Old Norwegian
Encyclopedia
Old Norwegian refers to a group of Old Norse
dialects spoken and written in Norway
in the Middle Ages
. They bridged the dialect continuum
from Old East Norse to Old West Norse.
combinations hl-, hn- and hr- was lost in the former around the 11th century, but not in the latter. Thus, one has e.g. Old Icelandic hlíð 'slope
', hníga 'curtsey
' and hringr 'ring' vs Old Norwegian líð, níga and ringr, respectively.
Old Norwegian had an alternative dual 1st person pronoun, mit, to the Common Norse vit.
in the Middle Ages came to Norway in 1349 (Black Plague), killing over 60% of the population. This is probably part of the cause why the process of language development accelerated around this time. The language in Norway after 1350 up to about 1550 is generally referred to as Middle Norwegian. The language went through several changes. Grammar was simplified, including the removal of the cases system and personal inflexion of verbs. A vowel reduction
also took place, in some dialects, including in parts of Norway, reducing many of the last vowels in a word to a common "e".
The phonemic
repertoire also underwent changes. The dental fricative
s, represented by the letters þ and ð
disappeared from the Norwegian language generally merging with their equivalent plosive sounds, represented by t
and d
respectively.
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
dialects spoken and written in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. They bridged the dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
from Old East Norse to Old West Norse.
Old Norwegian vs Common Norse
One of the most important early differences between Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic is that h in the consonantConsonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
combinations hl-, hn- and hr- was lost in the former around the 11th century, but not in the latter. Thus, one has e.g. Old Icelandic hlíð 'slope
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
', hníga 'curtsey
Curtsey
A curtsey is a traditional gesture of greeting, in which a girl or woman bends her knees while bowing her head. It is the female equivalent of male bowing in Western cultures...
' and hringr 'ring' vs Old Norwegian líð, níga and ringr, respectively.
Old Norwegian had an alternative dual 1st person pronoun, mit, to the Common Norse vit.
Development into Middle Norwegian
The plagues that decimated EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the Middle Ages came to Norway in 1349 (Black Plague), killing over 60% of the population. This is probably part of the cause why the process of language development accelerated around this time. The language in Norway after 1350 up to about 1550 is generally referred to as Middle Norwegian. The language went through several changes. Grammar was simplified, including the removal of the cases system and personal inflexion of verbs. A vowel reduction
Vowel reduction
In phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...
also took place, in some dialects, including in parts of Norway, reducing many of the last vowels in a word to a common "e".
The phonemic
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
repertoire also underwent changes. The dental fricative
Dental fricative
The dental fricative or interdental fricative is a fricative consonant pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the teeth. There are two types, both written as th in English:*Voiced dental fricative *Voiceless dental fricative...
s, represented by the letters þ and ð
Ð
A Latin capital letter D with a stroke through its vertical bar is the uppercase form of several different letters:*D with stroke , used in Vietnamese, some South Slavic , Moro and Sami languages...
disappeared from the Norwegian language generally merging with their equivalent plosive sounds, represented by t
T
T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets...
and d
D
D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the...
respectively.
External links
- «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway.
- «Medieval Nordic Text Archive» Organization working with Medieval Nordic texts.
- «Dokumentasjonsprosjektet» Includes old Norse dictionary and includes Diplomatarium Norvegicum which is a collection of texts from before 1570 (originally 22 books with 19 000 documents) and Regesta Norvegica which contains letters and official documents (it's a more detailed description on "Om Regesta Norvegica") from 822 to 1390. This page is partly available in English. (not Regesta Norvegica)
- Old Norwegian online dictionary