The declension and meaning of the word hjalt

Abstract

Icel. hjalt is mostly used in the plural. In Modern Icelandic two different plural forms (i.e. in nom./acc.) are known, hjölt and hjöltu (def. hjöltin and hjöltun). The latt erform is not listed in the dictionaries. It is, however, well documented in the modern language, and its history can be traced to the 16th century. According to the dictionaries the meaning of hjalt in the plural is ‘cross-guard and pommel’ or even (at least in Old Icelandic) ‘cross-guard, grip and pommel’. However, many people believe that hjölt (or hjöltu) refers to the cross-guard only. This is thus an instance of semantic narrowing. The meaning of Engl. hilt offers an interesting comparison. It seems to have two meanings, ‘grip’ and ‘cross-guard, grip and pommel’. This is another instance of semantic narrowing, although slightly different. Translating Engl. hilt with hjölt (or hjöltu) can be problematic. An attempt is made to explain the change hjölt(in) → hjöltu(n). This analogical change is quite unexpected, since hjölt belongs to a large and productive inflectional class (a-stems, e.g. fjall (pl. fjöll)), hjöltu on the other hand follows a tiny class (an-stems, e.g. hjarta, (pl. hjörtu)). Two explanations are offered: First, the phonetic similarity between hjalt and hjarta. Secondly, the existence of a semantic “lexical gang” within the tiny class, consisting of the words auga, eyra, lunga, nýra and eista, all of which usually refer to a pair in the plural (‘eyes, ears, lungs, kidneys, testicles’), just as hjölt (or hjöltu) does, both in its old and new meaning.