An Icelandic Primer | Page 2

not include poetry (except incidentally), I
have added one of the finest of the Eddaic poems, which is at the same
time freest from obscurity and corruption--the song of Thor's quest of
his hammer.
In the glossary I have ventured to deviate from the very inconvenient
Scandinavian arrangement, which puts þ, æ, œ, right at the end of
the alphabet.
I have to acknowledge the great help I have had in preparing the texts
and the glossary from Wimmer's Oldnordisk Læsebog, which I
consider to be, on the whole, the best reading-book that exists in any
language. So excellent is Wimmer's selection of texts, that it was
impossible for me to do otherwise than follow him in nearly every case.
In conclusion, it is almost superfluous to say that this book makes no
pretension to originality of any kind. If it contributes towards restoring
to Englishmen that precious heritage--the old language and literature of
Iceland--which our miserably narrow scheme of education has hitherto
defrauded them of, it will have fulfilled its purpose.
HENRY SWEET London, February, 1886

GRAMMAR
1. This book deals with Old Icelandic in its classical period, between
1200 and 1350.
PRONUNCIATION
2. The Icelandic alphabet was founded on the Latin, with the addition
of þ and ð, and of the modified letters ę, ǫ, ø, which last is in
this book written ö, ǫ̈.
Vowels

3. The vowel-letters had nearly the same values as in Old English.
Long vowels were often marked by (´). In this book long vowels are
regularly marked by (¯)[1]. The following are the elementary vowels
and diphthongs, with examples, and key-words from English, French
(F.), and German (G.):--
[Footnote 1: Note that the longs of ę, ö are written æ, œ,
respectively.]
a as in mann (G.) halda (hold) Ä " father rÄð (advice) e " été (F.)
gekk (went) ē[2] . . . lēt (let pret.) ę " men męnn (men)
[Footnote 2: Where no keyword is given for a long vowel, its sound is
that of the corresponding short vowel lengthened.]
æ as in there sær (sea) i " fini (F.) mikill (great) ī . . . lītill (little)
o " beau (F.) orð (word) Å . . . tÅk (look) Ç« " not hÇ«nd (hand) ö "
peu (F.) kömr (comes) œ . . . fœra (bring) ǫ̈ " peur (F.) gǫ̈ra
(make) u " sou (F.) upp (up) ū . . . hūs (house) y " tu (F.) systir
(sister) ȳ . . . lȳsa (shine) au " haus (G.) lauss (loose) ei = ę + i
bein (bone) ey = Ä™ + y leysa (loosen)
4. The unaccented i in systir, etc. (which is generally written e in the
MSS.) probably had the sound of y in pity, which is really between i
and e. The unacc. u in fÅru (they went), etc. (which is generally written
o in the MSS.) probably had the sound of oo in good.
Note that several of the vowels go in pairs of close and open
, thus:
close : e ē o Šö œ open : ę æ ǫ - ǫ̈ -
Consonants
5. Double consonants followed by a vowel must be pronounced really
double, as in Italian. Thus the kk in drekka (to drink) must be
pronounced like the kc in bookcase, while the k in dręki (dragon) is
single, as in booking. When final (or followed by another cons.) double
conss. are pronounced long, as in munn (mouth acc.), hamarr (hammer

nom.), steinn (stone nom.), distinguished from mun (will vb.), and the
accusatives hamar, stein.
6. k and g had a more front (palatal) sound before the front vowels e,
ę, i, ö, ǫ̈, y, and their longs, as also before j, as in kęnna
(known), keyra (drive), gǫ̈ra (make), liggja (lie).
7. kkj, ggj were probably pronounced simply as double front kk, gg, the
j not being pronounced separately.
8. *f* had initially the sound of our f, medially and finally that of v, as
in gefa (give), gaf (gave), except of course in such combinations as ft,
where it had the sound of f.
9. *g* was a stopped (back or front--guttural or palatal) cons. initially
and in the combination ng, the two g's in ganga (go) being pronounced
as in go. It had the open sound of G. g in sagen medially before the
back vowels a, o, Ç«, u, and all conss. except j, and finally:--saga (tale),
dǫgum (with days); sagði (he said);
lag (he lay). Before the front
vowels and j it had the sound of G. g in liegen, or nearly that of j (our
y), as in sęgir (says), sęgja (to say).
10. Before voiceless conss. (t, s) g seems to have been pronounced k, as
in sagt (said), dags (day's).
11.