Explanation of marks and characters, especially those of phonetic script, used in the Dictionary.
The Shetlandic Norn words are recorded in a somewhat normalized form, in order to avoid the setting up of phonetic forms with special characters as the normal forms. Immediately after the normal form of the word, the pronunciation is indicated by phonetic symbols within brackets.
An asterisk (*) before a Shetlandic word denotes that it is obsolete; one before an Old Northern word denotes that it is not attested in the old literature[1]. A dagger (†) before a Shetlandic word denotes that the origin of this word is doubtful or not originally Norn.
Heavy italics denote that the word is Lowland Scottish in form. Such words have been given in the Dictionary when used in senses and applications which differ from Lowland Scottish and are in accord with the usage of the corresponding word in Old Northern or in later Scandinavian languages.
Words in inverted commas, within brackets [‘ ’], in sentences given to explain further the use of Shetlandic Norn words, are Standard English forms, or translations of Lowland Scottish (and Shetlandic) words.
Phonetic Characters.
1. Vowels.
i: almost as in Danish “hvid” or in English “we”.
ɩ: a sound between i and e; almost as in Danish “fisk” or Scottish “fin”,
e (close), a little more open than Danish e = ei in Scottish “rein”.
ɛ: a sound between e and æ = e in English “there”,
æ as Danish e, æ, in “hest, præst”. On Westside, in the neighbourhood of Sandness more open, between æ and ä = a in southern English “bat”.
ä: a sound between æ and a, almost as in English “man, hat”, but generally approaches somewhat to the ȯ-sound; see below ꜵ̈.
a: as in Danish; sometimes approaches ä, especially before a softened consonant, = the vowel in English “far”.
- ↑ An asterisk before an Old Northern place-name in its original form, put after a Modern Shetlandic place-name form as an explanation of the latter, commonly denotes merely that the Old Northern form referred to is assumed to be the original one. The same applies to sentences in the Old Northern, given in explanation or translation of Shetlandic sentences.
