Early Icelandic Scribal Practice: The Representation of Geminate Consonants in 12th- and 13th-Century Icelandic Orthography

• Main Author: Giulia Zorzan 1993-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Norræn fræði; Miðaldafræði; Víkingaöld; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/39896

The aim of the present study was to examine the different ways in which consonant length was denoted in the 12th- and 13th-century Icelandic orthography. In the previous scholarship, three methods are traditionally identified in the surviving early Icelandic sources, i.e., digraphs, small capitals, and the use of a superscript dot on a single consonant symbol. However, the distribution and use of these different methods by individual scribes have never been examined systematically. A thorough overview of variation in scribal practice in this period can greatly enhance our understanding of internal relationships between the manuscripts and thus their use as sources of evidence for the history of the Icelandic language. For this reason, a corpus of early Icelandic hands from around 1150 to 1300 has been analysed by way of systematic random sampling. From the data collected, it has been possible to identify two other methods to denote consonant length used by the early Icelandic scribes, which should be considered as separate categories. These are the use of ligatures and the use of a superscript bar above minuscule “n” for long nn. The most relevant findings that have emerged from this study have been analysed in order to better understand the way in which these methods are found and used in the orthography, as well as their possible origin. Moreover, by applying the theory of “communities of practice,” 15 groups of Icelandic scribes have been identified as sharing similar orthographic practices with regard to their representation of geminate consonants. Several of these methods are unique to the Icelandic orthography and can therefore represent a determining factor in the comparative analysis with other writing traditions. To support this idea, a limited corpus of contemporary Norwegian hands has been analysed and results show that where similar trends are identified, an Icelandic influence is to be assumed. On the other hand, the emergence in Iceland of the use of a superscript bar to denote long nn around the ...