Eiker is a traditional district in the county of Buskerud, Norway, consisting
of the municipalities of Nedre Eiker and ?vre Eiker ("Lower" and "Upper Eiker").
Eiker is an agricultural area with a long history. The area was first
inhabitated around 8000 BC. During the early Viking Age, Eiker was the western
extension of the kingdom of Vingulmark. Somewhat later, it became part of the
kingdom of Vestfold.
Eiker was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt). It was divided into Nedre Eiker and ?vre Eiker July 1,
1885.
Buskerud (helpinfo) is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland,
Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration
is located in Drammen.
Geography
Buskerud extends from Hurum at the Oslofjord to the Halling mountains and
Hardanger. The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts.
These are Eiker, Ringerike, Numedal and Hallingdal. H?nefoss is the district
capital of Ringerike. Its western part is a mountainous plateau with forested
valleys and high, grassy pastures; its eastern part contains a lowland basin
with many lakes and streams. Tyrifjorden and Kr?deren are the biggest lakes.
Numedalsl?gen, the third longest river in Norway, starting in Hordaland, runs
through Buskerud unto Vestfold where it reaches the sea, while river Begna
sweeps into lake Sperillen. :)
History
The area Ringerike may once have been a small kingdom. During the 10th century,
Norway's kings Olav Trygvason and Olav Haraldsson grew up at B?nsnes in
Ringerike. In the Numedal valley, silver has been mined in Kongsberg from the
17th century but was discontinued in 1957. Weapons industry had been developed
in Kongsberg from 1814, and various high tech industry companies now represent
the town's major employers. At Modum there once was a Cobalt pigment production
works (Blaafarvev?rket, "The Blue-Color Works"). c")
Economy
Today, agriculture, lumbering, wood-pulp mills, and industry are the county's
main economic activities; ample hydroelectric power is produced by Begna and
Rands rivers.
The name
The county is named after the old farm Buskerud (Norse Biskupsrue) in Modum,
since this was the seat of the bailiffs in old time (until 1668). The first
element is the genitive case of biskup m 'bishop', the last element is rue n
'clearing, farm'. (The farm originally belonged to the bishop of Oslo.)
Coat of arms
Buskerud's coat of arms (created in April, 1966) features a blue bear whose
coloring is symbolic of the Blue-Color Works. The silver background of
Buskerud's coat of arms represents the silver industry in Kongsberg.
Municipalities
Enlarge picture
Location of Buskerud Municipalities
Buskerud County has a total of 21 municipalities:
1. ?l
2. Drammen
3. Flesberg
4. Fl?
5. Gol
6. Hemsedal
7. Hol
8. Hole
9. Hurum
10. Kongsberg
11. Kr?dsherad
12. Lier
13. Modum
14. Nedre Eiker
15. Nes
16. Nore og Uvdal
17. ?vre Eiker
18. Ringerike
19. Rollag
20. R?yken
21. Sigda
Modum is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway.
Modum was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt).
The municipality is bordered in the north by Kr?dsherad and Ringerike, in the
east by Hole and Lier, in the south by ?vre Eiker, and in the west by Sigdal.
The municipality has three centers or villages, ?mot, Geithus and the
municipality administrative center of Vikersund. ?mot is the starting point for
the Kunstnerdal. Here is located Blaafarvev?rket, which includes a cobalt
museum, art institutions and a children’s barn yard.
The area has a long tradition of skiing with several famous skiers. Modum is
home to one of the largest ski jumping hills in the world, Vikersundbakken. The
hill record, established in 2004 is an amazing jump of 219 meters.
The name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Modum
(Norse Móeheimr), since the first church was built here. The first element is
móea f 'river' (here Dramselva), the last element is heimr m 'home, homestead,
farm'. (The name of the farm was later changed to Buskerud.)
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1985). The wavy silver lines represent
the three main rivers in the municipality: Drammenselva, Snarumselva and Simoa -
and the colour blue represent Blaafarvev?rket.
Well-known residents
* Ole Einar Bj?rndalen, ski biathlete
* Ole Gunnar Fidjest?l, ski jumper
* Maurits Hansen (1774 - 1843), author
* Christopher Hornsrud (1859 - 1960), Norwegian Prime Minister from January to
February 1928
* Thure Erik Lund, author
Old Norse was the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and
their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. It evolved
from the older Proto-Norse, in the 8th century.
Because most of the surviving texts are from Medieval Icelandic, the de facto
standard version of the language is the Old West Norse dialect, that is Old
Icelandic and Old Norwegian. Most speakers of Old Norse, however, spoke the very
similar Old East Norse dialect in Denmark and Sweden and their settlements.
There was no clear geographical separation between the two dialects. Old East
Norse traits were found in eastern Norway and Old West Norse traits were found
in western Sweden. In addition, there was also an Old Gutnish dialect, sometimes
included in Old East Norse because it was the least known dialect. However there
are reasons to consider this a separate branch since it shares traits with both
Old West Norse and Old East Norse and also has developed its own. The Icelandic
Gray Goose Laws stated that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes all spoke
the same language, d?nsk tunga. In the eastern dialect, which was spoken in
Sweden and Denmark, this would have been dansk tunga and this translates as the
"Danish tongue". It was also called norr?nt mál ("Nordic language").
It has been said that old Norse was mutually intelligible with Old English, Old
Saxon and Old Low Franconian, which however may be an overstatement.
Old Norse gradually evolved into the modern North Germanic languages: Icelandic,
Faroese, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. Modern Icelandic is the descendant that
has diverged the least from Old Norse. In its normalised written form based off
the Old Norse/modern Icelandic phoneme system, Old Norse is understandable to
modern day Icelandic-speakers with only minute differences in spelling as well
as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel
phonemes, has changed at least as much as other North Germanic languages.
Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and
Gaelic (Scottish and/or Irish). Although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian
languages have diverged the most, they still retain mutual intelligibility. 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.
Geographical distribution
Enlarge picture
The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th
century: Old West Norse dialect Old East Norse dialect Old Gutnish dialect
Crimean Gothic Other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some
mutual intelligibility
Old Icelandic was essentially identical to Old Norwegian and together they
formed 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 probably lasted into the 13th century.
Modern descendants
Its modern descendants are the West Scandinavian languages of Icelandic,
Faroese, Norwegian and the extinct Norn language of the Orkney and the Shetland
Islands as well as the East Scandinavian languages of Danish and Swedish.
Norwegian has descended from West Norse (West Scandinavian), but over the
centuries it has been heavily influenced by East Norse (East 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 Lowland Scots which contains many
Old Norse loanwords. It also influenced the development of the Norman language.
Various other languages, which are not closely related, have been heavily
influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects and Scottish Gaelic.
Russian, Finnish and Estonian also have a number of Norse loanwords; The words
"Rus" and "Russia", according to one theory, may be derivatives from "Rus", the
name of a Norse tribe (see Etymology of Rus and derivatives). Also, the current
Finnish words for Sweden and Swedish are Ruotsi and Ruotsalainen respectively.
Phonology
Vowels
The 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 variously marked with an accent, unmarked or less frequently geminated.
All phonemes have, more or less, the expected phonetic realization.
Vowels of Old Norse Front vowels Back vowels
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Close i i? y y? u u?
Mid e e? ? ?? o o?
Open ?? a a? ? (??)
Some y, y?, ?, ??, e, and all ?? were obtained by i-mutation from u, u?, o, o?,
a, and a? respectively.
Some y, y?, ?, ??, and all ?, ?? were obtained by u-mutation from i, i?, e, e?,
and a, a? respectively.
The long open back rounded vowel /??/ does not appear in Old Norse texts of the
classical period. It seems to have existed in a earlier stage of the language,
and to have merged with /a?/ before the classical period.
See
Consonants
Old Norse has six stop phonemes. Of these /p/ is rare word-initially and /d/ and
/b/ do not occur between vowels, because of the fricative allophones of the
Proto-Germanic language (e.g. *b * > v between vowels). The /g/ phoneme is
realized as a voiced velar fricative inside words and wordfinally, except when
it is geminated.
Stop
p b t d k g
Nasal m n (?)
Fricative f (v) θ (e) s (x) (?) h
Approx-imant w j
Liquid r l
The velar fricative is an allophone of /k/ and /?/ before /s/ and /t/.
Orthography
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 non-phonemic
difference between the voiced and the unvoiced dental fricatives is marked in
West Old Norse as well as in later East Old Norse (the oldest texts as well as
runic inscriptions in both regions use 't' exclusively). As mentioned above,
long vowels are denoted with acutes in West Old Norse while left unmarked or
geminated in East Old Norse. Most other letters are written with the same glyph
as the IPA phoneme, except as shown in the table below. A modified version of
the letter Wynn called Vend was used briefly for the sounds /u/, /v/, and /w/.
Orthography of characters not using IPA glyphs IPA Standard Alternative
? ? ?
?? ?
? ? ?
?? ? ?/?
θ t
w v
Grammar
Old Norse was a highly inflected language. Most of the grammatical complexity is
retained in modern Icelandic, whereas modern Norwegian has a much simplified
grammatical system.
Old Norse nouns could have three grammatical genders - masculine, feminine or
neuter. Nouns, adjectives and pronouns were declined in four grammatical cases -
nominative, genitive, dative and accusative, in singular and plural. Some
pronouns (first and second person) could have dual number in addition to
singular and plural.
There were several classes of nouns within each gender, the following is an
example of some typical inflectional paradigms:
+ The masculine noun armr (English arm)
Case Singular Plural
Nominative armr armar
Genitive arms arma
Dative armi ?rmum/armum
Accusative arm arma
+ The feminine noun h?ll (OWN), hall (OEN) (English hall)
Case Singular Plural
Nominative h?ll/hall hallir/hallar (OEN)
Genitive hallar halla
Dative h?llu/hallu h?llum/hallum
Accusative h?ll/hall hallir/hallar (OEN)
+ The neuter noun troll (English troll):
Case Singular Plural
Nominative troll troll
Genitive trolls trolla
Dative trolli trollum
Accusative troll troll
The definite article was expressed as a suffix, e.g. troll (a troll) - trollit
(the troll), h?ll ( a hall) - h?llin (the hall), armr (an arm) - armrinn (the
arm).
Verb
Further information: Germanic verb
Verbs were conjugated in person and number, in present and past tense, in
indicative, imperative and subjunctive mood.
VERBS
A. WEAK VERBS, i.e. Verbs in which the Preterite is formed by adding a
Termination.
1st Conjugation
characteristic vowel a. 2nd Conjugation
characteristic vowel i. 3rd Conjugation
characteristic vowel i. 4th Conjugation
characteristic vowel i.
INDIC. Pres. Sing. 1. boe-a kall-a d?m-i fylg-i glee spyr vak-i dug-i
2. boe-ar kall-ar d?m-ir fylg-ir glee-r spyr-r vak-ir dug-ir
3. boe-ar kall-ar d?m-ir fylg-ir glee-r spyr-r vak-ir dug-ir
Plur. 1. boe-um k?ll-um d?m-um fylg-jum glee-jum spyr-jum v?k-um dug-um
2. boe-ie, (-it) kall-ie d?m-ie fylg-ie glee-ie spyr-ie vak-ie dug-ie
3. boe-a kall-a d?m-a fylg-ja glee-ja spyr-ja vak-a dug-a
Pret. Sing. 1. boe-aea kall-aea d?m-da fylg-da glad-da spur-ea vak-ta dug-ea
2. boe-aeir kall-aeir d?m-dir fylg-dir glad-dir spur-eir vak-tir dug-eir
3. boe-aei kall-aei d?m-di fylg-di glad-di spur-ei vak-ti dug-ei
Plur. 1. boe-ueum k?ll-ueum d?m-dum fylg-dum gl?d-dum spur-eum v?k-tum dug-eum
2. boe-ueue k?ll-ueue d?m-due fylg-due gl?d-due spur-eue v?k-tue dug-eue
3. boe-ueu k?ll-ueu d?m-du fylg-du gl?d-du spur-eu v?k-tu dug-eu
IMPERAT. boe-a kall-a d?m fylg glee spyr vak (vak-i) dug (dug-i)
SUBJ. Pres. Sing. 1. boe-a kall-a d?m-a fylg-ja glee-ja spyr-ja vak-a dug-a
2. boe-ir kall-ir d?m-ir fylg-ir glee-ir spyr-ir vak-ir dug-ir
3. boe-i kall-i d?m-i fylg-i glee-i spyr-i vak-i dug-i
Plur. 1. boe-im kall-im d?m-im fylg-im glee-im spyr-im vak-im dug-im
2. boe-ie kall-ie d?m-ie fylg-ie glee-ie spyr-ie vak-ie dug-ie
3. boe-i kall-i d?m-i fylg-i glee-i spyr-i vak-i dug-i
Pret. Sing. 1. boe-aea kall-aea d?m-da fylg-da gled-da spyr-ea vek-ta dyg-ea
2. boe-aeir kall-aeir d?m-dir fylg-dir gled-dir spyr-eir vek-tir dyg-eir
3. boe-aei kall-aei d?m-di fylg-di gled-di spyr-ei vek-ti dyg-ei
Plur. 1. boe-aeim kall-aeim d?m-dim fylg-dim gled-dim spyr-eim vek-tim dyg-eim
2. boe-aeie kall-aeie d?m-die fylg-die gled-die spyr-eie vek-tie dyg-eie
3. boe-aei kall-aei d?m-di fylg-di gled-di spyr-ei vek-ti dyg-ei
INFIN. boe-a kall-a d?m-a fylg-ja glee-ja spyr-ja vak-a dug-a
PART. Act. boe-andi kall-andi d?m-andi fylg-jandi glee-jandi spyr-jandi vak-andi
dug-andi
PART. Pass. Masc. boe-aer kall-aer d?m-dr glad-dr spur-er
Fem. boe-ue k?ll-ue d?m-d gl?d-d spur-e
Neut. boe-at kall-at d?m-t fylg-t glat-t spur-t vak-at dug-at
B. STRONG VERBS, i.e. Verbs in which the Preterite and Participle Passive are
formed by changing the Root Vowel.
Ist Class, 2nd Class, 3rd Class, 4th Class, 5th and 6th Class, 7th Class,
interchange of i (e), a, u. of í, ei, i. of jó, au, u. of a, ó. of e, a, á, and
a, á, o. of á, é, and au, jó.
INDIC. Pres. Sing. 1. brenn rís bye fer gef ber gr?t hleyp
2. brenn-r rís-s bye-r fer-r gef-r ber-r gr?t-r hleyp-r
3. brenn-r rís-s bye-r fer-r gef-r ber-r gr?t-r hleyp-r
Plur. 1. brenn-um rís-um bjóe-um f?r-um gef-um ber-um grát-um hlaup-um
2. brenn-ie rís-ie bjóe-ie far-ie gef-ie ber-ie grát-ie hlaup-ie
3. brenn-a rís-a bjóe-a far-a gef-a ber-a grát-a hlaup-a
Pret. Sing. 1. brann reis baue fór gaf bar grét hljóp
2. brann-t reis-t baut-t fór-t gaf-t bar-t grét-st hljóp-t
3. brann reis baue fór gaf bar grét hljóp
Plur. 1. brunn-um ris-um bue-um fór-um gáf-um bár-um grét-um hljóp-um
2. brunn-ue ris-ue bue-ue fór-ue gáf-ue bár-ue grét-ue hljóp-ue
3. brunn-u ris-u bue-u fór-u gáf-u bár-u grét-u hljóp-u
IMPERAT. brenn rís bjóe far gef ber grát hlaup
SUBJ. Pres. Sing. 1 brenn-a rís-a bjóe-a far-a gef-a ber-a grát-a hlaup-a
2. brenn-ir rís-ir bjóe-ir far-ir gef-ir ber-ir grát-ir hlaup-ir
3. brenn-i rís-i bjóe-i far-i gef-i ber-i grát-i hlaup-i
Plur. 1. brenn-im rís-im bjóe-im far-im gef-im ber-im grát-im hlaup-im
2. brenn-ie rís-ie bjóe-ie far-ie gef-ie ber-ie grát-ie hlaup-ie
3. brenn-i rís-i bjóe-i far-i gef-i ber-i grát-i hlaup-i
Pret. Sing. 1. brynn-a ris-a bye-a f?r-a g?f-a b?r-a grét-a hlyp-a
2. brynn-ir ris-ir bye-ir f?r-ir g?f-ir b?r-ir grét-ir hlyp-ir
3. brynn-i ris-i bye-i f?r-i g?f-i b?r-i grét-i hlyp-i
Plur. 1. brynn-im ris-im bye-im f?r-im g?f-im b?r-im grét-im hlyp-im
2. brynn-ie ris-ie bye-ie f?r-ie g?f-ie b?r-ie grét-ie hlyp-ie
3. brynn-i ris-i bye-i f?r-i g?f-i b?r-i grét-i hlyp-i
INFIN. brenn-a rís-a bjóe-a far-a gef-a ber-a grát-a hlaup-a
PART. Act. brenn-andi rís-andi bjóe-andi far-andi gef-andi ber-andi grát-andi
hlaup-andi
PART. Pass. Masc. brunn-inn ris-inn boe-inn far-inn gef-inn bor-inn grát-inn
hlaup-inn
Fem. brunn-in ris-in boe-in far-in gef-in bor-in grát-in hlaup-in
Neut. brunn-it ris-it boe-it far-it gef-it bor-it grát-it hlaup-it
THE VERB SUBSTANTIVE
INDIC. Pres. Sing. 1. em Pret. var (vas) IMPERAT. SUBJ. Pres. sjá, sé Pret.
v?r-a INFIN. ver-a PAST PART. ver-it
2. er-t var-t ver (ver-tu) sé-r v?r-ir
3. er (es) var (vas) sé v?r-i
Plur. 1. er-um vár-um sé-m v?r-im
2. er-ue vár-ue verie sé-e v?r-ie
3 er-u vár-u sé v?r-i
TEN VERBS WITH PRESENT IN PRETERITE FORM.
INDIC. Pres. Sing. 1. á kná má skal kann mun (mon) man tarf ann veit
2. á-tt kná-tt má-tt skal-t kann-t mun-t man-t tarf-t ann-t veiz-t
3. á kná má skal kann mun man tarf ann veit
Plur. 1. eig-um kneg-um meg-um skul-um kunn-um mun-um mun-um turf-um unn-um
vit-um
2. eig-ue kneg-ue meg-ue skul-ue kunn-ue mun-ue mun-ie turf-ie unn-ie vit-ue
3. eig-u kneg-u meg-u skul-u kunn-u mun-u mun-a turf-a unn-a vit-u
Pret. Sing. 1. á-tta kná-tta má-tta kunn-a mun-da mun-da turf-a unn-a vis-sa
as regular weak verbs
IMPERAT. eig kunn mun unn vit
SUBJ. Pres. Sing. 1. eig-a knega meg-a skyl-a kunn-a myn-a mun-a turf-a unn-a
vit-a
as regular weak verbs
Pret. Sing. 1. ?tt-a kn?tt-a m?tt-a skyl-da kynn-a myn-da myn-da tyrf-ta ynn-a
vis-sa
as regular weak verbs
INFIN. Pres. eig-a meg-a skyl-u kunn-a mun-u mun-a turf-a unn-a vit-a
Pret. knúttu skyl-du mun-du
PART. Act. eig-andi meg-andi kunn-andi mun-andi turf-andi unn-andi vit-andi
PART. Pass. Neut. ú-tt má-tt kunn-at mun-at turf-t unn-(a)t vit-at
EIGHT VERBS WITH THE PRETERITE IN -ra.
INDIC. Pres. Sing. 3. r?-r gr?-r s?-r gny-r sny-r fry-r kys-s sl?-r veld-r
Plur. 3. ró-a gró-a sá gnú-a snú-a frjós-a kjós-a slá vald-a
Pret. Sing. 3. r?-ri gr?-ri s?-ri gn?-ri sn?-ri fr?-ri k?-ri sl?-ri ol-li
(or re-ri gre-ri se-ri gne-ri sne-ri fre-ri ke-ri sle-ri)
IMPERAT. ró gró sá gnú snú frjó-s kjós slá vald
SUBJ. Pret. Sing. 3. r?-ri gr?-ri s?-ri gn?-ri sn?-ri fr?-ri k?-ri sl?-ri yll-i
INFIN. ró-a gró-a sá gnú-a snú-a frjós-a kjós-a slá vald-a
PART. Pass. ró-inn gró-inn sá-inn gnú-inn snú-inn fros-inn kos-inn sleg-inn
vald-it
fr?r-inn k?r-inn
D. VERBS WITH THE REFLEXIVE OR RECIPROCAL SUFFIX -sk, -z, -st (-mk).
Present. Preterite. Present. Preterite.
Indic. Subj. Indic. Subj. Indic. Subj. Indic. Subj.
Sing. 1. kalla-st kalli-st kallaei-st kallaei-st l?zt láti-st lézt léti-st
2. kalla-st kalli-st kallaei-st kallaei-st l?zt láti-st lézt léti-st
3. kalla-st kalli-st kallaei-st kallaei-st l?zt láti-st lézt léti-st
Plur. 1. k?llu-mk kalli-mk k?llueu-mk kallaei-mk látu-mk láti-mk létu-mk léti-mk
2. kalli-zt kalli-zt k?llueu-zt kallaei-zt láti-zt láti-zt létu-zt léti-zt
3. kalla-st kalli-st k?llueu-st kallaei-st láta-st láti-st létu-st léti-st
PART. Pass. Neut. kalla-zt, láti-zt, (glae-zt, gefi-zt, bori-zt,) &c.
E. VERBS WITH THE NEGATIVE SUFFIX.
Pres. Pret. Pres. Pret. Pres. Pret. Pres. Pret.
INDIC. Sing. 1. em-k-at var-k-at(vas-k-at) skal-k-at skyldi-g-a mon-k-a
mundi-g-a hyk-k-at átti-g-a
2. ert-at-tu vart-at-tu skalt-at-tu skyldir-a mont-at-tu mundir-a hyggr-at
áttir-a
3. er-at (es-at) var-at (vas-at) skal-at skyldi-t mon-at mundi-t hyggr-at átti-t
Plur. 3. eru-t váru-t skulu-t skyldu-t monu-t mundi-t hyggja-t áttu-t
IMPERAT. ver-at-tu (be not thou!), lát-at-tu (let not thou!), grát-at-tu (weep
not thou!), &c.
Texts
The earliest inscriptions in Old Norse are runic, from the 8th century. Runes
continued to be commonly used until the 15th century and has 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, unique in medieval Europe. 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, the Old Testament, as well as instructional
material, grammatical treatises and a large body of letters and official
documents.
Relationship to English
Old English and Old Norse were closely related languages, and it is therefore
not surprising that many words in old Norse look familiar to English speakers,
e.g. armr (arm), fótr (foot), land (land), fullr (full), hanga (to hang), standa
(to stand), etc. This is because both English and Old Norse date back to
Proto-Germanic. In addition, a large number of common every day Old Norse words
mainly of East Norse origin were adopted into the Old English language during
the Viking age, becoming loanwords. A few examples of Old Norse loanwords in
modern English are (English/Viking age Old East Norse):
(Nouns) anger (angr), bag (baggi), bait (b?it, b?ita, b?iti), band (band), bark
(b?rkR, stem bark-), birth (byrer), dirt (drit), dregs (dr?ggiaR), egg (?gg,
related to OE. cognate "?g" which became Middle English "eye"/"eai"), fellow
(félagi), gap (gap), husband (húsbóndi), cake (kaka), keel (ki?lR, stem also
kial-, kil-), kid (kie), knife (knífR), law (l?g, stem lag-), leg (l?ggR), link
(hl?nkR), loan (lán), race (r?s, stem rás-), root (rót), sale (sala), scrap
(skrap), seat (s?ti), sister (systir, related to OE. cognate "sweostor"), skill
(skial/skil), skin (skinn), skirt (skyrta vs. the native English shirt of the
same root), sky (sky), slaughter (slátr), snare (snara), steak (st?ik), thrift
(trift), tidings (tíeindi), trust (traust), window (vindauga), wing (v?(i)ngR).
(Verbs) blend (blanda), call (kalla), cast (kasta), clip (klippa), crawl
(krafla), cut (possibly from ON kuta), die (d?yia), gasp (g?ispa), get (geta),
give (gifa/gefa, related to OE. cognate "giefan"), glitter (glitra), hit
(hitta), lift (lyfta), raise (r?isa), ransack (rannsaka), rid (ryeia), run
(rinna, stem rinn-/rann-/runn-, related to OE. cognate "rinnan"), scare
(skirra), scrape (skrapa), seem (s?ma), sprint (sprinta), take (taka), thrive
(trífa(s)), thrust (trysta), want (vanta).
(Adjectives) flat (flatr), happy (happ), ill (illr), likely (líklígR), loose
(lauss), low (lágR), meek (miúkR), odd (odda), rotten (rotinn/rutinn), scant
(skamt), sly (sl?gR), weak (v?ikR), wrong (vrangR).
(Adverbs) thwart/athwart (tvert).
(Prepositions) till (til), fro (frá).
(Conjunction) though/tho (tó).
(Interjections) hail (h?ill), wassail (ves h?ill).
(Personal pronoun) they (t?iR), their (t?iRa), them (t?im) (for which the
Anglo-Saxons said híe , hiera, him).
(Pronominal adjectives) same (sami).
In a simple sentence like "They are both weak" the extent of the Old Norse
loanwords becomes quite clear (Old East Norse with archaic pronunciation: "T?iR
eRu báeiR w?ikiR" while Old English "híe syndon bégen (tá) wáce"). The words
"they" and "weak" are both borrowed from Old Norse, and the word "both" might
also be a borrowing, though this is still disputed by some. While the number of
loanwords adopted from the Scandinavians wasn't as numerous as that of Norman
French or Latin, their depth and every day nature make them a substantial and
very important part of every day English speech as they are part of the very
core of the modern English vocabulary.
Words like "bull" and "Thursday" are more difficult when it comes to their
origins. "Bull" may be from either Old English "bula" or Old Norse "buli" while
"Thursday" may be a borrowing, or it could simply be from the Old English
"Tunresd?g" which could've been influenced by the Old Norse cognate. The word
"are" is from Old English "earun"/"aron" as well as the Old Norse cognates.
Dialects
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 fylla from
*fullian) 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 diaeresis
(for example hiarta from herto) 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.
A second difference was that Old West Norse lost certain combinations of
consonants. 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.
English Old West Norse Old East Norse
mushroom
steep
widow s(v)?ppr
brattr
ekkia svamper
branter
?nkia
However, these differences were an exception. The dialects were very similar and
considered to be the same language, a language that they sometimes called the
Danish tongue (d?nsk tunga), sometimes Norse language (norr?nt mál), as
evidenced in the following two quotes from Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson:
Móeir Dyggva var Drótt, dóttir Danps konungs, sonar Rígs er fyrstr var konungr
kallaer á danska tungu. Dyggve's mother was Drott, the daughter of king Danp,
Ríg's son, who was the first to be called king in the Danish tongue.
...stirt var honum norr?nt mál, ok kylfdi mJ?k til oreanna, ok h?feu margir menn
tat mJ?k at spotti. ...the Norse language was hard for him, and he often fumbled
for words, which amused people greatly.
Here is a comparison between the two dialects as well as Old Gutnish. It is a
transcription from one of the Funbo Runestones (U990) meaning : Veer and Thane
and Gunnar raised this stone after Haursi, their father. God help his spirit:
Veer ok Tegn ok Gunnarr reistu stein tenna at Haursa, f?eur sinn. Gue hjalpi ?nd
hans. (OWN)
Veer ok Tegn ok Gunnarr r?istu st?in tenna at Haursa, faeur sinn. Gue hialpi and
hans (OEN)
Veer ok Tegn ok Gunnarr raistu stain tenna at Haursa, faeur sinn. Gue hialpi and
hans (OG)
The OEN original text above is transliterated according to traditional scholar
methods meaning u-umlaut is not regarded in runic Old East Norse even though
more recent studies 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:
Veer ok Tegn ok Gunnarr r?istu st?in tenna at Haursa, f?eur sinn. Gue hialpi ?nd
hans (OEN)
Old West Norse
Most of the innovations that appeared in Old Norse spread evenly through the Old
Norse area, but some were geographically limited and created a dialectal
difference between Old West Norse and Old East Norse. One difference was that
Old West Norse and Old Gutnish did not take part in the monophthongization which
changed ?i/ei into e, ?y/ey into ? and au into ?. An early difference was that
Old West Norse had the forms bú (dwelling), kú (accusative for cow) and trú
(faith) whereas Old East Norse had bo, ko and tro. Old West Norse was also
characterized by the preservation of u-umlaut, which meant that for example
Proto-Norse *tantu (tooth) was pronounced t?nn and not tann as in post runic Old
East Norse (compare runic OEN (Swedish) g?s (goose), OWN g?s while post runic
OEN gas). Moreoever, there were nasal assimilations as in bekkr (bench) from
Proto-Norse *bankiR (OEN b?nker).
The earliest body of text appears in runic inscriptions and in poems composed ca
900 by Tjodolf of Hvin. The earliest manuscripts are from the period 1150-1200
and concern both legal, religious and historical matters. During the 12th and
13th centuries, Tr?ndelag and Vestlandet 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 come down to us from until
ca 1300, Old West Norse had little dialect variation, and Old Icelandic does not
diverge much more than the Old Norwegian dialects do from each other.
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 hnefi (fist), Old Norwegian manuscripts might use
nefi.
From the late 13th century, old Icelandic and old Norwegian started to diverge
more. After c. 1350, 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.
Text example
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 Norse
spelling The same text in Modern Icelandic
TgeiR blundr systor s egils v tar atingino & hafei gengit hart at litueizlo vie
tst. h bae egil & ta tstein coma ser t staefesto ut tangat a myrar h bio aer fyr
suNan huit a fyr netan blundz vatn Egill toc uel atui. oc fysti tst at tr leti h
tangat fa ra. Egill setti torgeir blund nier at ana brecko En stein f?rei bustae
siN ut yf lang á. & settiz nier at leiro l?k. En egill reie hei suer anes ept
tingit m flocc siN. & skileoz tr feegar m k?rleic Torgeirr blundr, systursonr
Egils, var tar á tinginu ok hafei gengit hart at lieveizlu vie Torstein. Hann
bae Egil ok tá Torstein koma sér til staefestu út tangat á Myrar; hann bjó áer
fyrir sunnan Hvítá, fyrir neean Blundsvatn. Egill tók vel á tví ok fysti
Torstein, at teir léti hann tangat fara. Egill setti Torgeir blund nier at
ánabrekku, en Steinarr f?rei bústae sinn út yfir Langá ok settisk nier at
Leirul?k. En Egill reie heim suer á Nes eptir tingit mee flokk sinn, ok skildusk
teir feegar mee k?rleik. Torgeir blundur, systursonur Egils, var tar á tinginu
og hafei gengie hart ae lieveislu vie Torstein. Hann bae Egil og tá Torstein ae
koma sér til staefestu út tangae á Myrar; hann bjó áeur fyrir sunnan Hvítá,
fyrir neean Blundsvatn. Egill tók vel á tví og fysti Torstein, ae teir létu hann
tangae fara. Egill setti Torgeir blund nieur ae ánabrekku, en Steinar f?rei
bústae sinn út yfir Langá og settist nieur ae Leirul?k. En Egill reie heim sueur
á Nes eftir tingie mee flokk sinn, og skildust teir feegar mee k?rleik.
Old East Norse
Old East Norse, between 800 and 1100, is in Sweden called Runic Swedish and in
Denmark Runic Danish, but the use of Swedish and Danish is not for linguistic
reasons as the differences between them are minute at best during the more
ancient stages of this dialect group (though changes had a tendency to occur
earlier in the Danish region and until this day many Old Danish changes have
still not taken place in modern Swedish rendering Swedish as the more archaic
out of the two concerning both the ancient as well as modern languages,
sometimes by a profound margin but in all differences are still minute). They
are called runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike
Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark, Old Norse was written
with the Younger Futhark, which only had 16 letters. Because of the limited
number of runes, the rune for the vowel u was also used for the vowels o, ? and
y, and the rune for i was used for e.
Runic Old East Norse is characteristic of being archaic in form, especially
Swedish (which is still true for modern Swedish compared to Danish). In essence
it corresponds to or surpasses the archaic structure of post runic Old West
Norse which in its turn is generally more archaic than post runic Old East
Norse. While typically "Eastern" in structure many later post runic changes and
trademarks of EON had yet to happen. 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. gly (lukewarm), from hlyR. The phoneme -R (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) and the monophthongization of ?i and ?y/au into e and ? respectively had yet
to take place: (runic OEN) f?igR (PN *faigiaz; bound to die; dead), g?iRR (PN
*gaizaz; spear), haugR (PN *haugaz; mound, pile), m?ydómR (PN *mawi- + domaz;
virginity), diúR (PN *diuza; (wild) animal) while OWN feigr, geirr, haugr,
meydómr, dyr (post runic OEN fegher, ger, h?gher, m?domber, diur). The
combinations -mp-, -nt-, and -nk- were often preserved while merging into -pp-,
-tt- and -kk- in Old West Norse: (runic OEN) *krimpa, (Proto-Norse *krimpan)
*sprinta, (PN *sprintan) *s?nkva (PN *sankwian) while OWN kreppa, spretta and
s?kkva (modern Swedish krympa, sprinta (dialect), s?nka, modern Danish krympe,
sprinte, s?nke; to shrink, to sprint, to sink (transitive; compare intransitive
"*sionkva" while OWN "s?kkva" for both variations)). Feminine o-stems often
preserve the plural ending -aR while in OWN they more often merge with the
feminine i-stems: (runic OEN) *sólaR, *hafnaR/*hamnaR, *vágaR while OWN sólir,
hafnir and vágir (modern Swedish solar, hamnar, v?gar; suns, havens, scales;
Danish has mainly lost the distinction between the two stems with both endings
now being rendered as -er or -e alternatively for the o-stems). OEN often
preserves the original value of the vowel directly preceding runic R while OWN
receives R-umlaut (resulting in the same change as with i-umlaut): (runic OEN)
*glaR, *haRi and hrauR while OWN gler, heri (later héri) and hr?yrr/hreyrr
(modern Swedish glar (older form), hare, r?r; glass, hare, pile of rocks).
u-umlaut is still preserved in both phonemic and allophonic positions like in
post runic Old West Norse (while sparsely preserved in post runic OEN): f?eur
(accusative), v?rer and ?rn (post runic Swedish fatur, varter, ''?rn (u-umlaut
preserved); father, guardian/care taking, eagle). The plural ending of ja-stems
were mostly preserved while those of OWN often acquired that of the i-stems:
*b?eiaR, *b?kkiaR, *v?fiaR while OWN beeir, bekkir, vefir (modern Swedish
b?ddar, b?ckar, v?var; beds, rivers, webs). Vice versa masculine i-stems with
the root ending in either g or k tended to shift the plural ending to that of
the ja-stems while OWN kept the original: dr?ngiaR, *?lgiaR and *b?nkiaR while
OWN drengir, elgir and bekkir (modern Swedish dr?ngar (new meaning), ?lgar,
b?nkar; lads, elks, benches).
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 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.
The word final vowels -a, -o and -e (Old Norse -a, -u and -i) started to merge
into -e. At the same time, the voiceless stop consonants p, t and k became
voiced stops and even fricatives. These innovations resulted in that Danish has
kage (cake), tunger (tongues) and g?ster (guests) whereas (Standard) Swedish has
retained older forms, kaka, tungor and g?ster (OEN kaka, tungur, g?stir).
Moreover, Danish lost the tonal word accent present in modern Swedish and
Norwegian, replacing the grave accent with a glottal stop.
Text example
This is an extract from the Westrogothic law (V?stg?talagen). 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.
Dr?p?r matar sv?nskan man eller smalensk?n, innan konongsrikis man, eigh
v?stg?skan, b?te firi atta ?rtogher ok trettan mark?r ok ?nga ?tar bot. [...]
Dr?par mat?r danskan man all? nor?n man, b?te niv markum. Dr?p?r mat?r vtl?nskan
man, eigh ma frid flyia or landi sinu oc j ?th hans. Dr?p?r mat?r vtl?nsk?n
prest, b?te sva mykit firi sum h?rl?nskan man. Pr?st?r skal i bondalaghum v?r?.
Vart?r sut?rman dr?pin ?ll?r ?nsk?r mat?r, ta skal b?ta firi marchum fiurum tem
sakin? s?kir, ok tvar marchar konongi.
Translation:
If someone slays a Swede or a Sm?lander, a man from the kingdom, but not a West
Geat, he will pay eight ?rtugar 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 plaintiff
and two marks to the king.
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 ty at tair mattin frir Oc
frelsir sykia suiariki j huerium stat. vtan tull oc allar utgiftir. So aigu oc
suiar sykia gutland firir vtan cornband ellar annur forbut. hegnan oc hielp
sculdi kunungur gutum at waita. En tair witr torftin. oc kallatin. sendimen al
oc kunungr oc ierl samulait a gutnal ting senda. Oc latta tar taka scatt sinn.
tair sendibutar aighu frit lysa gutum alla steti til sykia yfir haf sum upsala
kunungi til hoyrir. Oc so tair sum tan 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 thing to receive the taxes.
These emissaries shall declare free passage for the Gotlanders to all locations
in the sea of the king at Uppsala (that is the Baltic Sea was under Swedish
control) and likewise for everyone who wanted to travel to Gotland.
Note here that the diphthong ai in aigu, tair and waita is not regressively
umlauted to ei as in e.g. Old Icelandic eigu, teir and veita.
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