> I had a particular question about the ligature "æ" in "mæri". According to E.
> V. Gordon, it's meant to be a diphthong like "ai" in "samurai"

He really says that? Strange.

> , but in
> another recording (from Sequentia's "Edda"), it's treated as OE "æsc" (ie.
> ModE "a" in "hat"). Your pronunciation was closer to "ei" as heard in ModE
> "pay".

Native English speakers tend not to hear the difference between their diphthong
in 'pay' and other people's long 'e' monophthongs. For example, when you say 'café'
the last vowel is the diphthong from 'pay'. When the French say 'café' the last
vowel is a clear monophthong. Your version of 'déjà vu', as opposed to the French
one, is another example.

In this case my pronunciation was supposed to be Sampa [E:]. My idea of the closest
English sound is the vowel in 'bed'.

How do we know that the ash wasn't pronounced as in Old English?
Well of course it may have been - but I find it unlikely since the
Old English ash does not result in a fronting of 'k' and 'g'
(you say 'cat', not 'chat') whereas the Icelandic ash does.

> Is this how it's pronounced in Modern Icelandic, a slip of the tongue,
> or how it's meant to be pronounced in ON? If it is ON pronunciation, how is
> it pronounced in ModI? Just curious...

In the modern language 'æ' is a diphthong similar to that in 'samurai'.

Kveðja,
Haukur