Note to Arn Frag 7III
[1] hvern sumar ‘every summer’: The m. acc. sg. form hvern is established by the aðalhending with erni, and in its turn proves the m. gender of sumar(r). Elsewhere the Old Norse word for ‘summer’ is either clearly n. (CVC, LP, ONP: sumar) or else the context does not show its gender. Arnórr’s is the best evidence for the original m. gender which survives in other Germanic languages, and has been attested in later Icelandic dialect (see Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4: sumar). Thus although Óláfr regarded hvern, and the m. gender it indicates, as a barbarismus, it is likely to be a genuine linguistic variant.
References
- Bibliography
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Sigfús Blöndal. 1920-4. Islandsk-dansk ordbog / Íslensk-dönsk orðabók. Reykjavík, Copenhagen and Kristiania (Oslo): Verslun Þórarins B. Þorlákssonar / Aschehoug.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.