Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1970, Side 345

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1888:90), Japanese (Dunn-Yanada 1958:53), and Yoruba
(Afolayan 1966:258-259).9 It should be noted that some fluc-
tuation in the usage is reported for Amharic and Japanese,
as well as for Russian. This agrees with the Old Icelandic
examples.
2.0. The next problem in the development is the particle
jaur, júr, which is used as an affirmative answer to a negative
question or statement, e.g.:
‘En þú veizt enn eigi, vesall! hvar hon er. Júr, Flóres’, sagði hann, ‘vel má
svá verða.’ (Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr 1896:43).
Frítzner (1886-96:2.238, 243) lists four examples of jaur,
three from Olafs saga hins helga and one from Thomas saga
erkibyskups; and two examples of júr, one from Valvers
þáttr and one from Islendzk æventyri. To these may be added
five examples of júr, one from Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr, quoted
above, one from ívens saga 1898:36, and three from Rémund-
ar saga keisarasonar 1909-12:11, 79, 133 (two in one MS,
K, and the third also in one MS only, C).
The earliest occurrence of this particle is in the Norwegian
sThe usage in Greenland Eskimo, e.g., is described as follows (Rasmussen
1888:90): ‘Af Vigtighed er det at mærke, at Brugen af áp og nágga efter et i
nægtende Form rettet Sporgsmaal er modsat den danske Sprogbrug med ja og
nej (rigtigere end denne). Expl. autdlásángilatit ? áp, (autdlásángilanga) skal du
ikke rejse ? nej (jeg skal ikke rejse); tikíngila ? nágga, (tikípox) er han ikke kom-
men? jo (han er kommen); námik? er den der ikke? áp nej (den er der ikke),
nágga jo (den er der).’ And in Yoruba (Afolayan 1966:258-259): ‘Significant
deviations from present day standard British usage ofyes and no are found in two
aspects of using_)>« and no to answer questions. The first involves a negative ele-
ment in the question, which is expressed either as a negative statement said in a
questioning tone or as such a statement followed by a tag question, e.g. Tour
father is not in ? or Tour father is not in, is he? If the father is not in, the common
answer would be Tes or Tes, he is not in. If the father is in, the answer would be
JVb or No, he is in'