The last question, just to close the case completely.
The only reason for <a> > <o,> mutation I'm aware of (though I
definitely feel there are others) is u-umlaut. This would point to
something like *Ragunwaldaz as an archetype (with the meaning like
'gods' rule'?). If so, was umlaut lost or have failed in eastern
Norse (= later Old Swedish)?
In other words,
1. What would be the etymology for _Ro,gnvaldr_/_Ragnvaldr_?
2. Why can we safely assume _Ragnvaldr_ for eastern Norse while
_Ro,gnvaldr_ seemes to be a standard western (Icelandic) form?
Sergei
--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Back-mutated short <a> yields _short_ <o,>, so it doesn't matter
from your point of view. Anyway, you can safely assume <ragn-> for
eastern Norse.
>
> Piotr
>