Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1970, Page 320

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daz (Möjbro K99) < PGmc. */rædaz/, corresponding to the
well-known change of PGmc. /æ/ > /á/ in this position (see
Table 4).
The use of the f-rune, which was originally the designation
only of short /a/, for the new long /á/ is easily understood as
the result of the tendency of all Western alphabets to ignore
contrasts in length, which was reinforced by the original use
of the I- and [t-runes for both short and long vowels. In un-
stressed syllables, however, a different development took place.
Here, PGmc. /-æ/ remained and there was no motivation for
adopting the f-rune. A new spelling did become available,
however, as a result of the monophthongization of PGmc.
/-ai/ in unstressed syllables, which coalesced with unstressed
/-æ/, as evidenced by the inverse spelling in talgidai (Nov-
ling Ki3a) < PGmc. */talgidæ/. For a time, one would expect
the old f-rune to continue in use as a traditional spelling, both
for /á/ in stressed syllables and for /-§§/ in unstressed syllables.
It was however an ambiguous graph which had to compete
with alternate (and different) spellings in both cases. That
it should have lost the competition is not surprising, particu-
larly in view of the fact that the subsequent raising of un-
stressed /-æ/ > /-é/ introduced still a third possible spelling (see
Table 5).
This stage has clearly been reached when we find d-spel-
lings for older /-§§/, e.g., in tawide (Garbolle K30) < PGmc.
*/tawidæ/ and for original /-ai/, e.g., in woduride (Tune
K72) < PGmc. */-ridai/.4
Similarly, the raising of PGmc. /-5/>/-ö/ (see Table 5)
made available the g-rune as a designation of short /o/, e.g.
4The absence of Fh-spcllings for original /ð/ after the monophthongization
of PGmc. /-au/ > /-ö/, e.g. magoz (Vetteland K60) < PGmc. */magauz/, is a
consequence of the fact that /-5/, unlike /-áé/, was present in both stressed and
unstressed syllables, that is, the status of g was not undermined in two different
directions, as was that of 4- The change of /-ö/>/-á/ in unstressed syllables is
later than the raising of /-æ/ > /-S/ and of /-5/ > /-ö/ and is not recorded in the
inscriptions until the so-called transitional period.