Article published in:
Runic Inscriptions and the Early History of the Germanic LanguagesEdited by Robert Nedoma and Hans Frede Nielsen †
[NOWELE 73:1] 2020
► pp. 21–43
Ek […] wraitalaþo
The Proto-Norse strong preterite 1sg ending in light of the Trollhättan II bracteate
Simon Poulsen | University of Copenhagen
Scholars have previously interpreted the sequence wraitalaþo on the Trollhättan II Bracteate as
wrait alaþō
‘I wrote the magical formula’, wrait ā laþō
‘I wrote laþu in(to)’
or wraita laþō
‘I wrote as an invitation’. The first and second interpretations are improbable for semantic,
morphological and syntactic reasons. The third interpretation does not consider the linguistic consequences of the strong
preterite 1sg ending being retained as -a in Proto-Norse (PN). I will argue that final -a was
preserved in early PN after a stressed syllable, but was lost after an unstressed one. I will reconsider the group of PN
inscriptions that attest strong preterite verbs. Finally, I will conclude that all definite evidence of the loss of
-a belongs to a later period. One exception, however, is the much-debated inscription on the Reistad Stone,
which lacks the syncope and has an original word-final -a in unnam(ʀ̣) wraita.
Published online: 29 April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.00032.pou
https://doi.org/10.1075/nowele.00032.pou
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