From: Jarrod Clark <shortbus_bully@...>

> What, if any, similarities are there between Old Norse and Old
> English grammatically speaking? I ask this because my University is
> offering an OE class this semester and was wondering if taking it
> would help speed up my learning of ON and vice versa.

There are connections between the vocabulary, certainly. The grammar is
quite a bit different, but I wouldn't worry - doing Old English is
fascinating, and well worth it. I started on Old English, and then did Old
Norse.

One particularly good book is 'Word-Hoard' (I think there is a hyphen, but I
may be wrong), a book that looks at the etymology of OE words as well as
listing cognates, in Latin, Old Norse, Old Saxon, etc... It's really, really
interesting.

Also intriguing is seeing where OE borrowed from ON.

Best,

G.