Old Norse Language

Old Norse, a North Germanic tongue, was spoken across Scandinavia and in England, parts of Russia, and other areas where the Vikings traveled. The Old Norse noun viking means "overseas expedition" while a vikingr is someone who went on one of these expeditions. These expeditions were far-reaching, spreading the Norse influence and language as far as continental Europe and North America. In England and Scotland, Old Norse endured even after the Norman invasion in 1066 erased most other Scandinavian traces.

Modern English has adapted hundreds of Old Norse words, many of which are easily recognizable to English speakers. Most of these words are about weather, fighting, and culture. The forbidding landscape of Scandinavia inspired words such as myrr (mire), bleikr (bleak), gustr (gust), and fok (fog). Other words such as klubba (club), knifr (knife), skulle (skull), and slatra (slaughter) are a connection to the proud Viking historic traditions of raiding and battle. The calendar term "Thursday" comes from the Old Norse word Þorsdagr, which means "Thor's Day."

The written form of Old Norse is the futhark rune alphabet, also called the runic alphabet, which consists of straight lines that were easy to chisel or carve into wood and stone. Because of this alphabet, records of communications, trading, and literature endured to the modern age. The runic alphabet is thought to have been created around the time of Christ and contains twenty-four letters.

History and Classification

Norsemen called Old Norse Dånsk tunga or dönsk tunga, which means "the Danish tongue." They also referred to the variations spoken in Norway, Iceland, and Norn as Norrønt mál. Old Norse is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European linguistic group. Proto-Norse was the earlier form of the language, dating back to the first centuries of the Common Era. It evolved into Old Norse around 800 C.E., eventually splitting into two dialects based on geography: West Norse and East Norse.

Many of the earliest examples of Old Norse are inscriptions on stone and personal artifacts such as weapons and jewelry. One of the oldest surviving Old Norse texts, the Eggium Stone, was discovered in southwestern Norway in 1917 and dates back to about 700 C.E. The upheaval and relocations caused by the Black Death, a pandemic in the mid-fourteenth century, led to a greater distinction between the two dialects.

Orally, the language of Old Norse was identifiable throughout Scandinavia, although the speaker's homeland was easily recognizable due to minor variations in the language. Nations outside traditional Scandinavia were impacted by Old Norse vocabulary, including Rus, which was the name they ascribed to Russia, hreindyri (reindeer), troll, and Jol (Yule).

Because it is close to Scandinavia, England faced repeated Viking invasions. In 878, after two centuries of warfare, King Alfred reached a truce with the Viking king Guthrum. The treaty, known as the Danelaw, placed territory from Northern England under Nordic control. The Danes settled extensively, trading and intermarrying with Anglo-Saxons. From 1018 to 1042, a Dane ruled as king after eliminating the heirs to the House of Wessex. This led to the permanent intermingling of languages between the Anglo-Saxons and the Viking settlers and the creation of English dialects.

The majority of Old Norse literature that has survived to the twenty-first century comes from Iceland. Icelanders wrote stories, poems, and histories of their culture. The Eddas are poems about pagan beliefs and mythology. Skaldic poetry, originally an oral tradition, relays stories about heroes and kings. Sagas are stories about historical figures written for entertainment. Icelanders also created historical and grammatical textbooks, romances, and genealogies. Archeological evidence and the texts themselves suggest that much of the Norse population could read the runic alphabet.

Old Norse is considered the parent language of the Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish languages. It has also affected the sentence structure and vocabulary of both Old and modern English. Of all these languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse, with the Icelandic alphabet having been derived from the old phonemic system. Remarkably, Icelanders can read and comprehend Old Norse since only the pronunciation has undergone major changes over the centuries. Spelling and sentence structure have changed marginally but not enough to hinder comprehension. Other Scandinavian countries have diverged linguistically, but speakers can generally understand one another, providing further evidence of a shared root language.

Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage

Linguists often divide Old Norse geographically as West Norse and East Norse. West Norse was spoken in Norway and in the Viking settlements on Iceland, Greenland, and North America. On the Isle of Man, thirty Viking runic inscriptions demonstrate that West Norse was the island's first written language. Modern Icelandic is similar to West Norse, with other descendant languages being Norwegian and Faroese. East Norse was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, coastal Finland, Estonia, and the Viking territories in Europe, namely the United Kingdom. The Danelaw enabled the spread and permanence of the language in England and Scotland. Old Norse was also used in several European locations that had been raided and colonized by Vikings, such as Kiev and Normandy.

Norn, another variation of Old Norse, survived into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Shetland, Orkney, and some parts of Northern Scotland until it was replaced with Scots English. Little is known about Norn because Orkney and Shetland are remote, sheltered locations. Norse colonists, most likely from western Norway, brought their form of Old Norse to Shetland and Orkney.

Old Norse is not a contemporary language. Instead, it is a tool used to study Scandinavian history and culture. Although it is somewhat similar to modern descendant languages, Old Norse is not widely written or spoken anywhere in the world today other than in scholarly applications. The study of ancient and medieval literature and Scandinavian archeology offer opportunities to utilize the language in modern times.

Bibliography

Dalby, Andrew. Dictionary of Languages. "Old Norse." New York, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Print.

Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries. "Old Norse." The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Geography. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Print.

Jordan, John-Erik. "The Vikings Are Coming!" Babbel Mobile. Web. 29 June 2015. URL: "http://www.babbel.com/magazine/139-norse-words" http://www.babbel.com/magazine/139-norse-words

Short, William. R. "Hurstwic - Norse Literature." Hurstwic, LLC. Web. 29 June 2015. URL: PERLINK "http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/literature/text/literature.htm" http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/literature/text/literature.htm

Treharne, Elaine. "Legacy of the Vikings." The BBC. Web. 29 June 2015. URL: YPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after‗viking/legacy‗vikings‗01.shtml" http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after‗viking/legacy‗vikings‗01.shtml

"Vikings – History." British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 2004. Web. 29 June 2015. URL http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/