Old Norse
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Other uses Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox language Template:Old Norse topics Template:Norse people
Old Norse was a North Germanic language spoken in Scandinavia and in Norse settlements during the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages (approximately the 8th–14th centuries).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is the conventional term for the medieval West and East Scandinavian dialects (often labelled Old West Norse and Old East Norse) that developed from Proto-Norse and later evolved into the modern North Germanic languages, including Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Old Norse is attested in runic inscriptions (written in the Younger Futhark) and in numerous medieval manuscripts written with the Latin alphabet; its literary corpus includes the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, the Icelandic sagas, skaldic verse, law codes, and religious texts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Contact between Old Norse speakers and other languages — particularly Old English and the Celtic languages — left a substantial legacy of loanwords and toponyms; many common English words such as egg, knife, sky, and window derive from Old Norse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Scholarly usage of the term Old Norse typically covers texts from the 11th to the 14th centuries, though periodization varies by region and by type of source (epigraphic, literary, or administrative).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Geographical distribution
Template:Old Norse language map Old Icelandic was close to Old Norwegian, and together they formed Old West Norse, which was also spoken in Norse settlements in Greenland, the Faroes, Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, northwest England (particularly Cumbria), and in Normandy.<ref name="JohnsonEcyc">Template:Harvnb</ref> Old East Norse was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Kievan Rus',<ref name="Nationalencyklopedin">Template:Citation</ref> eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East.
In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, ranging from Vinland in the West to the Volga River in the East. In Kievan Rus', it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there.<ref name="Nationalencyklopedin" /> The age of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland is strongly contested, but Swedish settlement had spread the language into the region by the time of the Second Swedish Crusade in the 13th century at the latest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Modern descendants
The modern descendants of the Old West Norse dialect are the West Scandinavian languages of Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, and the extinct Norn language of Orkney and Shetland, although Norwegian was heavily influenced by the East dialect, and is today more similar to East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) than to Icelandic and Faroese. The descendants of the Old East Norse dialect are the East Scandinavian languages of Danish, Swedish and Övdalian, although Övdalian was heavily influenced by the West Dialect, and is sometimes considered to form its own group.
Among these, the grammar of Icelandic, Faroese and Övdalian have changed the least from Old Norse in the last thousand years, though the pronunciations of Icelandic and Faroese both have changed considerably from Old Norse. With Danish rule of the Faroe Islands, Faroese has also been influenced by Danish.
Both Middle English (especially northern English dialects within the area of the Danelaw) and Early Scots (including Lowland Scots) were strongly influenced by Norse and contained many Old Norse loanwords. Consequently, Modern English (including Scottish English), inherited a significant proportion of its vocabulary directly from Norse.
The development of Norman French was also influenced by Norse. Through Norman, to a smaller extent, so was modern French.
Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system. Contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel phonemes, has changed at least as much in Icelandic as in the other North Germanic languages.
Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and Gaelic (Scottish and/or Irish).Template:Sfn Although Swedish, Danish and Norwegian have diverged the most, they still retain considerable mutual intelligibility.Template:Sfn Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, particularly if speaking slowly. The languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders. 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.<ref>See, e.g., Template:Harvnb</ref>
Other influenced languages
Various languages unrelated to Old Norse and others not closely related have been heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman language; to a lesser extent, Finnish and Estonian. Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian and Latvian also have a few Norse loanwords. The words Rus and Russia, according to one theory, may be named after the Rus' people, a Norse tribe, probably from present-day east-central Sweden. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Template:Lang and Template:Lang, respectively.
A number of loanwords have been introduced into Irish, many associated with fishing and sailing.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> A similar influence is found in Scottish Gaelic, with over one hundred loanwords estimated to be in the language, many of which are related to fishing and sailing.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Phonology
Vowels
Old Norse 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 often unmarked but sometimes marked with an accent or through gemination. File:Jackson speaking Old Norse.webm Old Norse had nasalized versions of all ten vowel qualities.<ref name="CleasbyA" group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Obsolete source These occurred as allophones of the vowels before nasal consonants and in places where a nasal had followed it in an older form of the word, before it was absorbed into a neighboring sound. If the nasal was absorbed by a stressed vowel, it would also lengthen the vowel. This nasalization also occurred in the other Germanic languages, but were not retained long. They were noted in the First Grammatical Treatise, and otherwise might have remained unknown. The First Grammarian marked these with a dot above the letter.<ref name="CleasbyA" group="cv" /> This notation did not catch on, and would soon be obsolete. Nasal and oral vowels probably merged around the 11th century in most of Old East Norse.Template:Sfn However, the distinction still holds in Dalecarlian dialects.Template:Sfn The dots in the following vowel table separate the oral from nasal phonemes.
Note: The open or open-mid vowels may be transcribed differently:
Sometime around the 13th century, Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr) merged with Template:IPA or Template:IPA in most dialects except Old Danish, and Icelandic where Template:IPA (Template:Lang) merged with Template:IPA. This can be determined by their distinction within the 12th-century First Grammatical Treatise but not within the early 13th-century Prose Edda. The nasal vowels, also noted in the First Grammatical Treatise, are assumed to have been lost in most dialects by this time (but notably they are retained in Elfdalian and other dialects of Ovansiljan). See Old Icelandic for the mergers of Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr) with Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr) and Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr) with Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr).
Old Norse had three diphthong phonemes: Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA (spelled Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr respectively). In East Norse these would monophthongize and merge with Template:IPA and Template:IPA, whereas in West Norse and its descendants the diphthongs remained.
Consonants
Old Norse has six plosive phonemes, Template:IPA being rare word-initially and Template:IPA and Template:IPA pronounced as voiced fricative allophones between vowels except in compound words (e.g. Template:Lang), already in the Proto-Germanic language (e.g. Template:Lang *Template:IPA > Template:IPA between vowels). The Template:IPA phoneme was pronounced as Template:IPA after an Template:IPA or another Template:IPA and as Template:IPA before Template:IPA and Template:IPA. Some accounts have it as a voiced velar fricative Template:IPA in all cases, and others have that realisation only in the middle of words and between vowels (with it otherwise being realised Template:IPA).<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Sweet">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Clarify The Old East Norse /ʀ/ was an apical consonant, with its precise position unknown; it is reconstructed as a palatal sibilant.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It descended from Proto-Germanic *z and eventually developed into Template:IPA, as had already occurred in Old West Norse.
The pronunciation of Template:Angbr is unclear, but it may have been Template:IPA (the assumed Proto-Germanic pronunciation), Template:IPA or the similar phoneme Template:IPA. Unlike the three other digraphs, it was retained much longer in all dialects. Without ever developing into a voiceless sonorant in Icelandic, it instead underwent fortition to a plosive Template:IPA, which suggests that instead of being a voiceless sonorant, it retained a stronger frication. In some Icelandic dialects it is still preserved as Template:IPA or Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Accent
Template:See alsoOld Norse had a stress accent with primary stress generally on the first syllable of the word, a feature reflected particularly in the conservative modern descendants Icelandic and Faroese.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Evidence from poetic metre, orthographic marks, and later phonological developments suggests that a contrastive prosodic feature—often reconstructed as a pitch or tonal distinction—was already forming in late Proto-Norse or early Old Norse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This system later contributed to the development of the modern Swedish and Norwegian tonal accents (traditionally called Accent 1 and Accent 2).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The emergence of these tonal contrasts is commonly linked to the interaction of syllable weight, vowel length changes, and the reduction of unstressed syllables during the Viking Age and early Middle Ages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The precise dating and mechanism of these prosodic changes remain debated among scholars. Some recent studies argue for a “peak delay” model of tonal development rather than an inherited double-peaked melody,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> while others reinterpret the process as a later phonologization of earlier rhythmic contrasts.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Icelandic and Faroese retained a primarily stress-based system and did not develop the two-way tonal accent distinction found across much of mainland Norway and Sweden, while Danish developed the related phenomenon of stød in many varieties.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Primary stress in Old Norse falls on the word stem, so that Template:Lang would be pronounced Template:IPA. In compound words, secondary stress falls on the second stem (e.g. Template:Lang, Template:IPA).<ref name="ProseReader">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Orthography
Template:Main Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark, runic Old Norse was originally written with the Younger Futhark, which had only 16 letters. Because of the limited number of runes, several runes were used for different sounds, and long and short vowels were not distinguished in writing. Medieval runes came into use some time later.
As for the Latin alphabet, there was no standardized orthography in use in the Middle Ages. A modified version of the letter wynn called vend was used briefly for the sounds Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA. Long vowels were sometimes marked with acutes but also sometimes left unmarked or geminated. 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 nonphonemic difference between the voiced and the voiceless dental fricative is marked. The oldest texts and runic inscriptions use þ exclusively. Long vowels are denoted with acutes. Most other letters are written with the same glyph as the IPA phoneme's grapheme, except as shown in the above tables.
Phonological processes
Ablaut
Ablaut patterns are groups of vowels which are swapped, or ablauted, in the nucleus of a word. Strong verbs ablaut the lemma's nucleus to derive the past forms of the verb. This parallels English conjugation, where, e.g., the nucleus of sing becomes sang in the past tense and sung in the past participle. Some verbs are derived by ablaut, as the present-in-past verbs do by consequence of being derived from the past tense forms of strong verbs.
Umlaut
Umlaut or mutation is an assimilatory process acting on vowels preceding a vowel or semivowel of a different vowel backness. In the case of i-umlaut and ʀ-umlaut, this entails a fronting of back vowels, with retention of lip rounding. In the case of u-umlaut, this entails labialization of unrounded vowels. Umlaut is phonemic and in many situations grammatically significant as a side effect of losing the Proto-Germanic morphological suffixes whose vowels created the umlaut allophones.
Some Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA,<ref name="FromOldNordic" /> and all Template:IPA were obtained by i-umlaut from Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA respectively. Others were formed via ʀ-umlaut from Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA.<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" />
Some Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and all Template:IPA, Template:IPA were obtained by u-umlaut from Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA, Template:IPA respectively. See Old Icelandic for information on Template:IPA.
Template:IPA was obtained through a simultaneous u- and i-umlaut of Template:IPA. It appears in words like Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang), from Proto-Germanic *Template:Wikt-lang, and commonly in verbs with a velar consonant before the suffix like Template:Wikt-lang < *Template:Wikt-lang.<ref name="CleasbyOE" group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref>
OEN often preserves the original value of the vowel directly preceding runic (Template:Lang, Template:Transliteration) while OWN receives ʀ-umlaut. Compare runic OEN Template:Lang with OWN Template:Lang (later Template:Lang), Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Gloss, Template:Gloss.
U-umlaut
U-umlaut is more common in Old West Norse in both phonemic and allophonic positions, while it only occurs sparsely in post-runic Old East Norse and even in runic Old East Norse.
| Meaning | West Old Norse | Old SwedishTemplate:Ref label | Modern Swedish | Icelandic | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcription | IPA | Transcription | IPA | |||
| Guardian / Caretaker | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:IPA | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:IPA |
| Eagle | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:IPA | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:IPA |
| Earth | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Ref label | Template:IPA | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:IPA |
| Milk | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Ref label | Template:IPA | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:IPA |
- Template:Note label Old Swedish orthography uses Template:Angbr to represent both Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink. The change from Norse Template:Angbr to Old Swedish Template:Angbr represents only a change in orthography rather than a change in sound. Similarly Template:Angbr is used in place of Template:Angbr. And thus changes from Norse Template:Angbr to Old Swedish Template:Angbr to Swedish Template:Angbr should be viewed as a change in orthography.
- Template:Note label Represents the u-umlaut found in Swedish.
This is still a major difference between Swedish and Faroese and Icelandic today. Plurals of neuters do not have u-umlaut at all in Swedish, but in Faroese and Icelandic they do, for example the Faroese and Icelandic plurals of the word Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang respectively, in contrast to the Swedish plural Template:Wikt-lang and numerous other examples. That also applies to almost all feminine nouns, for example the largest feminine noun group, the o-stem nouns (except the Swedish noun Template:Lang mentioned above), and even i-stem nouns and root nouns, such as Old West Norse Template:Lang (mörk in Icelandic) in comparison with Modern and Old Swedish Template:Lang.<ref name=Iversen />
Breaking
Vowel breaking, or fracture, caused a front vowel to be split into a semivowel-vowel sequence before a back vowel in the following syllable.<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" /> While West Norse only broke Template:IPA, East Norse also broke Template:IPA. The change was blocked by a Template:IPA, Template:IPA, or /ʀ/ preceding the potentially-broken vowel.<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" />Template:Sfn
Some Template:IPA or Template:IPA and Template:IPA or Template:IPA result from breaking of Template:IPA and Template:IPA respectively.<ref name="CleasbyPhonRules" group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Assimilation or elision of inflectional ʀ
When a noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb has a long vowel or diphthong in the accented syllable and its stem ends in a single l, n, or s, the r (or the elder r- or z-variant ʀ) in an ending is assimilated.<ref name="CleasbyTableN" group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref> When the accented vowel is short, the ending is dropped.
The nominative of the strong masculine declension and some i-stem feminine nouns uses one such -r (ʀ). Template:Lang (Template:Lang) becomes Template:Wikt-lang instead of Template:Lang (Template:Lang).
The verb Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss, has third person present tense Template:Lang Template:Gloss rather than Template:Lang (Template:Lang).Template:Sfn Similarly, the verb Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss had present tense third person Template:Lang (rather than Template:Lang, Template:Lang) ; while Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss had present tense third person Template:Lang (rather than Template:Lang, Template:Lang).
The rule is not absolute, with certain counter-examples such as Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss, which has the synonym Template:Lang, yet retains the unabsorbed version, and Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss, where assimilation takes place even though the root vowel, Template:Lang, is short.
The clusters */Clʀ, Csʀ, Cnʀ, Crʀ/ cannot yield Template:IPA respectively, instead Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The effect of this shortening can result in the lack of distinction between some forms of the noun. In the case of Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss, the nominative and accusative singular and plural forms are identical. The nominative singular and nominative and accusative plural would otherwise have been Template:Abbr Template:Lang, Template:Abbr Template:Lang. These forms are impossible because the cluster */Crʀ/ cannot be realized as Template:IPA, nor as */Crʀ/, nor as */Cʀː/. The same shortening as in Template:Lang also occurs in Template:Wikt-lang = Template:Lang Template:Gloss (as opposed to Template:Lang, Template:Lang), Template:Wikt-lang Template:Gloss (as opposed to Template:Lang, Template:Lang), and Template:Wikt-lang (as opposed to Template:Lang, Template:Lang).
Furthermore, wherever the cluster */rʀ/ is expected to exist, such as in the male names Template:Lang, Template:Lang (supposedly Template:Lang, Template:Lang), the result is apparently always Template:IPA rather than */rʀ/ or */ʀː/. This is observable in the Runic corpus.
Phonotactics
Blocking of ii, uu
In Old Norse, Template:Lang adjacent to Template:Lang, Template:Lang, their u-umlauts, and Template:Lang was not possible, nor Template:Lang adjacent to Template:Lang, Template:Lang, their i-umlauts, and Template:Lang.<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" /> At the beginning of words, this manifested as a dropping of the initial Template:IPA (which was general, independent of the following vowel) or Template:IPA. Compare ON Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang with English word, wolf, year. In inflections, this manifested as the dropping of the inflectional vowels. Thus, Template:Lang + Template:Abbr Template:Lang remains Template:Lang, and Template:Lang in Icelandic progressed to Template:Lang > Template:Lang > Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The Template:Lang and Template:Lang of Proto-Germanic became Template:Lang and Template:Lang respectively in Old Norse, a change known as Holtzmann's law.<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" />
Epenthesis
An epenthetic vowel became popular by 1200 in Old Danish, 1250 in Old Swedish and Old Norwegian, and 1300 in Old Icelandic.<ref name="TheNordicLanguages">Template:Harvnb</ref> An unstressed vowel was used which varied by dialect. Old Norwegian exhibited all three: Template:IPA was used in West Norwegian south of Bergen, as in Template:Lang, Template:Lang (older Template:Wikt-lang); North of Bergen, Template:IPA appeared in Template:Lang, Template:Lang; and East Norwegian used Template:IPA, Template:Lang, Template:Lang.<ref name="FromOldNordic">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Grammar
Old Norse was a moderately inflected language with high levels of nominal and verbal inflection. Most of the fused morphemes are retained in modern Icelandic, especially in regard to noun case declensions, whereas modern Norwegian in comparison has moved towards more analytical word structures.
Gender
Old Norse had three grammatical genders – masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives or pronouns referring to a noun must mirror the gender of that noun, so that one says, "Template:Lang" but, "Template:Lang". As in other languages, the grammatical gender of an impersonal noun is generally unrelated to an expected natural gender of that noun. While indeed Template:Lang, Template:Gloss is masculine, Template:Lang, Template:Gloss, is feminine, and Template:Lang, Template:Gloss, is neuter, so also are Template:Lang and Template:Lang, for Template:Gloss and Template:Gloss, masculine and feminine respectively, even in reference to a female raven or a male crow.
All neuter words have identical nominative and accusative forms,Template:Sfn and all feminine words have identical nominative and accusative plurals.Template:Sfn
The gender of some words' plurals does not agree with that of their singulars, such as Template:Lang and Template:Lang.<ref group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref> Some words, such as Template:Lang, have multiple genders, evidenced by their determiners being declined in different genders within a given sentence.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Morphology
Template:Main Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns were declined in four grammatical casesTemplate:Sndnominative, accusative, genitive, and dativeTemplate:Sndin singular and plural numbers. Adjectives and pronouns were additionally declined in three grammatical genders. Some pronouns (first and second person) could have dual number in addition to singular and plural. The genitive was used partitively and in compounds and kennings (e.g., Template:Lang, Template:Gloss ; Template:Lang, Template:Gloss).
There were several classes of nouns within each gender. The following is an example of the "strong" inflectional paradigms:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | |
| Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | Template:Lang /Template:Lang |
| Old West Norse | Old East Norse | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Abbr- Template:Abbr |
Singular | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| Plural | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | |
| Template:Abbr | Singular | Template:Lang | |
| Plural | Template:Lang | ||
| Template:Abbr | Singular | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| Plural | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Abbr-Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | |
| Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| Template:Abbr | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
The numerous "weak" noun paradigms had a much higher degree of syncretism between the different cases : i.e. they had fewer forms than the "strong" nouns.
A definite article was appended as a suffix that retained an independent declension : e.g., Template:Lang Template:Gloss – Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss – Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss – Template:Lang Template:Gloss. This definite article, however, was a separate word and did not become attached to the noun before later stages of the Old Norse period.
Texts
Template:Commons category The earliest inscriptions in Old Norse are runic, from the 8th century. Runes continued to be commonly used until the 15th century and have 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. 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, and the Old Testament, as well as instructional material, grammatical treatises and a large body of letters and official documents.Template:Sfn
Dialects
Most of the innovations that appeared in Old Norse spread evenly through the Old Norse area. As a result, the dialects were similar and considered to be the same language, a language that they sometimes called the Danish tongue (Template:Lang), sometimes Norse language (Template:Lang), as evidenced in the following two quotes from Template:Lang by Snorri Sturluson:
However, some changes were geographically limited and so created a dialectal difference between Old West Norse and Old East Norse.
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 Template:Lang < Template:Lang) 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 breaking (for example Template:Lang < Template:Lang) 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.
Old West Norse and Old Gutnish did not take part in the monophthongization which changed Template:Lang (Template:Lang) into Template:Lang, Template:Lang (Template:Lang) and Template:Lang into Template:Lang, nor did certain peripheral dialects of Swedish, as seen in modern Ostrobothnian dialects.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Another difference was that Old West Norse lost certain combinations of consonants. The combinations Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang were assimilated into Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang in Old West Norse, but this phenomenon was limited in Old East Norse.
Here is a comparison between the two dialects as well as Old Gutnish. It is a transcription from one of the Funbo Runestones in Sweden (U 990) from the eleventh century:
The OEN original text above is transliterated according to traditional scholarly methods, wherein u-umlaut is not regarded in runic Old East Norse. Modern studiesTemplate:Citation needed 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: Template:Block indent
Some past participles and other words underwent i-umlaut in Old West Norse but not in Old East Norse dialects. Examples of that are Icelandic Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang, which in Swedish are Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang. This can also be seen in the Icelandic and Norwegian words Template:Linktext and Template:Wikt-lang ("strong"), which in Swedish is Template:Wikt-lang as in Old Swedish.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> These differences can also be seen in comparison between Norwegian and Swedish.
Old West Norse
Old West Norse is by far the best attested variety of Old Norse.<ref>Template:Cite book "Old Norse is by far the best attested variety of Old Scandinavian."</ref> The term Old Norse is often used to refer to Old West Norse specifically, in which case the broader subject receives another name, such as Old Scandinavian.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite book</ref> Another designation is Old West Nordic.
The combinations Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang mostly merged to Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang in Old West Norse around the 7th century, marking the first distinction between the Eastern and Western dialects.Template:Sfn The following table illustrates this:
| English | Old West Norse | Old East Norse | Proto-Norse |
|---|---|---|---|
| mushroom | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| steep | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| widow | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| to shrink | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| to sprint | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
| to sink | Template:Wikt-lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang |
An early difference between Old West Norse and the other dialects was that Old West Norse had the forms Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss (Template:Abbr) and Template:Lang 'faith', whereas Old East Norse Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang. Old West Norse was also characterized by the preservation of u-umlaut, which meant that, for example, Proto-Norse Template:Lang Template:Gloss, became Template:Lang and not Template:Lang as in post-runic Old East Norse ; OWN Template:Lang and runic OEN Template:Lang, while post-runic OEN Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
The earliest body of text appears in runic inscriptions and in poems composed Template:Circa by Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (although the poems are not preserved in contemporary sources, but only in much later manuscripts). The earliest manuscripts are from the period 1150–1200 and concern legal, religious and historical matters. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Trøndelag and Western Norway 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 survived into the modern day from until Template:Circa, Old West Norse had little dialect variation, and Old Icelandic does not diverge much more than the Old Norwegian dialects do from each other.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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 Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Old Norwegian manuscripts might use Template:Lang.
From the late 13th century, Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian started to diverge more. After Template:Circa, 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.Template:Citation needed
Old West Norse underwent a lengthening of initial vowels at some point, especially in Norwegian, so that OWN Template:Wikt-lang became Template:Lang, ONW Template:Wikt-lang > Template:Lang, OIC Template:Wikt-lang > Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Old Icelandic
In Iceland, initial Template:IPA before Template:IPA was lost:<ref group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref> compare Icelandic Template:Wikt-lang with Danish Template:Wikt-lang, OEN Template:Lang. The change is shared with Old Gutnish.<ref name="TheNordicLanguages" />
A specifically Icelandic sound, the long, u-umlauted A, spelled Template:Angbr and pronounced Template:IPA, developed around the early 11th century.<ref name="CleasbyA" group="cv" /> It was short-lived, being marked in the Grammatical Treatises and remaining until the end of the 12th century.<ref name="CleasbyA" group="cv" /> It then merged back into Template:IPA ; as a result, long A is not affected by u-umlaut in Modern Icelandic.
Template:IPA merged with Template:IPA during the 12th century,<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" /> which caused Template:IPA to become an independent phoneme from Template:IPA and the written distinction of Template:Angbr IPA for Template:IPA from medial and final Template:Angbr IPA to become merely etymological.
Around the 13th century, Template:Lang (Template:IPA, which had probably already lowered to Template:IPA) merged to Template:Lang (Template:IPA).<ref name="CleasbyAE" group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref> Thus, pre-13th-century Template:Lang (with Template:Angbr) 'green' became spelled as in modern Icelandic Template:Lang (with Template:Angbr). The 12th-century Gray Goose Laws manuscripts distinguish the vowels, and so does the Codex Regius copy.<ref name="CleasbyAE" group="cv" /> However, the 13th-century Codex Regius copy of the Poetic Edda probably relied on newer or poorer quality sources, or both. Demonstrating either difficulty with or total lack of natural distinction, the manuscripts show separation of the two phonemes in some places, but they frequently confuse the letters chosen to distinguish them in others.<ref name="CleasbyAE" group="cv" /><ref>See Codex Regius</ref>
Towards the end of the 13th century, Template:Lang (Template:IPA) merged to Template:Lang (Template:IPA).<ref name="CleasbyE" group="cv">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Old Norwegian
Around the 11th century, Old Norwegian Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA, and Template:Angbr IPA became Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Failed verification<ref name=Hagland2002>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is debatable whether the Template:Angbr IPA sequences represented a consonant cluster (Template:IPA) or devoicing (Template:IPA).
Orthographic evidence suggests that in a confined dialect of Old Norwegian, Template:IPA may have been unrounded before Template:IPA and that u-umlaut was reversed unless the u had been eliminated: Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Lang > Template:Lang, Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Greenlandic Norse
This dialect of Old West Norse was spoken by Icelandic colonies in Greenland. When the colonies died out around the 15th century, the dialect went with it. The phoneme Template:IPA and some instances of Template:IPA merged to Template:IPA and so Old Icelandic Template:Lang became Template:Lang.
Text example
The following text is from Template:Lang, an Alexander romance. The manuscript, AM 519 a 4to, is dated Template:Circa. The facsimile demonstrates the sigla used by scribes to write Old Norse. Many of them were borrowed from Latin. Without familiarity with these abbreviations, the facsimile will be unreadable to many. In addition, reading the manuscript itself requires familiarity with the letterforms of the native script. The abbreviations are expanded in a version with normalized spelling like that of the standard normalization system. Compared to the spelling of the same text in Modern Icelandic, pronunciation has changed greatly, but spelling has changed little since Icelandic orthography was intentionally modelled after Old Norse in the 19th century.
| Digital facsimile of the manuscript text<ref name="MeNoTa14">Template:Citation</ref> | The same text with normalized spelling<ref name="MeNoTa14" /> | The same text with Modern Icelandic spelling |
|---|---|---|
* a printed in uncial. Uncials not encoded separately in Unicode as of this section's writing.
Old East Norse
Old East Norse or Old East Nordic between 800 and 1100 is called Runic Swedish in Sweden and Runic Danish in Denmark, but for geographical rather than linguistic reasons. Any differences between the two were minute at best during the more ancient stages of this dialect group. Changes had a tendency to occur earlier in the Danish region. Even today many Old Danish changes have still not taken place in modern Swedish. Swedish is therefore the more conservative of the two in both the ancient and the modern languages, sometimes by a profound margin. The language is called "runic" because the body of text appears in runes.
Runic Old East Norse is characteristically conservative in form, especially Swedish (which is still true for modern Swedish compared to Danish). In essence it matches or surpasses the conservatism of post-runic Old West Norse, which in turn is generally more conservative than post-runic Old East Norse. While typically "Eastern" in structure, many later post-runic changes and trademarks of OEN had yet to happen.
The phoneme ʀ, which 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.
The Proto-Germanic phoneme /w/ was preserved in initial sounds in Old East Norse (w-), unlike in West Norse where it developed into Template:IPA. It survived in rural Swedish dialects in the provinces of Westro- and North Bothnia, Skåne, Blekinge, Småland, Halland, Västergötland and south of Bohuslän into the 18th, 19th and 20th century. It is still preserved in the Dalecarlian dialects in the province of Dalarna, Sweden, and in Jutlandic dialects in Denmark. The Template:IPA-phoneme did also occur after consonants (kw-, tw-, sw- etc.) in Old East Norse and did so into modern times in said Swedish dialects and in a number of others. Generally, the initial w-sound developed into Template:IPA in dialects earlier than after consonants where it survived much longer.
In summation, the Template:IPAslink-sound survived in the East Nordic tongues almost a millennium longer than in the West Norse counterparts, and does still subsist at the present.
Monophthongization of Template:Lang > Template:Lang and Template:Lang > Template:Lang started in mid-10th-century Denmark.<ref name="FromOldNordic" /> Compare runic OEN: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang ; with Post-runic OEN: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang ; OWN: Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Lang, Template:Wikt-lang ; from PN Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang + Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang.
Feminine o-stems often preserve the plural ending Template:Lang, while in OWN they more often merge with the feminine i-stems: (runic OEN) Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang versus OWN Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang (Danish has mainly lost the distinction between the two stems, with both endings now being rendered as Template:Lang or Template:Lang alternatively for the o-stems ; modern Swedish Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang).
Vice versa, masculine i-stems with the root ending in either Template:Lang or Template:Lang tended to shift the plural ending to that of the ja-stems while OEN kept the original: Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang versus OWN Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang (modern Danish Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang ; modern Swedish Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang).
The plural ending of ja-stems were mostly preserved while those of OWN often acquired that of the i-stems: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang versus OWN Template:Wikt-lang, bekkir, Template:Wikt-lang (modern Swedish Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang).
Old Danish
Template:Further 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 (Template:Harvnb) 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.
In Old Danish, Template:IPA merged with Template:IPA during the 9th century.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> From the 11th to 14th centuries, the unstressed vowels -a, -o and -e (standard normalization -a, -u and -i) started to merge into -ə, represented with the letter Template:Angbr. This vowel came to be epenthetic, particularly before -ʀ endings.<ref name="TheNordicLanguages" /> At the same time, the voiceless stop consonants p, t and k became voiced plosives and even fricative consonants. Resulting from these innovations, Danish has Template:Lang (cake), Template:Lang (tongues) and Template:Lang (guests) whereas (Standard) Swedish has retained older forms, Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang (OEN Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang).
Moreover, the Danish pitch accent shared with Norwegian and Swedish changed into stød around this time.Template:Citation needed
Old Swedish
Template:Further 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. Template:Lang (lukewarm), from Template:Lang. The Dalecarlian dialects developed independently from Old Swedish<ref name=Kroonen>Template:Citation</ref> and as such can be considered separate languages from Swedish.
Text example
This is an extract from Template:Lang, the Westrogothic law. 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 as a distinct dialect. Template:Verse translation
Old Gutnish
Template:Main Due to Gotland's early isolation from the mainland, many features of Old Norse did not spread from or to the island, and Old Gutnish developed as an entirely separate branch from Old East and West Norse. For example, the diphthong Template:Lang in Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang was not subject to anticipatory assimilation to Template:Lang as in e.g. Old Icelandic Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang. Gutnish also shows dropping of Template:IPA in initial Template:IPA, which it shares with the Old West Norse dialects (except Old East Norwegian<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>), but which is otherwise abnormal. Breaking was also particularly active in Old Gutnish, leading to e.g. Template:Lang versus mainland Template:Lang.<ref name="TheNordicLanguages" />
Text example
The Template:Lang Template:Gloss is the longest text surviving from Old Gutnish. Appended to it is a short texting dealing with the history of the Gotlanders. This part relates to the agreement that the Gotlanders had with the Swedish king sometime before the 9th century:
Relationship to other languages
Relationship to English
Old English and Old Norse were related languages. It is therefore not surprising that many words in Old Norse look familiar to English speakers : e.g., Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss. This is because both English and Old Norse stem from a Proto-Germanic mother language. In addition, numerous common, everyday Old Norse words were adopted into the Old English language during the Viking Age. A few examples of Old Norse loanwords in modern English are (English/Viking Age Old East Norse), in some cases even displacing their Old English cognates:Template:Citation needed
- Nouns – anger (Template:Lang), bag (Template:Lang), bait (Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang), band (Template:Lang), bark (Template:Lang, stem Template:Lang), birth (Template:Lang), dirt (Template:Lang), dregs (Template:Lang), egg (Template:Lang, related to Template:Abbr cognate Template:Lang which became Template:Langx/Template:Lang), fellow (Template:Lang), gap (Template:Lang), husband (Template:Lang), cake (Template:Lang), keel (Template:Lang, stem also Template:Lang, Template:Lang), kid (Template:Lang), knife (Template:Lang), law (Template:Lang, stem Template:Lang), leg (Template:Lang), link (Template:Lang), loan (Template:Lang, related to OE. cognate Template:Lang, cf. lend), race (Template:Lang, stem Template:Lang), root (Template:Lang, related to OE. cognate Template:Lang, cf. wort), sale (Template:Lang), scrap (Template:Lang), seat (Template:Lang), sister (Template:Lang, related to OE. cognate Template:Lang), skill (Template:Lang/Template:Lang), skin (Template:Lang), skirt (Template:Lang vs. the native English shirt of the same root), sky (Template:Lang), slaughter (Template:Lang), snare (Template:Lang), steak (Template:Lang), thrift (Template:Lang), tidings (Template:Lang), trust (Template:Lang), window (Template:Lang), wing (Template:Lang)
- Verbs – are (Template:Lang, displacing OE Template:Lang), blend (Template:Lang), call (Template:Lang), cast (Template:Lang), clip (Template:Lang), crawl (Template:Lang), cut (possibly from ON Template:Lang), die (Template:Lang), gasp (Template:Lang), get (Template:Lang), give (Template:Lang/Template:Lang, related to OE. cognate Template:Lang), glitter (Template:Lang), hit (Template:Lang), lift (Template:Lang), raise (Template:Lang), ransack (Template:Lang), rid (Template:Lang), run (Template:Lang, stem Template:Lang, related to OE. cognate Template:Lang), scare (Template:Lang), scrape (Template:Lang), seem (Template:Lang), sprint (Template:Lang), take (Template:Lang), thrive (Template:Lang), thrust (Template:Lang), want (Template:Lang)
- Adjectives – flat (Template:Lang), happy (Template:Lang), ill (Template:Lang), likely (Template:Lang), loose (Template:Lang), low (Template:Lang), meek (Template:Lang), odd (Template:Lang), rotten (Template:Lang/Template:Lang), scant (Template:Lang), sly (Template:Lang), weak (Template:Lang), wrong (Template:Lang)
- Adverbs – thwart/athwart (Template:Lang)
- Prepositions – till (Template:Lang), fro (Template:Lang)
- Conjunction – though/tho (Template:Lang)
- Interjection – hail (Template:Lang), wassail (Template:Lang)
- Personal pronoun – they (Template:Lang), their (Template:Lang), them (Template:Lang) (for which the Anglo-Saxons said Template:Lang,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Template:Lang, Template:Lang)
- Prenominal adjectives – same (Template:Lang)
In a simple sentence like 'They are both weak', the extent of the Old Norse loanwords becomes quite clear; compare Old East Norse with archaic pronunciation: Template:Lang with Template:Langx. The words "they" and "weak" are both borrowed from Old Norse, and the word "both" might also be a borrowing, though this is disputed (cf. German Template:Lang).Template:Who While the number of loanwords adopted from the Norse was not as numerous as that of Norman French or Latin, their depth and everyday nature make them a substantial and very important part of everyday English speech as they are part of the very core of the modern English vocabulary.Template:Citation needed
Tracing the origins of words like "bull" and "Thursday" is more difficult.Template:Citation needed "Bull" may derive from either Template:Langx or Template:Langx,Template:Citation needed while "Thursday" may be a borrowing or simply derive from the Template:Langx, which could have been influenced by the Old Norse cognate.Template:Citation needed The word "are" is from Template:Langx/Template:Lang, which stems back to Proto-Germanic as well as the Old Norse cognates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Relationship to modern Scandinavian languages
See also
- Germanic a-mutation
- An Introduction to Old NorseTemplate:SndA common textbook on the language
- List of English words of Old Norse origin
- Template:Annotated link
- Old Norse morphologyTemplate:SndThe grammar of the language.
- Old Norse orthographyTemplate:SndThe spelling of the language
- Old Norse poetry
- Proto-Norse languageTemplate:SndThe Scandinavian dialect of Proto-Germanic that developed into Old Norse
Dialectal information
Citations
General citations
Cleasby-Vigfússon citations
Sources
General sources
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation , "The Menota handbook 2.0"
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
Dictionaries
- Template:Citation
- e-text Template:Webarchive via the Germanic Lexicon Project (germanic-lexicon-project.org)
- e-text Template:Webarchive adapted from the Germanic Lexicon Project version to work better with mobile devices and with an improved search (old-norse.net)
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- scanned document Template:Webarchive via "Germanic Lexicon Project" (lexicon.ff.cuni.cz)
- e-text Template:Webarchive via norroen.info
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- First and Second editions Template:Webarchive via www.septentrionalia.net
Grammars
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation (Old West Norse)
- Template:Citation (Old Swedish and Old Gutnish)
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation (Old Danish)
- Template:Cite book (Old West Norse)
- Template:Citation (Old Norse in the narrow sense, i.e. Old West Norse)
- Template:Citation (Old West Norse)
- Template:Citation (Old West Norse)
Old Norse texts
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation , facing translation
Language learning resources
- Barnes, Michael; Faulkes, Anthony (2007–2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part I - Grammar. Part II - Reader. Part III - Glossary. Viking Society for Northern Research. University College London. Available at the Viking Society for Northern Research homepage.
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- Template:Citation
- alt source Template:Webarchive via Germanic Lexicon Project (lexicon.ff.cuni.cz)
- e-ext Template:Webarchive via Project Gutenberg
- Template:Citation
- Valfells, Sigrid; Caithey, James E. (1982), Old Icelandic: An Introductory Course. Oxford University Press.
External links
Template:WikisourceWiki Template:Wiktionary category
- Heimskringla.no, an online collection of Old Norse source material
- Old Norse Online by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin
- Video: Old Norse text read with reconstructed pronunciation and a Modern Icelandic pronunciation, for comparison. With subtitles by Eldar Heide
- Old Norse sound samples for early Old Norse and 13th century Norwegian Old Norse by Arne Torp
- Old Norse sound sample by Haukur Þorgeirsson (archived from the original)
- Old Norse loans in Old and Middle English, and their legacy in the dialects of England and modern standard English
- Old Norse basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
- Old Norse Wiki on Miraheze
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