Good evening,

> Us of western Skadinaujô thinketh Gutnish to be Swedish, while the
> Swede knoweth better.

The gutnish guy probably knows this fact; the swede tends to see
Gutnish as Swedish though.


Of what mother were the

> eastern sisters Gutnish, Swedish, Gautish, and Danish born?

This is how I would divide the Proto-Norse dialects:
(1) Danish, "Gautish" and Norwegian,
(2) Swedish, Gutnish and "Tröndish".
(Gautish was probably a mix of (1) and (2) to some extent though)

My own ancestors spoke "Tröndish" - and we still speak it (important
modern feature: vowel balance)!

In late Proto-Norse time, the separation of (e) east and (w) west
dialects became important, and after the Viking age, the (n) north
and (s) south (and (a) atlantic) separation dominated. Thus, today
the Modern Norse dialects are characterized by belonging to groups
like, e.g.,
1-e-s (e.g. Scanian, Gautish),
1-w-a (e.g. Icelandic, Faroese),
1-w-n (e.g. Western Norwegian),
2-w-n (e.g. Jamtlandic, Tröndish),
2-e-n (e.g. Dalecarlian, Norrlandic),

Note that not all combinations (of 2*2*3 = 12 ones) are possible. I
don't know exactly where to put Gutnish; both 2-e-n and 2-e-n seems
plausible. One should probably have more accurate distributions in
each of the three important epochs (0-500AD, 500-1000AD and 1000-
1500AD).
The most arcane groups seems to be 1-w-a, 2-w-n and 2-e-n. The most
modern groups are 1-e-s and 2-e-s.

This picture is more accurate than just label with 'west' or 'east'.

> What a sorrow that all of what we have of Gutnish should be both so
> little and so late. Truely, it is worth a mans while to build again
> the olden house of Gutnish speech. The tenth christian age would be
> a fine time a new texts in Gutnish, turned from the western or new.
>

Maybe a "true" Old Norse written normal should be based on both Old
Icelandic and Old Gutnish? Together with explicitly writing out
nasality (^), tone (´,`), length (ee, gg, ...) etc. Preferably by
using runes.
StoorR mâðR sägiR: "Þe`tta iar miin ga'ta!"
What if Vikings thought of this idea - Latin would have been ejected
at once when trying to introduce it!

> In the wiking tide, Gutnish would have *draumR.
> Yes, folk, *draumR....now, let us hear that R again.
> One more time...RRRRRRR

Don't forget that Modern Gutnish (late 19th century
Farish; "Faroyska") has preserved the distinction between 'r'
and 'z/R': 'Han iäR langgaR u ha bröitaR he stoura braudi;' - "Hann
er langr ok hon brýtr hit stóra brauð" (r is a trilled r, and R is
an "american english" r). Oh, what am I writing :)

>
> Glad farings,
> Konrad.
>
> > Kveðja,
> > Haukur

See you later,
SiurdaR