Editing Old Norse (section)

=== Old West Norse ===
'''Old West Norse''' is by far the best attested variety of Old Norse.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last = König|editor1-first = Ekkehard|editor2-last = van der Auwera|editor2-first = Johan|title= The Germanic Languages|url = https://archive.org/details/germaniclanguage00koni|url-access = limited|date= 2002|publisher= Routledge|page= [https://archive.org/details/germaniclanguage00koni/page/n54 38]|isbn= 978-0415280792}} "Old Norse is by far the best attested variety of Old Scandinavian."</ref> The term ''Old Norse'' is often used to refer to Old West Norse specifically, in which case the broader subject receives another name, such as ''Old Scandinavian''.<ref name="auto"/> Another designation is '''Old West Nordic'''.

The combinations {{lang|non|-mp-}}, {{lang|non|-nt-}}, and {{lang|non|-nk-}} mostly merged to {{lang|non|-pp-}}, {{lang|non|-tt-}} and {{lang|non|-kk-}} in Old West Norse around the 7th century, marking the first distinction between the Eastern and Western dialects.{{sfn|Bandle|2005|loc = Ch. XVII §202 "The typological development of the Nordic languages I: Phonology" (H. Sandøy) : ''Old East Nordic'', pp.&nbsp;1856, 1859}} The following table illustrates this:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! English !! Old West Norse !! Old East Norse !! [[Proto-Norse language|Proto-Norse]]
|-
| mushroom || {{lang|non|s(v)ǫppr}} || {{lang|non|swampʀ}} || {{lang|mis|*swampuz}}<!-- it seems, there is no language code for proto-norse. i'll use "mis" instead. -->
|-
| steep || {{lang|non|brattr}} || {{lang|non|brantʀ}} || {{lang|mis|*brantaz}}
|-
| widow || {{lang|non|ekkja}} || {{lang|non|ænkija}} || {{lang|mis|*ain(a)kjōn}}
|-
| to shrink || [[wikt:kreppa|kreppa]] || {{lang|non|krimpa}} || {{lang|mis|*krimpan}}
|-
| to sprint || {{lang|non|spretta}} || {{lang|non|sprinta}} || {{lang|mis|*sprintan}}
|-
| to sink || {{lang|non|søkkva}} || {{lang|non|sænkwa}} || {{lang|mis|*sankwijan}}
|}

An early difference between Old West Norse and the other dialects was that Old West Norse had the forms {{lang|non|bú}}, "dwelling", {{lang|non|kú}}, "cow" (accusative) and {{lang|non|trú}}, "faith", whereas Old East Norse {{lang|non|bó}}, {{lang|non|kó}} and {{lang|non|tró}}. Old West Norse was also characterized by the preservation of ''u''-umlaut, which meant that, for example, [[Proto-Norse language|Proto-Norse]] {{lang|non|*tanþu}}, "tooth", became {{lang|non|tǫnn}} and not {{lang|non|tann}} as in post-runic Old East Norse; OWN {{lang|non|gǫ́s}} and runic OEN {{lang|non|gǫ́s}}, while post-runic OEN {{lang|non|gás}} "goose".

The earliest body of text appears in [[runic inscriptions]] and in poems composed {{Circa|900}} by [[Þjóðólfr of Hvinir]] (although the poems are not preserved in contemporary sources, but only in much later manuscripts). The earliest manuscripts are from the period 1150–1200 and concern legal, religious and historical matters. During the 12th and 13th centuries, [[Trøndelag]] and [[Western Norway]] were the most important areas of the Norwegian kingdom and they shaped Old West Norse as an archaic language with a rich set of declensions. In the body of text that has survived into the modern day from until {{Circa|1300}}, Old West Norse had little dialect variation, and [[Old Icelandic]] does not diverge much more than the [[Old Norwegian]] dialects do from each other.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Old Norwegian differentiated early from Old Icelandic by the loss of the consonant ''h'' in initial position before ''l'', ''n'' and ''r''; thus whereas Old Icelandic manuscripts might use the form {{lang|non|hnefi}}, "fist", Old Norwegian manuscripts might use {{lang|non|nefi}}.

From the late 13th century, Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian started to diverge more. After {{Circa|1350}}, the [[Black Death]] and following social upheavals seem to have accelerated language changes in Norway. From the late 14th century, the language used in Norway is generally referred to as [[Old Norwegian#Middle Norwegian|Middle Norwegian]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Old West Norse underwent a lengthening of initial vowels at some point, especially in Norwegian, so that OWN {{lang|non|eta}} became {{lang|non|éta}}, ONW {{lang|non|akr}} > {{lang|non|ákr}}, OIC {{lang|non|ek}} > {{lang|non|ék}}.<ref>{{citation |title=Further Old Norse Secondary Formations |first=Albert Morey |last=Sturtevant |journal=Language |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=457–462 |year=1953 |jstor=409955 |doi=10.2307/409955 }}</ref>

==== Old Icelandic ====
In Iceland, initial {{IPA|/w/}} before {{IPA|/ɾ/}} was lost:<ref group="cv">{{harvnb|Cleasby|Vigfússon |1874|loc = p.&nbsp;481 "R"}}</ref> compare Icelandic ''[[wikt:rangur#Icelandic|rangur]]'' with Danish {{lang|da|vrang}}, OEN {{lang|non|wrangʀ}}. The change is shared with Old Gutnish.<ref name="TheNordicLanguages" />

A specifically Icelandic sound, the long, ''u''-umlauted A, spelled {{angbr|Ǫ́ }} and pronounced {{IPA|/ɔː/}}, developed around the early 11th century.<ref name="CleasbyA" group="cv" /> It was short-lived, being marked in the [[First Grammatical Treatise|Grammatical Treatises]] and remaining until the end of the 12th century.<ref name="CleasbyA" group="cv" /> It then merged back into {{IPA|/aː/}}; as a result, long A is not affected by ''u''-umlaut in Modern Icelandic.

{{IPA|/w/}} merged with {{IPA|/v/}} during the 12th century,<ref name="JohnsonEcyc" /> which caused {{IPA|/v/}} to become an independent phoneme from {{IPA|/f/}} and the written distinction of {{angbr IPA|v}} for {{IPA|/v/}} from medial and final {{angbr IPA|f}} to become merely etymological.

Around the 13th century, {{lang|non|Œ/Ǿ}} ({{IPA|/øː/}}, which had probably already lowered to {{IPA|/œː/}}) merged to {{lang|non|Æ}} ({{IPA|/ɛː/}}).<ref name="CleasbyAE" group="cv">{{harvnb|Cleasby|Vigfússon |1874|loc = p.&nbsp;757 "Æ"}}</ref> Thus, pre-13th-century {{lang|is|grœnn}} (with {{angbr|œ}}) 'green' became spelled as in modern Icelandic {{lang|is|grænn}} (with {{angbr|æ}}). The 12th-century [[Gray Goose Laws]] manuscripts distinguish the vowels, and so does the [[Codex Regius]] copy.<ref name="CleasbyAE" group="cv" /> However, the 13th-century Codex Regius copy of the [[Poetic Edda]] probably relied on newer or poorer quality sources, or both. Demonstrating either difficulty with or total lack of natural distinction, the manuscripts show separation of the two phonemes in some places, but they frequently confuse the letters chosen to distinguish them in others.<ref name="CleasbyAE" group="cv" /><ref>See [[Codex Regius]]</ref>

Towards the end of the 13th century, {{lang|non|Ę}} ({{IPA|/ɛ/}}) merged to {{lang|non|E}} ({{IPA|/e/}}).<ref name="CleasbyE" group="cv">{{harvnb|Cleasby|Vigfússon |1874|loc = pp.&nbsp;113–114 "E"}}</ref>

==== Old Norwegian ====
{{Further|Old Norwegian}}

Around the 11th century, Old Norwegian {{angbr IPA|hl}}, {{angbr IPA|hn}}, and {{angbr IPA|hr}} became {{angbr IPA|l}}, {{angbr IPA|n}} and {{angbr IPA|r}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/norwegian.html |title=Introduction – History of Norwegian up to 1349 |access-date=21 May 2023 |archive-date=31 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131064838/https://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/norwegian.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=February 2024}}<ref name=Hagland2002>{{Cite book |last=Hagland |first=Jan Ragnar |title=The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2002 |isbn=3-11-014876-5 |volume=1 |location=Berlin |pages=1015–1017 |chapter=Dialects and written language in Old Nordic I: Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Faarlund |first=Jan Terje |title=The Germanic Languages |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |editor-last=Konig |editor-first=Ekkehard |edition=1st |location=London |pages=38–71 |chapter=Old and Middle Scandinavian |doi=10.4324/9781315812786 |isbn=978-1-315-81278-6 |editor-last2=Auwera |editor-first2=Johan van der}}</ref> It is debatable whether the {{angbr IPA|hC}} sequences represented a consonant cluster ({{IPA|/hC/}}) or devoicing ({{IPA|/C̥/}}).

Orthographic evidence suggests that in a confined dialect of Old Norwegian, {{IPA|/ɔ/}} may have been unrounded before {{IPA|/u/}} and that ''u''-umlaut was reversed unless the ''u'' had been eliminated: {{lang|non|ǫll}}, {{lang|non|ǫllum}} > {{lang|non|ǫll}}, {{lang|non|allum}}.<ref>{{citation|author-link = Hans Henrich Hock| last = Hock | first = Hans Henrich | title = Principles of Historical Linguistics | year = 1986 |page = 149 }}</ref>

==== Greenlandic Norse ====
{{Further|Greenlandic Norse}}

This dialect of Old West Norse was spoken by Icelandic colonies in Greenland. When the colonies died out around the 15th century, the dialect went with it. The phoneme {{IPA|/θ/}} and some instances of {{IPA|/ð/}} merged to {{IPA|/t/}} and so Old Icelandic {{lang|non|Þórðr}} became {{lang|non|Tortr}}.

==== Text example ====
{{Further|Old Norse orthography}}

The following text is from {{lang|non|Alexanders saga}}, an [[Alexander romance]]. The manuscript, [[AM 519 a 4to]], is dated {{Circa|1280}}. The facsimile demonstrates the [[scribal abbreviation|sigla]] used by scribes to write Old Norse. Many of them were borrowed from Latin. Without familiarity with these abbreviations, the facsimile will be unreadable to many. In addition, reading the manuscript itself requires familiarity with the letterforms of the native script. The abbreviations are expanded in a version with normalized spelling like that of the [[Old Norse orthography|standard normalization]] system. Compared to the spelling of the same text in Modern Icelandic, pronunciation has changed greatly, but spelling has changed little since [[Icelandic orthography]] was intentionally modelled after Old Norse in the 19th century.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Digital facsimile of the manuscript text<ref name="MeNoTa14">{{citation | editor-first =Andrea de Leeuw | editor-last =van Weenen | title =(Manuscript AM 519 a 4to) "Alexanders saga" | at =fol. 1v, lines 10–14 | work =Medieval Nordic Text Archive www.menota.org | url =http://clarino.uib.no/menota/document-element?&cpos=558653 | access-date =4 September 2018 | archive-date =5 September 2018 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180905022912/http://clarino.uib.no/menota/document-element?&cpos=558653 | url-status =live }}</ref>
! scope="col" | The same text with normalized spelling<ref name="MeNoTa14" />
! scope="col" | The same text with Modern [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] spelling
|-
|
{{lang|non|italic=no|[...] ſem oꝩın͛ h̅ſ brıgzloðo h̅o̅ epꞇ͛ þͥ ſe̅ ſıðaʀ mon ſagꞇ verða. Þeſſı ſveın̅ aͬ.* ꝩar ıſcola ſeꞇꞇr ſem ſıðꝩenıa e͛ ꞇıl rıkra man̅a vꞇan-lanꝺz aꞇ laꞇa g͛a vıð boꝛn̅ ſíıƞ́ Meıſꞇarı ꝩar h̅o̅ ꝼengın̅ ſa e͛ arıſꞇoꞇıleſ heꞇ. h̅ ꝩar harðla goðꝛ clercr ⁊ [[Old Norse morphology#Hit|en̅]] meſꞇı ſpekıngr aꞇ ꝩıꞇı. ⁊ er h̅ ꝩͬ.xíí. veꞇᷓ gamall aꞇ allꝺrı nalıga alroſcın̅ aꞇ ꝩıꞇı. en ſꞇoꝛhvgaðꝛ u̅ ꝼᷓm alla ſına ıaꝼnallꝺꝛa.}}
|
{{lang|non|italic=no|[...] sem óvinir hans brigzluðu honum eftir því, sem síðarr man sagt verða. þessi sveinn Alexander var í skóla settr, sem siðvenja er til ríkra manna útanlands at láta gera við bǫrn sín. meistari var honum fenginn sá, er Aristoteles hét. hann var harðla góðr klerkr ok inn mesti spekingr at viti. ok er hann var tólv vetra gamall at aldri, náliga alroskinn at viti, en stórhugaðr umfram alla sína jafnaldra, [...]}}
|
{{lang|is|italic=no|[...] sem óvinir hans brigsluðu honum eftir því, sem síðar mun sagt verða. Þessi sveinn Alexander var í skóla settur, sem siðvenja er til ríkra manna utanlands að láta gera við börn sín. Meistari var honum fenginn sá, er Aristóteles hét. Hann var harla góður klerkur og hinn mesti spekingur að viti og er hann var tólf vetra gamall að aldri, nálega alroskinn að viti, en stórhugaður umfram alla sína jafnaldra, [...]}}
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> '''a''' printed in [[uncial script|uncial]]. Uncials not encoded separately in Unicode as of this section's writing.