Samband forsetninga og samsettra orða

Abstract

The prepositions undan and á undan are an integral part of the prepositional subsystem of Icelandic referring to place and time. A number of changes within the system itself has led to the system of modern Icelandic, some of which must be considered in a synchronic analysis, e.g. the oppositions á undan `before, ante' vs. á eftir `after, post' and á eftir `following' vs. á undan `in front of'. Similarly there is a direct connection between the semantics of composite words beginning in undan- and the syntactic characteristics of the prepositions undan and á undan.