Ó-

Meaning of Old Norse word "ó-"

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

Old Norse word ó- can mean:ó-

ó-

or ú-, the negative prefix before nouns and verbs, [Goth., Engl., and Germ. un-; Dan. and Swed. û-, the nasal being absorbed.] The Icel. at a very early date changed this ú into ó, for the very oldest and best vellums use ó, not only the Greg., Eluc., Íb., the Miracle-book (BS. i. 333 sqq.), but also the Grág., the Cod. Reg. of the Sæm. Edda, etc.; in later vellums of the better kind ú and ó are used promiscuously; till about the union with Norway the ú prevailed, and is chiefly used in vellums of the 14th century; but in the 15th the ó again took its old place, and has been retained ever since, agreeably with the usual pronunciation. The ó is therefore the proper Icel. form, e. g. ó-vitr = Engl. un-wise; that it was sounded thus even in the 12th century is also shewn by the treatise of the second grammarian (Gramm. p. i, col. 1),—ó eðr ú þat skiptir orðum, svá sem er satt eðr ó-satt (ú-satt), Skálda 171. This change of spelling in the MSS. about (or a little before) the union with Norway cannot have been owing to any change in pronunciation, but was simply a Norwegianism, as were many other cases, e. g. the dropping the h before liquids, contrary to the Icel. pronunciation. On the other hand, as for the rest of Scandinavia, the ú has been retained in Denmark and in the east of Norway; but ó in the west and north of Norway (see Ivar Aasen’s Dict.), as also in mod, Swed. (e. g. o-möjlig = Germ. un-möglich). In early Swed. (in the laws) u and o are used indifferently. The Orkneys seem to have followed the Icel., to judge from a rhyme in the poem Jd. composed by bishop Bjarni (died A. D. 1222), a native of the Orkneys,—ó-teitan mik sútar, the metre of which requires a half rhyme, a rule followed strictly throughout that poem.

ó-

B. Of the compds with ú- or ó-, all but a few words are from un-; these exceptional words appear to be contractions, either,

ó-

α. from ör-, where we have such double forms as ör-sekr and ó-sekr, n. G. l. i. 379; ör-viti and ó-viti, ó-verðr and ör-verðr, ó-vænn and ör-vænn, ör-hæfi and ú-hæfa, ör-keypis and ó-keypis, ú-dæmi qS. ör-dæmi (?), ó-bóta qS. ör-bóta (?), ó-birgr and ör-birgr; perh. also ú-helgi qS. ör-helgi, ú-heilagr qS. ör-heilagr; cp. also such words as ú-megin and ör-megna, ú-synja qS. ör-synja (?).

ó-

β. from of-, esp. before a labial or dental; thus, of-vægr and ó-vægr, ó-frýnn qS. of-frýnn, ó-sköp = of-sköp (?), ó-freskr qS. of-freskr, ó-fyrirsynju qS. of-fyrirsynju (?), ó-hljóð or ú-hljóð qS. of-hljóð (?), of-dæll and ó-dæll, of-ljóss and ó-ljósS. In some of these instances doubt may arise, for a double set of compds might have sprung up. On the other hand, the great number of compds with ur-, er- in German and Saxon, and the scarcity of such words in the Norse tongue, lead to the conclusion that many of these compds in the course of time have been lost or replaced by ú-; cp. also of-allt and á-valt, (of-saka and á-saka, of-brýði and á-brýði, of-munir and á-munr, af-vöxtr and á-vöxtr, af-burðr and of-burðr?). Since in most Editions the spelling with ú- has been adopted in these classes of words, they must be sought for under that head.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᚢ-
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements