Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Blaðsíða 113

Linguistic and textual features
95*
<j> appears in ‘J’ 42.46, ‘j’ 45.71 (all); <ij> is not used.
For <u> versus <v> see Palaeography.
<w> frequently expresses 01 ú ‘wt’ 38.46-47.13 (x 15). In ‘wrdv’ 45.67
it represents vu.
The front mutation of á (OI æ) is usually <æ> ‘hætt’ 38.11 - ‘væri’ 47.28
(x ca 90) (once <æ> ‘sæt/r’ 40.3).
Front mutation of ó (01 œ) is always <æ> ‘fætr’ 38.19 - ‘bærinn’ 48.3 (x
57).
The usual expression of the labial mutation of a (OI q) is <au>/<av>
‘havfdv’ 38.7 - ‘aullum’ 38.38 - ‘favstv’ 48.1 (x ca 110); <o> occasionally
occurs in this function ‘vollinn’ 41.27, ‘forina’ 45.28. Except for a few
special cases (‘Gizer’ x 2, see below) 01 0 is also expressed by <au>/<av>:
in forms of the pronoun engi: ‘avngvan’/‘avnguan’ x 5, ‘aungvir’/‘aunguir’
x 2, ‘avnga’ 42.20, ‘avngan’ 42.133, ‘avngvm’ 42.96, 109 (x 2), ‘avngar’
45.80. In all, <au>/<av> represents OI au ca 65 times, OI q ca 110 times and
OI 0 30 times. The dative plural of maðr, written ‘mm’ and never spelt out,
has been expanded ‘mavnnvm’. Several times OI q is spelt <a>, either ex-
plicitly or implicitly in an abbreviation ‘uarduz’ 38.7, ‘hafuts’ 38.38,
‘hafv<t>/7’ 38.79 (ct ‘havfv<t>/Y’ 38.77, 80), ‘valduz’ 40.3, ‘hafunz’ 41.14,
‘margvn/’ 42.6, ‘vandut’ 42.35, ‘skarvligr’ 42.52, ‘marg’ (n. pl.) 42.101,
‘bragdv/n' 45.32, ‘allvnz’ 45.65, ‘strandvn/’ 45.73, 80 (ct ‘stravndvn?’
47.1); ‘Hravn hafn’ 41.9, 54. Such spellings are plausibly interpreted as
being due to Norwegian influence.
gneypt appears as ‘gneipt’ 38.77 (= W 38.104, cf p. 65 above).
The second element of the labial mutation of fractured e, OI j'q, is sharply
distinguished from the labial mutation of a, OI q. On one occasion only the
intention seems to have been that it should read <iav> (‘*iavrp’ 42.44)
though in that word there is some scribal confusion over the abbreviation,
which reads literally ‘iarvp’. Otherwise this diphthong is always spelt <io>
‘hVoltvnvm’ 38.13, ‘giofum’ 41.8, and ‘miok’ 38.2-47.19 (x 18).
Specific vowel combinations OI eg does not appear as <eig>.
<eing> is regular for OI eng ‘drei/ígiliga’ 38.7 - ‘eingi’ 41.25 - ‘geingr’
45.10 (x 9) (but Tengi’ 42.12, ‘torfeng/r’ 42.16, ‘fe//gv’ 42.120 (all)).
Apart from 42.120 the past plural and participle verbal forms with feng-
and geng- are written <ing>, as ‘fing/í’ 41.36, ‘fingn/r’ 42.116, ‘fingu’
42.121 (all); ‘gingv’ 38.10-47.7 (x 9), ‘gin/zgu’ 38.36, ‘gin/zgv’ 47.7 (all).
The present tense is spelt ‘gei/zgr’ 45.10 (sole).
vá is often written with <ua>/<va> but almost equally often with
<uo>/<vo>; svá is always abbreviated (x 37), apart from one spelt-out case
‘sva’ 47.26. The spelling can alternate within the same word: ‘vatar’ 38.60
ct ‘alvot/r’ 42.142, ‘varit’ 40.1 ct ‘vorit’ 45.64, ‘vor’ 45.67, ‘uap//’ 41.25