Old Norse is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until the 13th century. It evolved from the older Proto-Norse, in the 8th century. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ... Scandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. ... This article needs cleanup. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...

Due to the fact that most of the surviving texts are from Medieval Icelandic, the de facto standard version of the language is its dialect Old West Norse, i.e. Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. The two dialects Old West Norse and Old East Norse were very similar and were considered by their speakers to be one and the same language. They called it dönsk tunga (the Danish tongue) and norrœn tunga (the Northern tongue). The Old Icelandic language was the most prominent of the Old Norse languages. ...

Old Norse was mutually intelligible with Old English and Old Saxon. It gradually evolved into the modern North Germanic Icelandic, Norwegian, Faroese, Swedish and Danish languages. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is a Germanic language. ... A North Germanic language is any of several Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the islands west of Scandinavia. ... Icelandic (íslenska) is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland. ... Norwegian is a Germanic language spoken in Norway. ... Faroese is a West Nordic or West Scandinavian language spoken by about 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 in Denmark. ... Swedish (svenska  listen?) is a Scandinavian language language spoken predominantly in Sweden, Finland and Åland by over 8 million native speakers. ... Danish is one of the Scandinavian languages, a sub-group of the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family. ...

Modern Icelandic is the descendant which has diverged the least from Old Norse. Faroese also retains some similarities but is influenced from Danish. Although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain mutual intelligibility.

Geographical distribution

This is the approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century. The red area is the distribution of the dialect Old West Norse;the orange area is the spread of the dialect Old East Norse. The pink area is Old Gutnish and the green area is the extent of the other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility

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. 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. ( 9th century - 10th century - 11th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ... The Kingdom of Denmark is geographically the smallest Nordic country and is part of the European Union. ... The Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige  listen) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. ... The Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Mont Saint Michel is a historic pilgrimage site and a symbol of Normandy Normandy is a former country (a Duchy) situated in northern France occupying the lower Seine area (upper or Haute-Normandie) and the region to the west (lower or Basse-Normandie) as far as the Cotentin Peninsula. ... Gotland is the largest island in the Baltic Sea. ... (10th century - 11th century - 12th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Vinland (pronounced Winland) was the name given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leifur Eiríksson, about year 1000. ... For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ... For other cities named Novgorod see Novgorod (disambiguation). ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ...

Modern descendants

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 (East Scandinavian). Icelandic (íslenska) is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland. ... Norwegian is a Germanic language spoken in Norway. ... Faroese is a West Nordic or West Scandinavian language spoken by about 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 in Denmark. ... The Norn language was an offshoot of Old Norse. ... The Orkney Islands form one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, and are a Lieutenancy Area. ... See Shetland (disambiguation) for other meanings. ... Swedish (svenska  listen?) is a Scandinavian language language spoken predominantly in Sweden, Finland and Åland by over 8 million native speakers. ... Danish is one of the Scandinavian languages, a sub-group of the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family. ...

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. The Danish nation is a concept closely connected to 19th century ethnic nationalism. ... Motto: None Official language Faroese Capital Tórshavn Monarch Margrethe II Prime Minister Jóannes Eidesgaard Area  - Total  - % water World ranking: 189th 1,399 km² — Population  - Total (2004)  - Density World ranking: 211th 48,228 33. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Scots (or Lallans, meaning Lowlands), properly Lowland Scots, is used in Lowland Scotland, as well as parts of Northern Ireland and border areas of the Republic of Ireland, where it is known in official circles as Ulster Scots or Ullans but by speakers simply as Scotch or Scots. On the... A loanword (or a borrowing) is a word taken in by one language from another. ... The Norman language is a Romance language, one of the Oïl languages. ...

History

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. Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... This page is about punctuation. ... In linguistics, a diaeresis or dieresis (AE) (from Greek diairein, to divide) is the modification of a syllable by distinctly pronouncing one of its vowels. ... 9 (nine) is the natural number following 8 and preceding 10. ... ( 9th century - 10th century - 11th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Norway - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The Kingdom of Denmark is geographically the smallest Nordic country and is part of the European Union. ... The Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige  listen) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. ...

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 øgha. Likewise, West Norse had the ey diphthong, as in heyra, while it in East Norse became ø, as in høra, and in Old Gutnish was oy as in 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.

Sounds

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 /æ/ is not a phoneme but an allophone of /e/. The long counterpart of /ö/ has merged with /á/ in the classical (13th century) language. All phonemes have, more or less, the expected phonetic realization.

Back vowels

/a/ - /aː/

/ɔ/ - /ɔː/

/o/ - /oː/

/u/ - /uː/

Front unrounded vowels

/æ/

/e/ - /eː/

/i/ - /iː/

Front rounded vowels

/ø/ - /œ/

/y/ - /yː/

Consonants

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/ (<þ>) /ð/ Þ þ Þ (capital Þ, lower-case þ) or Thorn or Þorn is a letter in the Anglo_Saxon and Icelandic alphabets. ...

/s/

/h/

Liquids

/l/

/r/

Semi-vowels

/j/

/v/

Writing system and texts

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. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... (1st century - 2nd century - 3rd century - other centuries) Events Roman Empire governed by the Five Good Emperors (96–180) – Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world, the standard script of the English language and most of the languages of western and central Europe, and of those areas settled by Europeans. ... The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ... For Edda great-grandmother as the ancestress of serfs see Ríg. ... Iceland - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

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. Egill Skallagrímsson in a 17th century manuscript of Egils Saga Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga attributed to Snorri Sturluson about Egill Skallagrímsson, an Icelandic viking and skald. ...

Old East Norse

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 is generally accepted as the beginning of Old Swedish. (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ...

Dræpær maþar svænskan man eller smalenskæn, innan konongsrikis man, eigh væstgøskan, bøte firi atta ørtogher ok þrettan markær ok ænga ætar bot. [...] Dræpar maþær danskan man allæ noræn man, bøte niv markum. Dræpær maþær vtlænskan man, eigh ma frid flyia or landi sinu oc j æth hans. Dræpær maþær vtlænskæn prest, bøte sva mykit firi sum hærlænskan man. Præstær skal i bondalaghum væræ. Varþær suþærman dræpin ællær ænskær maþær, ta skal bøta firi marchum fiurum þem 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 plaintif and two marks to the king.

Suiones, Swedes, Svíar or Svear, were an ancient Germanic tribe in Scandinavia. ... Geats (Gautar Old Norse or Götar in Swedish) is the Old English spelling of the name of a Scandinavian people living in Götaland, land of the Geats, currently within the borders of modern Sweden. ... Weregild (Alternative spellings: wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc. ... Dane may refer to a citizen of the Kingdom of Denmark. ... The term Norwegian can refer to: From or related to Norway, a country in Europe. ... The Scandinavian clan or Ätt was a social group based on common descent or on the formal acceptance into the group at a Ting. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Official language None; English is de facto Capital London Capitals coordinates 51° 30 N, 0° 10 W Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831...

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: (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... ( 8th century - 9th century - 10th century - other centuries) Events Beowulf might have been written down in this century, though it could also have been in the 8th century Reign of Charlemagne, and concurrent (and controversially labeled) Carolingian Renaissance in western Europe Viking attacks on Europe begin Oseberg ship burial The...

So gingu gutar sielfs wiliandi vndir suia kunung þy at þair mattin frir Oc frelsir sykia suiariki j huerium staþ. vtan tull oc allar utgiftir. So aigu oc suiar sykia gutland firir vtan cornband ellar annur forbuþ. hegnan oc hielp sculdi kunungur gutum at waita. En þair wiþr þorftin. oc kallaþin. sendimen al oc kunungr oc ierl samulaiþ a gutnal þing senda. Oc latta þar taka scatt sinn. þair sendibuþar aighu friþ lysa gutum alla steþi til sykia yfir haf sum upsala kunungi til hoyrir. Oc so þair sum þan 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.

The Gotlanders are the population of the island of Gotland. ... Suiones, Swedes, Svíar or Svear, were an ancient Germanic tribe in Scandinavia. ... Jarl is the Scandinavian language cognate of Earl. ... Alþingi (English: Althing) is the national parliament, or literally the General Iceland. ... Gamla Uppsala is an area rich in archaeological remains seen from the grave field whose larger mounds (left part) are close to the royal mounds. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of east and central Europe, and the Danish islands. ...

See also

• Proto-Norse
• Old Norse orthography
• Old Norse poetry

Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... The orthography of the Old Norse language since the introduction of the Latin alphabet in Iceland is a thorny subject. ... Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in a number of Nordic languages, embraced by the term Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. ...

References

• Gordon, Eric V. and A. R. Taylor. Introduction to Old Norse. Second. ed. Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1981.

External links

• Indo-European Language Resources (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/language_resources.html) 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).
• soundsample  (http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/sounds/ragn1_2b.mp3)
• Old Norse for Beginners (http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/)