I. Normalisation of fourteenth-century poetry

The orthographic representations of fourteenth-century poems in Skj B and Skald are inconsistent and fail to reflect sound changes that are characteristic of this period. For example, even though ǫ and ø merged to ö in the thirteenth century, both editions consistently render the new phoneme as <ǫ> rather than as <ö>. Other changes, like the diphthongisation of é (é > ie; see below), are not reflected in the orthography at all. Likewise, syntactic innovations, such as the frequent omission of the relative particle er, are silently emended in Skj B and Skald to correspond with earlier practice. In the present edition, a series of fourteenth-century orthographic normalisations are adopted, which are listed below (see A.); syntactic and morphological idiosyncrasies characteristic of the fourteenth century (see B.) are left in the Text without comment.

Vowel quantity was unstable during this period, and our practice is therefore conservative: progressive v-umlaut (vó-), for example, is only represented orthographically when it can be ensured by internal rhyme. The spelling of such words as dróttinn 'lord' (dróttinn or drottinn; see above) is left to the individual editor and should be justified in the Introduction or Notes. We also adhere to a conservative practice as far as desyllabification of -r is concerned (-r > -ur, see below), and desyllabified forms are only introduced when required by the metre. Editors of fourteenth-century poetry are, therefore, advised to follow late thirteenth-century practices in normalization, as set out in the Editors' Manual, 2nd edn (2002), >> 5., pp. 30-3, except in the specific cases listed below.

Use new forms only when required by metre, e.g., where kall [not karl] rhymes with allr; talda [not talða]: skald, and comment in notes. Forms such as hestr are found in the fourteenth century, as well as the newer hestur. Use the earlier form except in those cases where the new form is required by metre; look at mss; comment in Notes.

When the texts of Skj B and Skald are referred to in the Notes, the orthography of Finnur and Kock is retained, that is, we do not subject their texts to our principles of normalisation. Hence the notes often contain two different systems of orthographic representation (e.g. og and ok 'and', mjög and mjǫk 'much', mier and mér 'to me' etc.). This mixture of forms is unfortunate, but unavoidable.

Below is an outline of the standard normalisations (A.) adopted in the present edition and a list of fourteenth-century phonological, morphological and syntactic features (B.) which occur occasionally in the poems. Such features are retained in the texts without comment in the notes to individual stanzas.

A. Standard Normalisations

I. Phonology

1) Vowels in stressed syllables

i) é > ie: hér > hier 'here'

ii) e > ie | k, g, h: ketill > kietill 'kettle', gefa > giefa 'to give', hekk > hiekk 'hung'

iii) e > ei | –ng: lengi > leingi 'long' (adv.)

iv) ö > au | –ng, nk: söngr > saungr 'song'

2) Consonants

i) ð > d | [+short syllable] l, n, m–: talða > talda 'counted, told'

ii) ð > d | b, lf, lg, ng, rg–: skelfða > skelfda 'trembled'

iii) pt > ft: lopt > loft 'air'

iv) t, k > ð, g | [- stress]–# : ek > eg 'I', at > að 'that'

v) rl > ll: karl > kall 'man'

vi) rs > ss: vers > vess 'verse'

vii) rst > st : skýrst > skýst 'most clear'

viii) ts < z > > ss : Gizurr > Gissurr 'Gissur'

ix) gn– > n–: gneisti > neisti 'spark'

II. Morphology

1. Mediopassive or middle voice: –sk > –z: kallask > kallaz 'to be called'.

2. Desyllabification (only when justified by metre): –r > –ur: hestr > hestur 'horse'

B. Occasional Syntactic, Morphological, and Phonological Peculiarities

1. Loss of the relative particle er in the combination demonstrative + relative particle:

Vitn 3/3 kóngr, sá átti unga 'king, who had a young'.

2. Loss of er after þá 'when', þar 'where', þegar 'as soon as', síðan 'after':

         Sól 6/3 þá hann veginn vaknaði 'when he slain awoke'

3. Loss of að 'that' after svá 'so that', þó 'although', því 'because':

         Sól 54/5 svá víða þótti mér 'so that widely seemed to me'

4. 1st person sg. pret. subj. ending -a > -i:

         Vitn 26/1 Væri eg skyldr að skýra 'should I be obliged to explain'

5. Occasional reintroduction by analogy of v- | -o:

         Mv II, 4/7 Vurðu þau; af velferð 'became they; from prosperity'

6. Devoicing of g before s: huxan 'thought' as opposed to earlier hugsan:

         Mv I, 6/1 Vóx hræðilig huxan 'grew (a) terrible thought'.

References