A—Á
A. is the first letter in all the alphabets of Phenician extraction. The Runic alphabet, being confused and arbitrary, makes the sole exception to this rule.
A. Pronunciation: it is either simple (a) or dipthongal (á). The simple a is pronounced long or short; when long it is sounded like the long Italian a as in padre, or as in Engl. father; when short, like the short Italian a as in cambio, or as in Engl. marry. The á—though in grammars commonly called a long vowel—is phonetically diphthongal (a + u), and sounds like Engl. ou or ow: Engl. thou and Icel. þá, now and ná, have almost the same sound. Again a and á have, like all other vowels, diphthongs or simple, a deep, full chest-sound if followed by a single consonant, or by more than one weak consonant (a liquid followed by a media). They sound short if followed by two or more strong consonants (a double mute or liquid): thus the a and á sound long in tāl, sermo; sāt, sedebat; mān, mancipium; tā́l, dolus; ā́r, remus; sā́t, sessio; hātr, odium; hārðr, durus; kāldr, frigidus; vāndr, difficilis; tāmdr, domitus, etc. But short in hătt, pileum; hắtt, modum; mănn, hominem; bănn, interdictum; hắll, lubricus; kălt, frigidum; rămt, acidum; hărt, durum; vănt, assuetum, etc.' the consonants shortening the sound of the preceding vowel. The a is also short in all endings, verbal or nominal, tālă, tālăr, tālăðă, dixi; tālăst, dicitur; vākă, vigilia; fāgrăn, pulchrum, etc. Etymologically a distinction must be made between the primitivce á, as in sátu (sedebant), átu, (edebant), gátu (poterant), and the á produced by suppressing consonants; either nasals, as in á, ást, áss, báss, gás, = an, anst, and, bans, gans; or gutturals, h, g, k, as in á (aqua), sá (videbat), lá (jacebat), má (debet), nátt (nox), dráttr (tractus), and a great many others; or labials, v, f, as in á = af, áir = afr, hár but háfan; or dentals, as in nál (acus) [Goth. neþla, Engl. needle], vál (ambitus, mendicitas) [A.S. vädl], etc.In very early times there was no doubt an audible distinction between these two kinds of á, which however is not observed even by the earliest poets, those of the 10th century. The marking of the diphthongal vowels with an acute accent is due to the Icelandic philologist Thorodd (circa 1080-1140), and was probably an imitation of Anglo-Saxon. The circumflex, applied by Jacob Grimm, is unknown to Icel. authors of whatever age. Thorodd, in his treatise on the vowels (Skálda, pp. 160 sqq.), distinguishes between three kinds of vowels, viz. short, long (i.e. diphthongal), and nasal. The long ones he proposes to mark with an acute (′); the nasals by a dot above the line (·). The vowels of his alphabet are thirty-six in number. According to his rule we should have to write, af (ex), át (esus), ȧ (in). No doubt the a was also nasal in the verbs and the weak nouns, komȧ (=koman), augȧ (gen.); and also when followed by an n, e.g. vȧnr (assuefactus). The distinctive marking of the nasals never came into practice, and their proper sound also disappeared; neither is this distinction observed by the poets in their rhymes. The marking of the diphthongal vowels—either the primitive vowels or those formed by agglutination—by an acute accent, according to the rule of Thorodd, is indeed used in a very few old Icel. parchment fragments of the 12th century. The only MS. of any considerable length which strictly observes this distinction is the Ann. Reg. Ísl. 2087. 4b. Royal Libr. Copenhagen, written in Icel. at the end of the 13th century. In the great bulk of MSS. both kinds of vowels are treated alike, as in Latin. About the middle of the 14th century the doubling of vowels, especially that of aa (ꜳ) = á, came into use, and was employed through more than three centuries, until about 1770 the Icelanders resumed the spelling of Thorodd, marking diphthongal vowels by an acute accent, but following the rules of modern pronunciation. The diphthong au—in Norse freq. spelt ou—has at present in Icel. a peculiar sound, answering to äu or eu in German, and nearly to Engl. oi. The Norse pronunciation is different and perhaps more genuine.
B. Changes. I. a changes into e, á into æ: this change—a part of a more general transformation, by Grimm termed umlaut, ‘vowel-change’—is common to all the Teutonic idioms, except the Gothic (v. letter E and Æ). II. a changes into ö (ꝏ), á into ꝏ́: this transformation is peculiar to the Scandinavian branch, esp. the Icelandic idiom, where it is carried on to the fullest extent—in old Swedish and Danish its use was scanty and limited. It takes place, 1. in monosyllabic nouns with a for their radical vowel, α. feminines, öld, periodus; önd, anima; örk, area; för, iter; höll, aula; hönd, manus; sök, causa, etc. β. adjectives in fem. sing. and in neut. pl. öll, tota; fögr, pulcbra; hörð, dura; hölt, clauda; sönn, vera; from allr, etc. γ. in plur. neut., bönd, vincula; börn, τέκνα; lönd, terrae; from band, etc. δ. in singular masculine with a suppressed u in the root, hjörtr, cervus; fjörðr, sinus; björn, ursus; örn, aquila, etc. 2. in dissyllables a radical a, when followed by a final u (-u, -ur, -um, etc.), in Icel. constantly changes into ö,—öllum, cunctis; mönnum, hominibus; köllum, vocamus; vökum, vigiliis and vigilamus; vökur, vigiliae, etc. Danes and Swedes here retained the a; so did a great part of Norway. The change only prevailed in the west of Norway and the whole of Iceland. Some Norse MSS. therefore constantly keep a in those cases, e.g. Cd. Ups. De la Gard. 8 (Ed. C. R. Unger, 1849), which spells allum, cunctis; hafuð, caput; jafur, rex; andverðr, adversus; afund, invidia, etc. (v. Pref. viii.) Other Norse MSS. spell a and ö promiscuously; allum or öllum, kallum or köllum. In Icel. this change prevailed about the year 1000. Even at the end of the 10th century we still frequently meet with rhymes such as barð—jarðu, þang—langu, etc. 3. a in inflexions, in penultimate syllables, if followed by u, changes into u (or ö), thus keisurum, caesaribus; vitrurum, sapientioribus; hörðurum, durioribus; hörðustum, durissimis: pret. pl. sköpuðu, creabant; töluðu, dicebant; orrustu, pugnam. In part. pass. fem. sing. and neaut. pl., sköpuð, creata; töluð, dicta; töpuð, perdita. Neut. pl. in words, as sumur, aestates; heruð, pagi. This change is peculiar to Iceland, and is altogether strange to Norse MSS., where we constantly find such forms as ætlaðu, putabant; gnagaðu, mordebant; aukaðu, augebant; skapað, creata; kallað, dicta; skaparum, tapaðum, ágætastum, harðarum, skínandum; kunnastu, artem, etc. This difference, as it frequently occurred at early times, soon gave the Icel. idiom a peculiar and strange sound,—amarunt would, in Icelandic, be ömurunt. Norse phrases—as með bænum ok fastu (föstu) hafðu (höfðu) með sér vaxljós, ok dýrkaðu (dýrkuðu) þa hælgu hátíð með fastu (föstu) ok vaktu (vöktu) þar um nóttina með margum (mörgum) aðrum (öðrum) vanfærum mannum (mönnum), O.H.L. 87—sound uncouth and strange to Icel. ears; and so no doubt did the Icel. vowel transformations to Norse ears. 4. endings in -an, all, e.g. feminines in -an, as hugsan, ætlan, iðran, frequently change into -un,—hugsun, ætlun, iðrun, and are now always used so: gamall, vetus, f. gömul; einsamall, solus, f. einsömul. IN modern Norse, gomol, eismol (Ivar Aasen); atall, atrox; ötull, strenuus; svikall, perfidus, and svikull; þrifnaðr, mundities, and þrifnuðr, etc. 5. in the cases correlative to II. 1, 2, the á in its turn changes into a vowel, by Thorodd marked ꝏ́; this vowel change seems to have been settled about the beginning of the 11th century, and prevailed in Iceland during the 12th, being constantly employed in MSS. of that time; about the end of that century, however, and the beginning of the next, it fell off, and at last became extinct. Its phonetical value, therefore, cannot now be precisely stated: it no doubt had an intermediate sound between á and ó, such as ö (ꝏ) has between a and o. Thorodd proposed to mark the short ‘umlaut’ ö by ꝏ; and the vowel change of á by ꝏ́ (in the MSS. however commonly written o̜). Instances: fem., ꝏ́, amnis; ꝏ́st, amor; ꝏ́l, funis; ꝏ́r, remus; lꝏ́g, lignum; skrꝏ́, libelus; sꝏ́tt, pax; sꝏ́l, anima; nꝏ́l, acus; vꝏ́n, spes: masc., hꝏ́ttr, modus; þrꝏ́ðr, filum; pꝏ́ttr, funis; mꝏ́ttr, vis; ꝏ́ss, deus; ꝏ́rr, nuntius: neut. pl. sꝏ́r, vulnera; tꝏ́r, δάκρνa; mꝏ́l, dicta; rꝏ́ð, consilia; vꝏ́r, vera: adj. fem. and neut. kꝏ́t, læta; fꝏ́, pauca; smꝏ́, parva; hꝏ́, alta; fꝏ́m, paucis; hꝏ́m, altis: verbs, sꝏ́, videbant (but sá, videbat); gꝏ́tu, capiebant; ꝏ́tu, edebant (but át, edebat), etc.: v. Frump. 26-28: e.g. sár (vulnus) veitti maðr mér eitt (unum), sꝏ́r mörg (multa vulnera) veitta ek hánum, Skálda (Thorodd), 162; ꝏl (= öl, cerevisia) er drykkr, ꝏ́l er band (vinculum), id. 163; tungan er málinu vꝏn (= vön, assuefacta), en at tönnulum er bitsins vꝏ́n (morsûs exspectatio), id.: frequently in the Grágás, lýsa sár sitt (vulnus) eðr sꝏ́r (vulnera) ef fleiri eru, Kb. i. 151; sꝏ́r en minni (vulnera leviora), 170; en meire sꝏ́r (graviora), 174; síðan es sꝏ́r eða ben voru lýst, 175; engi sꝏ́r (nulla vulnera), sꝏr, and rꝏð, 176, 177; mꝏ́l, ii. 51; vꝏ́r, 158, etc.
