An Icelandic Primer | Page 2

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 ??, ?|, ?��, 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 L?|sebog, 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 ?? and ?��, and of the modified letters ??, ??, ??, which last is in this book written ??, ??��?.
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 ??, ?? are written ?|, ?��, respectively.]
a as in mann (G.) halda (hold) ? " father r??�� (advice) e " ??t?? (F.) gekk (went) ?��[2] . . . l?��t (let pret.) ?? " men m??nn (men)
[Footnote 2: Where no keyword is given for a long vowel, its sound is that of the corresponding short vowel lengthened.]
?| as in there s?|r (sea) i " fini (F.) mikill (great) ?? . . . l??till (little) o " beau (F.) or?�� (word) ? . . . t?k (look) ?? " not h??nd (hand) ?? " peu (F.) k??mr (comes) ?�� . . . f?��ra (bring) ??��? " peur (F.) g??��?ra (make) u " sou (F.) upp (up) ?? . . . h??s (house) y " tu (F.) systir (sister) ��3 . . . l��3sa (shine) au " haus (G.) lauss (loose) ei = ?? + i bein (bone) ey = ?? + 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 f?ru (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 ?�� o ? ?? ?�� open : ?? ?| ?? - ??��? -
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 dr??ki (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, ??, i, ??, ??��?, y, and their longs, as also before j, as in k??nna (known), keyra (drive), g??��?ra (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, ??, u, and all conss. except j, and finally:--saga (tale), d??gum (with days); sag?��i (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 s??gir (says), s??gja (to say).
10. Before voiceless conss. (t, s) g seems to have been pronounced k, as in sagt (said), dags (day's).
11. The g was always sounded in the combination ng, as in single, not as in singer.
12. *h* was sounded before j in such words as hjarta (heart) much as in E. hue (= hj??). hl, hn, hr, hv probably represented voiceless l, n, r, w respectively, hv being identical with