Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-08-09

would be the first 70 pick up foreign


would be the first % pick Up foreign.
words. 29s3.s5s
s.4. When Prot. Haegstad says.
that the use Of the singular verbs
with plural subjects was first intro
duced in 1865 by royal mandate it
is safe to reply that popular speech
takes no cognizance Of royal man
dates. Al. /. s-5 ].
Linguistic forms are not created
in that way. There is a literary style
Of the scribe and the dialectic form
Of a district and there may be CEN
turtles between the fusion of the two.
When Prof. Haegstad says that
the literary form in 1862 was "wi
hafdum" and "wi warum" this does
not Therefore mean that the dialec-
/ tic usage necessarily was the same.
Dialectic divergences were just as
possible then as now. Although we
lack examples from the dialects of
that time it can be proven from the
literary l language itself that the
phonetic usage Of the time was xvi
hade'' instead Of xvi hafdum.''
This is demonstrated by the follow
ing: The common literary forms
Of that day were, as stated, "wi hav-
dun" or "wi hafdo." These are the
forms which, for instance, the author
Of Gamle Eriks Kr0nikon (ca. 1320)
seeks to use because they are &C.
cepted literary forms Of his time.
But every now and then we find him
using the singular verbs "wi hade''
or "the hade." Il have noted about
thirty instances, but there are many
more.) Why does this latter form
occur7 The reason is that every
little while he forgets his literary
forms and reverts to his dialectic
If the dialectic forms were the same
as the literary, then Of course, there
would be no explanation for SECOND
form. But this dual usage shows
that the one was the literary, the
other the dialectic form.
| Prof. Werner Dahlerup has shown
in his History of the Danish Ian.
guage (page 33) that the plural VERT
forms had been largely superseded
by the singular in many parts Of thu
North in 1900.
! 5. "Thessari'' as feminine pro-
noun occurs so rarely in the Swed.
ish literature Of the XIV century
THAT it's sporadic use must be consid.
ered an archaism. In disserta.
ton Of four pages Prof S0derval
shows in his Dictionary of the Swed.
fish language that the form Of this
pronoun is exceedingly variable, bu
that "thenne" is the most common
even with feminine nouns. This wa:
because the feminine gender wa:
about this time superseded by tn
common. The ending in 20" in oul
!, lpronoun is mark of the dativ'
which frequently occurs around 400
i 6. l have not yet investigated
, how early "aeptir" occurs as con
: junction in Swedish. But Prof. A
Fossum has given several examples
, of it's use as conjunction in Danisl
, Of that period: (See Norwegian
IAmerican, Feb. "a. l91l.)
! T.. Prof. Haegstad's objection OF
this point is due to a misunderstood
ing. xvi var ok fiske" is not an in
finitive but preterite. It is dialec
tic contraction Of xvi varum (ute
ok fiskado." "Ok" in this sentence
straight conjunction and is as suc1
, just as much in it's place as is tn
> same conjunction in the ancient in
, scription "Haki raisti stain thansi oil
rista runar" etc. This discussion ha
therefore nothing to do with tn
Iquestion of when the mark of the in
fnitive "at" became confused witt
the conjunction COX" by common pro
nunciation.
i The reader will himself be able t,
p 1see whether any Of Prof. Haegstad'
objections still remain valid. AS TO
, the positive arguments for the stone
lgenuineness, such as the topographi
cal, local, historical, and so forth
these have not even been attacked.
Il Finally / wish to express my graft
tude to the many Scandinavian pro
fessors who with the greatest court
Y Iesy assisted me in my researches, i
public libraries and in private con
versation. Especially am I much in
r. debted to DIR. F. G. Gade, the vic
president Of MISUNDERSTANDING
r for assistance in various ways.