----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 3:55
AM
Subject: [norse_course] Gotlandic
phonological nightmare - 6 more brothers
One mysterious day, the brothers 'Ok' and 'Auk' went to
visit their
relatives in Gotland. Old man Goti gave them a warm welcome.
After a
traditional dinner, Goti brought out an old book and said "this
may
come as a surprise to the two of you, but you have six more brothers
and their names are written in this old book: Auc, Ac, Uc, Aug, Au,
and Oc. They were all fine boys, but died a little before your time.
We old-timers still remember them well." Then 'Ok' stood up on the
table and shouted "auuuuug! will the real conjuction please stand up
and introduce himself!" The old man looked puzzled.
Kind reader,
let us try to help the brothers make sense of this mess.
To begin with, the
word "auk" is listed in Old Icelandic and both an
adverb and a conjuction
- as an adverb it means "besides" and is the
same as in Modern Icelandic,
as a conjuction it means "also/and" and
is translated as "ok". In Old
English, "êac" is listed only as an
adverb in the meaning "besides" and
the word "and" is listed in the
meaning "ok". So also in Gothic, where
"auk" is listed as an adverb
in the meaning "besides" and the word "jah"
is said to mean "ok".
Notice that all three languages, covering the
extremes of Germania,
list the word "auk" an an adverb meaning "besides".
Notice also that
all three languages list a different word in the meaning
"ok". Now,
if there is any place in Scandinavia where you would expect not
to
find A-umlaut (that is, the mutation of U to O by A in a following
syllable) it would be Gotland. In Gutiska, the language of the Goths
in south-eastern Europe, A-umlaut only occurs before R. In Gutniska,
the language of Viking Age Gotlanders, we also see a marked absence
of
A-umlaut. Brother "Uk" can even been seen in late 12th or early
13th
century manuscripts. "Ok" can also be seen there. What does all
of this
mean for the brothers "Ok" and "Auk"? Here are some thoughts
on this
subject:
1) "auk" is a Proto-Germanic adverb meaning "besides", as
testified
to by Germanic languages of all three branches.
2)
Germanic languages chose different conjuctions meaning "and",
none of
which are likely to have been identical to the adverb "auk".
3) One of
the distinguishing features of Proto-Norse is retention of
unaccented A in
positions where it disappeared in other languages,
such as "Gothic". Here
are some examples: N.M.Sg. Dagaz and A.M.Sg.
Daga where "Gothic" shows
N.M.Sg. Dags and A.M.Sg. Dag and "English"
shows N.M.Sg. Dæg and A.M.Sg.
Dæg; Proto-Norse "ana" (=á) and "tila"
(=til) are further examples.
4) Norse suffered loss of initial J around 600 and underwent rather
extensive A-mutation over a period of many centuries.
5) Gothic
often shows U were Norse or Old English show A and visa
versa. Here is an
example: "sunjis" means "true" in Gothic, whereas
Old Norse shows the form
"sannr". There are many such examples.
6) If we restore J to "ok" and
remove the effects of A-umlaut we get
the rather novel looking form
"juka". While novel looking at first,
"juka" is really no stranger than
"jah" in reality. In fact, "juka"
would explain why the various inscribers
from places as divergent as
Gotland and "at eggjum" in Norway inscribed as
they did; it would
account for the various spelling trends that occur
after A-umlauted
"uk" had become dominant in Scandinavia; it would account
for why
the form "ok" is nearly universal in West Norse; it would account
for why "og" remains almost unchallenged in modern Scandinavia; in
short, it looks like a likely candidate for being the true ancestor
of
the common Old Norse conjuction "ok".
Regards,
Konrad.
Sumir
hafa kvæði...
...aðrir spakmæli.
- Keth
Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
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