Sæll Símon.

> In the course of my Swedish studies, I have discovered the archaic

form I KALLEN. I understand that "I" meant "you (pl.)" and that the
verb, e.g. KALLA (to call) had a special ending in -EN, which seems
to have applied across all the conjugations except contracted verbs
like TRO. I have a smattering of Icelandic, which is close to Old
Norse, but the corresponding form there is ÞIÐ KALLIÐ, which doesn't
seem to fit the bill. Please, can anyone enlighten me as to the
ultimate source of I KALLEN? I mean both the pronoun I and the
ending EN.

>

I am assuming that by "archaic form" you mean a form that occurs in
old Swedish manuscripts from roughly 1200-1500? If so, then here is
the likely source of forms like "I KALLEN": a shift in pronunciation
from Ð to N in this position that occured in most East Norse
dialects at various times during roughly the period 900-1300. I have
also observed this phenomenon on the course of my own studies in old
Swedish. As you noticed, the -EN ending applies across all the old
conjugations with few exceptions. Historically, the change was from
Ð to N and West Norse shows a more conservative form in this case.
The use of E for I is in this case purely dialectical - some
dialects had I and others E, showing no influence on the grammar
either way. The Icelandic form ÞIÐ KALLIÐ should fit the bill just
fine, as well as should the Icelandic formal plural ÞÉR KALLIÐ. ÞIÐ
is the old dual form acting as a plural, whereas ÞÉR is the old
plural form acting as a formal. The I in I KALLEN could represent
either the West Norse dual IT, which became ÞIÐ, or the West Norse
plural ÉR, which became ÞÉR, as there are no special dual forms of
verbs in Old Norse or Old Swedish. Only the context can tell you
whether the I in this case means West Norse IT or ÉR. Also, old East
Norse tended to prefer ÍR to ÉR in the plural. Finally, I want to
point out that spelling was not fixed anywhere in Scandinavia during
this period - it could be quite erratic! Many manuspripts show no
markings over vowels like I and E, thus leaving us to guess from the
context as to whether I in the case means ÍR/ÉR or IT/ET. I hope
this will be useful to you in your studies.

Regards,
Konrad.