Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1970, Page 392

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When all is taken into consideration it may be doubted,
however, that *at- existed at all as a verbal prefix in Proto-
Nordic (see, however, Vonhof 1905:19-20). In any case, it
must have been a preposition at the same time. There is no
noun in Old Nordic which seems to be derived from PN
*at-beran. To be sure, OI atburðr ‘accident, event’ is a possible
derivation from a compound *at-beran, but it is a far-fetched
etymology since bera at is well known in the meaning ‘happen’.
The second set of examples also constitutes a problem since
there is no direct evidence for the construction bera e-n e-m in
the active. On the other hand, numerous examples of borinn
e-m occur in the Edda and are quite frequently preceded by the
expletive particle. But in the first place, the verbal character
of the past participle is questionable. In the second place,
it has been a matter of discussion whether borinn is to be inter-
preted as the past participle of bera in Bx (viz., bera<*beran
‘carry, bring’) or bera in B2 (viz., bera<*ga-beran ‘give birth
to’). (See, most recently, Jón Steffensen 1968:25-44, esp.
38-43.) Of course, both meanings were possible after the loss
of the prefix *ga- and a new meaning could even arise.4 5
The third principal construction, bera e-t/e-n e-u, is not
formed by an adjunction transformation from Bx or B2.
Neither the accusative nor the dative constituent can easily
be deleted in an active sentence.6 If we wish to see the basic
meaning of bera, viz., ‘carry’, in this construction the object
4Therefore, the lampoon quoted above from Þorvalds þáttr may be a pun,
where not only boret, but also faþer, has double reference, meaning either ‘father’
(if bera has the meaning of *ga-beran) or ‘god-father’ (if bera has the meaning
of the simplex). But this depends on how the ceremony of baptism was at the
end of the tenth century.
5However, two examples are available of bera e-u, which has been apprehended
as a transform of bera e-n e-u. In Helga kviða Hiprvarðssonar 26 the words margullin
mœr / mér þótti afli bera (NFK 175) have been interpreted as if the accusative
constituent (_yðr or/Jii) was understood (Gering-Sijmons 1927-31:2.56). Another
example (here quoted with normalized word order) is Snild Sigurðar berr magni
(Sk.B 1.426).