A short practical and easy method of learning the old Norsk tongue or Icelandic language / 5 (1869) Author: Rasmus Rask Table of Contents / Innehåll | << Previous | Next >>
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23. rn sounds very hard and short, almost, like dn or
more correctly like rdn, as: barn, börn, horn, it is therefore
often found in defective modern manuscripts or books
steirn, seirn for steinn, seinn. rl sounds likewise hard and
short, almost like dl or more correctly like rdl; on this account
one often finds jarl and jall, karl and kall, kerling and
kelling.

24. s is always hard, like the Danish or like the german
ß (sz), never soft like the german ſ.

25. z always sounds like s and is only used as an
etymological sign for s, when a t, d, or ð has dropped as: veizla
for veitsla, íslenzkr for íslendskr, gerzkr for gerðskr.
In old manuscripts they made use of z sometimes as an
abbreviation of ss, sometimes of st, about in the same manner
in which the greek ζ stood for σδ, in modern and good
editions the use has been restricted, to specify distinctly the two
pronunciations and derivations.

26. x always sounds hard, like ks or gs with a hard g
and s, as: lax, sex, öx, uxi, (never like gz as in the french
word exact).

27. The old Norsk pronunciation was altogether broad,
rich in sound (klangfuld) logical and precise. A vowel before
a simple consonant is rather long, whether the consonant be
hard or soft, as: ek (l. æk) or eg (l. æg), set (l. sæt), las
(l. läs) to express the short sound, the consonant is doubled,
as: egg, sett, hlass.

Even vowels are shortened in the pronunciation if a
consonant is added, as:

höf-uð	has	a	long	ö	—	höfði	a short and sharp one.
ber, slår	-	-	-	e	—	berja, Dat. barði,	has	a	short	one.
vil	-	-	-	i	—	vilja, vildi	-	-	-	-

28. To the syllable belong all consonants which follow a
vowel, as: ask-a, sett-u, höfð-in-u, vild-i, marg-ir,
hest-ar. According to this rule the words are abbreviated at
the end of a line.

29. Exceptions are j and v, which belong to the vowel
following these letters, as: legg-jum, högg-va, the letter r,
also never attaches itself to the preceding vowel, except, when
it becomes altogether blended with the vowel as: steinn,
grænn, hæll, fúll, it is generally read with the next vowel,

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