In our last installment about the 'vowel-system', we learned about
how the Norse vowel-system looked toward the end of the so-called
'viking age' and up around 1150, which is the approximate date of
the earliest surviving description of the 'vowel-system'. In brief,
the system looked like this ((n)= nasal):
1. i, í, í(n)
2. y, ý, ý(n)
3. e, é, é(n)
4. oe, óe, óe(n)
5. æ, 'æ, 'æ(n)
6. u, ú, ú(n)
7. o, ó, ó(n)
8. ao, aó, aó(n)
9. a, á, á(n)
plus the diphthings:
1. æi (earlier ai)
2. æy (earlier ay)
3. au
As Catholic times progressed, 2 important changes occured in the
vowel-system pictured above: 1) the nasals were gradually lost (see
the last in each row) and 2) certain vowels began to run together,
thus simplifying the vowel-system. Because nasalization was not in-
dicated in old writing, we are uncertain about when it began to be
lost and how long the process took. Because old spelling-conventions
were inconsistent, it has also been difficult to determine exactly
when and in what order vowel-simplification occured. Nevertheless,
there is growing consensus that around 250 years into Catholic times
the vowel system began to look like this:
1. i, í
2. y, ý
3. e, é
4. oe, óe
5. e, 'æ
6. u, ú
7. o, ó
8. ao, á
9. a, á
Notice first that the nasals are gone (or at least unwritten), then
notice the changes in rows 5 and 8: 1) short 'æ' has become short
'e' and long ao (aó) has become long a (á). Furthermore, as the 'æ'
in the diphthongs 'æi' and 'æy' was also short, it also became 'e'.
In the normative academic spelling of the 19th and 20th centuries,
the system pictured above looks like this:
1. i, í
2, y, ý
3. e, é
4. o (with a line through it), oe
5. e, æ
6. u, ú
7. o, ó
8. o (with a tail), á
9. a, á
Long 'æ' no longer needs to be shown with an accent, as there is no
short version to contrast it with - it has become a unique symbol.
Short 'ao' is written as 'o' (with a tail) - again, a unique symbol.
Long 'ao' disappears and is replace by long a (á). The short of 'oe'
is also written with a different symbol (o with a line through it) -
this practice is purely a modern print-convention, however, as old
manuscripts show either letter for short or long. Because some of
the rows above now show reduplicated letters, we can simplify the
presentation of the vowel-system thus:
i, í, y, ý, e, é, o (lined), oe, æ, u, ú, o, ó, o (tailed), a, á.
16 letters. We also sometimes see long 'o' (with a tail) - this is
then in place of 'á' where 'a' is from long 'ao', but not where 'á'
is not from long 'ao' - so, 16 or 17. The diphthongs thus:
ei, ey, au
Anyone interested in learning Old Norse today will have to become
familiar with the printed vowels shown here. These letters can be
seen in many standard editions of texts in Old Norse. Those that do
not show these letters will usually show the following arrangement
(which is identical to Modern Icelandic):
i, í, y, ý, e, é, ö, æ, u, ú, o, ó, a, á
14 letters. Pay close attention to the differences here and you will
avoid much confusion in moving from text to text: 1) both lined 'o'
and its long equivalent (oe) are shown as 'ö' 2) tailed 'o' is also
shown as 'ö' - 3 times 'ö'. The diphthongs the same:
ei, ey, au
I hope that this information about the vowel-system in 3 parts has
been informative and helpful to some of you. Happy Norse-learning.