You're taking your myth-killing a bit far, I
think.
The Icelanders from the ninth and tenth century --
many of whom went viking -- spoke a language close enough to the
language we are studying in this course to be considered the same, even if there
are some differences. The Landnamabok was written just a century after
some of the events it describes, and some scholars believe parts of it were
adapted from earlier versions written by people who had witnessed these
events. I'm not arguing that the Sagas accurately reflect the events they
tell about, but I doubt the language had changed that much in two or three
hundred years. As a native English speaker, I can pick up a document
written 300 years ago and read it. The wording and spelling might be a bit
"quaint," but it's hardly a different language.
While I haven't yet been concerned with which
version of the Futhark was used for which runic inscriptions, there are more
than enough inscriptions -- and not just runestones -- before the year 1000 to
keep me occuppied, for now. While these may not offset the thousands that
post-date that period, they are hardly insignificant. The Younger Futhark
WAS in use during the Viking Age, and anyone who is familiar with the Elder
Futhark will have no trouble with the Younger Futhark.
Jamie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 7:18
PM
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Help with one
phrase? - Old Norse and runestones (myths)
Here I kill some myths:
(1) Old Norse - as it
appears in this course - was not the language
of the Vikings (nor their
ancestors),
(2) 99.9% of the runestones were not carved using the Elder
Futhark,
(3) 99.9% of the runestones were raised in a christian context
(they
were mainly 11-12th Norse - well, Swedish - versions of
ordinary,
christian gravestones)
With "99.9%" I really mean a
number - probably well-known to the
expert - which is close to 100%.
It
should perhaps be added that "99.9%" of the runestone were raised
in the
last decades of the Viking age, and a few decades after
(adopting 1066AD
as the end of the Viking age).
In (1) it should be noted that Old
Norse was the language of the late
medieval Icelandic saga authors who
wrote about e.g. events that had
happened - or beliefs people used to have
- some ten or so
generations earlier during the Viking
age.
/Sjuler