Leveling in Old Icelandic Paradigms

Leveling of the radical vowel in the plural paradigm of the consonantal r -stems denoting family relations. In the plural paradigm of the substantive consonantal declension, i -umlaut of the radical vowel originally occurred only in the nom.-acc. form, since only here did the end syllable contain the vowel i. This vowel status is regularly preserved in the monosyllabic consonantal stems; cf. fφtr (* fōt-iR ) fóta fótum fφtr (* fōt-iR ), from fótr (masc.) ‘foot’; merkr (* mark-iR ) marka mǫrkum merkr (* mark-iR ), from mǫrk (fem.) ‘mark’ (a weight or money value). The consonantal r -stems denoting family relations belonged to the dissyllabic pattern in the singular ( faÐer ‘father’, bróÐer ‘brother’, móÐer ‘mother’, dótter ‘daughter’, syster ‘sister‘), but became monosyllabic in the plural ( feÐr, brφÐr , etc.). Nevertheless, contrary to the pattern of the monosyllabic type ( fótr, mǫrk ), the original radical vowels a and ó in the genitive and dative forms were leveled out in favor of the umlauted vowels e and φ of the nom.-acc. forms; cf. , etc. So far as I know, no explanation has ever been given for this discrepancy between the two types of consonantal stems

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