Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/70

LXII u-mutation. This specially Northern mutation, which appears far later than the i-mutation, is also to be found in Shetland Norn, but is difficult to substantiate, as a has generally changed to o. Such an o, long or short, proceeding from an original a in the stem of feminine words ending in -a, can stand partly as a u-mutation of a, partly as a regular Shetlandic development of a.

In Færoese, the u-mutation from the accusative, genitive and dative in -u has generally entered into the nominative in -a, fjøra, gøla, søga, blonda ( fjara, gala, saga, blanda), in in most cases also,  fjøra, “soga (søga)” from “saga”, “blanda”, blended drink, whey and water, has, in single dialects, the mutated parallel-form blonda (  blönda), but in  the word is, without mutation. On account of its meaning, it cannot be the neuter word “bland”, but must be, and  blanda, ).

Without mutation:, , mud (= marra, ) and mara, , night-mare, mara,  Also  in

[fjora, fjɔra] ( foreshore, ebb, now with somewhat altered meaning, see the Dictionary), may be a form with u-mutation such as and   ( fjara,  fjǫru), but not necessarily.

(a cow with a back of a certain colour), Starabaga,
 * baka,, from bak, back, has no u-mutation.

On the other hand, the u-mutation is doubtless to be found in (long o), *,, applied to an animal with a back of a certain colour, *bǫkóttr from bak. In a similar manner [mōgət]: with a belly of a certain colour, *mǫgóttr from magi (belly), in which the relation is more obscure, because also the word “magi” in has become an o:.


 * "blǫkubein (from blaka, ).

, : *blaðka.

, : *banga,

-fish ( langa, longa).

,, wrong: *ranga,


 * *skjaldra,

On the other hand, the ø-sound in ger [føgər], sun (tabu-name), indicates that this word is the mutated form fǫgr, , from fagr, Also [fȯgər, fɛgər, fɛg]. “fȯgər”, like “føgər”, originates doubtless from “fǫgr”.

As the accusative, genitive and dative forms ending in -u, from feminine words ending in -a, have generally been dropped in Shetlandic, and, with some few exceptions, only the nominative forms ending in -a are preserved, alternating with forms without endings (generally through the dropping of -a), or sometimes with the ending -i for an older -a, and as mutation in the nominative forms is irregular, it must remain doubtful, in most cases, how far the -o from an original -a, in such words, is due to u-mutation or not in Shetlandic.