Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2021, Síða 173

vowel in Nordic may well be due to language-internal developments and thus not
stemming from the lending language itself.

1.2.2 metnaðr
The problem with the word metnaðr is specific to that word, and, in some sense,
it is indicative of the case-by-case approach taken in the research. The problem is
whether meta or metna served as the basis for metnaðr, since both verbs are, in
theory, possible sources. Chronology may help discern from which verb the noun
metnaðr was formed. The noun is attested from at least the 12th century. The
verbs are first attested as follows: meta (11th c.), metna (at least second half of the
13th c.). This, together with the very sporadic attestation of the latter verb, lead
me to conclude in favor of the following process: meta, past. part. metinn ⇒ met-
naðr/metnuðr; metinn ⇒ metna. Hence, derivation from the na-verb is excluded
on chronological grounds.

1.2.3 kristni and ágirni
Schulte is undoubtedly right in criticizing my comment on whether īn-stems
were productive by the time the word kristni was formed. It is in fact undeniable
that such derivational pattern was not only still productive, but also well estab-
lished in Icelandic.
On the other hand, I cannot share Schulte’s view on the word ágirni (⇐ ágjarn).
In fact, this formation must not necessarily be old, as Schulte proposes on a
phonological basis. As it turns out, the alternation of the allomorphs /ja ~ jǫ ~ i/
is a regular feature of Icelandic and does not by itself imply great age for the
words involved, as instead does the breaking of /e/ in /ja/ in e.g. the word kjall -
ari (< Lat. cellārium). Other examples with the aforementioned allomorphic
alternations are (indeed old): bjartr ~ birti beside birta; fjǫrðr ~ fjarðar ~ firði;
bjǫrn ~ bjarnar ~ birni. In other words, the only possible outcome as an abstract
noun from the adjective ágjarn would show /i/, as do ágirni and ágirnd. As anoth-
er example of the productivity of allomorphic alternations in Icelandic one can
adduce the alternation /a ~ ö/ (e.g. in the loanword app n., pl. öpp, which is not
older than the advent of apps in mobiles and such).
The reconstruction of a hypothetical PGmc. *an(a)-gerna- raises the point of
the limits of reconstruction as a tool in historical linguistics, as it can in fact turn
into a mere intellectual exercise if not weighted against the actual evidence,
which, in the case of ágirni would be 1) the number of attestations; 2) the age of
the oldest attestation; and 3) the context in which said attestations appear. After
all, also a word like microwave could be reconstructed for earlier linguistic stages
all the way back to Proto-Indo-European! To conclude, no comparable formation
is present outside Old West Nordic, Got. gairnei being not equal to ágirni, Old
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