154 PRINCE— THE FAEROE LANGUAGE. 



it precedes /, except when u, il and 6 precede the dh, in which case 

 dh is pronounced Hke v, as godhir^goznr, but lidJiur=^luiyur. Dh 

 is always v before n, unless i, i, y, y, ei, ey, oy precede dh, as 

 iiiadhur = mavur 'man'; mudhur =■ nvuvur 'mother,' with which cf. 

 Cockney muvver. Dh is silent in combinations when it occurs be- 

 tween two vowels other than those mentioned and when it is in com- 

 bination with another consonant or in the Auslaiit. Note that the 

 hard th sound as in ' think ' has disappeared in F., where it is now 

 replaced by t, as tadh 'that,' pr. tad =^lcel.^ thadh. 



G is hard except before e, i, y and cy, when it = Eng. /. G is 

 silent between two vowels changing to y or v, as siga^=siya ; dagnr^= 

 davur. Gj always ^Eng. /. 



Hv=kv, with which cf. Icel. Jiv=khv. 



K is hard except before e, i, y, cy, when it = Eng. ch. Kj always 

 = Eng. ch. 



L is very soft, as in Russian soft /. Ll^=ddl. Ng is always as 

 in ' finger,' never as in ' singing.' Nn after a diphthong sounds like 

 ddn, otherwise as nn. R is always trilled except before t (-rt), when 

 it is pronounced -rst. Note that in Mod. Icel. final -r is always -rs.^ 

 Rn = ddn, but in some words = rw, which must be learned by prac- 

 tice. Sj and stj = Eng. sh. Single ^^ is always hard as m ' this.' 

 Ty=:Eng. ch. 



Diphthongs: ei=^ai (i in 'hide'), never as in Icel. ey (ay in 

 'may'). Ey^ei (Eng. ay in 'may ') ; oy = oi (oy in ' boy '). 



Phonetic Specimens. 



/. Faeroe " National " Song.'^^ 



Eg oyggjar veit svim hava f joll I know isles which have moun- 



E oydshar vait sum hacava fy'ddl 



Og grona lidh. tains and green hill-sides. 



groena lui 

 Og taktar eru taer vidh mjoll And are covered with fine snow 



O taktar erre taear vi niy'ddl 



8 In this article " Icelandic " always indicates the modern language. 

 ^ This rs is exactly the same sound as in the Osmanli Turkish final r, and 

 closely resembles the Czech r (=: rs) pronounced together. 

 ^'^ Songbok, p. 2 (see Bibliography). 



