Wow. Good job Konrad. Thank you for this.

-Laz

----- Original Message -----
From: "konrad_oddsson" <konrad_oddsson@...>
To: <norse_course@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 6:55 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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