The First Book Printed in Swedish. 23 



arfvinge), Kp. B. 30 dyrane^ Rdst. B. 14 thes hardhanne. Kristof. Lands 

 L. Kg. B. 24 dyrane. I intetdera fallet hade n en varaktig stad». — As 

 we see, this is only a cnrsory remark and is very nnsatisfactorj' ; for 

 this N has both had a »varaktig stad» of old, and keeps it to this day. 

 The older Swedish Chancerj'-dialect, in harmony with many — 

 perhaps most — of the land-talks, as we all know, preferred the com- 

 moner Comparative in -ARE, and Ms. examples of the -ANE only go 

 back to the 14*'' century — only about 50 years later than the oldest 

 Swedish codices we have. But this is of course no proof whatever that 

 in certain Swedish dialects this N may not have been as old as the form 

 in R. And this is the more likely as it is no novelty, but a widely 

 spread and independent form. It is at this moment in full use 



1, in Skåne, South Sweden, in the little neck of land where we 

 have Skanör and Falsterbo ; 



2, in Midland Sweden, in Värend and other parts of Småland; 



3, in Norra Ångermanland, N. of Sweden, where we have such 

 things as: go, goENE, goest (good, gooder = better, goodest = best); 

 vakker (handsome, fine), vakkrENE, vakkrest; moken (weary, sleepy, 

 heavy), mokENE, (mokest); tong (heavy), tyngENE, tyngest, etc. etc. 

 See K. Sidenbladh, Allmogemålet i Norra Ångermanland. 8™. Uppsala 

 1867, p. 15. 



4, But it is also well known in the Finno-Swedish talks. In Prof. 

 A. 0. Freudenthal's »Bidrag till Ordbok öfver Närpesmålet», in the S. W. 

 of Österbotten, (Helsingfors 1878, 8'°), I lind, as the Comparative of 

 DOGGLI (duglig, tjänlig, god), VÀLKAN, sup. välkast. See Rietz, Lex. 

 u. VÀLKER (comp, välkare, sup. välkast). But besides the positive 

 forms Välker, Valker and Vålkr, Rietz has also VÀLKJEN (Gestrikland) 

 and VÅLKEN (Vestmanland) as positives, probably a mere error for 

 comjjarative. — So again under »dåli» (dow^ly, bad) Freudenthal has 

 compar. NÀGGAN or »sämber», sup. »näggast» or »samst», with the 

 example: »tjuvin je näggan än dr, men all näggast je fänin». Rietz 

 translates this (under NAGG), »Tjufven är dåligare än andra, men allra 

 uslast är djefvulen» = the thief is worse them others, but worst of all 

 is the devil. Freudenthal adds (u. NÅGGAN), that the positive, NÅGG, 

 in Helsiugland means weak, miserable; in Vesterbotten, miserly, mean; 

 in Upland, scarce, rare, short. — So under SIRI, busy, industrious, 

 Freudenthal gives the example; Han e SIRIAN än tir, men int je an 

 små = Han är arbetsammare än andra, men icke girig (pinching, miserly). 



