Dahlerup. For others see Table II. Prolegomena to Sturlunga Saga, Oxford, 1879.
13th century changes. The first era of change, ascribed by Dr Vigfusson to about the lifetime of Snorri, is the mark left by the civil wars and the connexion with Norway (our 14th century Wars of the Roses transition is in many respects its parallel). It is seen in the normal spelling of the editions of the sagas, &c. , and is best exemplified by the famous AM. 132, c. 1300, and the Annales Regii, 1290-1306 (accurately printed in pp. 348-91, vol. ii., Sturlunga Saga, Oxford, 1879), the loss of the s replaced by r, the vanishing of the u-umlauted á, the confusion of œ and æ, æ and e, ao and eo (the latter of each couple prevailing), the hardening of the dental finals and the blurring of st, sk, &c. into z. This stage of spelling and pronunciation is that which should be adhered to in all works which must be printed in an uniform way, dictionaries, grammars, classic editions, &c. The student may be cautioned not to take the vagaries of Norse scribes, or Noricized Icelanders (such as Hawk) for important phonetic variations.
16th century changes. The second era of change is that which accompanied the Reformation, and witnesses to the mental and physical stir produced by that movement. It is only heard in the spoken tongue (for all books, save a few printed during the last few years, follow the normal type of the 14th and 15th century MSS. with few variations), but it is none the less deep and important. Its leading features are the loss of quantity and intonation, the confusion of the vowels y and u, æ and ai, ey and au, au and á, ei i í and ey y ý (the latter taking the sound of the former in each case), the diphthongization of the long vowels ī, ē, ō, ū, all changes which from their symmetry must have taken place at one date, the differentiation of doubled and touching consonants, ll, nn, gn, &c. , and of final r. The vocabulary, which during the connexion with Norway and England through the “Dark Age” had been enriched with many French and English words, now received an important augmentation in a new religious terminology from Germany, while the intercourse with Denmark began to leave its mark in loan-words and Danicisms, the stock of which tended greatly to increase, till a reaction arose in the present century, which, though excusable, has been carried to laughable lengths. The metre of Icelandic poetry had begun to show signs of mediæval influence (of French origin) even before the death of Snorri, as a ditty in Sturlunga shows. During the Dark Age the Rimur metric system, depending largely on time-ending and burden for new effects though still retaining line rhyme and alliteration (the latter being absolutely essential), revolutionized poetry, and later the hymns of the Reformation, shaking themselves free from the somewhat monotonous beat of the Rimur, contain examples of many new and ingenious metres.
Absence of dialects. The absence of dialects in Iceland results from the essential unity of life in that island, and the lack of any of the conditions which during the Middle Ages produced dialects in England, Germany, and France, such as town-life with its guilds and varied interests, the great corporations, ecclesiastical, legal, and medical, which by their necessary use of Latin cut off the most highly educated classes from exercising any influence on the vernacular, and the caste influences of chivalry, &c., which sometimes, as in England, allowed the upper classes to use a separate foreign language. In early times before the Danish conquest there were no dialects, because, life being single, king and serf, soldier and peasant, merchant and priest must live and speak alike. So we see in our own days the newspaper, the state school, the railway, the conscription, and the theatre, all tending to bring about in each great European state a sameness of life, thought, and speech through every nook and corner of its area.
The general characteristics of the Icelandic tongue are those of a spoken speech, par excellence,—a pure and correct vocabulary well-suited to the every-day needs of a pastoral life, a pithy and homely vigour of idiom (this shows especially in the saws and proverbs which often recall those of Spain), a delicacy and regularity of syntax, which can express much with few and simple means, and an accuracy of terminology well becoming a legal-minded people. All these salient characters strike every observer, but the full beauty and power of the tongue as a vehicle of the highest expression can only be tested by a careful study of the masterpieces written in it. No one that has not read the finest chapters of Niala or Olaf Tryggvasson's Life, the Tales of Snorri, or a Gospel in Odd's translation, not to speak of other works almost equally worthy of mention, can judge fairly of the capacity, force, and sweetness of this most classic language.
Philological works. A few words are due to those whose labours have rendered the task of mastering it easy and pleasant. The oldest philologist, Thorodd, has been noticed; an anonymous grammarian of the next generation, c. 1175, attempted a classification of letters and sounds; Sturla's brother Olaf, the White Poet, applied the figures, &c., of Donatus and Priscian to Icelandic, in which task he was followed by a continuator. All these treatises were published along with the Thulur, rhymed glossaries (compiled in the Western Islands, probably in the Orkneys), in vol. ii. of the AM. edition of the Edda, to a MS. of which they are found affixed, Copenhagen, 1832.
Of modern works, those of Rask, the founder of modern Icelandic philology, Egillson, the learned author of the Poetic Lexicon, otherwise well known by his translation of Homer, and Fritzner, the first real Icelandic lexicographer, deserve reverent mention. But for all practical purposes their labours have been superseded and their designs fulfilled by Dr Gudbrand Vigfusson, whose Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford, 1869-75, must, whether one looks to its scientific philology, completeness, accuracy, or arrangement, be pronounced the best existing dictionary of any Teutonic tongue. It comprises a grammar and phonology, &c. The university of Oxford has recently published, under the editorship of Messrs Vigfusson and Powell, a very complete Icelandic Prose Header. In the scattered opuscula of Dr Bugge, as well as in his notes to the poetic Edda, are to be found many interesting “equations” and observations on the langauge and comparative mythology of Scandinavia.
To English philologists the study of Icelandic is of high importance, as bearing upon the grammar and vocabulary of our most important dialect, the Northumbrian, to a scientific knowledge of which it is absolutely necessary. A list of words occurring in every-day English which we owe to the Scandinavian settlers of the Danelaw will be found in the Oxford Icelandic Reader. To Irish scholars the old northern tongue is also of interest, as not only did those who spoke it borrow much from their Celtic friends and foes, but there was also a certain amount of reflex action which it would be desirable to fully trace out. As the most regular and pure of the Teutonic dialects, its value to the comparative philologist is sufficiently obvious. (F. Y. P.)
ICELAND MOSS, a lichen, Cetraria islandica (Achar.),
whose erect or ascending foliaceous habit gives it something
of the appearance of a moss, whence probably the name.
The thallus has a pale chestnut colour, and grows to a height
of from 3 to 4 inches, the branches being channelled or
rolled into tubes, which terminate in flattened lobes with
fringed edges. It grows abundantly in the mountainous
regions of northern countries, and specially it is
characteristic of the lava slopes and plains of the west and north
of Iceland. As met with in commerce it is a light-grey
harsh cartilaginous body, almost destitute of odour, and
having a slightly bitter taste. It contains about 70 per
cent. of lichenin or lichen-starch, a body isomeric with
common starch, but wanting any appearance of structure.
It also yields a peculiar modification of chlorophyll, called
thallochlor, fumaric acid, licheno-stearic acid, and cetraric
acid, to which last it owes its bitter taste. In medicine
it is used as a mild tonic, and at the same time it forms a
nutritious and easily digested amylaceous food, being used
in place of starch in some preparations of cocoa. It is not,
however, in great request, and even in Iceland it is only
habitually resorted to in seasons of scarcity.
