Also, the (simple / unsuffixed) regular imperative singular of 'halda'
was 'halt' in Old Norse, although Modern Icelandic has replaced this
with 'hald' by analogy with other parts of the conjugation.

'ok halt vörð' "and guard / keep watch"; or you could maybe say 'ok
halt vörð á' "keep watch over [it]" (the object being implied).

Lots of actually attested examples of the expression 'halda vörð' "to
keep watch" in the database here, most in Modern Icelandic spelling:

http://www.lexis.hi.is/corpus/leit.pl?lemma=&ofl=&leita=1&flokkar=Fornrit&m1=v%F6r%F0&l1=Leita&lmax=1

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...> wrote:
>
>
> Hamarr í norðri helga vé þetta ok hald vörð!
>
> The big question is, when?
>
> In Viking times and into the 12th century, probably something like this:
>
> All words stressed on the first syllable.
>
> 'þ' like 'th' in English 'think'.
> 'ð' like 'th' in English 'father'.
>
> Look out for the acute accent over some vowels; this shows that they
> were pronounced long. Vowels with no acute accent over them were
> pronounced short.
>
> 'a' like the vowel in Northern British English 'man'.
>
> 'r' as in Spanish (strongly trilled/rolled initially and when double
> 'rr', otherwise a weaker trill or tap).
>
> 'í' like the 'ee' in English 'meet'.
>
> 'o' the vowel in French 'eau', a short version of the 'o' in German
> 'oder' = the first element of the diphthong in 'pole' in many sorts of
> English including American General Pronunciation.
>
> 'i' in final unstressed position (as in 'norðri') like the 'i' in
> English 'lid'.
>
> 'e' in 'helga' = the 'e' in English 'hell'.
>
> And the 'l' in 'helga' would be like the 'll' in English 'hell' too,
> but the 'l' in 'hald' was like the 'l' at the beginning of English
> words = the 'l' in German 'halt' as opposed to the 'l' in English
> 'hold'. It might be hard to hear the difference because the two
> sounds aren't in phonemic opposition in English [
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonemic ].
>
> 'g' in 'helga' would be like 'g' in Spanish 'algo' (like English hard
> 'g' EXCEPT that the tongue doesn't quite make contact with the roof
> of the mouth).
>
> 'v' = English 'w' in 'way'.
>
> 'é' like the vowel of German 'weh' = a long version of the first
> element of the diphthong in 'way' in many sorts of English including
> American General Pronunciation and British English Received
Pronunciation.
>
> 'e' in þetta' a short version of 'é'.
>
> 'tt' the doubling of the letter shows that you should pause slightly
> longer before releasing the 't' than you would if there was just one
> of them. In other words, doubled consonants have the same function in
> Old Norse as in Italian.
>
> 'ö' like 'o' in German 'Gott', a short version of the vowel in British
> English 'awe', a bit like the vowel in British English 'one'. This
> letter should really be spelt with a hook under the 'o', but because
> most computer fonts don't have "hooked o", we usually use the umlaut
> (two dots) instead. The corresponding letter in Modern Icelandic is
> spelt in this way with the umlaut.
> _________________________________________________________
>
> In the 13th century, 'v' became more like English 'v', and the
> difference between the 'e' in 'helga' and that in 'þetta' disappeared
> in Icelandic; 'ö' developed lip-rounding, becoming like the vowel in
> German 'götter'. In Modern Icelandic, 'o' in 'norðri' has the sound
> that the "hooked o" probably had in Viking times. In modern
> pronunciation, the first 'a' in 'hamarr' has been lengthened, and the
> final 'r' dropped; the 'g' is 'helga' has become [k], like the
> unaspirated 'c' in English 'scar'; both examples of 'l' in this
> sentence are now pronounced as the 'l' in English 'like'; there is a
> puff of air before the 'tt' in 'þetta'; and the 'é' in 'vé' is now
> more like English 'yeah' (still a long vowel, but more open and with a
> glide like English 'y' before it). 'ok' has become 'og' with a long
> 'o' (as in Modern Icelandic 'norðri') and 'g' (as in Old Norse
> 'helga'). Academics in the English-speaking world usually use Modern
> Icelandic pronunciation for Old Norse.
> ___________________________________________________________
>
> Hmm, I probably included much too much detail there; oh well...
>
> LN
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com]
> > On Behalf Of wildhare13
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:27 PM
> > To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [norse_course] pronunciation of some simple words
> >
> > Not sure if you all are familiar with the hammer rite..
> >
> > I don't have pronunciation marks... but the words are
> >
> > "Hamarr i nordhri helga ve thetta ok hald vordh!"
> >
> > meaning "hammer in the North hallow and hold this holy-stead".
> >
> > My main questions are how to pronounce "ve thetta" and "vordh"
> >
> > my friend uses "vay theeeta"... I have read pronunciation guides in
> > the back of several books which would indicate "vay thetta" (rhyme
> > with forget-a).... and should "vordh" rhyme with "or" or "are"... and
> > the dh is somewhere between a th and a z... is the "r" trilled a bit?
> >
> > I am sorry my message is scattered.. I am not very scholarly... but I
> > am to perform this rite soon in the company of others, and I would
> > like to say it correctly. I disagree with using a long e especially
> > in thetta.
> >
> > thanks and it's nice to have these forums..
>