A short practical and easy method of learning the old Norsk tongue or Icelandic language / 2 (1869) Author: Rasmus Rask Table of Contents / Innehåll | << Previous | Next >>
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2. ö always open, as in the danish words: Dören, lönne.

3. e, the same as in the danish: bedre, Hest. Before the
open e (ε) an j is often added in the pronunciation, which
generally receives the accent (`) as: lèt (ljet) lod, agreeing
with the Danish sjette from seks, jeg from ἐγώ. It is uncertain
how far back into past ages this pronunciation may be
traced.

4. i, as in the danish vis, til, it comes near to the danish
é in leve, and is both long and short. When it goes over into
i, it sounds like the danish in Pil, vís, fire.

5. o, always open, as the danish å, it is both long and
short, as in: Bogen, os, komme; whilst ó sounds like the danish
in Os, Stol, stor, perhaps a little broader.

6. u as in the danish words Bud, Hul, kun, long and
short, in its transition to ú it sounds like the danish Hus,
Hul, brun. That this pronunciation of the u and ú is the
genuine old norsk, is proved not only by all the northern
languages, but also by the Ferroe dialect, in which the correct
sound has been maintainted to this day, f. i.

oldnorsk-ferroe		danish
kunna		kunne
kúga        kúa		kue.

7. y as in the danish Byg, hyppe; it approaches a little to
the danish ø and is both long and short; changed into ý it
sounds like the danish Bly, Syre, flyde. That y was really
distinguished from i, is proved partly by the languages of the
northern continent (Fastlands sprogene) partly by the icelandic
pronunciation of the day, which pronounces y in kyrr short,
but the letter ý long: but more particularly by the circumstance,
that the poets (skaldene) form a half-rhyme with i, as Fms. 6, 35.

Herstillis þarf ek hylli,
hálf eru völd und Kálfi

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