Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2021, Page 161

dynamic is linked to a specific style or stylistic effect, in the present typology
it appears to be far more connected with the explanatory function proper to
this redundant, yet semantically clarifying, figure of speech.
Matteo continues in a later section (p. 158):
The appearance of the stylistic trait under discussion (synonymic dittology)
is thus to be chiefly ascribed to the will of the translator to embellish his
prose.
The synonymic dittologies are said to be due to eloquent style or stylistic embel -
lishment in certain sagas (e.g., Chap. 8 on “Chivalric and Legendary Sagas”, here
p. 216), whereas they feature in law texts and diplomas for different reasons.
This issue should be further explored. At this point the discussion would benefit
from research on binomials and formulaic language more broadly; see, e.g.,
Schulte (2011) on binomials in Old Scandinavian legal texts, and Wray (2008) on
formulaic language. To sum up thus far, the vast group of synonymic dittologies
has to be scrutinized more closely in different text types and genres, and it has to
be assessed in a functional approach.
My question in this connection is the following: Would it be possible to be
more explicit about the functional divide of different synonymic dittologies in
different text types and genres: embellishment – clarification – explanatory
functions etc.? Moreover, can we find any stylistic differences with regard to
intratextual alternations?

3. Delving into detail — specific words
There is a slight problem regarding the reliance on standard etymological dictio-
naries as the major source of information. Among the three standard reference
works consulted in this thesis, two are clearly dated: Alexander Jóhannesson’s
Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch and Jan de Vries’ Altnordisches etymologis-
ches Wörterbuch of 1956 and 1962, respectively. Therefore, it might have been
use ful to add current etymological works such as Bjorvand and Lindeman (2019)
who discuss many of the lexemes in question (e.g., Norw. idrett and skip). More -
over, the useful work by Torp, Gamalnorsk ordavleiding, is not consulted. It goes
without saying that references should be to the modern research literature wher-
ever this is possible.
A case in point is the word pair klæði – fǫt, which is analyzed on pp. 75–
76. As the author notes, the most likely donor for OI klæði is a West Germanic
source language in which the transition PGmc. */ai/ > */aː/ > /ϵː/ has occurred:
“Old English or Old Frisian are probable sources.” This is certainly right, and
it should be added that OFris. klāþ- is the most likely source. As De Vaan
(2011:302) notes, OFris. *klaiþa- ‘cloth’ developed a systematic vowel alternation
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