Editing Old Norse (section)

==== U-umlaut ====
U-umlaut is more common in Old West Norse in both phonemic and allophonic positions, while it only occurs sparsely in post-runic Old East Norse and even in runic Old East Norse.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Comparison demonstrating U-Umlaut in Swedish<ref>{{citation | last1 = Benediktsson | first1 = H. | title = Some Aspects of Nordic Umlaut and Breaking | journal = Language | volume = 39 | issue = 3 | pages = 409–431 | doi = 10.2307/411124 | year = 1963 | jstor = 411124 }}</ref><ref name=Iversen>{{harvnb|Iversen|1961|pp=24-}}</ref>
|-
! scope="col" rowspan=2 | Meaning
!! scope="col" rowspan=2 | West Old Norse
!! scope="col" rowspan=2 | [[Old Swedish]]{{ref label|id0|1}}
!! scope="col" colspan=2 | Modern Swedish
!! scope="col" colspan=2 | Icelandic
|-
! scope="col | Transcription !! scope="col" | IPA
! scope="col | Transcription !! scope="col" | IPA
|-
| Guardian / Caretaker || {{wikt-lang|non|v'''ǫ'''rðr}} || {{lang|mis|v'''a'''rþer}} || {{wikt-lang|sv|v'''å'''rd}} || {{IPA|sv|voːɖ|}} || {{wikt-lang|is|v'''ö'''rður}} || {{IPA|is|ˈvœrðʏr|}}
|-
| Eagle || {{wikt-lang|non|'''ǫ'''rn}} || {{lang|mis|'''ø'''rn}} || {{wikt-lang|sv|'''ö'''rn}} ||{{IPA|sv|œːɳ|}} || {{wikt-lang|is|'''ö'''rn}} || {{IPA|is|œrtn|}}
|-
| Earth || {{wikt-lang|non|j'''ǫ'''rð}} || {{lang|mis|[[wikt:iorþ#Old Swedish|i'''o'''rþ]]}} || {{wikt-lang|sv|j'''o'''rd}} {{ref label|id1|2}} || {{IPA|sv|juːɖ|}} || {{wikt-lang|is|j'''ö'''rð}} || {{IPA|is|jœrð|}}
|-
| Milk || {{wikt-lang|non|mj'''ǫ'''lk}} || {{lang|mis|[[wikt:miolk#Old Swedish|mi'''o'''lk]]}} || {{wikt-lang|sv|mj'''ö'''lk}} {{ref label|id1|2}} || {{IPA|sv|mjœlk|}} || {{wikt-lang|is|mj'''ó'''lk}} || {{IPA|is|mjoul̥k|}}
|}

: {{note label|id0||none}} [[Old Swedish#Orthography|Old Swedish orthography]] uses {{angbr|[[þ]]}} to represent both {{IPAslink|ð}} and {{IPAslink|θ}}. The change from Norse {{angbr|[[ð]]}} to Old Swedish {{angbr|þ}} represents only a change in orthography rather than a change in sound. Similarly {{angbr|i}} is used in place of {{angbr|j}}. And thus changes from Norse {{angbr|j}} to Old Swedish {{angbr|i}} to Swedish {{angbr|j}} should be viewed as a change in orthography.
: {{note label|id1||none}} Represents the u-umlaut found in Swedish.

This is still a major difference between Swedish and Faroese and Icelandic today. Plurals of neuters do not have u-umlaut at all in Swedish, but in Faroese and Icelandic they do, for example the Faroese and Icelandic plurals of the word {{wikt-lang|is|land}}, {{wikt-lang|fo|lond}} and {{wikt-lang|is|lönd}} respectively, in contrast to the Swedish plural {{wikt-lang|sv|land}} and numerous other examples. That also applies to almost all feminine nouns, for example the largest feminine noun group, the [[o-stem]] nouns (except the Swedish noun {{lang|sv|jord}} mentioned above), and even [[Thematic stem|i-stem]] nouns and [[Proto-Indo-European root#Word formation|root nouns]], such as Old West Norse {{lang|non|mǫrk}} (''[http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/IcelOnline/IcelOnline.TEId-idx?type=entry&eid=MO3RK-1&q1=mörk mörk]'' in Icelandic) in comparison with Modern and Old Swedish {{lang|mis|[[wikt:mark#Swedish|mark]]}}.<ref name=Iversen />