--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, S <drakaran@...> wrote:

>
> If the Gordon book is what I'm thinking it is (small, dark blue cover),
> it basically assumes that you know a Scandinavian language already. The
> dictionary/glossary in the back only gives one tense of verbs, and only
> proper nouns, and also doesn't include words that haven't changed since
> those days.

Gordon's "Introduction to Old Norse" may be hard going for someone who
isn't familiar with the jargon used in traditional grammars, but as
far as I know the glossary has all the words in the readings (or at
least was intended to). Do you have any examples of words not
included? Admittedly, it might not always be easy for learners to find
them, because Old Norse words often take quite varied forms depending
on what role they play in a sentence, so it might be hard to recognise
the word, which makes it difficult to know what form to look it up under.

The glossary includes all parts of speech: proper nouns (names) in a
seperate index at the back, and other nouns in the main glossary.
Verbs are listed in their infinitive form, as usual in dictionaries of
Germanic languages, but there are a few other forms listed as separate
entries which refer to the main entry for the verb, e.g. búnir, pp. m.
pl. of búa. The form that the dental suffix takes is given for weak
verbs, from which the past tense can be worked out. Entries often
include references to whichever numbered section in the grammar gives
the appropriate paradigm (declension or conjugation).

I haven't noticed any tendency to leave out words that "haven't
changed since those days" in Icelandic or other Scandinavian
languages; in fact, a good proportion of the words in Gordon's
glossary have the same (or almost the same) form as they do in Modern
Icelandic. Knowledge of modern Scandinavian languages isn't assumed.
The book was aimed at English-speaking students (with the sort of
education they might be expected to have had in 1927!).

One helpful feature is that entries for common words, and words with
many uses, often list line numbers where the word is used in the
readings, very handy if you do find your way to the right entry, but
aren't sure if you've got the right word, or are in doubt about which
sense of the word is being used. There are also references to the
notes to reading passages where difficular phrases are sometimes
explained.

Example:

leysa (t), to loosen, untie, 1/177; tear, 8/126; redeem, purchase,
7/13; send (from one's house), 8/125; l. í brott, find places for,
6/200; l. flottann, weigh anchor, 10/64; refl. depart, 9/51; l-sk
undan við e-t, draw back from, 4/101.

The (t) indicates that the past tense is leysta. The numbers are
chapter and line where you can find an example of each usage. There's
a section on how to use the glossary and a list of signs and
abbeviations specific to it, as well as a general list of
abbreviations at the front of the book.