Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2023, Síða 94

Icelandic writing conventions. During this period, different Norwegian
orthographic and linguistic characteristics were displayed in Icelandic
manuscripts (e.g., Stefán Karlsson 1978, Kyrkjebø 2003, Kjartan Ottos -
son 2003). Many of these features have been proposed as evidence of
Norwegian influence in Icelandic manuscripts (so-called Norwegian -
isms). However, there has been no discussion regarding the case govern-
ment of prepositions in this context.
The preceding section discussed the differences in the case govern-
ment of án between Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. Based on this
dialectal difference, one might suppose that the Icelandic án changed the
case it governed under Norwegian influence. Consistent with this, one of
the earliest possible genitive examples in ONP is from approximately
1300, in Elucidarius (AM 675 4to).
(7) ero þeir alldrigin ón qvalar[.] En retlater ero
are they never without agony(U) but righteous are
jamnan vtan qvol.
always without agony(U)
‘they are … subject to eternal damnation. But the righteous are always
without torment.’ (AM 675 4to:99)
In (7), án governs case of the feminine kvǫl ‘torment’. As this noun has the
form kvalar for genitive singular and nominative/accusative plural, it falls
into the unclear category. However, the phrase útan kvǫl ‘without torment’
comes after this sentence and kvǫl is undoubtedly singular, either accusa -
tive or dative but not genitive. The expression ón kvalar seems parallel to
útan kvǫl in terms of number, and kvalar is thus likely to be in genitive sin-
gular.
AM 675 4to, preserved as part of Hauksbók, was written in an un -
known hand that cannot be seen in any other place in this codex (AM 675
4to, Firchow and Grimstad 1989:xxxix–lii). The scribe used an irregular,
mixed orthography, and it is uncertain whether the scribe was an Ice -
lander or a Norwegian (e.g., Jón Helgason 1960:ix–xi). According to
Eiríkur Jónsson and Finnur Jónsson (1892–1896:lvii–lviii), the scribe
was a Norwegian who copied an Icelandic original and was a very old
man who had already lost full control of his own hand. Contrarily, Gunnar
Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson (1993:272) and Firchow and Grim stad
(1989:xliv–xlv) take the position that the scribe was an Ice lander. At the
very least, the language in Hauksbók is not purely Icelandic (Firchow and
Yuki Minamisawa94