Information about Old Norse Language

Old Norse dǫnsk tunga, norrœnt mál
Spoken in:	Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroes, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, Isle of Man, Vinland, the Volga and places in between
Language extinction:	developed into the various North Germanic languages by the 14th century
Language family:	}}}  Germanic   North Germanic    Old Norse}}}
Writing system:	Runic, later Latin alphabet.
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	non
ISO 639-3:	non

Old Norse was the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. It evolved from the older Proto-Norse, in the 8th century.

Because most of the surviving texts are from Medieval Icelandic, the de facto standard version of the language is the Old West Norse dialect, that is Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. Most speakers of Old Norse, however, spoke the very similar Old East Norse dialect in Denmark and Sweden and their settlements. There was no clear geographical separation between the two dialects. Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. In addition, there was also an Old Gutnish dialect, sometimes included in Old East Norse because it was the least known dialect. However there are reasons to consider this a separate branch since it shares traits with both Old West Norse and Old East Norse and also has developed its own. The Icelandic Gray Goose Laws stated that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes all spoke the same language, dǫnsk tunga. In the eastern dialect, which was spoken in Sweden and Denmark, this would have been dansk tunga and this translates as the "Danish tongue". It was also called norrœnt mál ("Nordic language").

It has been said that old Norse was mutually intelligible with Old English, Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian, which however may be an overstatement.

Old Norse gradually evolved into the modern North Germanic languages: Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. Modern Icelandic is the descendant that has diverged the least from Old Norse. In its normalised written form based off the Old Norse/modern Icelandic phoneme system, Old Norse is understandable to modern day Icelandic-speakers with only minute differences in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel phonemes, has changed at least as much as other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and Gaelic (Scottish and/or Irish). Although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain mutual intelligibility. This could be because these languages have been mutually affected by each other, as well as having a similar development influenced by Middle Low German.^[1]

Geographical distribution

Old Icelandic was essentially identical to Old Norwegian and together they formed the Old West Norse dialect of Old Norse. The Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark and Sweden and settlements in Russia,^[2] England and Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East. In the 11th century, it was the most widely spoken European language ranging from Vinland in the West to the Volga in the East. In Russia it survived longest in Novgorod and probably lasted into the 13th century.^[2]

Modern descendants

Its modern descendants are the West Scandinavian languages of Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian and the extinct Norn language of the Orkney and the Shetland Islands as well as the East Scandinavian languages of Danish and Swedish. Norwegian has descended from West Norse (West Scandinavian), but over the centuries it has been heavily influenced by East Norse (East Scandinavian).

Among these, Icelandic and the closely related Faroese have changed the least from Old Norse in the last thousand years, although with Danish rule of the Faroe Islands Faroese has also been influenced by Danish. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and particularly Lowland Scots which contains many Old Norse loanwords. It also influenced the development of the Norman language.

Various other languages, which are not closely related, have been heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects and Scottish Gaelic. Russian, Finnish and Estonian also have a number of Norse loanwords; The words "Rus" and "Russia", according to one theory, may be derivatives from "Rus", the name of a Norse tribe (see Etymology of Rus and derivatives). Also, the current Finnish words for Sweden and Swedish are Ruotsi and Ruotsalainen respectively.

Phonology

Vowels

The vowel phonemes mostly come in pairs of long and short. The standardized orthography marks the long vowels with an acute accent. In medieval manuscripts, it is variously marked with an accent, unmarked or less frequently geminated. All phonemes have, more or less, the expected phonetic realization.

Vowels of Old Norse

	Front vowels				Back vowels
	Unrounded		Rounded		Unrounded		Rounded
Close	i	iː	y	yː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː	ø	øː			o	oː
Open		æː			a	aː	ɒ	(ɒː)

Some y, yː, ø, øː, e, and all æː were obtained by i-mutation from u, uː, o, oː, a, and aː respectively.

Some y, yː, ø, øː, and all ɒ, ɒː were obtained by u-mutation from i, iː, e, eː, and a, aː respectively.

The long open back rounded vowel /ɒː/ does not appear in Old Norse texts of the classical period. It seems to have existed in a earlier stage of the language, and to have merged with /aː/ before the classical period.

See [1]

Consonants

Old Norse has six stop phonemes. Of these /p/ is rare word-initially and /d/ and /b/ do not occur between vowels, because of the fricative allophones of the Proto-Germanic language (e.g. *b *[β] > v between vowels). The /g/ phoneme is realized as a voiced velar fricative [ɣ] inside words and wordfinally, except when it is geminated.

Stop

p b	t d			k g
Nasal	m	n			(ŋ)
Fricative	f (v)	θ (ğ)	s		(x) (ɣ)	h
Approx­imant	w			j
Liquid			r l

The velar fricative [x] is an allophone of /k/ and /ɣ/ before /s/ and /t/.

Orthography

The standardized Old Norse spelling was created in the 19th century, and is for the most part phonemic. The most notable deviation is that the non-phonemic difference between the voiced and the unvoiced dental fricatives is marked in West Old Norse as well as in later East Old Norse (the oldest texts as well as runic inscriptions in both regions use 'ş' exclusively). As mentioned above, long vowels are denoted with acutes in West Old Norse while left unmarked or geminated in East Old Norse. Most other letters are written with the same glyph as the IPA phoneme, except as shown in the table below. A modified version of the letter Wynn called Vend was used briefly for the sounds /u/, /v/, and /w/.

Orthography of characters not using IPA glyphs

IPA	Standard	Alternative
ɒ	ǫ	ö
æː	æ
ø	ø	ö
øː	œ	ǿ/ø
θ	ş
w	v

Grammar

Old Norse was a highly inflected language. Most of the grammatical complexity is retained in modern Icelandic, whereas modern Norwegian has a much simplified grammatical system.

Old Norse nouns could have three grammatical genders - masculine, feminine or neuter. Nouns, adjectives and pronouns were declined in four grammatical cases - nominative, genitive, dative and accusative, in singular and plural. Some pronouns (first and second person) could have dual number in addition to singular and plural.

There were several classes of nouns within each gender, the following is an example of some typical inflectional paradigms:

+ The masculine noun armr (English arm)
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	armr	armar
Genitive	arms	arma
Dative	armi	ǫrmum/armum
Accusative	arm	arma

+ The feminine noun hǫll (OWN), hall (OEN) (English hall)
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hǫll/hall	hallir/hallar (OEN)
Genitive	hallar	halla
Dative	hǫllu/hallu	hǫllum/hallum
Accusative	hǫll/hall	hallir/hallar (OEN)

+ The neuter noun troll (English troll):
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	troll	troll
Genitive	trolls	trolla
Dative	trolli	trollum
Accusative	troll	troll

The definite article was expressed as a suffix, e.g. troll (a troll) - trollit (the troll), hǫll ( a hall) - hǫllin (the hall), armr (an arm) - armrinn (the arm).

Verb

Further information: Germanic verb

Verbs were conjugated in person and number, in present and past tense, in indicative, imperative and subjunctive mood.

VERBS
A. WEAK VERBS, i.e. Verbs in which the Preterite is formed by adding a Termination.
				1st Conjugation characteristic vowel a.		2nd Conjugation characteristic vowel i.		3rd Conjugation characteristic vowel i.		4th Conjugation characteristic vowel i.
INDIC.	Pres.	Sing.	1.	boğ-a	kall-a	dœm-i	fylg-i	gleğ	spyr	vak-i	dug-i
			2.	boğ-ar	kall-ar	dœm-ir	fylg-ir	gleğ-r	spyr-r	vak-ir	dug-ir
			3.	boğ-ar	kall-ar	dœm-ir	fylg-ir	gleğ-r	spyr-r	vak-ir	dug-ir
		Plur.	1.	boğ-um	köll-um	dœm-um	fylg-jum	gleğ-jum	spyr-jum	vök-um	dug-um
			2.	boğ-iğ, (-it)	kall-iğ	dœm-iğ	fylg-iğ	gleğ-iğ	spyr-iğ	vak-iğ	dug-iğ
			3.	boğ-a	kall-a	dœm-a	fylg-ja	gleğ-ja	spyr-ja	vak-a	dug-a
	Pret.	Sing.	1.	boğ-ağa	kall-ağa	dœm-da	fylg-da	glad-da	spur-ğa	vak-ta	dug-ğa
			2.	boğ-ağir	kall-ağir	dœm-dir	fylg-dir	glad-dir	spur-ğir	vak-tir	dug-ğir
			3.	boğ-aği	kall-aği	dœm-di	fylg-di	glad-di	spur-ği	vak-ti	dug-ği
		Plur.	1.	boğ-uğum	köll-uğum	dœm-dum	fylg-dum	glöd-dum	spur-ğum	vök-tum	dug-ğum
			2.	boğ-uğuğ	köll-uğuğ	dœm-duğ	fylg-duğ	glöd-duğ	spur-ğuğ	vök-tuğ	dug-ğuğ
			3.	boğ-uğu	köll-uğu	dœm-du	fylg-du	glöd-du	spur-ğu	vök-tu	dug-ğu
IMPERAT.				boğ-a	kall-a	dœm	fylg	gleğ	spyr	vak (vak-i)	dug (dug-i)
SUBJ.	Pres.	Sing.	1.	boğ-a	kall-a	dœm-a	fylg-ja	gleğ-ja	spyr-ja	vak-a	dug-a
			2.	boğ-ir	kall-ir	dœm-ir	fylg-ir	gleğ-ir	spyr-ir	vak-ir	dug-ir
			3.	boğ-i	kall-i	dœm-i	fylg-i	gleğ-i	spyr-i	vak-i	dug-i
		Plur.	1.	boğ-im	kall-im	dœm-im	fylg-im	gleğ-im	spyr-im	vak-im	dug-im
			2.	boğ-iğ	kall-iğ	dœm-iğ	fylg-iğ	gleğ-iğ	spyr-iğ	vak-iğ	dug-iğ
			3.	boğ-i	kall-i	dœm-i	fylg-i	gleğ-i	spyr-i	vak-i	dug-i
	Pret.	Sing.	1.	boğ-ağa	kall-ağa	dœm-da	fylg-da	gled-da	spyr-ğa	vek-ta	dyg-ğa
			2.	boğ-ağir	kall-ağir	dœm-dir	fylg-dir	gled-dir	spyr-ğir	vek-tir	dyg-ğir
			3.	boğ-aği	kall-aği	dœm-di	fylg-di	gled-di	spyr-ği	vek-ti	dyg-ği
		Plur.	1.	boğ-ağim	kall-ağim	dœm-dim	fylg-dim	gled-dim	spyr-ğim	vek-tim	dyg-ğim
			2.	boğ-ağiğ	kall-ağiğ	dœm-diğ	fylg-diğ	gled-diğ	spyr-ğiğ	vek-tiğ	dyg-ğiğ
			3.	boğ-aği	kall-aği	dœm-di	fylg-di	gled-di	spyr-ği	vek-ti	dyg-ği
INFIN.				boğ-a	kall-a	dœm-a	fylg-ja	gleğ-ja	spyr-ja	vak-a	dug-a
PART.	Act.			boğ-andi	kall-andi	dœm-andi	fylg-jandi	gleğ-jandi	spyr-jandi	vak-andi	dug-andi
PART.	Pass.	Masc.		boğ-ağr	kall-ağr	dœm-dr		glad-dr	spur-ğr
		Fem.		boğ-uğ	köll-uğ	dœm-d		glöd-d	spur-ğ
		Neut.		boğ-at	kall-at	dœm-t	fylg-t	glat-t	spur-t	vak-at	dug-at

B. STRONG VERBS, i.e. Verbs in which the Preterite and Participle Passive are formed by changing the Root Vowel.
	Ist Class,				2nd Class,	3rd Class,	4th Class,	5th and 6th Class,		7th Class,
	interchange of i (e), a, u.				of í, ei, i.	of jó, au, u.	of a, ó.	of e, a, á, and a, á, o.		of á, é, and au, jó.
INDIC.	Pres.	Sing.	1.	brenn	rís	bığ	fer	gef	ber	græt	hleyp
			2.	brenn-r	rís-s	bığ-r	fer-r	gef-r	ber-r	græt-r	hleyp-r
			3.	brenn-r	rís-s	bığ-r	fer-r	gef-r	ber-r	græt-r	hleyp-r
		Plur.	1.	brenn-um	rís-um	bjóğ-um	för-um	gef-um	ber-um	grát-um	hlaup-um
			2.	brenn-iğ	rís-iğ	bjóğ-iğ	far-iğ	gef-iğ	ber-iğ	grát-iğ	hlaup-iğ
			3.	brenn-a	rís-a	bjóğ-a	far-a	gef-a	ber-a	grát-a	hlaup-a
	Pret.	Sing.	1.	brann	reis	bauğ	fór	gaf	bar	grét	hljóp
			2.	brann-t	reis-t	baut-t	fór-t	gaf-t	bar-t	grét-st	hljóp-t
			3.	brann	reis	bauğ	fór	gaf	bar	grét	hljóp
		Plur.	1.	brunn-um	ris-um	buğ-um	fór-um	gáf-um	bár-um	grét-um	hljóp-um
			2.	brunn-uğ	ris-uğ	buğ-uğ	fór-uğ	gáf-uğ	bár-uğ	grét-uğ	hljóp-uğ
			3.	brunn-u	ris-u	buğ-u	fór-u	gáf-u	bár-u	grét-u	hljóp-u
IMPERAT.				brenn	rís	bjóğ	far	gef	ber	grát	hlaup
SUBJ.	Pres.	Sing.	1	brenn-a	rís-a	bjóğ-a	far-a	gef-a	ber-a	grát-a	hlaup-a
			2.	brenn-ir	rís-ir	bjóğ-ir	far-ir	gef-ir	ber-ir	grát-ir	hlaup-ir
			3.	brenn-i	rís-i	bjóğ-i	far-i	gef-i	ber-i	grát-i	hlaup-i
		Plur.	1.	brenn-im	rís-im	bjóğ-im	far-im	gef-im	ber-im	grát-im	hlaup-im
			2.	brenn-iğ	rís-iğ	bjóğ-iğ	far-iğ	gef-iğ	ber-iğ	grát-iğ	hlaup-iğ
			3.	brenn-i	rís-i	bjóğ-i	far-i	gef-i	ber-i	grát-i	hlaup-i
	Pret.	Sing.	1.	brynn-a	ris-a	byğ-a	fœr-a	gæf-a	bær-a	grét-a	hlyp-a
			2.	brynn-ir	ris-ir	byğ-ir	fœr-ir	gæf-ir	bær-ir	grét-ir	hlyp-ir
			3.	brynn-i	ris-i	byğ-i	fœr-i	gæf-i	bær-i	grét-i	hlyp-i
		Plur.	1.	brynn-im	ris-im	byğ-im	fœr-im	gæf-im	bær-im	grét-im	hlyp-im
			2.	brynn-iğ	ris-iğ	byğ-iğ	fœr-iğ	gæf-iğ	bær-iğ	grét-iğ	hlyp-iğ
			3.	brynn-i	ris-i	byğ-i	fœr-i	gæf-i	bær-i	grét-i	hlyp-i
INFIN.				brenn-a	rís-a	bjóğ-a	far-a	gef-a	ber-a	grát-a	hlaup-a
PART.	Act.			brenn-andi	rís-andi	bjóğ-andi	far-andi	gef-andi	ber-andi	grát-andi	hlaup-andi
PART.	Pass.	Masc.		brunn-inn	ris-inn	boğ-inn	far-inn	gef-inn	bor-inn	grát-inn	hlaup-inn
		Fem.		brunn-in	ris-in	boğ-in	far-in	gef-in	bor-in	grát-in	hlaup-in
		Neut.		brunn-it	ris-it	boğ-it	far-it	gef-it	bor-it	grát-it	hlaup-it

THE VERB SUBSTANTIVE

INDIC.

Pres.

Sing.

1.

em

Pret.

var (vas)

IMPERAT.

SUBJ.

Pres.

sjá,

sé

Pret.

vær-a

INFIN.

ver-a

PAST PART.

ver-it

2.

er-t

var-t

ver (ver-tu)

sé-r

vær-ir

3.

er (es)

var (vas)

sé

vær-i

Plur.

1.

er-um

vár-um

sé-m

vær-im

2.

er-uğ

vár-uğ

veriğ

sé-ğ

vær-iğ

3

er-u

vár-u

sé

vær-i

TEN VERBS WITH PRESENT IN PRETERITE FORM.

INDIC.

Pres.

Sing.

1.

á

kná

má

skal

kann

mun (mon)

man

şarf

ann

veit

2.

á-tt

kná-tt

má-tt

skal-t

kann-t

mun-t

man-t

şarf-t

ann-t

veiz-t

3.

á

kná

má

skal

kann

mun

man

şarf

ann

veit

Plur.

1.

eig-um

kneg-um

meg-um

skul-um

kunn-um

mun-um

mun-um

şurf-um

unn-um

vit-um

2.

eig-uğ

kneg-uğ

meg-uğ

skul-uğ

kunn-uğ

mun-uğ

mun-iğ

şurf-iğ

unn-iğ

vit-uğ

3.

eig-u

kneg-u

meg-u

skul-u

kunn-u

mun-u

mun-a

şurf-a

unn-a

vit-u

Pret.

Sing.

1.

á-tta

kná-tta

má-tta

kunn-a

mun-da

mun-da

şurf-a

unn-a

vis-sa

as regular weak verbs

IMPERAT.

eig

kunn

mun

unn

vit

SUBJ.

Pres.

Sing.

1.

eig-a

knega

meg-a

skyl-a

kunn-a

myn-a

mun-a

şurf-a

unn-a

vit-a

as regular weak verbs

Pret.

Sing.

1.

ætt-a

knætt-a

mætt-a

skyl-da

kynn-a

myn-da

myn-da

şyrf-ta

ynn-a

vis-sa

as regular weak verbs

INFIN.

Pres.

eig-a

meg-a

skyl-u

kunn-a

mun-u

mun-a

şurf-a

unn-a

vit-a

Pret.

knúttu

skyl-du

mun-du

PART.

Act.

eig-andi

meg-andi

kunn-andi

mun-andi

şurf-andi

unn-andi

vit-andi

PART.

Pass.

Neut.

ú-tt

má-tt

kunn-at

mun-at

şurf-t

unn-(a)t

vit-at

EIGHT VERBS WITH THE PRETERITE IN -ra.

INDIC.

Pres.

Sing.

3.

rœ-r

grœ-r

sæ-r

gnı-r

snı-r

frı-r

kıs-s

slæ-r

veld-r

Plur.

3.

ró-a

gró-a

sá

gnú-a

snú-a

frjós-a

kjós-a

slá

vald-a

Pret.

Sing.

3.

rö-ri

grö-ri

sö-ri

gnö-ri

snö-ri

frö-ri

kö-ri

slö-ri

ol-li

(or re-ri

gre-ri

se-ri

gne-ri

sne-ri

fre-ri

ke-ri

sle-ri)

IMPERAT.

ró

gró

sá

gnú

snú

frjó-s

kjós

slá

vald

SUBJ.

Pret.

Sing.

3.

rö-ri

grö-ri

sö-ri

gnö-ri

snö-ri

frö-ri

kö-ri

slö-ri

yll-i

INFIN.

ró-a

gró-a

sá

gnú-a

snú-a

frjós-a

kjós-a

slá

vald-a

PART.

Pass.

ró-inn

gró-inn

sá-inn

gnú-inn

snú-inn

fros-inn

kos-inn

sleg-inn

vald-it

frör-inn

kör-inn

D. VERBS WITH THE REFLEXIVE OR RECIPROCAL SUFFIX -sk, -z, -st (-mk).
				Present.		Preterite.		Present.		Preterite.
				Indic.	Subj.	Indic.	Subj.	Indic.	Subj.	Indic.	Subj.
		Sing.	1.	kalla-st	kalli-st	kallaği-st	kallaği-st	læzt	láti-st	lézt	léti-st
			2.	kalla-st	kalli-st	kallaği-st	kallaği-st	læzt	láti-st	lézt	léti-st
			3.	kalla-st	kalli-st	kallaği-st	kallaği-st	læzt	láti-st	lézt	léti-st
		Plur.	1.	köllu-mk	kalli-mk	kölluğu-mk	kallaği-mk	látu-mk	láti-mk	létu-mk	léti-mk
			2.	kalli-zt	kalli-zt	kölluğu-zt	kallaği-zt	láti-zt	láti-zt	létu-zt	léti-zt
			3.	kalla-st	kalli-st	kölluğu-st	kallaği-st	láta-st	láti-st	létu-st	léti-st
PART.	Pass.	Neut.		kalla-zt, láti-zt, (glağ-zt, gefi-zt, bori-zt,) &c.

E. VERBS WITH THE NEGATIVE SUFFIX.
			Pres.	Pret.	Pres.	Pret.	Pres.	Pret.	Pres.	Pret.
INDIC.	Sing.	1.	em-k-at	var-k-at(vas-k-at)	skal-k-at	skyldi-g-a	mon-k-a	mundi-g-a	hyk-k-at	átti-g-a
		2.	ert-at-tu	vart-at-tu	skalt-at-tu	skyldir-a	mont-at-tu	mundir-a	hyggr-at	áttir-a
		3.	er-at (es-at)	var-at (vas-at)	skal-at	skyldi-t	mon-at	mundi-t	hyggr-at	átti-t
	Plur.	3.	eru-t	váru-t	skulu-t	skyldu-t	monu-t	mundi-t	hyggja-t	áttu-t
IMPERAT.			ver-at-tu (be not thou!), lát-at-tu (let not thou!), grát-at-tu (weep not thou!), &c.

Texts

The earliest inscriptions in Old Norse are runic, from the 8th century. Runes continued to be commonly used until the 15th century and has been recorded to be in use in some form as late as the 19th century in some parts of Sweden. With the conversion to Christianity in the 11th century came the Latin alphabet. The oldest preserved texts in Old Norse in the Latin alphabet date from the middle of the 12th century. Subsequently, Old Norse became the vehicle of a large and varied body of vernacular literature, unique in medieval Europe. Most of the surviving literature was written in Iceland. Best known are the Norse sagas, the Icelanders' sagas and the mythological literature, but there also survives a large body of religious literature, translations into Old Norse of courtly romances, classical mythology, the Old Testament, as well as instructional material, grammatical treatises and a large body of letters and official documents.^[3]

Relationship to English

Old English and Old Norse were closely related languages, and it is therefore not surprising that many words in old Norse look familiar to English speakers, e.g. armr (arm), fótr (foot), land (land), fullr (full), hanga (to hang), standa (to stand), etc. This is because both English and Old Norse date back to Proto-Germanic. In addition, a large number of common every day Old Norse words mainly of East Norse origin were adopted into the Old English language during the Viking age, becoming loanwords. A few examples of Old Norse loanwords in modern English are (English/Viking age Old East Norse):

(Nouns) anger (angr), bag (baggi), bait (bæit, bæita, bæiti), band (band), bark (bǫrkR, stem bark-), birth (byrğr), dirt (drit), dregs (dræggiaR), egg (ægg, related to OE. cognate "æg" which became Middle English "eye"/"eai"), fellow (félagi), gap (gap), husband (húsbóndi), cake (kaka), keel (kiǫlR, stem also kial-, kil-), kid (kiğ), knife (knífR), law (lǫg, stem lag-), leg (læggR), link (hlænkR), loan (lán), race (rǫs, stem rás-), root (rót), sale (sala), scrap (skrap), seat (sæti), sister (systir, related to OE. cognate "sweostor"), skill (skial/skil), skin (skinn), skirt (skyrta vs. the native English shirt of the same root), sky (skı), slaughter (slátr), snare (snara), steak (stæik), thrift (şrift), tidings (tíğindi), trust (traust), window (vindauga), wing (væ(i)ngR).

(Verbs) blend (blanda), call (kalla), cast (kasta), clip (klippa), crawl (krafla), cut (possibly from ON kuta), die (døyia), gasp (gæispa), get (geta), give (gifa/gefa, related to OE. cognate "giefan"), glitter (glitra), hit (hitta), lift (lyfta), raise (ræisa), ransack (rannsaka), rid (ryğia), run (rinna, stem rinn-/rann-/runn-, related to OE. cognate "rinnan"), scare (skirra), scrape (skrapa), seem (søma), sprint (sprinta), take (taka), thrive (şrífa(s)), thrust (şrysta), want (vanta).

(Adjectives) flat (flatr), happy (happ), ill (illr), likely (líklígR), loose (lauss), low (lágR), meek (miúkR), odd (odda), rotten (rotinn/rutinn), scant (skamt), sly (sløgR), weak (væikR), wrong (vrangR).

(Adverbs) thwart/athwart (şvert).

(Prepositions) till (til), fro (frá).

(Conjunction) though/tho (şó).

(Interjections) hail (hæill), wassail (ves hæill).

(Personal pronoun) they (şæiR), their (şæiRa), them (şæim) (for which the Anglo-Saxons said híe ^[4], hiera, him).

(Pronominal adjectives) same (sami).

In a simple sentence like "They are both weak" the extent of the Old Norse loanwords becomes quite clear (Old East Norse with archaic pronunciation: "ŞæiR eRu báğiR wæikiR" while Old English "híe syndon bégen (şá) wáce"). The words "they" and "weak" are both borrowed from Old Norse, and the word "both" might also be a borrowing, though this is still disputed by some. While the number of loanwords adopted from the Scandinavians wasn't as numerous as that of Norman French or Latin, their depth and every day nature make them a substantial and very important part of every day English speech as they are part of the very core of the modern English vocabulary.

Words like "bull" and "Thursday" are more difficult when it comes to their origins. "Bull" may be from either Old English "bula" or Old Norse "buli" while "Thursday" may be a borrowing, or it could simply be from the Old English "Şunresdæg" which could've been influenced by the Old Norse cognate. The word "are" is from Old English "earun"/"aron" as well as the Old Norse cognates.

Dialects

As Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse, in the 8th century, the effects of the umlauts seem to have been very much the same over the whole Old Norse area. But in later dialects of the language a split occurred mainly between west and east as the use of umlauts began to vary. The typical umlauts (for example fylla from *fullian) were better preserved in the West due to later generalizations in the east where many instances of umlaut were removed (many archaic Eastern texts as well as eastern runic inscriptions however portray the same extent of umlauts as in later Western Old Norse). All the while the changes resulting in diaeresis (for example hiarta from herto) were more influential in the East probably once again due to generalizations within the inflectional system. This difference was one of the greatest reasons behind the dialectalization that took place in the 9th and 10th centuries shaping an Old West Norse dialect in Norway and the Atlantic settlements and an Old East Norse dialect in Denmark and Sweden.

A second difference was that Old West Norse lost certain combinations of consonants. The combinations -mp-, -nt-, and -nk- were assimilated into -pp-, -tt- and -kk- in Old West Norse, but this phenomenon was limited in Old East Norse.

English	Old West Norse	Old East Norse
mushroom steep widow	s(v)ǫppr brattr ekkia	svamper branter ænkia

However, these differences were an exception. The dialects were very similar and considered to be the same language, a language that they sometimes called the Danish tongue (dǫnsk tunga), sometimes Norse language (norrœnt mál), as evidenced in the following two quotes from Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson:

Móğir Dyggva var Drótt, dóttir Danps konungs, sonar Rígs er fyrstr var konungr kallağr á danska tungu.[2] Dyggve's mother was Drott, the daughter of king Danp, Ríg's son, who was the first to be called king in the Danish tongue.

...stirt var honum norrœnt mál, ok kylfdi mJǫk til orğanna, ok hǫfğu margir menn şat mJǫk at spotti.[3] ...the Norse language was hard for him, and he often fumbled for words, which amused people greatly.

Here is a comparison between the two dialects as well as Old Gutnish. It is a transcription from one of the Funbo Runestones (U990) meaning : Veğr and Thane and Gunnar raised this stone after Haursi, their father. God help his spirit:

Veğr ok Şegn ok Gunnarr reistu stein şenna at Haursa, fǫğur sinn. Guğ hjalpi ǫnd hans. (OWN)

Veğr ok Şegn ok Gunnarr ræistu stæin şenna at Haursa, fağur sinn. Guğ hialpi and hans (OEN)

Veğr ok Şegn ok Gunnarr raistu stain şenna at Haursa, fağur sinn. Guğ hialpi and hans (OG)

The OEN original text above is transliterated according to traditional scholar methods meaning u-umlaut is not regarded in runic Old East Norse even though more recent studies have shown that the positions where it applies are the same as for runic Old West Norse. An alternative and probably more accurate transliteration would therefore render the text in OEN as such:

Veğr ok Şegn ok Gunnarr ræistu stæin şenna at Haursa, fǫğur sinn. Guğ hialpi ǫnd hans (OEN)

Old West Norse

Most of the innovations that appeared in Old Norse spread evenly through the Old Norse area, but some were geographically limited and created a dialectal difference between Old West Norse and Old East Norse. One difference was that Old West Norse and Old Gutnish did not take part in the monophthongization which changed æi/ei into e, øy/ey into ø and au into ø. An early difference was that Old West Norse had the forms bú (dwelling), kú (accusative for cow) and trú (faith) whereas Old East Norse had bo, ko and tro. Old West Norse was also characterized by the preservation of u-umlaut, which meant that for example Proto-Norse *tanşu (tooth) was pronounced tǫnn and not tann as in post runic Old East Norse (compare runic OEN (Swedish) gǫs (goose), OWN gǫs while post runic OEN gas). Moreoever, there were nasal assimilations as in bekkr (bench) from Proto-Norse *bankiR (OEN bænker).

The earliest body of text appears in runic inscriptions and in poems composed ca 900 by Tjodolf of Hvin. The earliest manuscripts are from the period 1150-1200 and concern both legal, religious and historical matters. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Trøndelag and Vestlandet were the most important areas of the Norwegian kingdom and they shaped Old West Norse as an archaic language with a rich set of declensions. In the body of text that has come down to us from until ca 1300, Old West Norse had little dialect variation, and Old Icelandic does not diverge much more than the Old Norwegian dialects do from each other.

Old Norwegian differentiated early from Old Icelandic by the loss of the consonant h in initial position before l, n and r, thus whereas Old Icelandic manuscripts might use the form hnefi (fist), Old Norwegian manuscripts might use nefi.

From the late 13th century, old Icelandic and old Norwegian started to diverge more. After c. 1350, the Black Death and following social upheavals seem to have accelerated language changes in Norway. From the late 14th century, the language used in Norway is generally referred to as Middle Norwegian.

Text example

The following text is from Egils saga. The manuscript is the oldest known for that saga, the so called θ-fragment from the 13th century. The text clearly shows how little Icelandic has changed structurally. The last version is legitimate Modern Icelandic, although nothing has been altered but the spelling. The text also demonstrates, however, that a modern reader might have difficulties with the unaltered manuscript text, to say nothing of the lettering.

The manuscript text, letter for letter	The same text in normalized, Old Norse spelling	The same text in Modern Icelandic
ŞgeiR blundr systor s egils v şar aşingino & hafği gengit hart at lişueizlo viğ şst. h bağ egil & şa şstein coma ser t stağfesto ut şangat a myrar h bio ağr fyr suNan huit a fyr neşan blundz vatn Egill toc uel aşui. oc fysti şst at şr leti h şangat fa ra. Egill setti şorgeir blund niğr at ana brecko En stein fǫrği bustağ siN ut yf lang á. & settiz niğr at leiro lǫk. En egill reiğ hei suğr anes ept şingit m flocc siN. & skilğoz şr feğgar m kęrleic	Şorgeirr blundr, systursonr Egils, var şar á şinginu ok hafği gengit hart at liğveizlu viğ Şorstein. Hann bağ Egil ok şá Şorstein koma sér til stağfestu út şangat á Mırar; hann bjó áğr fyrir sunnan Hvítá, fyrir neğan Blundsvatn. Egill tók vel á şví ok fısti Şorstein, at şeir léti hann şangat fara. Egill setti Şorgeir blund niğr at Ánabrekku, en Steinarr fœrği bústağ sinn út yfir Langá ok settisk niğr at Leirulæk. En Egill reiğ heim suğr á Nes eptir şingit meğ flokk sinn, ok skildusk şeir feğgar meğ kærleik.	Şorgeir blundur, systursonur Egils, var şar á şinginu og hafği gengiğ hart ağ liğveislu viğ Şorstein. Hann bağ Egil og şá Şorstein ağ koma sér til stağfestu út şangağ á Mırar; hann bjó áğur fyrir sunnan Hvítá, fyrir neğan Blundsvatn. Egill tók vel á şví og fısti Şorstein, ağ şeir létu hann şangağ fara. Egill setti Şorgeir blund niğur ağ Ánabrekku, en Steinar færği bústağ sinn út yfir Langá og settist niğur ağ Leirulæk. En Egill reiğ heim suğur á Nes eftir şingiğ meğ flokk sinn, og skildust şeir feğgar meğ kærleik.

Old East Norse

Old East Norse, between 800 and 1100, is in Sweden called Runic Swedish and in Denmark Runic Danish, but the use of Swedish and Danish is not for linguistic reasons as the differences between them are minute at best during the more ancient stages of this dialect group (though changes had a tendency to occur earlier in the Danish region and until this day many Old Danish changes have still not taken place in modern Swedish rendering Swedish as the more archaic out of the two concerning both the ancient as well as modern languages, sometimes by a profound margin but in all differences are still minute). They are called runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark, which only had 16 letters. Because of the limited number of runes, the rune for the vowel u was also used for the vowels o, ø and y, and the rune for i was used for e.

Runic Old East Norse is characteristic of being archaic in form, especially Swedish (which is still true for modern Swedish compared to Danish). In essence it corresponds to or surpasses the archaic structure of post runic Old West Norse which in its turn is generally more archaic than post runic Old East Norse. While typically "Eastern" in structure many later post runic changes and trademarks of EON had yet to happen. At the end of the 10th and early 11th century initial -h before -l, -n and -r was still preserved in the middle and northern parts of Sweden, and is sporadically still preserved in some northern dialects as g-, e.g. gly (lukewarm), from hlıR. The phoneme -R (evolved during the Proto-Norse period from -z) was still clearly separated from -r in most positions, even when being geminated (while in OWN it had already merged with -r) and the monophthongization of æi and øy/au into e and ø respectively had yet to take place: (runic OEN) fæigR (PN *faigiaz; bound to die; dead), gæiRR (PN *gaizaz; spear), haugR (PN *haugaz; mound, pile), møydómR (PN *mawi- + domaz; virginity), diúR (PN *diuza; (wild) animal) while OWN feigr, geirr, haugr, meydómr, dır (post runic OEN fegher, ger, høgher, mødomber, diur). The combinations -mp-, -nt-, and -nk- were often preserved while merging into -pp-, -tt- and -kk- in Old West Norse: (runic OEN) *krimpa, (Proto-Norse *krimpan) *sprinta, (PN *sprintan) *sænkva (PN *sankwian) while OWN kreppa, spretta and søkkva (modern Swedish krympa, sprinta (dialect), sänka, modern Danish krympe, sprinte, sænke; to shrink, to sprint, to sink (transitive; compare intransitive "*sionkva" while OWN "søkkva" for both variations)). Feminine o-stems often preserve the plural ending -aR while in OWN they more often merge with the feminine i-stems: (runic OEN) *sólaR, *hafnaR/*hamnaR, *vágaR while OWN sólir, hafnir and vágir (modern Swedish solar, hamnar, vågar; suns, havens, scales; Danish has mainly lost the distinction between the two stems with both endings now being rendered as -er or -e alternatively for the o-stems). OEN often preserves the original value of the vowel directly preceding runic R while OWN receives R-umlaut (resulting in the same change as with i-umlaut): (runic OEN) *glaR, *haRi and hrauR while OWN gler, heri (later héri) and hrøyrr/hreyrr (modern Swedish glar (older form), hare, rör; glass, hare, pile of rocks). u-umlaut is still preserved in both phonemic and allophonic positions like in post runic Old West Norse (while sparsely preserved in post runic OEN): fǫğur (accusative), vǫrğr and ǫrn (post runic Swedish faşur, varşer, ''örn (u-umlaut preserved); father, guardian/care taking, eagle). The plural ending of ja-stems were mostly preserved while those of OWN often acquired that of the i-stems: *bæğiaR, *bækkiaR, *væfiaR while OWN beğir, bekkir, vefir (modern Swedish bäddar, bäckar, vävar; beds, rivers, webs). Vice versa masculine i-stems with the root ending in either g or k tended to shift the plural ending to that of the ja-stems while OWN kept the original: drængiaR, *ælgiaR and *bænkiaR while OWN drengir, elgir and bekkir (modern Swedish drängar (new meaning), älgar, bänkar; lads, elks, benches).

Until the early 12th century, Old East Norse was very much a uniform dialect. It was in Denmark that the first innovations appeared that would differentiate Old Danish from Old Swedish as these innovations spread north unevenly (unlike the earlier changes that spread more evenly over the East Norse area) creating a series of isoglosses going from Zealand to Svealand.

The word final vowels -a, -o and -e (Old Norse -a, -u and -i) started to merge into -e. At the same time, the voiceless stop consonants p, t and k became voiced stops and even fricatives. These innovations resulted in that Danish has kage (cake), tunger (tongues) and gæster (guests) whereas (Standard) Swedish has retained older forms, kaka, tungor and gäster (OEN kaka, tungur, gæstir).

Moreover, Danish lost the tonal word accent present in modern Swedish and Norwegian, replacing the grave accent with a glottal stop.

Text example

This is an extract from the Westrogothic law (Västgötalagen). It is the oldest text written as a manuscript found in Sweden and from the 13th century. It is contemporaneous with most of the Icelandic literature. The text marks the beginning of Old Swedish.

Dræpær maşar svænskan man eller smalenskæn, innan konongsrikis man, eigh væstgøskan, bøte firi atta ørtogher ok şrettan markær ok ænga ætar bot. [...] Dræpar maşær danskan man allæ noræn man, bøte niv markum. Dræpær maşær vtlænskan man, eigh ma frid flyia or landi sinu oc j æth hans. Dræpær maşær vtlænskæn prest, bøte sva mykit firi sum hærlænskan man. Præstær skal i bondalaghum væræ. Varşær suşærman dræpin ællær ænskær maşær, ta skal bøta firi marchum fiurum şem sakinæ søkir, ok tvar marchar konongi.

Translation:

If someone slays a Swede or a Smålander, a man from the kingdom, but not a West Geat, he will pay eight örtugar and thirteen marks, but no wergild. The king owns nine marks from manslaughter and the killing of any man. If someone slays a Dane or a Norwegian, he will pay nine marks. If someone slays a foreigner, he shall not be banished and have to flee to his clan. If someone slays a foreign priest, he will pay as much as for a foreigner. A priest counts as a freeman. If a Southerner is slain or an Englishman, he shall pay four marks to the plaintiff and two marks to the king.

Old Gutnish

The Gutasaga is the longest text surviving from Old Gutnish. It was written in the 13th century and dealt with the early history of the Gotlanders. This part relates of the agreement that the Gotlanders had with the Swedish king sometime before the 9th century:

So gingu gutar sielfs wiliandi vndir suia kunung şy at şair mattin frir Oc frelsir sykia suiariki j huerium staş. vtan tull oc allar utgiftir. So aigu oc suiar sykia gutland firir vtan cornband ellar annur forbuş. hegnan oc hielp sculdi kunungur gutum at waita. En şair wişr şorftin. oc kallaşin. sendimen al oc kunungr oc ierl samulaiş a gutnal şing senda. Oc latta şar taka scatt sinn. şair sendibuşar aighu friş lysa gutum alla steşi til sykia yfir haf sum upsala kunungi til hoyrir. Oc so şair sum şan wegin aigu hinget sykia.^[5]

Translation:

So, by their own volition, the Gotlanders became the subjects of the Swedish king, so that they could travel freely and without risk to any location in the Swedish kingdom without toll and other fees. Likewise, the Swedes had the right to go to Gotland without corn restrictions or other prohibitions. The king was to provide protection and aid, when they needed it and asked for it. The king and the jarl shall send emissaries to the Gutnish thing to receive the taxes. These emissaries shall declare free passage for the Gotlanders to all locations in the sea of the king at Uppsala (that is the Baltic Sea was under Swedish control) and likewise for everyone who wanted to travel to Gotland.

Note here that the diphthong ai in aigu, şair and waita is not regressively umlauted to ei as in e.g. Old Icelandic eigu, şeir and veita.

Notes

See also

• History of the Icelandic language
• Proto-Norse
• Old Norse orthography
• Old Norse poetry
• An Introduction to Old Norse

References

• Gutasagan. Lars Aronsson, ed. Project Runeberg, 1997.
• Harbert, Wayne. The Germanic Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007.
• Lass, Roger. Old English: A Historical Linguistic Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993.

Literature

Introductions

• Gordon, Eric V. and A.R. Taylor. An Introduction to Old Norse. Second. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.
• O'Donoghue, Heather. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction (Blackwell Introductions to Literature) Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004.
• Henry Sweet, An Icelandic Primer, with Grammar, Notes, and Glossary (1895)http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_sweet_about.html

Dictionaries

• Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson, An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874)http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html
• G. T. Zoëga, A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic (1910)http://www.northvegr.org/zoega/http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_zoega_about.html
• Jan de Vries, Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (1977)

External links

• «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad»
• Indo-European Language Resources The resources in question are mostly Germanic, including two dictionaries of Old Icelandic (in English), two grammars of Old Icelandic (one in English, one in German) and a grammar of Old Swedish (in German).
• An English Dictionary of Runic Inscriptions of the Younger Futhark, at the university of Nottingham
• soundsample
• Old Norse for Beginners
• Old Norse Online, by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum from the Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

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