Great advice, thank you much...

YIS
Jakob

-----Original Message-----
From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com [mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of llama_nom
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 5:18 PM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Tutorial materials

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Jakob Feddersen" <jakob@...>
wrote:

> I was wondering, is there one of the two that is easier learning

that the

> other, Old Norse or Old Icelandic?
> Or are they equally hard :) I'm danish of origin, so I see a lot

of the

> similarities...

Hey there, Jakob,

Here´s how the terms are used nowadays in English, in my experience.

Old Norse, in its broader sense, is used to mean the language spoken all
over Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, roughly from the Viking Age to the
Reformation. During this time, there was an early split into two dialects
called (Old) West Norse--spoken in Norway and its colonies (Iceland,
Greenland, the Faroes)--and (Old) East Norse.
East Norse developed during this time into the distinct dialects of Old
Danish, Old Swedish and Old Gutnish (spoken on Gotland).

In West Norse, the dialects of Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian became
gradually more distinct from each other in the later Middle Ages, but were
still very similar and essentially the same language at the time when the
classical sagas were being composed, in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Because most of what survives of what we call Old Norse literature was
written in Iceland during this period, or preserved in Icelandic
manuscripts, people often use the words Old Norse and Old Icelandic
interchangeably/synonymously. So you will find the term "Old Norse"
used in this narrower sense to mean exactly the same thing as "Old
Icelandic". For example, English etymological dictionaries usually cite
"Old Norse" words in their Old Icelandic form, even though most of the Old
Norse loan-words in English really came from an early form of Old Danish.

Text books and courses that offer to teach "Old Norse" typically teach the
Old Icelandic form of Old Norse, because there´s so much more to read of it,
and thus more evidence for the grammar. This is the same reason for
concentrating on the language of the 12th-15th centuries, rather than say
the language of the Viking Age.
(*Confusingly enough, you might also find some older books which use the
term "Norse" to mean specifically "Norwegian", as opposed to
Icelandic.*)

That said, there are some online resources for the study of other varieties
of Old Norse, although most of these are not aimed at beginners. Come to
think of it, most of those I know about with varieties of Old Swedish. So
if anyone has any Old Danish links I´d be interested to hear.

Otto Kalkar: Ordbog til det ældre danske sprog (1300-1700)
http://www.hist.uib.no/kalkar/

Folkebøker fra 1500- og 1600-tallet
http://www.skramstad.no/folkebok/folkebokintro.htm

As I mentioned, the differences between Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian are
very small, no more striking really than the different spelling practices
used in Icelandic manuscripts at various times.

See also: http://www.hi.is/%7Ehaukurth/norse/olessons/lesson7.php?
colors=0

Llama Nom





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