> I've heard it pronounced on a couple tapes I got of lectures given by
> British Ring of Troth members as "Ah-sah-true" (i.e., two long a's,
> pronounced sort of like in "father" and the u pronouned as in the word
> "true").

That would be, more or less, correct 13th century pronunciation
(of a word that was not used back then).

In the 12th century and earlier the first vowel would have
been much different, however. It would have been something
like a nasal version of the vowel in English 'awe'. Maybe
close to the vowel in French 'dans'.

In modern times the first vowel is a dipthong similar, indeed,
to the one in English 'house'.

The pronunciation of the rest of the word is the same for
any century.

> The surprise, to me, after mispronouncing it for years, was
> that they placed the accent on the first syllable.

The accent is always on the first syllable in Norse / Icelandic.

Kveðja,
Haukur