Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2021, Page 172

Finally, to answer the question about whether one could be more explicit about
the functional divide of synonymic dittologies in different texts and genres I have
to say that this was not possible in the scope of the present research, as it in fact
only selects word pairs whenever they are constituted by loanwords and native
words. I am sure that much can be researched on the function of binomials in
medieval Icelandic. In which case, my contribution analyzes and maps out a par-
ticular kind of binomial.

1.2 Specific words and their etymology
In his comments, Schulte notes that my etymological inquiries do not make use
of Bjorvand and Lindeman’s etymological dictionary Våre arveord, whose latest
edition was published in 2019, nor do they make use of Torp’s Gamalnorsk ord-
avleiding. On this I want to point out two things, the former being operational
while the latter relates to the bias given by working in a given scientific environ-
ment, “school of thought” and/or scholarly milieu or tradition.
On the operational observation, I want to say that Våre arveord was not con-
sulted because the etymological inquiries and planned ameliorations of previous
etymologies were chiefly thought to encompass loans more than native words,
and this is why I always discuss the etymologies given by the available Icelandic
etymological dictionaries, in accordance with the aims stated in the introduction
to the dissertation (Tarsi 2020a:xxxiv). Reference to Våre arveord can be added
for the sake of completeness.
On the bias given by working in a given scientific environment etc. it is unde-
niable that, by working in Iceland on a dissertation on medieval Icelandic, one
tends to primarily resort to Icelandic works and to overlook some general contri-
butions such as Torp’s book (cf. that I used e.g. Alexander Jóhannesson’s 1927
book on suffixes in Icelandic).

1.2.1 klæði
Contrary to what Schulte notes, it is in my view not possible to discern from
which language, Old English or Old Frisian, OIcel. klæði stems. In fact, both Old
English and Old Frisian preserve forms with a central and a front mid-high
vowel: OE cláþ beside clǽþ; OFris. klāth beside klēth. The fact that the passage
/ē/ > /ā/ found in Frisian is due to original PGmc. */ai/ in open syllable fol-
lowed by a back vowel does not constitute definitive proof. The quality of the
root vowel in the corresponding North Saami loan lađ’đe bears instead witness
that the loan has wandered there after */ai/ > /ā/ (contrast with e.g. NSaam.
áilegas < hailagaz, Tarsi 2020a:19, s.v. spiritus sanctus – heilagr andi/helgr andi).
Hence, it seems certain that the word entered North Germanic from a source
where PGmc. */ai/ had already become at least /ā/. The quality of the root
Matteo Tarsi172