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West Norse is also called Old Icelandic or Old Norwegian. They were practically the same language. The language was used from approximately 700 - 1350. This period is divided into two: 700-1050 and 1050-1350. The first period is before the Latin alphabet was introduced; instead runes were used. In 1050 the Latin alphabet came to Norway with the Vikings from the British Isles; and along with it came Christian religion. Runes from as late as the 14th century have been found in Bergen. So the runes were used along with the Latin letters for a long period. The Norse period ends with the Black Plague.
The language used the same cases as modern German and Icelandic uses today.
The letters þ and ð are not in use today in Norwegian, the sounds they represent not being distinct from t and d, though they both remain in modern Icelandic and one (ð) is retained in modern Faroese.
Like modern Norwegian, Old Norwegian has three articles. Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. But unlike modern Norwegian which only has singular and plural nouns, Old Norwegian defines singular, dual and plural -- the dual being used for groups of two persons or objects.
The plagues that decimated Europe in the Middle Ages came to Norway in 1349 (The Black Plague), and caused the language to fall apart. At that time the wise men holding the key to the language died. The union with Denmark established in 1380 did not help either, as Danish became the official language. Therefore the language went through several changes, including the removal of the cases system and a vowel reduction, reducing many of the last vowels in a word to a common "e".
Old Norwegian vs Old Icelandic
The most important early difference between Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic is that h in the consonant combinations hl-, hn- and hr- was lost in the former but not in the latter. Thus, one has e.g. Old Icelandic hlíð 'slope', hníga 'curtsey' and hringr 'ring' vs Old Norwegian líð, níga and ringr, respectively.
See also
External links
- «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway.
- <
> Organization working with Medieval Nordic texts. - <
> Includes old norse dictionary and includes Diplomatarium Norvegicum which is a collection of texts from before 1570 (originally 22 books with 19 000 documents)
"Old Norwegian"