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Germanic Lexicon Project
Message Board
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Author: Peter
Date: 2005-06-07 19:16:07
Subject: Re: Old Icelandic case endings in compound names
Hi Claudio,
You're English looks great to me. The -r of the nominative singular, as you point out, is not lost, as a general rule, in the final element of compounds, at least when they are recognised as such. It is however assimilated, in simple words, to -n, -l or -s except after a short stressed syllable, e.g. skínn "shines" (from *skínR), steinn "stone", himinn "heaven"--but vinr "friend". I don't know when -r was lost in patronymics like Sigurðarson, but there is a parallel in compound names such as Hálfdan (earlier Halfdanr) and Auðun (Auð- vinr, cognate with English Edwin). My guess is that the -r was lost due to the low stress. This is also how the change in vowel sun(r) > son(r) is explained in Gordon/Taylor "An Introduction to Old Norse". But you might be able to find a more knowledgeable answer if you ask at Old Norse Net, or the Yahoo "Norse Course" group:
http://www.mun.ca/mst/ONNarchive/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norse_course/
Good luck,
Peter
> I have found this board while delving thru the web. Having a problem about Old Icelandic, I’m hoping that you may help me in finding the right solution.
>
> First, an excerpt I found in “answers.com”:
> Þorgeirr blundr, systursonr Egils, … (normalized, Old Icelandic spelling)
> Þorgeir blundur, systursonur Egils, … (Modern Icelandic)
>
> Both Old and Modern Icelandic, apart from the insertion of a euphonic u before r, show in systurson(u)r, “sister’s son”, the genitive ending in syst-ur and the nominative ending in son-(u)r.
>
> On the other end, I find the name of the harðráði written Haraldr Sigurðarson (or Haraldur Sigurðarson), “Harald Sigurd’s son”, with genitive ending in Sigurð-ar, but without the nominative ending in son, although, when in genitive, it has the proper case ending. Cf. Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar. Why so?
>
> I understand there is a catch somewhere, but I am unable to find where. Can you solve my problem?
>
> Please forgive any possible blunder in my English.
>
> Claudio Lo Monaco
>
>