Fundu-fundinn eller funnu funninn

Abstract

The forms of the ON verb finna: fundu (pret. plur.) and fundinn (past part.) alternate with funnu and funninn. It is demonstrated that the latter forms are the younger ones, and this raises the question whether it is possible to show when and where the younger forms are first found. A careful investigation of the oldest MSS shows that the younger forms, funnu and funninn, can be found in Norwegian MSS of an earlier date than those Icelandic ones in which the forms occur. However, in a group of Icelandic MSS funnu and fundu are used alternately, even in Kringla and other MSS of the Heimskringla. This may be due to a general Norwegian influence on the language, or to a specific influence from the (Norwegian) MSS from which the text was copied. In connection with the dating and provenance, of the younger forms it is perhaps significant that they are the standard forms of modern Farocse, and that Jakob Jakobsen has recorded the past participle in a form corresponding to ON funninn in the Norse language of the Shetland Islands.