Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2021, Page 28

The third line in this stanza is not a clause-line and needs to have rhyme.
The word leiðiþí-r has a morpheme boundary, and I assume that it rhymes
with læ-va.35
Crossing rhyme occurs in most poems of the 10th century. It became
less frequent in the 11th century; see Table 2 below (see also overview by
Faulkes 2007:80 and a more detailed overview by Hollander 1946:891–
90936).
Myrvoll (2020:231) divides couplets with crossing rhyme that is not a
compensatory rhyme into two groups. In the larger group, the line-inter-
nal half-rhyme in the odd lines, and the line-internal full-rhyme in the
even lines, participate in the crossing rhyme. He calls this a retained
rhyme. It could also be called a rhyme of four syllables (Vierreimer ‘four-
rhymer’, a name used by Hans Kuhn 1981:297). Examples of it are the
four couplets from Haustlǫng that I listed on page 27.37 The smaller
group includes all other possibilities of syllable rhyme between lines.
Myrvoll calls them adhesive rhyme. An example is given below, from
Vellekla 1.3–1.4. The following three syllables rhyme: vǫrð, fyrð-, and
fjarð-.
1.3–1.4 foldar vǫrð á fyrða
fjarðleggjar brim dreggjar

The data in Table 2 is from Myrvoll (2020:232).

Century Number Couplets with Couplets with Couplets with
of couplets retained rhyme adhesive compensatory
(“four-rhymers”) rhyme rhyme

9th and 10th 1649 161 (9.8%) 39 (2.4%) 55 (3.3%)
11th 1940 83 (4.3%) 11 (0.6%) 11 (0.6%)
12th 1630 61 (3.7%) – –
13th 653 22 (3.4%) – –

Table 2:  Crossing rhymes in dróttkvætt poetry.38

Þorgeir Sigurðsson28
35 See a discussion by Myrvoll (2014:61) on Kristján Árnason’s (2007:102) proposal of
allowing -r to act as a half-vowel in a similar line. Myrvoll prefers to use a morpheme
boundary. This is an example of an ‘empty rhyme.’
36 Hollander is very liberal when deciding what rhymes, and he identifies too many
crossing rhymes. His lists are nevertheless useful.
37 These are lines 4.5–4.6, 9.1–9.2, 12.7–12.8, and 19.3–19.4.
38 Poetry in Njáls saga and Grettis saga is not included in these figures.