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Orkney's Lord's Prayer

The only known text in Orkney Norn is The Lord's Prayer recorded in the late 1690's by James Wallace. First published in his "An Account of the Islands of Orkney. London: Jacob Tonson, 1700.":

Favor i ir i chimrie,
Helleur ir i nam thite,
gilla cosdum thite cumma,
veya thine mota vara gort
o yurn sinna gort i chimrie,
ga vus da on da dalight brow vora
Firgive vus sinna vora
sin vee Firgive sindara mutha vus,
lyv vus ye i tumtation,
min delivera vus fro olt ilt, Amen.
or On sa meteth vera.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil. Amen.
or And so may it be.


The following overview of the prayer is based on Hugh Marwick's analysis with some minor corrections:

1. By-word translation

Favor:
fa 'father' < faðir, Shet. (Hildina) fy
vor 'our' < várr, cf. mod. Ork. war (Marwick)

i 'who, which' < eð
ir 'is' < er
i 'in' < í
chimeri 'heaven, "heavenly kingdom"' < himinríki, himnaríki

Helleur ir i: should be *Helleut viri:
*helleut < heilagt
viri 'may it be' < verði

nam 'name' < nafn
thite 'thine, your', neu. < þitt
gilla - ??. Hægstad takes this as gud lat 'God let' < guð lát

cosdum 'kingdom' < konungsdómr (masc.), *konungsdœmi (neut.). (The possessive pronoun thite is witness to the neuter gender of this word.)

cumma 'come' < koma
veya 'will' < vilji, Acc. vilja
thine 'thine, your' masc. < þinn
mota 'may' < mátti 'might'
vara 'to be' < vera
gort 'done' < gǫrðr, pp. of gera, gøra
o 'on' < á
yurn 'the earth', Dat. < jǫrðinni
sinna 'as it is': probably < sem hann er 'as he is, as it is'
ga[v] vus 'give us' < gef oss
da on da 'day by day' < dag um dag?
dalight 'daily' < dagligt
brow 'bread' < brauð
vora 'our' < várr (influenced by vora below? Grammatically *vort should have been expected).
firgive 'forgive' < fyrirgef
sinna 'sins' < syndir
vora 'our', pl. < várar, fem.
sin 'as' < sem
vee 'we' < vér
sindara mutha vus:
1. 'sinners against us' < syndarar móti oss
2. 'sins against us' < syndar á móti oss

lyv vus 'lead us' < leið oss
ye 'not' < eigi
tumtation 'temptation' < Scots/English temptation
min 'but' < Dan. Nor. men < meðan 'while, in the meantime'
delivra 'deliver' < Scots + the Norn ending -a
fro 'from' < frá
olt 'all' < ǫllu Dat.sg.neut. of allr, Nom/Acc.sg. neut. allt
ilt 'ill, evil' < illu Dat.sg.neut. of illr, Nom/Acc.sg. neut. illt
on 'and' < Scots/English and
sa 'so' < svá
meteth 'may it' < mætti þat
vera 'be' < vera

2. Grammar

The grammar of Orkney Norn as in the Lord's Prayer is much simplified in comparison to Old Norse. There is confusion between genders, especially masculine and neuter. No distinction between masculine and feminine can be traced, although the material is too scanty to make definite conclusions. Dative is replaced with Nominative/Accusative (common case): olt ilt < ǫllu illu, jurn < jǫrðinni. One plural ending can be found: -a(r) < ir,ar: vora, sinna, sindara (?). The superfluous ending -e in thite, thine might be a reflex of an older flexion from other cases. The relations between cases and genders can mark the development of the same system in Orkney Norn as in contemporary Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, where only 2 genders (common and neuter) and 2 cases (common and genitive) exist.

In adjectives the neuter ending -
t is registered: dalight, olt, ilt

The morphology of the verb is represented with the following endings:
-e - 1. pl. we firgive
-a - inf. cumma, vera/vara
-a,e - imper. delivra, firgive
-i - pres. subj. viri
-e (+ i-umlaut) - past. subj.: mete < mætti
(Notice that these are "orthographical" spellings and their phonetic nature may differ.)

2.1. Substantives
2.1.1. Masculine

cosdum < konungsdómr (neut. *konungsdœmi?)
da < dag, Nom. dagr
fa < faðir
veya < vilji, Acc. vilja
sindara? < syndarar

2.1.2. Feminine
yurn < jǫrðinni
sinna(r) < syndir

2.1.3. Neuter
chimrie < himnaríki/himinríki
cosdum < *konungsdœmi (masc. konungsdómr?)
nam < nafn
brow < brauð

(tumtation)

2.2. Adjectives
All in neuter
:
*helleut < heilagt
dalight < dagligt
ilt < illt, illu

2.3. Pronouns
2.3.1. Personal pronouns

-n- in sinna < hann in sem hann er
-th < þat
vee < vit
vus < oss

2.3.2. Possessive pronouns
thine < þinn
thite < þitt
vor < várr
vora < neut. várt, pl.fem. várar

2.3.3. Other pronouns
olt < alt, ǫllu

2.4. Verbs
2.4.1. Indicative
2.4.1.1. Present

ir, -a < er
firgive < fyrirgefum

2.4.1.2. Past
mota < mátti

2.4.2. Subjunctive
2.4.2.1. Present

*viri < verði

2.4.2.2. Past
mete < mætti

2.4.3. Imperative
ga[v] (vus) < gef (oss)
firgive < fyrirgef, forgive
delivera < *delivra
gilla < guð lát?
lyv [*lið?] (vus) < leið oss

2.4.4. Infinitive
vara,vera < vera, verða?
cumma < koma

2.4.5. Past (passive) participle
gort < gjǫrður (gjǫrr), neut. gjǫrt

2.5. Prepositions
fro < frá
i < í
mutha < móti
o < á
on < um

2.6. Conjunctions
min < men
i < eð
ond < Sc. and

2.7. Particles
sin [-na] < sem [hann er]
sa < svá
ye < eigi

Discuss this fragment on the forum:
http://nornlanguage.x10.mx/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7



 
 

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