The First Grammatical Treatise is an anonymously-authored 12th century work on the phonology of the Old Norse or Old Icelandic language. It was given this name because it is the first of four grammatical works bound in the Icelandic manuscript Codex Wurmianus. (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ...

The First Grammatical Treatise was of great interest to some mid-20th century linguists, since it systematically used the technique of minimal pairs to establish the inventory of distinctive sounds or phonemes in the Icelandic language, in a manner reminiscent of the methods of structural linguistics. It is also notable for revealing the existence of a whole series of nasal vowel phonemes, whose presence in the Icelandic language of the time would otherwise be unknown. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... In phonetics, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, which differ in only one phoneme and have a distinct meaning. ... In human language, a phoneme is a set of phones (speech sounds or sign elements) that are cognitively equivalent. ... Structuralism is a general approach in various academic disciplines that explores the inter-relationships between fundamental elements of some kind, upon which some higher mental, linguistic, social, cultural etc structures are built, through which then meaning is produced within a particular person, system, culture. ...

Significance

This work is one of the earliest written works in Icelandic (and actually in any North Germanic language). It is a grammatical work dealing with Old Norse, in the tradition of Latin and Greek grammatical treatises, generally dated to the late 12th century, though some have dated it to the early 13th because many authors have wanted to attribute it to Snorri Sturluson. The North Germanic languages (also Scandinavian languages or Nordic languages) is a branch of the Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the Faroe Islands and Iceland. ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... Snorri Sturluson (1178 â€“ September 23, 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. ...

The Treatise is important for the study of Old Norse, as it is a major text showing the state of the language just prior to the age of the Norse Sagas. It also provides a comprehensive study of both the grammar, as seen by the speakers of the language themselves, and the pronunciation of the language, to the extent that it created an Icelandic alphabet derived from the Latin, and more adapted to writing on paper or parchment than the older, epigraphic Runic alphabet that was made for shorter carvings on wood or stone. This alphabet included þ (derived straight from the runes) and ð as well as diacritic indication of vowel length and a "buckled o", at the time an independent phoneme, but by now merged with Ö. See Icelandic alphabet. The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (from Icelandic saga, plural sögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ... The Icelandic alphabet consists of the following letters: A Á B (C) D Ð E É F G H I Í J K L M N O Ó P (Q) R S T U Ú V (W) X Y Ý (Z) Þ Æ Ö The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from a standard established in the 19th century, by the... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Þþ The letter Þ (miniscule: þ), which is also known as thorn or þorn is a letter in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic alphabets. ... Ð (capital Ð, lower-case ð) (or eth, eð or edh, Faroese: edd) is a letter used in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and present-day Icelandic and Faroese. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ... The Icelandic alphabet consists of the following letters: A Á B (C) D Ð E É F G H I Í J K L M N O Ó P (Q) R S T U Ú V (W) X Y Ý (Z) Þ Æ Ö The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from a standard established in the 19th century, by the...

Editions

• "First Grammatical Treatise: The Earliest Germanic Phonology. An Edition, Translation, and Commentary" by Einar Haugen