The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1961, Page 28

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1961
According to this law the Indo-
European consonants b, d, g, become
p, t, k in Germanic languages. It is
rather difficult to explain the con-
nection between b and g, but the cor-
respondence between d and t on one
hand and g and k on the other is
obvious when we compare Latin
domare (to tame) and Icel. temja (to
tame, break in); the Latin divus (godly,
divine) and the Old Norse mythological
name Tyr (one of the gods). Then we
have Latin gelidus (cold) and Icel.
kaldur (cold); Latin gaudium (joy) and
Icel. katur (gay, joyful). According to
Grimm’s Law Indo-European p, t, k
(c,q) became in the Germanic languages
f, J), h. Examples: Lat. pater (father),
Icel. faSir (father); Latin precor (I ask,
pray) and Icel. fregna (to ask); Latin
tres (three) and Icel. Jrrir (three); Latin
totus (all, whole) and Icel. jijoS (na-
tion); Latin taceo (I am silent) and Icel.
J>egja (to be silent); Latin collum (neck)
and Icel. hals (neck); Latin quod
(what), Icel. hvaS (what); Latin cano
(I sing) and Icel. hani (cock). Accord-
ing to the law Indo-European bh, dli,
gh, became b, d, g in the Germanic
languages. In Latin these consonant
clusters appear as follows: bh became
f, dh became f and gh either f or h.
Thus we have the following examples:
Latin fero (I carry) and Icel. bera (to
bear, carry); Latin frater (brother) and
Icel. broSir (brother); Latin flos (flow-
er), and Icel. blom (flower); Latin fores
(door), and Icel. dyr (door); Latin facil-
is (easy), Icel. daell (easy); Latin fortis
(strong) and Icel. drengur (originally
a valiant, worthy man); Latin hostis
(enemy) and Icel. gestur (guest); Latin
haedus (kid) and Icel. geit (goat); Lat-
in homo (man) and Icel. gumi (man);
Latin fel (gall), Icel. gall (gall); Latin
faveo (I favour), Icel. ga (take heed,
mark).
There are many exceptions from
Grimm’s Law and needless to say the
language student has to acquaint him-
self with a number of other philological
laws to be able to do research of any
significance in his field.
At the beginning of the 19th century
a Danish student by the name of Ras-
mus Christian Rask wrote a grammar
of Icelandic. Rask had previously
studied Icelandic by himself. The title
of this work was in Danish “Vejledning
til det islanske eller gamle nordiske
sprog” (An Introduction to Icelandic
or Old Norse). To quote Professor
Hallddr Hermannsson: “This little
book of some three hundred pages
completely revolutionized the study of
the Icelandic language as well as that
of the Germanic languages in general”.
(Islandica XII, p. 28). This is all the
more surprising when we consider that
Rask was only 21 years of age when
the printing of his grammar began in
1809.
“In 1813 the Danish Royal Academy
had announced the fallowing prize
question: ‘To investigate by historical
criticism and to demonstrate with ap-
propriate examples the sources of
the ancient Scandinavian lan-
guage and to make manifest its
relations, from the earliest times down
through the Middle Ages, partly to the
Scandinavian dialects, partly to the
Germanic dialects; morover to deter-
mine with exactness the principles
upon which the derivation and com-
parison of these languages are to be
built.’ Rask’s answer to this question
was finished in 1814, but did not ap-
pear in print until 1818, . (Islandica
XII, p. 30).
RASK’S ORIGIN OF OLD NORSE
OR ICELANDIC
The title of Rask’s work which ap-
peared in 1818 was in Danish Under-