Old Norse is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, and the early Middle Ages. It evolved from the older Proto-Norse, in the 8th century.
Since most of the literature is from medieval Iceland, Old Norse is usually represented by Old Icelandic, and sometimes defined as Old Icelandic. Old Icelandic was essentially identical to Old Norwegian and they formed together the Old West Norse dialect of Old Norse. The Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark and Sweden and settlements in Russia, England and Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East.
These dialects were very similar and were considered by their speakers to be one and the same language. They called it dönsk tunga (the Danish tongue). 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 died out in the 13th century.
The earliest inscriptions in Old Norse are runic, from the 8th century (although there are 200 inscriptions in Proto-Norse going as far back as the 2nd century), and runes continued to be used for a thousand years. The main literary texts are in the Latin alphabet, the great sagas and eddas of medieval Iceland.
Its modern descendants are the West Norse languages of Icelandic, Norwegian (nynorsk), Faroese and the extinct Norn language of the Orkney and the Shetland Islands as well as the East Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian (bokmål/riksmål). Norwegian was originally West Norse, but was later heavily influenced by East Norse (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 Scots which contains many Old Norse loanwords. It also influenced the development of the Norman language.
General characteristics
Evolution
As Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse, in the 8th century, the effects of the umlauts varied geographically. The typical umlauts (e.g. fylla from *fullian) were stronger in the West whereas those resulting in diaresis (e.g. hiarta from herto) were more influential in the East. This difference was the main reason behind the dialectalization that took place in the 9th and the 10th century 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 the old diphthongs generally became monophthongs in East Norse. For instance in East Norse stain became sten, whereas it became steinn in West Norse. In Old Gutnish, this diphthong remained. Old West Norse and Old Gutnish kept the diphthong au as in auga, whereas it in East Norse became ųgha. Likewise, West Norse had the ey diphthong, as in heyra, while it in East Norse became ų, as in hųra, and in Old Gutnish was oy as in hoyra.
| differences between the three dialects |
| Old West Norse |
Old East Norse |
Old Gutnish |
| auga (eye) |
ųgha |
augä |
| stein (stone) |
sten |
stain |
| heyra (hear) |
hųra |
hoyra |
A third difference was that Old West Norse lost certain combinations of consonnants. 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.
| differences between the dialects |
| Old West Norse |
Old East Norse and Old Gutnish |
| sopp (mushroom) |
svamp |
| bratt (precipice) |
brant |
| ekkia (widow) |
ęnkia |
Phonemes
The standardized Old Norse spelling 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.
Vowels
The vowel phonemes mostly come in pairs of long and short. The orthography marks the long vowels with an acute accent. The short counterpart of /ę/ is not a phoneme but an allophone of /e/. The long counterpart of /ö/ has merged with /į/ in the classical (13th century) language. All phonemes have, more or less, the expected phonetic realization.
Back vowels:
/a/ - /aː/
-
/ɔː/
/o/ - /oː/
/u/ - /uː/
Front unrounded vowels:
/ę/
/e/ - /eː/
/i/ - /iː/
Front rounded vowels:
/ų/ - //
/y/ - /yː/
Stops
Old Norse has six stop phonemes. Of these /p/ is rare word-initially and /d/ and /b/ do not occur between vowels. The /g/ phoneme is realized as a voiced fricative between vowels.
/t/ /d/
/k/ /g/
/p/ /b/
Fricatives
/f/
/θ/ (<ž>) /š/
/s/
/h/
Liquids
/l/
/r/
Semi-vowels
/j/
/v/
Text Example Of Old West Norse
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 Icelandic spelling |
The same text in Modern Icelandic |
|
|
Žorgeirr blundr, systursonr Egils, var žar į žinginu ok hafši
gengit hart at lišveizlu viš Žorstein. Hann baš Egil ok žį
Žorstein koma sér til stašfestu śt žangat į Mżrar;
hann bjó įšr fyrir sunnan Hvķtį, fyrir nešan Blundsvatn.
Egill tók vel į žvķ ok fżsti Žorstein, at žeir léti hann žangat fara.
Egill setti Žorgeir blund nišr at Įnabrekku,
en Steinarr fœrši bśstaš sinn śt yfir Langį ok settisk nišr
at Leirulęk. En Egill reiš heim sušr į Nes eptir žingit
meš flokk sinn, ok skildusk žeir fešgar meš kęrleik.
|
Žorgeir blundur, systursonur Egils, var žar į žinginu og hafši
gengiš hart aš lišveislu viš Žorstein. Hann baš Egil og žį
Žorstein koma sér til stašfestu śt žangaš į Mżrar;
hann bjó įšur fyrir sunnan Hvķtį, fyrir nešan Blundsvatn.
Egill tók vel į žvķ og fżsti Žorstein, aš žeir létu hann žangaš fara.
Egill setti Žorgeir blund nišur aš Įnabrekku,
en Steinar fęrši bśstaš sinn śt yfir Langį og settist nišur
aš Leirulęk. En Egill reiš heim sušur į Nes eftir žingiš
meš flokk sinn, og skildust žeir fešgar meš kęrleik.
|
Text example of Old East Norse
This is an extract from the Westrogothic law. It is the oldest text written on paper found in Sweden and from the 13th century. It is contemporaneous with most of the Icelandic literature.
- Drępęr mažar svęnskan man eller smalenskęn, innan konongsrikis man, eigh vęstgųskan, bųte firi atta ųrtogher ok žrettan markęr ok ęnga ętar bot. [...] Drępar mažęr danskan man allę noręn man, bųte niv markum. Drępęr mažęr vtlęnskan man, eigh ma frid flyia or landi sinu oc j ęth hans. Drępęr mažęr vtlęnskęn prest, bųte sva mykit firi sum hęrlęnskan man. Pręstęr skal i bondalaghum vęrę. Varžęr sužęrman drępin ęllęr ęnskęr mažęr, ta skal bųta firi marchum fiurum žem sakinę sųkir, 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 plaintif and two marks to the king.
Text example of 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 žy at žair mattin frir Oc frelsir sykia suiariki j huerium staž. vtan tull oc allar utgiftir. So aigu oc suiar sykia gutland firir vtan cornband ellar annur forbuž. hegnan oc hielp sculdi kunungur gutum at waita. En žair wižr žorftin. oc kallažin. sendimen al oc kunungr oc ierl samulaiž a gutnal žing senda. Oc latta žar taka scatt sinn. žair sendibužar aighu friž lysa gutum alla steži til sykia yfir haf sum upsala kunungi til hoyrir. Oc so žair sum žan wegin aigu hinget sykia.
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 althing to receive the taxes. These emissaries shall declare free passage for the Gotlanders to all locations in the sea of the king at Uppsala (i.e. the Baltic Sea was under Swedish control), and likewise for everyone who wanted to travel to Gotland.
See also
References
- Gordon, Eric V. and A. R. Taylor. Introduction to Old Norse. Second. ed. Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1981.
External links
