Long sounds can only occur in accentuated syllables. A consonant written double between two vowels indicates that the preceding vowel is short, but final consonants are not written double to indicate shortness of preceding vowel except in a few cases where it may be done, when it is thought desirable to distinguish between two words that otherwise would look alike; Ex.: Brud(d) rupture, Brud bride, Dug(g) dew, Dug table cloth.
NOTE. In the following words consonants are written double after a long vowel to indicate the hard (non-spirantic) sound: Drægge grapnels, dægge to coddle, Hæggen the bird cherry, Læggen the calf, Lægget the fold, tuck, Plaggen the colt, Skægget the beard, Væggen the wall, Æggen the edge, Ægget the egg, Næbbet the beak Bredde breadth, Vidde width. The vowel is also long before double consonant in the following words: otte eight, sjette sixth, Sotten the sickness, Ætten the family, and in words derived by the termination -mæssig : forholdsmæssig proportionate, etc.
80. The quantity of consonants is not indicated in spelling. Long is the first of two soft consonants (l, m, n, r, d, g) in intermediate position between two vowels, the preceding vowel then being short, accentuated and pronounced without glottal stop: hamre to hammer, hornet horned, Almagt omnipotence, Stenbord stone table. (But short consonant in ramse to say by rote, Skjorte shirt, Hor*net the horn).
