I was pretty sure there WAS a universal symbol for
nasality. *goes check Linguistics book*
Yes, in the Phonetic Alphabet nasal vowels are
marked by a diacritic which looks like ~ above the letter. You'll also
find the mark used normally in Portugese and Spanish, for instance, where it is
called a tilde. (In spanish, the tilde appears only over the 'n').
Incidentally, I have absolutely zero knowledge of
Old Norse. That I know the phonetic symbols and their sounds for the two
versions of 'th' is thanks to my Linguistics class. Can anyone tell me
where in the group I can start with the absolute basics?
Mjollnir
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 2:34
AM
Subject: [norse_course] The Nasality and
Quantity Distinctions (part 3) - etymologies
'For the examples given of the nasal vs. oral distinction
this
appears from the etymology of each form as follows:
(Note:
nasal are within paranthesis; long vowels not indicated)
H(A)R 'shark'
*hanhaR, cf. Skt. shankú- 'stick, water animal'; but
HAR 'hair' *hâra, cf.
OHG OS hâr, OE h´ær.
R(O)(hooked o)'corner' *wranhô (cf. Sw. vrå), cf.,
with alternation
according to Verner's Law, OIcel. rong (hooked o)
*wrang-, OE wrang
(a), cf. Mod. Engl. wrong 'twisted'; but RO (hooked o)
'yard' *rahô,
cf. Sw. rå, MHG rahe.
Þ(E)L 'file' *þinhlô/*finhlô,
cf. OHG fîhala, OE fêol, fîl, cf. Skt.
pimsháti 'hews out, carves'; but
ÞEL 'woollen nap' probably *þela,
cf. OE þel 'a plank, plate,' Skt. talam
'surface, level, palm'.
F(E)R (hooked e) 'conceives' *fanhiR, cf.
OIcel.inf. fá, Goth.
fahan, OHG OS fâhan, OE fôn *fanhan, cf., with
alternation according
to Verner's Law, past part. OIcel. fengenn (cf. also
Lat. pangô);
but FER (hooked o) 'sheep' *fahaz - PIE *pokos, cf. Gk.
pêkos, pôkos
'wool, fleece'.
I 'in' *in, cf. Goth. OHG OS OE in;
but ISA 'ice floes'(acc. pl.)
*îsanz, cf. OHG OS OE îs.
(O)RAR
'our' (fem.pl.) *unrôR *unzarôz (My Note: oblique case of the
reflexive
pronoun - Proto-Norse adjective would be *unsaraR mas.sg.)
cf. Goth. unsar,
OHG unsêr, OS unsa; but ORAR 'madness' *wôrôR, cf.
OHG adj. wuorag, OS
wôrag, OE wêrig (Mod. Engl. weary).
(Ö)RA 'younger' (neut.) *junhiRô,
cf. Goth. juhiza, and, with
alternation according to Verner's Law, OIcel.
ungr, Goth. juggs, OHG
OS jung, OE geong; but ÖRA 'to vex' *wôrian, cf.
orar above.
Þ(U)AT 'pressed' *þunh-; but ÞU 'thou' *þû, cf. Goth. þu,
Lat. tu,
etc..
S(Y)NA 'to show' *siunian, cf. OIcel. sión, Goth.
siuns; whereas
SYNA 'laps,' as a gen. pl. of the weak fem. *sýia, must go
back to
*siujônô (cf. Goth.gen.pl. in -ono of fem. n-stems), with the root
vowel separated from the nasal consonant by the intervening
-jô-.'
Seeing these etymologies should underscore the importance of
this
type of modern linguistic research to the accurate phonological
representation of Old Norse. Given the advances that have been made
in
this type of research, we should one day be able to achieve the
following:
1) produce a dictionary and printed texts in Old Norse
where nasality is
indicated by regular and elegant means 2) produce
a standardized ancestor
for Old Norse for comparative and literary
purposes, one which would be a
tremendous help in understanding why
Old Norse is the way it is and why it
is sometimes so confusing and
difficult to
learn.
Regards,
Konrad.
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