Old Norse

Old Norse, Old Nordic,[1] or Old Scandinavian is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 8th to the 15th centuries.[2]

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Old Norse
Dialects Old West Norse (Old Icelandic Old Norwegian Greenlandic Norse) Old East Norse (Old Danish Old Swedish) Old Gutnish
Use Orthography Runic alphabet (Younger Futhark Medieval) Latin alphabet Grammar Phonology Morphology
Literature Poetry (alliterative verse) Sagas (of Icelanders Legendary) Edda (Poetic Edda Prose Edda) First Grammatical Treatise
Ancestors Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Proto-Norse
Descendants Danish Faroese Greenlandic Norse (extinct) Gutnish Icelandic Norn (extinct) Norwegian Swedish English words of Old Norse origin
WikiProject Norse history and culture
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Norsemen
Extent of Norse language in CE 900: Western Norse in red and Eastern Norse in orange. Yellow and green denote related Germanic languages.
Scandinavia History
History Nordic Stone Age Nordic Bronze Age Pre-Roman Iron Age Roman Iron Age Germanic Iron Age Migration Period Viking Age Norse–Gaels Normans Christianization
Old Norse religion Gods Æsir Vanir Jötunn Sigurd Sigmund Wayland the Smith Vættir Elf Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar Dwarf (folklore) Einherjar Fenrir Hel (mythological being) Dís Norns Valkyrie Jörmungandr Ask and Embla
Cosmology Asgard Vanaheimr Midgard Vígríðr Bifröst Fólkvangr Ginnungagap Hel (location) Muspelheim Niflheim Mímisbrunnr Hvergelmir Urðarbrunnr Yggdrasill Valhalla Jötunheimr
Rituals and worship Blót Seiðr Norse funeral Yule Walpurgis Night Midsummer Hörgr Heathen hof Vé (shrine) Gothi Early Germanic calendars Runic magic Seeress (Germanic) Galdr Death in Norse paganism
Society Berserker Earl Ergi Félag Germanic kingship Holmgang Leidang Mead hall Medieval Scandinavian law Nithing pole Nīþ Norse clans Old Norse Thing Thrall
Events Æsir–Vanir War Fimbulwinter Ragnarök Wild Hunt
Sources Poetic Edda Prose Edda Tyrfing Cycle Völsung Cycle Saga Runestones
WikiProject Norse history and culture
v t e

The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid-to-late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century.[3]^{[better source needed]}

Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse or Old West Nordic (often referred to as Old Norse[4]), Old East Norse or Old East Nordic, and Old Gutnish. Old West Norse and Old East Norse formed a dialect continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. Most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present-day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches.[5]

The 12th-century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, and Danes spoke the same language, dǫnsk tunga ("Danish tongue"; speakers of Old East Norse would have said dansk tunga). Another term was norrœnt mál ("northern speech"). Today Old Norse has developed into the modern North Germanic languages Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and other North Germanic varieties of which Norwegian, Danish and Swedish retain considerable mutual intelligibility while Icelandic remains the closest to Old Norse.