Rótstovnar í føroyskum: Serstakliga við atliti til fleirtal

Abstract

The paper deals with the root stems (athematic stems) in Faroese. In Old-Norse, these stems are mainly characterized by the plural -r, in contrast to the vowel-stems and »-stems, whose plural is formed by either -ar, -ir or -ur, but in Faroese they have, by separating some words (3. a. and partly e.) and attracting others, developed to be a group mainly characterized by i-Vmlaut in the plural (to some degree veiled by «-Umlaut «>o). Each word is treaded in 3. It is pointed out (3. d.), that several of the words, when definite, have kept their plural -r, which is else assimilated to the -n- of the article — a fact which does not clearly show from normal Faroese orchography. Furthermore it is shown (3. e.), that in some cases a preserved old plural form has given rise to new plural forms, which may sometimes spread into the singular as well.