Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1970, Page 386

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from Njáls saga (1954:290-291): Flosi malti: ‘Skapþungt er þér
nú, frœndkona, er þú grætr, en þó er þat vel, at þú grœtr góðan
mann.’
In its first occurrence the verb gráta is intransitive, meaning
‘weep, cry’. In its second occurrence it is transitive, meaning
‘bewail’. It has been assumed that the intransitive gráta is
a descendant of the simplex PN *grátan, whereas the transitive
verb seems to be descended from a compound * bi-grátan.
This was shown already by Vonhof (1905:27-28) and is a
typical example in some handbooks (see, e.g., Heusler 1950:
140; Iversen 1961:47). In the sources of the Old Germanic
languages, however, there is no example of a parallel to
PN *bi-grátan except OE be-grœtan, known from one occurrence
in the past participle in a passive sentence, which, of course,
is sufficient to confirm that OE be-grœtan was transitive. But
it must be mentioned, too, that in its few occurrences the
simplex OE grœtan is more frequent as a transitive verb in the
meaning ‘bewail’ than as an intransitive in the meaning
‘weep’. On the other hand, Goth. grétan, OS grátan ‘weep’ are
only intransitive. No compounds occur.
Obviously, the double origin of Icel. gráta cannot be con-
cluded from this poor and somewhat controversial compara-
tive material. The conclusion is based on the investigation of
many more verbs, and the function of each of the prefixes in
the individual languages has to be taken into consideration.
Vonhof compared gráta (tr.) with OE be-murnan, be-reotan,
be-gnornian, OHG bi-klagðn, NHG be-weinen, all of which are
synonymous. Ingerid Dal (1930 (a): 69) referred to Goth.
bi-hlahjan as a parallel example. The Gothic simplex hlahjan
‘laugh’ is intransitive, but bi-hlahjan ‘deride’ is transitive. This
difference is reflected in the use of OI hlœja, which most of the
time is intransitive, but appears sometimes as a transitive
verb, e.g. at hann verði eigi hleginn af hirðmönnum (FMS 6.208),
cf. Goth. jah bihlohun ina (Mt 9.24; ed. 1960:17). Old Saxon
and Old English deviate a little from this.
Finally, it is interesting to note that in the late Middle