--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Rose Lieberman" <pyrite@...>
wrote:

> Hello, All. My name is Rose, I'm 56, I live in rural upstate New

York. I have embarked on a study of the runes and it has kindled an
interest in Old Norse, especially for the reading of poems, eddas,
etc.

> QUESTIONS: Other than learning Old Norse, I would also like to

learn a living language that is as close to Old Norse as possible.
What would that language would be? And are there any online
resources for learning it? Would it be Icelandic, Norwegian, Finnish?

This is your best online resourse for learning Old Norse. Have a look
at the excellent learning resources provided by Haukur and Óskar. The
first step is understanding what it is you are trying to learn. Today
the term Old Norse is usually used for the entire language of all of
Scandinavia during the viking age and up to +/-1300 - that is to say,
about 500 years. While this language was in essense the same, several
distinct dialects existed throughout Scandinavia. The could, in fact,
be so distinct that one could call them separate languages in a more
liberal sense of the word. In Sweden, for instance, there is Swedish
proper, Gautlandic, Gutnish, Dalish, Nordlandic and several others,
while in Denmark there Jutlandic, Sjalandic, etc.. While these were,
no doubt, mutually intelligible to the trained ear and conversations
between speakers of any two fairly straitforward, there were a number
of very noticible differences, especially in pronunciation. In Norway
the situation was somewhat different. Truely speaking, Norway had but
one language, the differences be so extremely minor that even notions
like east and west norse are just abstract, at least for the earlier
part of the viking age. During the 9th century, which is early viking
age, folk from western Norway settled in several countries formerly
outside of Scandinavia. Two of these countries were uninhabited and
became formal Scandinavian nations at roughly the same time that the
nation Norway was created, and out of the same little countries, or
fylki that Norway was created - Iceland and the Faroe Islands. These
three new 'nations', as we call them today, shared a common language,
as well as a common culture. This is the language in which documents
like the Icelandic Sagas and the Histories of the Kings of Norway are
written. It is also the language of the single greatest writer in all
of older Scandinavian history, Snorri Sturluson. This common Old West
Norse language is what is usually meant when talk about Old Norse as
an object of modern study. The language of this course is standarized
13th century Old Norse, which is also called Old Icelandic or Faroese
to be exact. Even in the 13th century, the differences between Norway
Iceland and the Faroe Islands were linguistically insignificant. This
language was called Norroena. This was its principal name and it was
used in reference to the language of the Norwegians, Icelanders and
Faroe Islanders. On the other hand, Dönsk Tunga was used, even by the
west nordic folk, as a general over-title for the entire language of
Scandinavia, even though there were some very noticable differences.
Speakers of Norroena were, properly speaking, from Norway or were the
children of Norwegian immigrants to new countries, notably to Iceland
and the Faroe Islands, where new Norroena-speaking nations were born
during the viking age. The ties between the 3 Norroena-speaking lands
were extremely close from the beginning. They included constant trade
contacts, family visits back and forth, special legal provision (for
instance, Icelanders were always favoured in Norwegian law over other
Scandinavians, originally for familial reasons no doubt), and even a
common religion in both pre-christian as in christian times, when all
of Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands were united under a one and
the same archbishopric, which was in Þrándheimr, despite being three
different countries. These are some basics about Norroena and about
the people who spoke it.

> My thinking is that even though Old Norse is no longer spoken, it

must still bear at least a faint resemblance to some extant language
akin to it; for example, as Italian is to Latin, perhaps.

It is most similar to Icelandic and Faroese, but also quite similar
to Norwegian Landsmål (also popularly called Ny Norsk). The grammar
is most like Icelandic and Faroese, but the pronunciation is entirely
a different matter. It lies somewhere between the 3 modern languages
that derive, in whole or in part, from Norroena - in other words, in
each of the 3 (Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese) there are unique sounds
inherited from Norroena which are not found in each of the other two,
due to sound-changes from the time of the Black Death, which is when
thing really started to change linguistically, and when Norroena, as
such, is usually considered a 'dead' language.

> This is all very new to me as I have never studied a language on my

own. Latin and Spanish in high school, but that was alotta
presidents ago.......

I hope that this little introduction helps a bit. Just relax. There
is nothing to worry about. Just follow the basics in the course and
do the exercises. You will then be learning correct and intelligible
Old Norse, just as it was in Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands,
and at least similar to how it was in Sweden and Denmark. Welcome.

Regards,
Konrad

> Thanks,
>
> Rose