The strong preterite 1st singular ending in early Proto-Norse

What is it about?

The paper explores the possibility that final -a could be preserved in a linguistically early state of attested Proto-Norse, and that the strong verbs could still have an ending -a in the 1st person preterite. This requires an examination of the readings of the inscriptions in which "wraita" (meaning "inscription", "I wrote" or "s/he wrote") and the implications of various interpretations. The paper also takes all attested 1st and 3rd singular preterites attested in Proto-Norse runic inscriptions into account. It is suggested that the syllable structure or stress pattern could play a role in the loss or retention of absolute final -a, but that the evidence is very scarce. It is is, however, concluded that we only have attestaions of apocope in post-syncope inscriptions, meaning that we at best cannot prove that the suggestion is impossible.

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Why is it important?

The paper runs over all the attested preterite verb forms and summarises the implications that various readings have for the interpretations. The most importing thing is that the paper proves that all examples of apocope come from post-syncope inscriptions, and that the sequence "wraita" that occur in two different inscriptions is difficult to interpret in the same way both places.