Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2023, Qupperneq 86

The prepositions that govern both the accusative and dative can be divid-
ed into two groups, depending on whether they represent move ment/
non-movement (á ‘on’, í ‘in’, undir ‘under’, yfir ‘over’) or other functions
(fyrir ‘for’, eftir ‘after’, með ‘with’, við ‘at’; Jón G. Friðjónsson 1988:10–
11). In Modern Icelandic, no prepositions govern all three oblique cases:
the accusative, dative and genitive.
However, the preposition án ‘without’ is unique because, while it gov-
erns only the genitive in Modern Icelandic (e.g., Jón G. Friðjónsson
1988:9), it once could govern all the three oblique cases. Examples of án
in Modern Icelandic (2a), from Mörkuð íslensk málheild (MÍM), and Old
Icelandic (2b–d) include the following:
(2) a. Ragna reyndi að róa hana en án árangurs.
Ragna tried to soothe her but without success(G)
‘Ragna tried to soothe her, but without success.’ (MÍM)
b. Kristnin mátti eigi vera lengi án stjórnarmanninn.
Christianity could not be long without leader-the(A)
‘The Church could not be long without its leader.’
c. giptisk hon Valgarði án ráði allra frænda sinna
married she Valgarðr without consent(D) all kinsmen her-own
‘She married Valgarðr without the consent of any of her kinsmen.’
d. Þess máttu Gautar illa án vera.
that(G) could Gautar ill without be
‘The people of Gautland could not afford to be without it.’
(Barnes 2008:197, glossed by the author)
In (2a), the prepositional object árangur ‘result, success’ occurs in the gen-
itive, and in Modern Icelandic this preposition governs only the genitive.
However, in Old Icelandic, the same preposition governed the accusative
(2b), dative (2c) and genitive (2d). Dictionaries/grammars also specify
that án governed all the oblique cases in Old Icelandic (e.g., Heusler
1967:144). Based on this difference, two questions arise concerning án.
First, it can be asked whether there were differences in the use of án
within the three cases. Regarding this question, Barnes (2008:197) claims
that the meaning is the same for all three cases, although he provides no
further explanation. The second question concerns the historical devel-
opment of this preposition. As the case government of án changed at
some time in the history of the Icelandic language, it is reasonable to ask
when the change occurred. As there has been almost no discussion of
these questions, the following chapters examine examples of án retrieved
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