Page:Icelandic Primer (1895).djvu/14

æ	as in	there		sær (sea)
i	"	fini (F.)		mikill (great)
ī	"	. . .		lītill (little)
o	"	beau (F.)		orð (word)
о̄	"	. . .		tо̄k (took)
ọ	"	not		họnd (hand)
ö	"	peu (F.)		kömr (comes)
œ	"	. . .		fœra (bring)
ǫ̈	"	peur (F.)		gǫ̈ra (make)
u	"	sou (F.)		upp (up)
ū	"	. . .		hūs (house)
y	"	tu (F.)		systir (sister)
ȳ	"	. . .		lȳsa ('shine)
au	"	haus (G.)		lauss (loose)
ei	=	ę + i		bein (bone)
ey	=	ę + y		leysa (loosen)

4. The unaccented i in systir, etc. (which is generally written e in the MSS.) probably had the sound of y in pity, which is really between i and e. The unacc. u in fо̄ru (they went), etc. (which is generally written o in the MSS.) probably had the sound of oo in good.

Note that several of the vowels go in pairs of close and open, thus :

5. Double consonants followed by a vowel must be pronounced really double, as in Italian. Thus the kk in drekka (to drink) must be pronounced like the kc in bookcase, while the k in dręki (dragon) is single, as in booking. When final (or followed by another cons.) double conss. are pronounced