Old Norse language

Old Norse is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. It evolved from the older Proto-Norse, in the 8th century.

Related Topics:
Germanic language - Scandinavia - Viking Age - 1300 - Proto-Norse - 8th century

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Due to the fact that most of the surviving texts are from Medieval Icelandic, the de facto standard version of the language is its dialect Old West Norse, that is Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. Sometimes, Old Norse is even defined as Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian.

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However, there was also an Old East Norse dialect which was very similar and was spoken in Denmark and Sweden and their settlements. Moreover, there was no clear geographical separation between the two dialects. Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. In addition, there was also an Old Gutnish dialect, sometimes included in Old East Norse due to it being the least known dialect.

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These three dialects were considered by their speakers to be one and the same language, and they called it dansk tunga (OEN) or dönsk tunga (OWN), until the 13th century.

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Old Norse was mutually intelligible with Old English and Old Saxon and other Low German languages spoken in northern Germany. It gradually evolved into the modern North Germanic languages: Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.

Related Topics:
Old English - Old Saxon - Low German languages - North Germanic languages - Icelandic - Faroese - Norwegian - Danish - Swedish

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Modern Icelandic is the descendant which has diverged the least from Old Norse. Faroese also retains some similarities but is influenced from Danish. Although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain mutual intelligibility. This could be because these languages have been mutually affected by each other, as well as having a similar development due to impact from Low German.

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