King’s College 2004 v Mistress Gunnvör sílfrahárr
38
Construction
of Locatives with at
Requires a dative object. Modern spelling is ađ, but Viking
Age pronunciation was at and usually
the spelling also.
Denoting the kingdom or residence of a king or princely person; konungr at
Danmörk ok Noregi (king of Denmark and Norway), konungr
at Dyflinni (king of Dublin), but i Englandi or yfir Englandi. Also used of a bishop; biskup at Holum (bishop
of Hólar).
In
denoting a man's abode, at is used where the local name implies the notion of “by the side of”, and is therefore
especially applied to words denoting
a river, brook, rock, mountain,
grove, or the like, and in some other instances, “by, at”, e.g. at
Hofi (a temple), at Borg (a
castle), at Helgafelli (a
mountain), at Mosfelli, at Hálsi (a hill), at Á (river),
at Bćgisá (river), at Fossi (a waterfall), at
Lćkjamoti (waters-meeting), at
Bergţórshváli, at Lundi (a
grove), at Melum
(sandhill). The preposition á is now used in modern Icelandic in most of these cases.