Editing Old Norse (section)

== Texts ==
{{Commons category|Old Norse manuscripts}}
The earliest inscriptions in Old Norse are [[runic alphabet|runic]], from the 8th century. Runes continued to be commonly used until the 15th century and have been recorded to be in use in some form as late as the 19th century in some parts of Sweden. With the [[Christianization of Scandinavia|conversion to Christianity]] in the 11th century came the [[Latin alphabet]]. The oldest preserved texts in Old Norse in the Latin alphabet date from the middle of the 12th century. Subsequently, Old Norse became the vehicle of a large and varied body of vernacular literature. Most of the surviving literature was written in Iceland. Best known are the [[Norse saga]]s, the [[Icelanders' sagas]] and the mythological literature, but there also survives a large body of religious literature, translations into Old Norse of [[courtly romance]]s, classical mythology, and the Old Testament, as well as instructional material, [[First Grammatical Treatise|grammatical treatises]] and a large body of letters and official documents.{{sfn|O'Donoghue|2004|p=22–102}}