 (verse, rhymes with ‘leifa’).
i/y variation: (i) appears for traditional y in þik- ‘þikkia’ 24.30 - ‘þikkiz’
49.56 (x ca 50) (ct sam þykki 24.48, sundr þykki 39,7) and in ‘hibyli’
24.77, 42.110 (all); yfir, however, always has (y> ‘yfir’ 19.16 - 49.46 (x
60), as has fyrir on the rare occasions when it is written in full ‘fyrir’ 31.41,
44.43, 49.22 (all).31 mikill: ‘mik/r’ 21.13 - ‘MÍklu’ 32.58, 34.54 - ‘miklum’
34.60 - ‘mikil’ 50.36; forms with (my> occur with adverbial function only,
preceding a comparative or superlative ‘myklu’ 24.10, 34.11, 12 (all).32
(But ct ‘Miklu’ 32.58, also adverbial.)
OI 0 is spelt (e> in ‘kem’ 31.81 - ‘kemr’ 38.64 (x 4), ‘ex-’ (0x-) 32.67 -
47.51 (x 13, ct ‘oxina’ 32.42, ‘öxina’ 32.42, oxar 47.52), (au> in ‘aurend
laust’ 19.8, ‘Auxna’ 23.6, 32.18, ‘auxnina’ 28.48, ‘staukkt’ 47.5, ‘aungan’
28.34 (sole), (o>/(ö> in ‘onga’ 1932 - ‘ongua’ (x 25), ‘glögg-’ 29.32, 41.70
(but it is (u> in ‘tugh’ 41.49). The particle 0r is written ‘aur-’/‘or-’
‘aurskipta’ 24.15 ‘oruænt’ 49.46. 0 and q (labial mutation of a) had
apparently fallen together: in five sample passages covering in all 10% of
the saga, q/0 is spelt (au> or (o> an equal number of times (25); for this
same sound (ö> is used in all 30 times and (ó) twice (‘óll’ 25.96, ‘uóllu’
41.117); (0> occurs in ‘hpfum’ 40.15, possibly ‘Rpru’ 38.71 (all). There are
certain patterns observable e g relevant forms of hafa seem almost always
to have (o) and forms of ÍQg to have (au>. But often both forms may occur
for the same word, as ‘aurk’ 41.31, ‘orkinni’ 41.34, ‘toðu’ 48.97,
‘itauðunni’ 48.101. ‘*hofum’ 49.37 is surprisingly written ‘hefuw’, see
textual note. For labial mutation of fractured e (OI j'q) (io> is used ‘Biorn’
21.4 - ‘giofu/n’ 30.15 - ‘Biorn’ 49.64 (x ca 235), ct (iö> ‘Styrbiörn’ 27.80,
‘fiörunni’ 45.96 (all).
As might be expected in a fourteenth-century MS, OI æ and œ have
fallen together. (æ> is almost universal for the phoneme resulting from the
front mutation of á and of ó (ct ‘hel’ 42.49 and ‘hegendi’ 41.112); it often
carries an accent ‘nær’ 24.86, presumably in recognition of its membership
of the long vowel series.
Diphthongs The scribe frequently represents the diphthong ey by (æy> in
31 CfMan Isl III, p. xix.
32 C/Hreinn Benediktsson 1978.