Re: Origin of the Runes (was: Introducing myself)

--- llama_nom <600cell@...> wrote:

>
> There was been some recent discussion about the origin of the runes
> over at Old Norse Net, where Tor Gjerde posted this link to his essay
> on the topic [ http://old.no/runes/origin.pdf ].

I have not yet examined this site, however look forward to it, thank you
so kindly for this information!!!

>
> Another link you might find interesting [
> http://irs.ub.rug.nl/ppn/163895791 ], JH Looijenga's doctoral
> dissertation: "Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD
> 150-700." See especially Chapter 3. As you can see, not everyone
> agrees that all names ending in -o in the early inscriptions are
> necessarily female.

I have read this information, it is wonderful to see work done by,
Looigenga in pdf form on the web, especially this work which is a fine on
at that IMHO.

>
> > The linguistic evidence of the example you quote is perfectly correct,
> being gmc long /o/ originated by long Indo-european /a/, which is the
> feminine ending in many ie languages even today.
>
> Yes, normally PIE /a:/ became /o:/ in Germanic. But at the end of a
> word, in the language of the early runic inscriptions found in
> Scandinavia, Proto-Germanic /o:/ is represented by the u-rune, e.g.
> 'la<thorn>u' "invitation" > Old Norse 'lö<eth>'. Thus, in the language

of the

> early inscriptions, -u was the nominative singular ending in the
> declension that corresponds to the Indo-European a-stems. This sound
> change, final /o:/ > /u:/ > /u/, was shared by the Germanic dialects
> ancestral to Old English and Old Norse.
>
> Names like Wagnijo and Ni<thorn>ijo are usually interpreted as ôn-stems.

> The /o:/ was preserved because it was 'covered' (protected) by a final
> /n/ which existed at the time of the change /o:/ > /u:/, but had been
> lost in the nominative singular by the time of the inscriptions. The
> /n/ survived though in oblique cases in the early inscriptions, as in
> the genitive Agilamu(n)don (Rosseland stone); I(n)gijon (Stenstad
> stone). This declension went on to be used exclusively for feminine
> nouns in Old Norse, but in West Germanic the ôn-stem declension was
> used for masculine nouns.

If you don't mind, I understand the runes clearly, however don't know how
to come to my own conclusion. I feel before exploring further with the
Norse material is to understand the basic's of the language it was written
for? Can you help me more in understanding this with the -O for female?
If you don't mind, can I use some of this material to help make some
friends of mine think more on the matter? The eviedence I have produced
that I know on it, if you can supply the ref: to what you have proclaimed
and only with your permission present it to my friends maybe?

p.s. The reason I ask, I like to stay academically honest.

Heill ok vel,

Mike

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