> > > ON/b = Old Norse/Bokmal (forgive the lack of accents, I'm in a rush to
> > > get out the door) and ON/I = Old Norse/Icelandic. There is a distinct
> > > fracture between the two languages, though they have the same roots. I
> > > was demonstrating that what one person knows is not always apparent to
> > > another, especially when one uses terms that the other doesn't
> > > understand.
> >
> > I've never heard of "Old Norse/Bokmål" but I assume you mean Old

Norwegian.

> > So, do you have an example of a manuscript that spells the name as you
> > suggest (with two s's and one n)?
>
> Old Norse broke into two distinct branches: Old Icelandic (what we
> commonly refer to as Old Norse), and a modern dialect, Bokmal.
> Linguistically, both are in the Northern Gothic language tree.

Hello!

This needs to be corrected. There is no "Northern Gothic language tree".
Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish etc. are North Germanic languages. The common
ancestor of these languages is called Proto-Norse. Proto-Norse was divided
into West Norse, from which Icelandic, Old Norwegian (with Nynorsk) and
Faroese are derived, and East Norse from which Swedish and Danish are derived.
Old Norse is by many used synonymously with Old Icelandic.

Norwegian died out as an administrative language in Norway in the 14th century
because of the plague. As norway came under denmarks influence, Danish was
used in cities and administration. Bokmål is derived from Danish. Somewhat
simplified and skipping a lot of details, Bokmål is "norwegianized" Danish.
It has nothing to to with Old Icelandic.

Nynorsk is based on norwegian dialiects in areas where Danish was not used in
everyday speech, and these dialects are decendants of Old Norwegian.

Today, the greatest boundary between the nordic languages goes between Danish
and the rest. It doesn't show in ortography, but the pronounciation has
changed enormously.

Gothic, the earliest recorded Germanic language, is the only known East
Germanic language.

Kind regards,
Gordon
Stockholm, Sweden