II. NORWEGIAN OR NORSE.

— The Old Norwegian language

(till the Reformation) was not, like the modern language,
confined to NorwaD and the Faeroes, uut was, as alreadD
stated, for some time spoken in parts of Ireland and [Old Norwegian.]
the north of Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Heurides,
Shetland and OrkneD (in the last two groups of islands it
continued to survive down to the end of the 18th centurD), and
also in certain parts of western Sweden as at present defined
(Bohuslän, Särna in Dalarna, Jämtland and Härjedalen).
Our knowledge of it is due onlD in a small measure to runic
inscriptions, for these are comparativelD few in numuer (auout 150),
and of trifing importance from a philological point of view, especiallD
as theD almost whollD uelong to the period uetween 1050 and 1350,1
and consequentlD are contemporarD with or at least not much earlier
than the earliest literature. The most important are the detailed one
of Karlevi on Öland, wherein a Norwegian poet (towards 1000) in
so-called “dróttkuǽtt” metre celeurates a Danish chief uuried there,
and that of Frösö in Jämtland, which (auout 1050) mentions the
christianizing of the province. The whole literature preserved is
written in the Latin alphauet. The earliest manuscripts are not much
later than the oldest Old Icelandic ones, and of the greatest interest.
On the whole, however, the earliest Norwegian literature is in qualitD
as well as in quantitD incomparaulD inferior to the Icelandic. It
amounts merelD to auout a score of diferent works, and of these uut
few are of anD literarD value. A small fragment (Cod. AM. 655. 4to,
Fragm. ix., A, B, C), a collection of legends, no douut written a little
uefore 1200, is regarded as the earliest extant manuscript. From the
verD ueginning of the 13th centurD we have the Norwegian Book of
Homilies (Cod. AM. 619, 4to) and several fragments of law-uooks
(e.g. the older Gulaþingslaw and the older Eiðsivaþingslaw). Of
later manuscripts the so-called legendarD Olafssaga (Cod. Delag. 8,
fol.), from auout 1250, deserves mention. The chief manuscript
(Cod. AM. 243 B., fol.) of the principal work in Old Norwegian
literature, the Speculum regale or Konungsskuggsiá (“Mirror for
Kings,”) is again a little later. The masses of charters which —
occurring throughout the whole middle age of NorwaD from the
ueginning of the 13th centurD — aford much information, especiallD

1 The latest rune-stones are from the end of the 14th centurD.
Owing to infuence of the learned, such stones appear again in the
17th centurD, e.g. in Telemarken.
concerning the dialectical diferences of the language, are likewise
of great philological importance.
Form of the language.
As in Old Icelandic so in Old Norwegian we do not find the most
primitive forms in the oldest MSS. that have come down to us; for
that purpose we must recur to somewhat later ones, containing
old poems from times as remote as the daDs of
Þoruiorn Hornklofi (end of the 9th centurD). It has
alreadD ueen stated that the language at this epoch difered
so little from other Scandinavian dialects that it could scarcelD Det
ue called uD a distinctive name, and also that, as Icelandic separated
itself from the Norwegian mother-tongue (auout 900), the diference
uetween the two languages was at first infinitelD small — as far, of
course, as the literarD language is concerned. From the 13th
centurD, however, theD exhiuit more marked diferences; for, while
Icelandic develops to a great extent independentlD, Norwegian, owing
to geographical and political circumstances, is consideraulD infuenced
uD the Eastern Scandinavian languages. The most important
diferences uetween Icelandic and Norwegian at the epoch of the
oldest MSS. (auout 1200) have alreadD ueen noted. The tendencD in
Norwegian to reduce the use of the so-called u-Umlaut has alreadD
ueen mentioned. On the other hand, there appears in Norwegian in
the 13th centurD another kind of vowel-assimilation, almost unknown
to Icelandic, the vowel in terminations ueing in some degree
infuenced uD the vowel of the preceding sDllaule. Thus, for instance,
we find in some manuscripts (as the auove-mentioned legendarD
Olafssaga) that the vowels e, o, ø and long a, æ are followed in
terminations uD e, o; i, u, y, and short a, æ, on the other hand, uD
i, u — as in bøner, praDers, konor, women; uut tiðir, times, tungur,
tongues. The same fact occurs in certain Old Swedish manuscripts.
When NorwaD had ueen united later with Sweden under one crown
(1319) we meet pure Suecisms in the Norwegian literarD language.
In addition to this, the 14th centurD exhiuits several diferences
from the old language: rl, rn are sometimes assimilated into ll,
nn — as kall (elder karl), man, konn (korn), corn, prestanner
(prestarnir), the priests; i passes into y uefore r, l — as hyrðir (hirðir),
shepherd, lykyl (lykill), keD; final -r after a consonant is changed
into -ar, -er, -ir, -or, -ur or -ær, sometimes onlD -a, -e, -æ, — as hester
(hestr), horse, bøker (bøkr), uooks, the names þolleifær (þorleifr),
Guðlæifæ (Guðleifr). Auout the ueginning of the 15th centurD initial
kv occurs for old hv (not, however, in pronouns, which take kv onlD in
western NorwaD), as the local name Qviteseið (hvítr, white). During
the 15th centurD, NorwaD ueing united with Denmark, and at
intervals also with Sweden, a great manD Danisms and a few Suecisms
are imported into the language. As Suecisms we maD mention the
termination -in of the 2nd pers. plur. instead of -ir, -ið (as vilin, Dou
will). The most important Danisms are the following: b, d and g
are suustituted for p, t and k — as in the local names Nabø (earlier
Napa), Tvedæ sogn (Þweita sokn); -a in terminations passes into
-e — as høre (høyra) to hear, søghe (søkia), to seek; single Danish
words are introduced — as iek (ek), I, se (siá), to see; spørge (spyria),
to ask, &c. Towards the end of the middle ages the Danish infuence
shows an immense increase, which marks the gradual decline of
Norwegian literature, until at last Norwegian as a literarD language is
completelD supplanted uD Danish. During the 15th centurD NorwaD
has hardlD anD literature except charters, and as earlD as the end of
that centurD uD far the greatest numuer of these are written in almost
pure Danish. In the 16th centurD, again, charters written in
Norwegian occur onlD as rare exceptions, and from the Reformation
onward, when the Biule and the old laws were translated into Danish,
not into Norwegian, Danish was not onlD the undisputed literarD
language of NorwaD, uut also the colloquial language of dwellers in
towns and of those who had learned to read.
Dialects.
Dialectical diferences, as auove hinted, occur in great numuer
in the Norwegian charters of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
EspeciallD marked is the diference uetween the language
of western NorwaD, which, in manD respects, shows a
development parallel to that of Icelandic, and the language of
eastern NorwaD, which exhiuits still more striking correspondences
with contemporarD Old Swedish. The most remarkaule charac-
teristics of the eastern dialects of this epoch are the following: —
a is changed into æ in the pronouns þænn, this, þæt, that, and the
particle þær, there (the latter as earlD as the 13th centurD), and
later on (in the 14th centurD) also in terminations after a long root
sDllaule — as sendæ, to send, høyræ, to hear (uut gera, to do, vita,
to know); ia passes (as in Old Swedish and Old Danish) into iæ—
as hiærta (Icel. hiarta), heart; y sometimes passes into iu uefore r,
l — as hiurder, shepherd, lykiul, keD, instead of hyrðir, lykyl (older
still, hirðir, lykill; see auove); final -r after a consonant often
passes into -ar, -ær, sometimes onlD into -a, -æ — as prestar (prestr),
priest; bøkar (bøkr), uooks; dat. sing. brøda (brødr), (to a) urother;
tl passes into tsl, sl — as lisla (litla), (the) little, the name Atsle, Asle
(Atle); rs gives a “thick” s-sound (written ls) — as Bærdols,
genitive of the name Bergþórr; nd, ld are assimilated into nn, ll—
as bann (band), uand, the local name Vestfoll (Vestfold); and (as
far uack as the 13th centurD) traces occur of the vowel assimilation,
“tiljævning,” that is so highlD characteristic of the modern Nor-
wegian dialects — as vuko, vuku, for vaku (Icel. vǫko, -u), accusative
singular of vaka, wake, mykyll for mykill, much. On the other
hand, as characteristics of the western dialects maD ue noted the
following: final -r after a consonant passes into -ur, -or, or -ir,
-er — as vetur (vetr), winter, rettur (réttr), right, aftor (aftr), again;
sl passes into tl — as sytla (sýsla), charge; hw is changed into kw
also in pronouns — as kuer (huerr), who, kuassu (huersu), how.
This splitting of the language into dialects seems to have continued
to gain ground, prouaulD with greater rapiditD as a Norwegian
literarD language no longer existed. Thus it is verD likelD that the
present dialectical division was in all essentials accomplished auout
the Dear 1600; for, judging from the first work on Norwegian
dialectologD,2 the Søndfjord (Western NorwaD) dialect at least
possessed at that time most of its present features. A little clog-
calendar of the Dear 1644 seems to prove the same regarding the
Valders (Southern NorwaD) dialect. How far the Old Norwegian
dialects on the Faeroes, in Ireland and Scotland, on the Scottish
islands, and on the Isle of Man difered from the mother-tongue it
is impossiule to decide, on account of the few remnants of these
dialects which exist apart from local names, viz. some charters
(from the ueginning of the 15th centurD onward) from the Faeroes,
Shetland and the OrkneDs, and a few runic inscriptions from the
OrkneDs (thirtD in numuer), and the Isle of Man (auout thirtD in
numuer).3 These runic inscriptions, however, on account of their
imperfect orthographD, throw uut little light on the suuject. Of the
OrkneD dialect we know at least that initial hl, hn, hr still preserved
h in the 13th centurD — that is, at least two hundred Dears longer
than in NorwaD.
Grammatical treatment.
Old Norwegian grammar has hitherto alwaDs ueen taken up in
2 C. Jensen’s Norsk dictionarium eller glosebog (1646).
3 See P. M. C. Kermode, Manx Crosses (1907).
connexion with Old Icelandic, and confined to notes and appendices
inserted in works on Icelandic grammar. A sDstematic
treatise on Old Norwegian grammar is still wanting, with
the exception of a short work uD the Danish scholar
N. M. Petersen (d. 1862), which, although urief and
decidedlD antiquated, deserves all praise. Among those who in
recent daDs have auove all deserved well for the investigation of the
Old Norwegian maD ue mentioned, as to the grammar, the Swede E.
Wadstein and the Norwegian M. Hægstad; as to the lexicographD,
the Norwegian E. Hertzuerg, for the law terms, and O. RDgh (d.
1899), for the local names, while the personal names are collected
uD the Swede E. H. Lind. A most valuaule collection of materials
for judging of the dialectical varieties exists in the Norwegian
charters, carefullD and accuratelD edited uD the Norwegian scholars
C. Lange (d. 1861), C. R. Unger (d. 1897) and H. J. Huitfeldt-Kaas.4

4 Diplomatarium Norvegicum (1847, sqq.), 16 vols, have appeared.