Old Norse for Beginners - Lesson One by Haukur orgeirsson and skar Gulaugsson 0. Miscellany 0.

1 About this course This course is designed for speakers of English. No previous knowledge of Old Norse or any other language is needed or expected. The aim of the course is to aid beginning students of Old Norse in building up sufficient basic knowledge for the student to be able to start studying on his own after the course. The method is to focus on building up a firm understanding of the grammatical basics of the language, having the student use the language as much as possible. We will try throughout the course to spice it up with background information, as most students of Old Norse have strong interest in Old Norse culture as well as language. We will also refrain from using nonsensical sentences, preferring real made!up sentences or simplified versions of actual texts. "essons are organised into four chapters. The first one #$% contains information that is not really the core of the matter but can be useful and interesting to read. The next one #&% contains the new grammar for the lesson, then #'% comes the vocabulary, all of which you should memorise, and then #(% exercises to help you get a hands on feeling for the sub)ect. *n the last chapter #+% we look at real texts or sentences from the literature. ,o not get discouraged if this is difficult at times, you don-t have to memorise everything there, )ust read through it. 0.2 On learning languages in general The process of learning languages is often somewhat misperceived, especially in cultures with little tradition or need for it. "anguage learning is gradual, piece!by!piece, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, often rewarding, often frustrating. There is no black and white in language learning, no set stage where one speaks the language , before which one understood and spoke nothing, after which one understands and speaks everything. *t-s an open!ended process, from which one can enter and exit at will, always benefitting from every minute effort. .ow this relates to our course, is to make you understand that you will not exit from it completely fluent in Old Norse, having finished that language, because there is no finish line/ but neither will you have wasted your time, because time invested in language study is never lost . 0ou are to emerge from the course having achieved a certain point, a certain skill level, from which you can benefit, even if it cannot be considered fluency. 1ost importantly, the end results should be gratifying and the process fun, though unavoidably hard at times. 0.3 On learning arcane languages The study of arcane languages such as Old Norse has certain marked differences to the study of modern languages/ the most important factor is, naturally, that one can never hear anybody speak the language. That can be a significant psychological obstacle in memori2ing words and reading text. 3oming from an experienced language learner, the problem with learning arcane languages is that one has no access to the sound of the language , its very soul. This makes it more difficult to get a feel for its structure, to become comfortable with it, even to develop feelings for it, all factors not to be taken lightly. *n studying arcane languages, one must deal with this by reliving and reali2ing the language, by familiari2ing oneself with the culture of the language-s former speakers and imagining the life behind it. One must understand that it was once the native language of a whole nation of people of all kinds, to whom it was as dear and natural as your first language is to you. 4nderstand that those

people thought in this language, expressed their needs in it, their love, their anger and hate, their first and last words/ parent to child, friend to friend, husband to wife, foe to foe, any person to any other person. *t was as living once as any given language of today, complete with slang, neologisms, swearing and nonsense, )ust as well as the more commonly known poetry and literature. Once one genuinely and truly understands this, one has gained an important psychological advantage in the learning process of an arcane language. 0.4 Old Norse !hich Old Norse The term Old Norse refers to the language spoken in 5candinavia and 5candinavian settlements from about 6$$ to about &(7$. *t should be obvious that it was not exactly the same language over a vast area and 77$ years. *t is usually split into two groups, which are then split into two dialects. West Norse Old *celandic Old Norwegian East Norse Old ,anish Old 5wedish

Of all these, the dialect which preserved the most interesting literature is Old *celandic. This course will teach Old *celandic from the &(th century/ when such works as .eimskringla and the Edda were composed. The spelling of Old *celandic words is normalised to the accepted standard. When texts that are not from the &(th century are 8uoted we will still use the same spelling. The term -Old Norse- is sometimes used to mean specifically what we here call -West Norse- or what we here call -Old *celandic-. *t is sometimes applied to *celandic up to the &9th century. 0." #nglish gra$$atical %ocabulary *t is 8uite possible to teach and learn languages without the use of grammatical terms. *ndeed, a child does not learn to speak by first learning what a noun is. 0et, it is our opinion that it is practical to use grammatical vocabulary in describing the Old Norse language. This course assumes knowledge of the following words for parts of speech. :ery short descriptions follow. Noun; < name of a person, place or thing #book, =aris, >ohn%. <d)ective; < word that describes a noun #good, bad, ugly%. =ronoun; < word used instead of a noun #he, we, which%. :erb; < word that describes what someone is doing #do, kill, say%. <dverb; < word that describes a verb #well, highly, badly%. 3on)unction; < connecting word #and, but, or%. =reposition; < word placed before a noun to indicate place, direction etc. #to, from, in%. <s new terms are introduced make an effort at understanding them/ it is essential for making sense of the text. 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 'eclension of (ronouns *n Norse, nouns and pronouns are declined in cases. What on earth does that mean? We will use English as a starting point to explain. 3onsider the English sentence; 5he loves me. *f you have learnt syntax you will know that the sub)ect of this sentence is the pronoun she and the ob)ect is the pronoun me . *f you haven-t learnt syntax *-ll let you in on the trick/ the sub)ect in a sentence is the word that is doing stuff, the ob)ect is the word stuff is done to. 5o, in our sentence she is doing stuff and it-s being done to me . 5imple. Now let-s look at another sentence; * love her. Okay, now * is doing stuff, so * is the sub)ect,

and it-s being done to her which must then be the ob)ect. Now consider/ how does the English language distinguish between sub)ect and ob)ect in a sentence? <s you will see from our example there are two methods; &. 3hanging the word order. 0ou will note that the word preceding the verb is the sub)ect whereas the word following the verb is the ob)ect. '. 3hanging the form of the words. <ha@ This is where things get interesting. Of course the she in the first sentence is the same person as the her in the second sentence, similarly the * and me refer to the same bloke. We say the word itself hasn-t changed, only the form of it. We-ll make a little table; 5ub)ect; Ob)ect; * me you you he him she her it it

0ou will note that sometimes the word changes completely when switching between the roles of sub)ect and ob)ect, like * to me , sometimes it changes but remains recognisably the same, like he to him , and sometimes it doesn-t change at all, like you to you . Now we have seen that English uses different forms of pronouns to represent sub)ect and ob)ect but those different forms are also used for other things. "et-s look at the sentence * am he. 5omething strange has happened/ preceding the verb there is a pronoun in the sub)ect form, well and good, but following the verb is a pronoun that is also in the sub)ect form. The explanation lies in the verb we-re using/ the verb to be doesn-t really describe stuff being done #as we have so elo8uently put it in this passage%. *t-s more like an e8uals sign; * A he . *n such cases the word following the verb is called neither ob)ect nor sub)ect but complement . Now that we-ve found a new use for our sub)ect form we-ll have to redo our table; 5ub)ect, complement; Ob)ect; * me you you he him she her it it

Now we might wonder whether there is another use for the ob)ect form as well. *ndeed there is/ consider the sentence * saved it for him . .ere * is the sub)ect and it is the ob)ect, as you will have realised, but what about him ? *t-s not following a verb so it can-t be an ob)ect but it-s still in the ob)ect form. We conclude that words following a preposition take the ob)ect form. <gain we have to redo our table; 5ub)ect, complement; Ob)ect, prepositional; * me you you he him she her it it

Now that we-ve found more than one use for both of our forms we-ll name those forms for easy reference. We-ll call them nominative and accusative and we-ll refer to them collectively as the cases of the pronouns. We-ll call this changing of forms by the pronouns declension. Nominative case; <ccusative case; * me you you he him she her it it

Bemember what we stated at the beginning of this section? *n Norse, nouns and pronouns are declined in cases . Now we can state; *n English, pronouns are declined in cases . The beauty of it is that the Norse cases of nominative and accusative work exactly like the English cases we have been defining. Thus the nominative in Norse serves as sub)ect and compliment and the accusative as ob)ect and prepositional. The Norse table corresponding to the English table above looks like this;

Nominative case; <ccusative case;

e) $i)

*+ *i)

hann hann

hon hana

*at *at

0ou notice a slight resemblance between the two tables. 0ou also note that, as with English, when the pronouns go from nominative to accusative they sometimes change much #ek ! mik%, sometimes little #hon ! hana% and sometimes not at all #hann ! hann%. Now you can do exercise (.&. 1.2 'eclension of nouns *n the Norse language, nouns, like pronouns, are declined in cases. <gain we start by discussing English. 3onsider the sentence =eter calls 1aggie. .ere the sub)ect is =eter and the ob)ect is 1aggie . Now another sentence; 1aggie calls =eter. The roles of sub)ect and ob)ect have been switched, but how? Not by changing the forms of the words, as with the pronouns, but solely by changing the word order. *n contrast, Norse solves the problem of distinguishing between sub)ect and ob)ect with case endings and not word order. Now to the good stuff. Norse nouns are declined in cases. That is, the form of the nouns change depending on whether they play the role of nominative or accusative. The wonderful science of grammar puts nouns into different groups depending on their declension pattern. The first group we will look at is called strong masculine / accept those terms as arbitrary for now. The pattern of the strong masculine word is that they have the ending !r in the nominative. We-ll look at some examples from our vocabulary in '.&. 5ingular of the strong masculine declension; Nominative; <ccusative; ,lfr ,lf baugr baug -au)r -au) )onungr )onung

Note that proper names #like .aukr here% are declined in cases like any other nouns. 1.3 Article *n English there are two kinds of articles/ the indefinite article a and an and the definite article the . The Norse language has no indefinite article, thus draugr by itself means a ghost . Norse, however, does have a definite article though it doesn-t work 8uite like the English one. Bather than being a small unchanging word preceding nouns the Norse article is a suffix depending on case, gender and number. Cor the masculine words we-ve introduced the article in both nominative singular and accusative singular is !inn tacked on to the words. Thus; Nominative <ccusative or in so many words; ,lfr A an elf #nominative% ,lf A an elf #accusative% ,lfrinn A the elf #nominative% ,lfinn A the elf #accusative% *ndefinite ,lfr ,lf ,efinite ,lfrinn ,lfinn

1.4 &ender of nouns We said before that the group of nouns we-re looking at is called strong masculine. The strong classification is arbitrary but we-re going to let you in on the masculine thing. Every word in Norse has an arbitrary gender , masculine, feminine or neuter. When we refer to a word with a certain

gender we have to use the pronoun with the same gender. Thus masculine nouns take the masculine pronoun #hannAhe%, feminine nouns take the feminine pronoun #honAshe% and neuter nouns take the neuter pronoun #DatAit%. 5ince all the nouns used in this chapter are masculine you-ll be concerned with hann for now. 1." Notes on .ord order Word order in English is 8uite rigid. Cor a simple sentence it-s always sub)ect!verb!ob)ect . *n Norse this is not so, the word order is 8uite free, mainly because the information about which word plays which role is given by grammatical endings #cases and more% whereas English relies on word order to convey this information. Bemember to check the grammatical ending of Norse words to find their place in the sentence. This is not to say that there aren-t certain conventions on word order in Norse. 1ost often there is one thing that is most natural but be prepared to meet anything. *n Norse, titles usually follow the name they refer to/ thus -king ElFfr- is -ElFfr konungr-. 2. /ocabulary 2.1. Nouns <ll nouns here are of the strong masculine declension. Flfr baugr brandr dvergr draugr hestr haukr h)Flmr konungr knGfr ormr Hlfr Names; .aukr ElFfr 5igurIr Tyrfingr elf ring sword dwarf ghost horse hawk helmet king knife worm, serpent wolf

2.2 0ronoun hann he, it

We gloss the word as both he and it as it can refer both to men and to things with masculine gender. Bemember that all the nouns given in this lesson are of masculine gender. 2.3 /erbs The forms given here are the third person singular of the verbs. This corresponds with the English s!

form #like sees and hears %. This is all you need to know for now. F er heitir sJr segir tekr vegr owns is #takes a complement@% is called #takes a complement@% sees says takes kills #usually in battle%, slays

5ometimes the sub)ect is dropped and the verb alone gives the meaning. Thus -vegr- alone might mean -he kills-. 2.4 Ad%erbs hJr eigi ok 2." 1on2unctions These con)unctions are used much as in English. Note that -ok- can be either an adverb or a con)unction, depending on context. ok en and but here not also

2.3 4a$(le sentences The following sentences represent one approach to tackling Norse sentences. *f you-re comfortable with it you can employ it yourself in the exercises. :egr orminn ElFfr. 5ub)ect; ElFfr Knominative, proper nameL Ob)ect; orminn Kaccusative, with articleL 1eaning; ElFfr kills the serpent Maug F dvergr 5ub)ect; dvergr Knominative, without articleL Ob)ect; baug Kaccusative, without articleL 1eaning; < dwarf has a ring. ,raugrinn sJr konunginn. 5ub)ect; draugrinn Knominative, with articleL Ob)ect; konunginn Kaccusative, with articleL 1eaning; The ghost sees the king. .eitir konungrinn ElFfr. 5ub)ect; konungrinn Knominative, with articleL 3omplement; ElFfr Knominative, proper nameL 1eaning; The king is called ElFfr.

<fter you finish studying the vocabulary you should take on the remaining exercises. 3. #5ercises 3.1 Mar) the (ronouns6 cases 7o(tional8 *n the following bible 8uotes there are many pronouns. "ocate them and find out what case they-re in. <lso note the reason they are in that case. a% * am he that liveth. b% Take now thy son whom thou lovest and offer him there for a burnt offering. c% <nd when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her; 3ome lie with me, my sister . d% .im that dieth of Maasha in the city shall the dogs eat. e% >udah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish. a% ,vergrinn F baug. b% .)Flm F .aukr. c% Nlfrinn sJr draug. d% .ann er konungrinn. e% .ann sJr dverginn. 3.3 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse a% The ghost kills the king. b% The elf kills a wolf. c% The king sees a hawk. d% ElFfr is a king. e% < king is named ElFfr. 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into #nglish ElFfr heitir konungr. .ann F brand. .eitir brandrinn Tyrfingr. Olf sJr ElFfr ok segir; .Jr er Hlfr@ . ElFfr tekr brandinn ok vegr Hlfinn. En hJr er ok ormr. ElFfr sJr hann eigi. ElFf vegr ormrinn. 3." 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse < king is called 5igurIr. .e owns a sword but not a horse. ElFfr is also a king. .e owns a horse. 5igurIr kills ElFfr and takes the horse. 4. Loo)ing at real te5ts 4.1 A fe. .ords fro$ the 4norra-#dda En er Jrmunrekkr konungr s haukinn... Plossary; er when

sF

saw #past tense of -sJr-%

1eaning; Mut when king >Qrmunrekkr saw the hawk... The sub)ect of the sentence ->Qrmunrekkr konungr- is in the nominative case whereas the ob)ect -haukinn- is in the accusative case. To find out )ust what happened when king >Qrmunrekkr saw the hawk you will have to look up chapter 7$ of the 5kFldskaparmFl. 4.2 9.o lines fro$ the /:lus(, *n :QluspF #The =rophecy of the 5eeress% the seeress says; Ask veit ek standa. Heitir Yggdrasill. Plossary; askr veit ek standa ash tree * know #to% stand

There are some things you should notice here. The first word of the sentence, -ask-, is the ob)ect. 0ou can see that because it is in the accusative form. Then comes the verb -veit- and then the sub)ect -ek-. Thus the word order is -ob)ect!verb!sub)ect-. The second sentence has no sub)ect. *nstead of -.ann heitir 0ggdrasill.- we have only -.eitir 0ggdrasill.- *t is 8uite normal in poetry that the sub)ect be dropped. 1eaning; * know an ash tree to stand. *t is called 0ggdrasill. Lesson 9.o 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 ;irst and second (erson (ersonal (ronouns Now you have to learn those singular personal pronouns; Nominative <ccusative &.person e) $i) '.person *+ *i)

The corresponding English table looks like this; Nominative <ccusative &.person * me '.person you you

The forms -DH- and -Dik- are the relatives of the English forms -thou- and -thee-. <nd then there are the plural pronouns, still fairly similar to English; &.person '.person

Nominative <ccusative Nominative <ccusative

%<r oss &.person we us

*<r y=r '.person you you

<nd finally a concept that doesn-t exist in 1odern English, dual pronouns; Nominative <ccusative Nominative <ccusative &.person %it o))r &.person we two us two '.person *it y))r '.person you two you two

1.2 0lural of third (erson (ronouns We will now introduce the plural of the third person pronouns. <s before we begin with English. 5ingular Nominative he she <ccusative him her it it =lural they them they them they them

The reason for writing they out three times is that the plural of he is the same as the plural of she or the plural of it , unlike Old Norse ; Nominative <ccusative 5ingular hann hon hann hana *at *at =lural *eir *, *>r *>r *au *au

Thus, many hons make a DRr and many hanns make a Deir #to put it in silly terms%. We are still only using the masculine pronoun as all nouns we have introduced are masculine. 1.3 0lural of nouns Nouns, of course, have a plural form. The plural form declines in cases and can be with or without definitive article. We-ll write up a table showing the declension of our strong masculine words. This time we will use a Sstem T endingU scheme. The grammatical stem of a word is the word without grammatical ending. Without article 5ingular stem T r stem =lural stem T ar stem T a With article 5ingular stem T r T inn stem T inn =lural stem T ar T nir stem T a T na

Nom. <cc.

<nd then with the good old elf as the example. Without article 5ingular ,lfr ,lf =lural ,lfar ,lfa With article 5ingular ,lfrinn ,lfinn =lural ,lfarnir ,lfana

Nom. <cc.

Now you know eight different forms of each noun. This might be a bit overwhelming at first but if you immediately begin memorising the table above and work hard at the exercises it will soon be very familiar. 1.4 4o$e slightly irregular nouns 5ome words of the strong masculine declension lack the nominative singular ending -r-. *n order to make it completely clear what we mean we decline a sample word from this group. The word is -)arl- and means -earl-. The reason is probably that pronouncing )arlr would not be comfortable. Without article 5ingular 2arl 2arl =lural 2arlar 2arla With article 5ingular 2arlinn 2arlinn =lural 2arlarnir 2arlana

Nom. <cc.

The vocabulary also introduces the word -geirr-. *t is completely regular, so do not get confused by the two r-s at the end. The first r is part of the stem whereas the second one is the nominative singular ending. 1." Ma=r - an irregular noun We will now introduce a masculine noun that in its declension does not follow the patterns already described. The word is -maIr- and means -human being- or -person-. Without article 5ingular $a=r $ann =lural $enn $enn With article 5ingular $a=rinn $anninn =lural $enninir $ennina

Nom. <cc.

Notice how the irregularity is similar to that of the corresponding English word, -man-. <lso notice that the endings for the article are very similar to those for the regular words. This is no coincidence, in fact the article declines in the same basic way for every word of the same gender. The word -maIr- is a very useful one and will help us make more interesting sentences. 1.3 /erbal con2ugation The form of a verb depends upon the sub)ect in the sentence, so in Old Norse as it is in English. "et us give an example *nfinitive; #to% be * am thou art heVsheVit is we are you are they are

We will now give the corresponding Old Norse verb/ like its English counterpart, it is completely irregular. *nfinitive; #at% %era ek e$ DH ert vitVvJr eru$ DitVDJr eru=

hannVhonVDat er

DeirVDRrVDau eru

Bemember what everything means here. The plural of -hann- is -Deir- et cetera. <lso note that the dual pronouns have the same con)ugation as the plural ones. Now we will look at more regular verbs. We don-t have to remember every form of every verb/ for now it will be sufficient for us to remember two/ the infinitive and the first person singular. The endings are tacked on in the following way. *nfinitive; Kform &L ek Kform 'L DH Kform 'L T r hannVhonVDat Kform 'L T r This code may be a bit cryptic. When * say best illustrated with examples; %ega? %eg ek %eg DH %egr hannVhonVDat %egr heita? heiti ek heiti DH heitir hannVhonVDat heitir ta)a? te) ek te) DH te)r hannVhonVDat te)r seg2a? segi ek segi DH segir hannVhonVDat segir )alla? )alla #to call% ek )alla DH )allar hannVhonVDat )allar hafa? hefi #to have, wear, carry% ek hefi DH hefir hannVhonVDat hefir vitVvJr Kform &L ! a T u$ DitVDJr Kform &L ! a T i= DeirVDRrVDau Kform &L ! a T um * mean subtract -a- and add -um- . This is

vitVvJr %egu$ DitVDJr %egi= DeirVDRrVDau %ega vitVvJr heitu$ DitVDJr heiti= DeirVDRrVDau heita vitVvJr t:)u$ #explained below% DitVDJr ta)i= DeirVDRrVDau ta)a vitVvJr seg2u$ DitVDJr segi= #explained below% DeirVDRrVDau seg2a vitVvJr ):llu$ DitVDJr )alli= DeirVDRrVDau )alla vitVvJr h:fu$ DitVDJr hafi= DeirVDRrVDau hafa

<nd now for one verb that is almost regular, but not 8uite; s2,? s< #to see% ek s< DH s<r hannVhonVDat s<r vitVvJr s2,$ #not Ws)Fum% DitVDJr s<= #not Ws)FiI% DeirVDRrVDau s2,

< u in a grammatical ending always changes a preceding -a- to an -Q-. This is known as u!mutation and is treated in more detail later. The letters -)- and -i- cannot coexist/ for this reason we have -segiI- and not -Wseg)iI-.

We won-t use the infinitive )ust yet but it is still one of two forms of each verb you need to memorise. The verb -F- does not follow this pattern, it is con)ugated in lesson (. The forms -s)Fum- and -s)FiI- are correct in later *celandic. 1.@ A#rA - an all (ur(ose relati%e (ronoun Belative pronouns are words like -who, which, that-. *n Norse we have one very useful word that can play the role of all those. The word is -er- and it should not be confused with the (rd person singular of the verb to be . <n example will be in order. he !eo!le "that# he sees are $or%egians. &enninir' er hann s(r' eru $ormenn. Belative pronoun can be dropped. Belative pronoun cannot be dropped.

We say that the relative pronoun represents a word from the main sentence in the case appropriate for the verb in the relative clause. 5ince the word -er- is the same in all cases this is mostly a technical thing and need not be worried overly about. We will, somewhat arbitrarily, separate all relative clauses in Norse with commas. 1.B 9he (resent tense 5o far we have only been discussing the present tense of verbs. The ON present tense actually corresponds to two forms in English. )*kingarnir koma. )*kingarnir koma. The vikings come. The vikings are coming.

When translating remember to use the most natural English form. 1.C !ord order While word order in Old Norse is fairly free there are usually some things that are more normal than others. The normal word order in a simple sentence is, as in English; sub)ect verb ob)ect . <nother common word order is verb sub)ect ob)ect . The greatest emphasis in a sentence is usually on the first word. Thus, if we want to draw special attention to the ob)ect we can use ob)ect verb sub)ect . Other word!order schemes are usually reserved for elaborate poetry. Where do you put the negating word eigi ? Those examples will illustrate the variety of normal structures. ,o not be overwhelmed by this, there is little need to memorise every possible pattern, you will slowly become familiar with normal word order in reading the translation exercises. 5ub)ect!verb!ob)ect .ann sJr eigi Hlfinn. .ann sJr Hlfinn eigi. :erb!sub)ect!ob)ect 5Jr hann Hlfinn eigi. 5Jr hann eigi Hlfinn. Eigi sJr hann Hlfinn. Ob)ect!verb!sub)ect Olfinn sJr hann eigi.

<ll the legal sentences above have one thing in common; The verb is always the first or the second word in the sentence. This phenomenon is known as :' and is treated in more detail later in the course. Other adverbs are usually placed in the same way. 2. /ocabulary 2.1 Nouns maIr NorImaIr person, man, human being #declension described in &.7% Norwegian #declines like maIr%

Then two words whose declension we described in &.+. hrafn )arl raven earl

The rest of the words given are regular strong masculine. bFtr geirr Xslendingr vargr vGkingr D)Yfr boat spear *celander wolf viking thief

<nd for good measure we also list the names used in the lesson. 0ou should never forget that names behave as any other nouns. They decline according to their declension group. EirGkr Erlingr

2.2 0ronouns er that, which, who, whom

<lso remember to memorise the masculine pronoun in plural. Nom. Deir #they% <cc. DF #them%

2.3 /erbs The verbs from lesson one are reiterated here for easy reference. hafa, hefi hata, hata heita, heiti dey)a, dey have, hold, wear hate be called die

bGIa, bGI koma, kZm mRla, mRli s)F, sJ vega, veg seg)a, segi taka, tek s)F #irregular% vera #irregular% F

wait come talk see slay says take see be owns #only form of this verb yet presented%

2.4 Ad%erbs nH Dar now there

2." A greeting The following forms can be used as greetings. This is actually an ad)ective that is declining according to gender and number but we-ll talk about that later. -eill@ ! to greet one man -eil@ ! to greet one woman -eilir@ ! to greet a group of men -eilar@ ! to greet a group of women -eil@ ! to greet a group including both sexes

2.3 Des or no Euestions To change a statement into a 8uestion you use the word order :erb!sub)ect!#ob)ectVcomplement% <nd often you add the word -hvFrt- in front. Hvrt er hann h(r+ Er hann h(r+ Mut it-s not good fashion to answer a yes or no 8uestion with yes or no@ That-s almost never done in the Old *celandic texts. *nstead you )ust repeat the 8uestion as a statement. [uestion; Hvrt er hann h(r+ <nswer; Hann er h(r. Oh, alright, we can tell you the words; )F nei yes no

2.@ 4a$(le sentences NorImenn hata Xslendinga. 5ub)ect; NorImenn Knominative, plural, without articleL Ob)ect; Xslendinga Kaccusative, plural, without articleL 1eaning; Norwegians hate *celanders. .atar konungrinn Hlfa. 5ub)ect; konungrinn Knominative, singular, with articleL Ob)ect; Hlfa Kaccusative, plural, without articleL 1eaning; The king hates wolfs. \eir eru NorImenn. 5ub)ect; Deir Knominative, pluralL 3omplement; NorImenn Knominative, plural, without articleL 1eaning; They are Norwegians. Mrandrinn, er hann F, heitir Tyrfingr. 5ub)ect in main sentence; brandrinn Knominative, singular, with articleL 3omplement in main sentence Tyrfingr Knominative, singular, proper nameL 5ub)ect in relative clause; hann Knominative, singularL Ob)ect in relative clause; er Kaccusative, singularL 1eaning; The sword which he has is called Tyrfingr. :it hQfum h)Flma. 5ub)ect; vit Knominative, dualL Ob)ect; h)Flma Kaccusative, pluralL 1eaning; We two have #are wearing% helmets.

3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish 5)F )arlarnir konungana. Nlfrinn F knGfa. Olfar heita ok vargar. Maugana s)F menninir. .rafnarnir dey)a. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse The raven sees a hawk. The king hates thieves. < viking is called Erlingr. The earls are called Erlingr and EirGkr. 0ou #pl.% are coming. 3.3 9ranslate the te5t into #nglish Note; <s our vocabulary and knowledge of grammar expands we will find better things to do with our exercises than killing ElFfr. NorImenn hafa konung/ hann heitir ElFfr. 1aIr heitir EirGkr/ hann er )arl ok vGkingr. ElFf hatar EirGkr. ElFfr F bFt. .ann heitir Ormr. NH sJr EirGkr bFtinn. 5egir hann; .Jr er bFtrinn, er ElFfr F. EirGkr hatar ElFf en hann tekr eigi bFtinn, er ElFfr F. .ann bGIr. ElFfr kZmr. EirGkr segir; NH deyr

DH, ElFfr konungr@ Ek veg Dik@ ok vegr ElFf. ElFfr segir \H vegr mik@ Ek dey@ N@ N@ #exclamation of pain% 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse < man is called EirGkr. .e owns #some% helmets, #some% boats and a spear. .e is a viking. .e kills people and takes boats. Mut EirGkr is not a thief. Thieves don-t kill. Now EirGkr sees ElFfr and the 5erpent. .e kills ElFfr and takes the 5erpent. 3." 9ranslate the (lay into #nglish KElFfr bGIr.L ElFfr; Ek sJ mann@ KmaIr kZmrL 1aIr; .eill ElFfr konungr@ Ek heiti EirGkr ok ek em Xslendingr. ElFfr; .eill EirGkr@ EirGkr; .vFrt sJr DH orminn Dar, konungr? ElFfr; Eigi sJ ek orm. EirGkr; En hann er hJr@ KnH sJr ElFfr orminnL ElFfr; Ormr@ Ek sJ orm@ Ormr; ElFfr@ Ek sJ ElFf@ EirGkr; 5egir ormrinn ElFfr ? Ormr; Nei. Ormar mRla eigi. KElFfr ok EirGkr fl])aL 3.3 9ranslate the (lay into #nglish KEirGkr, D)Yfr ok vGkingr, sJr Orm, bFt er ElFfr FL EirGkr; \ar er bFtr@ K.aukr, Xslendingr, mRlirL .aukr; ElFfr F bFtinn. KElFfr kZmrL ElFfr; 1enn sJ ek@ EirGkr ok .aukr; :it erum hJr. ElFfr; .vFrt takiI Dit bFtinn? EirGkr ok .aukr; :it tQkum hann eigi. ElFfr; Ormr heitir bFtrinn. Ek F Orm KEirGkr ok .aukr kallaL E ^ .; Olfr@ Olfr@ \ar er Hlfr@ ElFfr; Olfr? Ek hata Hlfa@ KOlfr, NorImaIr ok D)Yfr, kZmrL ElFfr; Ek sJ eigi Hlf. .vFrt er hJr Hlfr? Olfr; .Jr em ek, ElFfr konungr. KEirGkr, .aukr ok Olfr taka bFtinn ok fl])aL ElFfr; \)Yfar@ Ek hata D)Yfa@ E, . ^ O; :Jr erum vGkingar, vJr hQfum bFt er heitir Ormr@ 4. Loo)ing at real te5ts 4.1 -alf a stanFa by 4norri 4turluson

,rGfr handar hlekkr Dar er hilmir drekkr. 1)Qk er brQgnum bekkr blGIskFlar Dekkr. This half!stan2a will not look recognisable to you, indeed it shouldn-t, it is a complicated poetic passage. Mut we will apply the principles set forth earlier KThe Norse and English tonguesL to help us with individual words. 5ome we can guess at without thought/ -handar- looks like it-s a cognate of -hand- and -drGfr- could be a cognate of -drive-. We are right on both accounts/ -handar- means -of hand- but while -drGfr- is indeed related to -drive- in this case it means -snows-. 3ompare with the English word -#snow%drift-. The next word is -hlekkr-. ,oesn-t look familiar. Mut English dropped all h-s in front of consonants, maybe if we change it to -lekkr-. "ooks better but we need to do more. The cluster -nk- was fre8uently assimilated to -kk- in Old Norse, maybe we need to reverse such a change. Then we-ve got -lenkr-. Of course English doesn-t have r as a grammatical ending, out it goes. New result -lenk-. 5till not an English word but let-s remember that vowels are more prone to change than consonants. *f we change the -e- to an -i- then we-ve finally made it to -link- which is the right word. *t-s a good and correct guess that -Dar- means -there-. *n this context -Dar er- means -where-. What might -hilmir- be? No way to figure that one out, it means -king-. The word is related to -h)Flmr- and refers to the fact that kings tend to bear helmets. Then there-s -drekkr-. We apply the same rules as before/ Norse -kk- can be English -nk- and English doesn-t have -r- as a grammatical ending. Then we-ve got -drenk-. 1aybe if we change the vowel to -ias before. .ocus!pocus we-ve got -drink- which is correct. 1ore specifically -drekkr- means -drinks-. "et-s look at that first sentence in toto. ,rGfr handar hlekkr Dar er hilmir drekkr. The sub)ect is -handar hlekkr- which means -link of the hand-. <nd what does _that_ mean? *t is a poetic paraphrase for -gold-. The verb is -drGfr- which means -snows-. Then -Dar er- means -where-, -hilmir- means -king- and -drekkr- means -drinks-. #The% link of the hand KgoldL snows where #the% king drinks. This sentence is 8uite typical of Norse court poetry/ praise of the king-s generosity in florid language. "et-s look at the second sentence. The word -m)Qk- means -very-. The English cognate is -much-. 0ou already know that -er- can mean -is-. 5uch is the case here. The word -brQgnum- doesn-t have an English cognate. *t means -for menand is a poetic word. Then there-s -bekkr-. *n with the n, out with the r@ We-ve got -benk-. .mm... The correct cognate is -bench- and the meaning is the same. The word!form -blGIskFlar- is made out of -blGI- and -skFlar-. The first is an ad)ective cognate to English -blithe-. The second is the possessive form of -skFl- which means -bowl-. 1odern 5candinavians can often be heard shouting this word. 5kFl@ 5k`l@ Toast@ "ast word; -Dekkr-. Once more we change -kk- into -nk- and get -thenk-. The correct cognate is -thankbut the word means -comfortable- rather than -thankful-. *f we draw together the second sentence. 1)Qk er brQgnum bekkr blGIskFlar Dekkr. 1eaning; The bench of the blithe bowl is very comfortable for men. <nd who doesn-t like sitting and drinking... *n summary we could guess correctly at the meaning of many words; -handar, drekkr, blGI, hlekkr, bekkr- but we also had some whose cognates didn-t help us much; -drGfr, Dekkr-. This is 8uite typical. ,o not rely on cognate trickery but use it, where it applies, as an aid to memory.

4.2 9.o half-stro(hes fro$ the 4igdrGfu$,l

.eill ,agr@ .eilir ,ags synir@ .eil NYtt ok nipt@ !!! .eilir asir@ .eilar Nsyn)ur@ .eil s)F in f)Qln]ta fold@ 3ompare the greeting carefully with chapter '.7/ notice how it changes according to gender and number. .ail, ,ay@ .ail, ,ay-s sons@ .ail, Night and KherL sister@ .ail, asir #gods%@ .ail, Nsyn)ur #goddesses%@ .ail, bountiful earth@ Lesson 9hree 0.1 4(elling When the "atin alphabet was introduced to write Old Norse the spelling used was not very consistent and not very precise. To improve readability the spelling of the preserved manuscripts is usually corrected in modern editions. Cor example, there are few manuscripts that distinguish between short and long vowels but this distinction is, as a rule, made now when Old *celandic texts are published. The spelling used in this course is the standardised spelling used in the Xslen2k fornrit edition of the sagas. That spelling, in turn, is based on suggestions from a &'th century treatise called The Cirst Prammatical Treatise, because it is the first of four in its manuscript. There are two exceptions to this. What we here write as -Q- should be an o with a tail and what we here write as -oe- should be an oe!ligature. This is due to letter code difficulties. 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 Ad2ecti%es - indefinite for$ *n 1odern English an ad)ective, such as -fresh- will have exactly the same form no matter what its grammatical context is. This was not so in 1iddle English. "et-s look at a part of 3haucer-s description of the 58uire. Embrouded was he, as it were a meede <l ful of fresshe floures, whyte and reede. 5yngynge he was, or floytynge, al De day/ .e was as fressh as is De monD of 1ay. We see that two forms of the same ad)ective occur/ - fressh- and -fresshe-. The first form goes with -he- and the second with -floures-. We could guess, correctly, that the 1iddle English ad)ective has a plural ending of -e-. We have more examples of this above. The flowers are - .hyte- and -reedewhereas the meadow is -ful- of them. <fter this sidestep it should come as no surprise to you that in Old Norse ad)ectives have different

forms depending on the number and case of the noun they describe. Their form also depends on the gender of the noun and whether it is definite or indefinite #explained below%. The masculine indefinite declension is exemplified here. Nom. <cc. 5g. rei=r rei=an =l. rei=ir rei=a

The word -reiIr- means -angry-. <s always you must memorise the table. We will immediately give examples of the usage. Note that the ad)ective can come either in front of the noun or behind it. Moth types of usage are natural. H(r eru reiir menn. Hann s(r reian mann. l,r er mar reir. .ere are #some% angry people. .e sees an angry person. Olaf is an angry person.

Note carefully, however, that ON has a separate declension for ad)ectives that apply to nouns with a definite article. That is called the definite declension, while the one presented here is the indefinite. Me careful thus, not to use the forms above with a definite noun, for that is #under normal circumstances% wrong. The definite declension of ad)ectives is not presented here yet, since it is modelled on a noun declension not yet introduced #the weak one%/ the indefinite forms above, however, are similar to the declensions of strong masculine nouns and various pronouns, all of which are being presented now. We will have to make do with only indefinite ad)ective forms for a while. 1.2 Hsage - accusati%e .ith infiniti%e .aving learnt infinitive forms of verbs and accusative forms of some nouns, we-re ready for a very useful sentence construction. Cirst, let-s take a look of the English e8uivalent. * saw him come. .e sees it fly. This construction, usually with a main verb meaning to see, watch, hear, feel, sense, etc, indicates that the sub)ect seesVhearsVsenses the ob)ect performing an action, which is put into the infinitive form #without any marker%. ON examples; Ek s( l, konung koma. )(r s-m manninn kalla. Hann heyrir drauginn m.la. * see bing Olaf come. We see the man shout. .e hears the ghost speak.

1odern English speakers will often say * see it coming. instead of come. The ON construction may be translated either way. 1.3 Hsage - au5iliary %erbs ON has much in common with English in its use of auxiliaries. To begin with, some examples of English auxiliary constructions with infinitive; *t wants to go. .e has to go. The man does see. Mirds can fly.

The dogs must leave. The beast will sleep. The auxiliary verbs are the ones that con)ugate, -want-, -can-, etc, always coming first in an English sentence #but not necessarily in ON%. The other verbs are all in infinitive. Note how some of the infinitives are marked with -to-, but some not. This is a feature of English as well as ON. *t is inherent in the auxiliaries themselves, if the following infinitive is marked or not. <mong the auxiliaries above only -want- and -have- take a marker. ON verbs that have no infinitive marker, are easily recogni2ed because they all belong to a special con)ugation group. Melow you will learn -vil)a-, meaning -want-, which is one of those special auxiliaries. bonungrinn vill vega mennina. \eir vil)a taka hestinn. Ek vil mRla. Eta vil ek eigi. The king wants to kill the men. They want to take the horse. * want to speak. * don-t want to eat.

1.4 9he $asculine article *t may annoy speakers of many languages that the definite article is attached to the end of words rather than being a seperate word in front. *t may be some consolation that it is originally a separate word. *ts declension #in the cases and gender we have learnt so far% follows; nom acc sg inn inn pl inir ina

When we tack the article on to words it sometimes appears in its full ma)esty; $a=r T inn A $a=rinn $enn T inir A $enninir Mut if the noun ends with a vowel or -r- the -i- of the article is dropped; or$ar T inir A or$arnir or$a T ina A or$ana <nd now a masculine noun from a declension group #the weak one% which you haven-t learnt. #nom sg% #acc sg% hani T inn A haninn hana T inn A hanann

Though it is a separate word, -inn- cannot be freely put in front of a word as an article/ it always follows the noun #with some important exceptions to be learnt later%. 2. /ocabulary 2.1 Nouns matr fiskr food #always in singular% fish

ostr Names; 5vartr bormFkr

cheese

2.2 0ronouns There is a group of pronouns called -indefinite- pronouns/ here are two useful ones; allr margr all, whole many, multitudinous

<s said above, many pronouns decline like the indefinite ad)ectives that have been presented. Thus, -allr- is declined #in masculine%; nom acc sg allr allan pl allir alla

Exactly like the ad)ectives above. Mut since -allr- is available both in singular and plural, how would each translate in English? The plural form translates directly to the English cognate -all-, while the singular means -all of-, -whole-. Examples; Allir menninir eru norskir. Hann s(r allan manninn <ll the men are Norwegian. .e sees all of the man.

-1argr- declines in the same way. *ts singular form means -one of many-, while the plural means -many-. To explain the singular, consider this example; &argr mar hest. 1any a man has got a horse.

What students should perhaps reali2e, is that there is little difference between these so!called pronouns on the one hand, and ad)ectives on the other. Cor other ad)ectives can stand independently )ust as these pronouns can/ examples; <llir eru glaIir. <ll are happy. .rRddir eru ok ragir. 5cared KonesL are also cowardly. ,auIir s)F dauIa. ,ead KonesL see dead KonesL. E, blindr leiir blindan ,alla bir * gry,-u. *f a blind KoneL guides a blind KoneL, both fall into a pit. .owever, traditional grammar defines these so!called pronouns as such, and other ad)ectives as such/ we will adhere to this system in our lessons, in order not to confuse students refer to other sources. Begarding word order, ad)ectives usually postcede personal pronouns/ thus; Ek et hann allan. * eat all of it.

2.3 Ad2ecti%es danskr dauIr gYIr hrRddr illr Gslen2kr norskr reiIr ragr stYrr svangr ,anish dead good afraid evil *celandic Norwegian angry cowardly big #note that the first r is part of the stem% hungry

2.4 /erbs Begular verbs; eta, et veiIa, veiIi fl])a, fl] spyr)a, spyr svara, svara kenna, kenni elta, elti heyra, heyri fara, fer dey)a, dey eat huntVfish flee, run away ask answer recogni2e, know #a person, place, or ob)ect% follow, chase hear go die

Note that ON has different words for the English concept know / kenna above indicates familiarity, while vita , mentioned above, is the absolute knowing, i.e. it means awareness of a fact or event. <n irregular verb ! vil)a; This irregular verb, meaning want , is the second in a small group of verbs with an anomalous con)ugation #the first being vera %, but also highly useful meanings. *t is a cognate of English will , and behaves in similar ways as that English verb #e.g. in auxiliary constructions, see &.( above%. *t con)ugates thus; *nfinitive; #at% %il2a ek %il DH %ilt hannVhonVDat %ill vitVvJr DitVDJr DeirVDRrVDau %il2u$ %ili= %il2a

2." Ad%erbs brFtt oft hvG? soon often why? #word!order; hvG T verb T sub)ect%

m)Qk

very, very much, greatly

-1)Qk-, being an adverb, can also be used with verbs, in which case it means -very much-. Cor example, l,r hatar m-k /l,a. Olaf hates wolves very much. <nother example, from a real text, :QluspF; Peyr nH garmr m)Qk. Now KtheL dog howls greatly.

2.3 1on2unctions DvG at er because #word!order; DvG at T sub)ect T verb% when

3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the sentences into #nglish Bagir menn s)F reiIan Hlf koma. Ek sJ svangan mann taka ost. .vFrt sJr DH Gslen2ka menn koma? 1aIrinn er oft hrRddr. *llir menn vil)a vega gYIa menn. <llir vil)a bFtinn taka DvG at ElFfr F hann. Xslendingar eru eigi menn ragir. \eir eru ok gYIir en eigi illir. 1aIrinn veiIir fisk ok etr hann brFtt allan.

3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse ,o you two eat the whole cheese? We see hungry wolves chase the man. The ravens want to eat all of him, for they are very hungry. bing Olaf sees the thieves take the boat. * see many thieves@ * want to kill them all@ Olaf wants to kill the thieves, but they see him coming. <s the thieves hear Olaf speak, they all flee. The king chases them. 1any a thief wants to take the boat.

3.3 9ranslate the te5ts into #nglish *llr draugr vill vega ElFf konung. .ann eltir konunginn ok er hann sJr hann, kallar draugrinn, ElFfr, DH ert maIr illr m)Qk ok ragr. Ek hata Dik, DvG at DH vegr gYIa menn. ElFfr er hrRddr ok fl]r. 5vartr heitir danskr maIr. .ann veiIir oft fiska ok etr DF DvG at fiskar eru matr gYIr. 5vartr ferr ok veiIir marga stYra fiska er hann vill eta. Er 5vartr veiIir fiskana, kZmr maIr. Er maIrinn sJr 5vart veiIa fiskana, segir hann, .eill, ek heiti bormFkr. 5vartr heyrir bormFk mRla ok svarar, .eill. 5vartr heiti ek ok em danskr maIr. bormFkr spyrr 5vart, .vFrt veiIir DH fiska, 5vartr? 1arga

stYra fiska veiIi ek, DvG at Deir eru gYIr matr. bormFkr segir, Ostr er ok gYIr matr, 5vartr. Ek hefi hJr ost gYIan. .vFrt vilt DH ost eta? ! Ek vil fisk ok ost eta, DvG at ostr er ok gYIr matr. .vFrt vilt DH fisk eta, bormFkr? ! Ciskr er gYIr, svarar bormFkr ok tekr fisk. 5vartr tekr ok ost ok etr. 1enninir eru m)Qk svangir. \eir eta nH alla fiskana ok allan ostinn, ok eru brFtt glaIir menn en eigi svangir. 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse < worm sees a wolf coming. When it sees the wolf, it says, 5ss ! wolf, why do you come? * own the fish here, which you want to take. The wolf is not scared and replies, hail worm, *-m a hungry wolf now and * want to eat fish. 0ou have much fish #many fishes% there, which you aren-t eating #don-t eat%. The worm is angry and says, * own all the fish there, wolf. Wolves who eat the fish all die #dey)a allir%@ Now the wolf is scared, because an evil worm wants to kill it. ! 0ou are an evil worm@ 0ou fish #hunt% much fish but do not eat it #them% all. We wolves are very hungry and don-t have fish. We also want to eat fish, worm@ The worm sees the wolf flee. The wolf is very angry and shouts, * hate evil worms@ Mut the worm does not chase the wolf, for it is happy but not angry. 4. Loo)ing at real te5ts 4.1 A stro(he fro$ /:lus(, *n this course we use standardised Old *celandic spelling, geared to the &(th century. *n this format we would give one of the last strophes of :QluspF like this. 01(r hon u!! koma ru sinni -r 2r .gi i-agroena3 ,alla ,orsar' ,l4gr rn y,ir' s er ,-alli ,iska veiir.0 This, however, is not what how the main manuscript of :QluspF, 3odex Begius, reads. The same strophe is spelled in the following way in the manuscript #* change e with tail to R and o with tail to Q%. 5er hon upp koma avIro siNi iord or Rgi iDia grQna. falla forsar flygr avrn yfir sa er afialli fisca ueiIir. "ots of interesting points. The manuscript doesn-t distinguish between short and long vowels. *t sometimes uses capitals for double consonants. *t does not differentiate between i and ). *t does not differentiate between u and v. *t uses c for k. The grammatical ending -u- is written -o-. *t does not split the poem into lines. *t uses capitalisation and punctuation in a way different from ours. *t divides words in a way different from ours. *t writes -I- as -D-, -d- or -I-. *t uses -av- for -Q-.

*n all those respects 3odex Begius is 8uite normal. *ndeed, the standardised spelling is by no means an average of the spelling systems in the various manuscripts. Bather, it is intended to write Old Norse in a way that distinguishes its different sounds. We can now look at the same strophe respelled into modern *celandic. 01(r h/n u!! koma ru sinni -r /r .gi i-agr.na3 ,alla ,ossar' ,l4gur rn y,ir' s er ,-alli ,iska veiir.0 Not many changes because the spelling of Old *celandic and the spelling of 1odern *celandic are based on the same basic system. 0ou should note that the ending -r- has changed to -ur-. We have now shown you the same strophe in three different spellings. <ll of them are 8uite plausible and many more. The morale? When you encounter a text -in the original Old Norse- be sure to notice which spelling is used. Lesson ;our 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 'ati%e 1aseI &i%ing J Kecei%ing 4ntil now, we have been working with two opposing cases; nominative and accusative. My now you should understand clearly the concept behind them and the difference between them. 3onsider this English sentence, John tells a story. That-s complete. *t-s clear to you that >ohn is the sub)ect and the story is the ob)ect/ if it were ON, >ohn would be in nominative form and the story would be in accusative form. John tells a story to &ary. >ohn-s still the sub)ect, the story-s still the ob)ect/ but the new participant, 1ary, serves an as yet unidentified role. "et-s consider the following incomplete sentence, John gives the dog... <s stated above, the sentence is not complete/ we need to know to whom >ohn gives the dog. 5o, John gives the dog to &ary. <gain, 1ary-s a third participant in the sentence/ but how does 1ary relate do >ohn and the dog? <gain, before we answer that, let-s consider what word order has to do with it/ John gives to &ary the dog. o &ary the dog gives John. The first version is not obviously incorrect, merely unconventional/ the second one is wrong, especially for our purposes, because it makes it seem like the dog is giving >ohn away, and thereby being the sub)ect. *n any case, it is clear that 1ary has a different role from the dog, and >ohn clearly has a different role from both of them. We know that >ohn is the sub)ect and the dog is the ob)ect, so what does that make 1ary? 5he-s an ob)ect all right, but not in the same way as the dog. The dog-s a direct ob)ect/ it-s being directly affected by >ohn. 1ary is an indirect ob)ect/ she-s merely being affected by >ohn-s actions involving the dog. The bottom line is, 1ary-s role is special, and it is practical to mark this role in a separate way. .ow

does English mark this role? 4sually, in sentences like the ones above, by fixing to to the indirect ob)ect. Note how the to would stay with 1ary no matter how the word order got arranged. 0ou might have figured out by now that we-re dealing with a new case. 0ou might also have guessed that ON marks this case with special endings, not merely with words like to and a special word order. This case is called the dative case/ the da part of the word is the stem of the "atin word give , which is the logic behind the term for the primary usage of the dative case is to mark the receiver of a gift #note, though, that gifts can also be thrown, shoved, transmitted, told, etc to their receivers%.

1.2 'ati%e 1aseI ;or$s Now that you understand the basic idea behind the dative, you re8uire only the ON endings to start using it. Cirst, the strong masculine noun declension; 5g =l Nom d%ergr d%ergar <cc d%erg d%erga ,at d%ergi d%ergu$ The !i ending there is characteristic of the dative in the strong masculine/ some words in this declension don-t have it #i.e. they are the same in acc and dat%, e.g. matr , but you should not worry about it now. The !um in the dative plural is characteristic of all declensions/ it is thus important that you learn to recogni2e it. Next, the pronouns; 5g ,u =l Nom e) %it %<r <cc $i) o))r oss ,at $<r o))r oss 5g ,u =l Nom *+ *it *<r <cc *i) y))r y=r ,at *<r y))r y=r he it they #masc% they #neut% nom hann *at *eir *au acc hann *at *, *au dat h,nu$ *%G *ei$ *ei$ 0ou may find it disconcerting that hFnum has an !um ending #coupled with a minor stem change%, similar to the plural of nouns/ that is however characteristic of masculine pronouns in general. 5ince the article is originally a pronoun, its masculine form also features this, see a strong masculine word declined with the article attached; 5g =l Nom d%ergrinn d%ergarnir <cc d%erginn d%ergana ,at d%erginu$ d%ergunu$ The main anomaly here is the plural dative form/ you might, systematically speaking, expect something like dvergumnum . Boughly speaking, that-s the original form, but a combination like mn in that position would very easily get simplified to a more convenient n / which is what happened. Cinally, ad)ectives in masculine; 5g =l Nom rei=r rei=ir <cc rei=an rei=a

,at rei=u$ rei=u$ <gain, same pattern as with the pronouns, since the boundary between pronouns and ad)ectives is often not that clear in ON. <s you have seen happen with verbs, endings like !um that have an u in them, will modify any a in the immediately preceding syllable, changing it to Q. This is called u!umlaut, or u!mutation # umlaut is a Perman term/ um is a preposition meaning aboutVaround , while laut means sound ! sound!about if you like%. =ractically speaking, this means that you must take care with words containing an a in the root. Cor example, #Example noun% 5ing =l Nom maIr menn <cc mann menn ,at manni mQnnum #Example ad)ective% 5ing =l Nom gla=r gla=ir <cc gla=an gla=a ,at gl:=u$ gl:=u$ #Example pronoun% 5g =l Nom allr allir <cc allan alla ,at :llum :llum Note the a c Q changes where the !um ending is present #always in dative plural and *n dative singular of masculine ad)ectives and pronouns%. 1.3 !ord OrderI Lndirect Ob2ects The most conventional order in ON prose, is to put the indirect ob)ect WbeforeW the direct ob)ect. &arinn ge,r konunginum btinn. 0ou should stick to this word order, though you can expect )ust about any word order to appear in skaldic poetry. 1.4 /erb L$(erati%e We commonly command or suggest for people to do something; 5eave' ,ind the 6ar and then bring it here. <ll the verbs there are in imperative . English verbs do not have any separate form for the imperative. ON verbs do not have any endings for the imperative, but rather the infinitive stem is used without the !a ending. Cor example, )eg 7/ orminn ok tak bauginn er hann he,ir. <n exception is verbs that end with !a in &st person singular present, kalla . Those keep their a in the imperative. 8alla 7/ mik Hauk9 #Crom the verb infinitives vega and taka % <s can be seen, the pronoun DH #or Dit or DJr % may be inserted and usually is, especially in spoken language. *t need not be repeated for the following imperative verbs, though it may be done # ...ok tak DH bauginn... %. To command more than one person, the !iI ending #as in the verb active% is used; :egiI DJr orminn ok takiI bauginn er hann hefir. The imperative is seen in some greetings; )er "7/# heill9 be wholeVhealthy )eri heilir9 be wholeVhealthy #plural% :ar vel9 go well #fare well%

Mut negative commands are also used, as in English ;on<t go9 *n ON, this is simply expressed by adding a negative adverb such as eigi . :ar 7/ eigi9 1." 0ronoun tric) - !e Olaf slay a .or$ *n English we can say sentences like this; =la, and > are slaying a %orm. Old Norse has an idiomatic way of expressing the same; )it l,r vegum orm. We could also have; )(r l,r vegum orm. 1eaning; =la,' >' and some other !eo!le are slaying a %orm. 5ome more examples; eir l,r vega orm. it l,r vegi orm. (r l,r vegi orm. 2. /ocabulary 2.1 Nouns hattr grautr Names; Einarr C)alarr #dwarf!name% PandFlfr #dwarf!name% 2.2 Ad2ecti%es glaIr langr gylltr 2.3 /erbs gefa, gef foera, foeri finna, finn hlR)a, hlR 2.4 Ad%erbs DF 3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish 5vartr gefr bormFki fiska. \F er bormFkr glaIr. 1enninir foera Deim gYIan mat. :it foerum gYIum manni ost. 5vartr spyrr, .vG gefr DH mJr eigi ost, bormFkr? bormFkr svarar, Ek gef DJr eigi ost, DvG at ek hefi hann eigi. hat porridge

happy, glad long golden, gilted

give bring find laugh

then

bormFkr etr allan ostinn en gefr 5varti hann eigi. bonungrinn foerir NorImQnnunum knGfa ok geira. \F gefa NorImenninir hFnum langan bFt ok gylltan baug. 1aIrinn gefr hFnum hatt gYIan. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse Then they give a golden ring to an evil king. The dwarves bring the king a golden ring. The king says 0ou are good dwarves. The king takes the ring and gives the dwarves a big cheese. The dwarves don-t want any cheese, but they take it and go. Why do * give them cheese which they don-t eat? bing Olaf asks the ghost. The ghost replies Olaf, you-re a good man. Mut do not give cheese to dwarves. 3.3 9ranslate the te5t into #nglish ElFfr gefr 5varti hatt, knGf ok hest gYIan. .ann segir, Car DH nH, 5vartr, ok finn bauginn er dvergarnir C)alarr ok PandFlfr hafa. 5vartr svarar, En ElFfr, hvG gefr DH mJr eigi mat? Ek em svangr ok vil mat eta. ElFfr gefr hFnum ost, graut, ok fisk ok segir, .Jr hefir DH mat. Car nH ok finn bauginn. 5vartr etr matinn er ElFfr gefr hFnum. .ann segir, grautrinn er DH gefr mJr er gYIr, ElFfr. \H ert gYIr konungr. 5vartr ferr nH ok finnr dvergana er hafa bauginn. .ann segir, ,vergar, gefiI mJr bauginn. ElFfr konungr vill hann. ,vergarnir svara, :it vil)um eigi gefa ElFfi konungi bauginn. .ann er illr konungr. 5vartr er reiIr ok segir, PefiI mJr bauginn eIa ek veg ykkr@ ,vergarnir eru eigi hrRddir. \eir hlR)a ok C)alarr segir, \H ert ragr maIr, 5vartr. \H vegr okkr PandFlf eigi. :it gefum ykkr ElFfi eigi bauginn, ok far DH nH@ 5vartr hefir eigi brand. .ann hefir knGf, en knGfrinn er eigi stYrr. .ann vegr eigi dvergana ok foerir ElFfi eigi bauginn. 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse Eric, a thief, sees some men eat. They eat good porridge, many fish, and a big cheese. Eric wants the food, for he is hungry. .e says .ail, * am hungry. Will you #use DJr % give some good food to a hungry man? They reply Take some food. We give it to you. Mut the elves are hungry too. Take some porridge and give it to them. Eric finds some elves. .e brings hungry elves food, for he is a good man. 4. Loo)ing at real te5ts 4.1 A stanFa fro$ the -:fu=lausn <gain we practice our etymology but in a less verbose manner than before. < stan2a from the .QfuIlausn; Meit fleinn floginn DF var friIr loginn var Flmr dreginn varI Hlfr feginn. 5tY2k fYlk!hagi viI f)Qr!lagi gall ]!bogi at egg!togi. The main etymological lesson here is that g inside a word is gone in modern English/ resulting in a change of the original vowel. floginn flown

loginn dreginn feginn lagi #dative% Other cognates; Flmr stY2k #middle voice% beit gall egg!

lied drawn fain lay elm #bows were made of elm% stood bit #bGta A bite% yelled #Old English geall , the -g- is pronounced as -y- in 1E% edge #Old English ecg was pronounced edge % yew!

]! Words without English cognates; fleinn arrow friIr peace f)Qr life * have included most of the cognates in this translation but enclosed them in 8uotation marks when they didn-t seem to fit the context. < flown arrow bit then peace was lied KbrokenL the elm KbowL was drawn the wolf became fain. The folk!leader stood against a lay KblowL to his life a yew bow yelled KtwungL at the tow KpullL of edges.

Old Norse for Beginners - Lesson ;i%e by Haukur orgeirsson and skar Gulaugsson Prammar =repositions and 3ase 4sage ,ative 3ase; 3ommand <ccusative 3ase; [ualifying <ssimilative :erb 3on)ugation :ocabulary Nouns 3on)unctions <d)ectives :erbs <dverbs =repositions =ronouns =hrases Exercises Translate the phrases into English Translate the phrases into Old Norse Translate the text into English Translate the text into Old Norse 1. &ra$$ar

1.1 0re(ositions 5o far we have been managing entirely without prepositions. Mut prepositions are an important part of ON as well as English, and not using them calls for much unnecessary circumlocution and paraphrasing. ON prepositions, however, largely involve use of the dative case, which is why we have not started using them until now. Why would prepositions involve the dative case? Our first ac8uaintance with this case introduced it as a case for giving ^ receiving . Mut the dative case has many different functions in ON. The reason is that ON-s dative case was #and is, in *celandic and Caroese% the final result of a fusion of many different cases. *n the farthest known #pro)ected by comparative linguistics% ancestral language of both ON and English, *ndo!European #so called because it is the ancestor of most European languages and =ersian and North!*ndian languages as well%, all those different cases served one specific purpose only. Cour *ndo! European cases served as the basis for the ON dative; ? 5o6ative@ he 6ase ,or marking !la6es or ob-e6ts %here the sub-e6t o, the senten6e is !ositioned3 asso6iated %ith !re!ositions meaning <in<' <on<' <at<' et6. ? Ablative@ &arks !la6es or ob-e6ts %hen6e the sub-e6t 6omes3 asso6iated %ith !re!ositions meaning <,rom<' <out o,<' et6. ? >nstrumental@ &arks ob-e6ts that are being used in the verb a6tion3 e.g. a senten6e meaning <he %eighed the book %ith a s6ale<' %ould mark the %ord <s6ale< %ith the instrumental3 English !rimarily marks the instrumental %ith the !re!osition <%ith<' but sometimes %ith <by<' e.g. <he 6ame by shi!<. ? ;ative@ &arks the indire6t ob-e6t' usually the re6eiver o, a gi,t o, some kind "%hether negative or !ositive#3 English usually marks this %ith <to<' e.g. 0he gave it to him0 or sim!ly by %ord order' e.g. 0he gave the man a 6han6e0' %here 0the man0 %ould be in dative. *n *ndo!European, those cases #supposedly% had separate forms, i.e. separate endings, for each of them. Mut ON had united all those cases into one form, while retaining all of those different uses for that single case. *t may be evident by now why the dative case is so strongly affiliated with prepositions in ON. 1ost prepositions have meanings that would be associated with the locative and ablative cases mentioned above. 0ou might wonder what case category prepositions like -into- and -onto- fit. While locative answers -where?-, and ablative answers -whence?Vwhere from?-, the -into- case would answer -whither?V-where to?-. This case is called allative by grammarians, and is the opposite of the -ablative-. Even *ndo! European did not have a separate form for this case/ instead, it was assigned to the accusative case. This is significant, because some ON cases involve accusative, and they are all essentially allative in meaning. Crom now on, prepositions are introduced in the :ocabulary section in the following format; meI T dat with, by, using Or that is, the prepositions are shown with a T KcaseL following it. *t is very important to note the case that a preposition takes, especially because a few ON prepositions may take either accusative or dative, with different meanings according to which case follows. These are cases of prepositions with either locative or allative meanings/ compare English in , locative, which would take dative in ON, to into , allative, which would take accusative. Moth are represented by the ON preposition G , but the meaning differs according to the case that follows. 1.2 'ati%e 1aseI 1o$$and Now that you have learnt how to mark the dative case in all words we have yet introduced, it is time to learn more useful ways of using it. One useful construction involves verbs meaning tell or command . 3onsider this English sentence, > told him to sto!. <s opposed to,

> gave him a %at6h. <nd then consider > told it to him. > gave it to him. The sentences both exhibit the same pattern, at close inspection. We already understand that the second sentence, involving giving, has an indirect ob)ect, and therefore a dative case. My re! arranging the sentence, the abstract to preposition pops up, which is a sure sign of the dative in English. .e is the indirect ob)ect, the receiver of the gift , and is marked with the dative. What we are interested in now, however, is that the first sentence, not obviously involving any giving , merely telling , behaves in the same way. .e is also an indirect ob)ect, and is marked with dative. What does he receive? To stop . .ardly a noun, but verb infinitives are tricky in that they often behave as nouns. Without dwelling on that, we have at least found that this is a significant new way of using the dative, although it is in principle the same as the giving usage we already know. 3ommon English verbs that can function in this way are tell , command , order , and others of similar meanings. The good news is that ON does the exact same thing. *n ON, we know the verb seg)a / it means say , but it also means tell , since ON does not distinguish between those two meanings. "et-s make ON constructions analogous to the ones above; Ek ge, hnum mat. *s already familiar. 4sing the command!type construction, Ek segi hnum at eta. .owever, in examining &(th century *celandic texts, it seems to us that such constructions with seg)a were not altogether usual, though not wrong. The idiomatic usage of the text writers was to use the verb b)YIa, b]I A -offer-. Thus, they-d rather say; Ek b4 hnum at eta. Mut Nordic men of authority often made offers that couldn-t be refused/ -b)YIa- sometimes means simply -order-V-command-. Evidently, verb infinitives can function like nouns in other dative contexts than commanding, both in English and ON. English says, > give him to eat. #usually elaborated to, say, * give him something to eat % ON would say, Ek ge, hnum at eta. 1.3 Accusati%e 1aseI Mualifying There still remain some useful ways of employing accusative in ON. One common construction is what we off!hand dub 8ualifying . <gain, being closely related to ON, English has an analogous construction; > 6all him 6o%ardly. *n ON, both him and cowardly come in accusative; Ek kalla hann ragan. ON often uses the verb seg)a in this way; Ek segi hann ragan. <nother use is with the verb vil)a , as English uses want ; Ek vil hann dauan. * want him dead. 1.4 Assi$ilati%e /erb 1on2ugation :erbs that do not con)ugate with a vowel ending, and whose stems have a long vowel #acutes, diphthongs, ae and oe% and end in -s- or -n- never have an !r ending/ instead, the !r assimilates to the -s- or -n- and becomes an !sV!n ending; blFsa, blaes to blow ek bl>s

DH bl>ss hann bl>ss skGna, skGn to shine ek s)Gn DH s)Gnn hann s)Gnn Mut verbs that end in vowels are of course not affected; reisa, reisi to construct, to raise somethingVsomeone #to vertical position% ek reisi DH reisir hann reisir 2. /ocabulary 2.1 Nouns skYgr vFgr hYlmr forest small bay, cove isle, small island palisadeVstone wall, city, city!state, garIr garden, yard haugr mound, dung, pile, grave #see below% eldr fire vindr wind field #not farming%, meadow, clear patch vangr of ground brunnr well heimr home, homeland, world oddr point, spike fors waterfall sandr sand Norse people made great piles over the graves of important men. Bagnarr .)Flmarr Oddr Olfarr Noregr Norway PeirshYlmr Peir-s *sle Peirshaugr Peir-s Prave .eiIvangr 3lear Cield 5kYgarfors Corest-s Calls Olfarsheimr Olfar-s .ome *sland 3ity , a Nordic #5wedish% colony .YlmgarIr in Bussia, now called Novgorod # gorod A garIr % <ustrvegr Eastway #Bussia% 2.2 1on2unctions ef Dar er 2.3 Ad2ecti%es d)Hpr if where #relative%

deep

ungr rGkr heiIr b)artr sterkr vGIr breiIr feigr spakr 2.4 /erbs sigla, sigli ganga, geng b)YIa, b]I s]na, s]ni bHa, b] brenna, brennr blFsa, blRs falla, fell skGna, skGn standa, stend lifa, lifi 2." Ad%erbs meIan svF heim vel sem 2.3 0re(ositions G T acc G T dat F T acc F T dat Yr T dat meI T dat 2.@ 0ronouns fFir sumir bFIir hvat? 2.B 0hrases gefa griI

young rich clear bright, fair #of light complexion andVor blonde hair% strong wide, extensive broad doomed to die, dead already , fey wise

sail walk offer #sometimes -command-, see &.'% show live in, inhabit be burning blow fall shine stand live

while so, such, then #immediately following% homewards well as, like

into in#side% onto on #top of% out of with, by, using/ with, accompanying

#pl% few #note; fFum % #pl% some #pl% both what?

fFm

in pl dat, not

grantVgive mercy, spare, pardon #from death% Example; illr maIr gefr mJr eigi griI. #an evil man gives me no mercy% ,ictionaries will reveal that griI is a plural neuter, but do not let that disconcert you. *t will not

need to be declined to any form not known to you. >ust use the phrase. 3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish Olfrinn gengr G skYginn. Olfrinn gengr G skYginum. Eldr m)Qk b)artr brennr G garIinum. Bagnarr ferr meI vGkingum G vFginn. \ar vegr hann Hlfana meI geirinum. Bagnarr kZmr G EirGksheim meI bFtinum. 1eI hFnum eru fFir menn. .vG eru sumir eigi glaIir? spyrr Oddr. CFm mQnnum, er mik feigan vil)a, gef ek griI, segir Olfarr )arl. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse < young man sails in the cove. .e walks out of the boat and into the isle. The vikings wait with the earl in a big forest, in the isle. The man finds the vikings and the earl in the forest. The earl says; 5ome men want me dead. ,o you want so? That * do #so * want%, earl. .ere * stand and fall. Cew men do * spare. *f you do not leave #go%, * kill you. The vikings say; Po home, or be doomed. 3.3 9ranslate the te5t into #nglish Oddr ok Bagnarr heita menn. Oddr er maIr ungr ok b)artr, ok sterkr m)Qk. Bagnarr er maIr m)Qk rGkr. Bagnarr F bFt gYIan ok langan m)Qk. \eir eru bFIir NorImenn ok bHa G Noregi. Bagnarr b]Ir Oddi ok mQrgum vGkingum at fara G bFtinn. \eir fara nH allir ok sigla. \eir sigla G stYrum vFgi. Er bFtinum s)F Deir hYlm. \ar er sandr ok skYgr. .Ylmrinn heitir PeirshYlmr, segir Bagnarr Oddi. X skYginum Dar er ok Peirshaugr, en Dar b]r Peirr, illr draugr. \eir s)F ok vang m)Qk vGIan ok heiIan. Oddr spyrr, .vat heitir DF vangrinn, svF heiIr? .ann heitir .eiIvangr. \ar blFsa vindar sterkir, svarar Bagnarr hFnum. \ar F ek marga hesta, ok eta Deir vel G vanginum. X .eiIvangi er ok brunnr m)Qk d)Hpr, segir hann. Oddr sJr fors breiIan ok spyrr, .vat heitir forsinn, er Dar fellr? Bagnarr svarar hFnum, Corsinn heitir 5kYgarfors, ok er breiIr m)Qk. Bagnarr s]nir Oddi vFga, hYlma, skYga, sanda, forsa, ok vanga, meIan Deir sigla. Oddr segir, \H ert maIr m)Qk spakr ok mRlir vel, Bagnarr, ok kenni ek nH marga vFga ok vanga hJr G Noregi. MrFtt koma Deir G Olfarsheim, Dar er Olfarr )arl b]r. Olfar hatar m)Qk Bagnarr ok vill hann feigan. Er Deir ganga Yr bFtinum ok F sandinn, segir hann, .Jr G Olfarsheimi b]r Olfarr, )arl illr ok rGkr. .ann gefr eigi gYIum mQnnum griI. \eir ganga nH G Olfarsheim ok s)F stYran garI. Bagnar maelir, ParIrinn er m)Qk stYrr. .ann er svF stYrr sem .YlmgarIr. \F svarar Oddr, Eigi kenni ek .YlmgarI. Bagnarr segir hFnum, \H ert ungr maIr, Oddr, ok eigi spakr. .YlmgarIr er stYrr garIr G <ustrvegi. \ar eru margir vargar G vGIum skYgum. 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse When Olfar sees Bagnar coming with a young man and many vikings, he says, 1any fires burn in me, while Bagnar lives. * grant him no mercy if he does not leave #go% Kout ofL Olfarsheim soon. The men are afraid, who are with him, as they hear him speak so. Olfar takes a sword and a horse, and leaves. <s they walk, Oddr asks Bagnar much #A many 8uestions, use m)Qk %. Mut Bagnar does not answer

him. .e says; Olfar comes soon. ,o not speak, he wants all of us # oss alla % dead. Mut Oddr and the vikings do not speak. They stand and are afraid. Now Bagnar also sees what they see. .e sees Olfar on a horse. The wind blows as he speaks; 0ou are all dead # feigir % men. * don-t spare men like you. <s he is coming, they see the fire Kthat isL burning in him. Oddr and the vikings flee. They do not want to die in Olfarsheim. Bagnar sees them flee and shouts; 0ou are all cowardly@ Mut now * flee too, for Olfar grants no mercy. Then he flees with the men. Olfar does not pursue them. .e says; 5ome men * do grant mercy ! cowardly men. 4. Loo)ing at real te5ts 4.1 A fe. .ords fro$ the -ei$s)ringla \F varI ElFfr konungr reiIr m)Qk ok mRlti brFIliga; .vG mun ek vil)a eiga Dik hundheiIna? varI became brFIliga angrily mun will #con)ugated in lesson 6% eiga own, marry hund!heiIna dog!heathen, heathen like a dog Then king Olaf became very angry and spoke angrily; Why will * want to marry you Swhen you areU heathen like a dog? 4.2 A Euestion and an ans.er fro$ Brennu-N2,ls saga .ann spyrr hvat Deim vRri Dar gefit. Ostr, seg)a DRr. vRri gefit A was given .e asks what was given there to them. 3heese, they say. 4.3 -alf a stro(he fro$ -elga)%i=a -undingsbanaI .vFrt eru Dat svik ein er ek s)F Dykk)umk? EIa BagnarQk? BGIa menn dauIir@ svik #plural noun% A betrayal, illusion ein A one, only Dykk)umk A seem to rGIa A ride BagnarQk A the fate of the gods , the end of the world <re that only illusions which * seem to see? Or the end of the world? There are dead men riding@ Old Norse for Beginners - Lesson 4e%en by skar Gulaugsson and Haukur orgeirsson 5upplement <lternative forms Prammar Penitive 3ase; =ossession Penitive 3ase; Corms <rticle 4sage with the Penitive Beflexive =ronouns

(rd =erson =ossessives :ocabulary Nouns =ronouns <d)ectives :erbs <dverbs =repositions 3on)unctions =hrases Exercises Translate the phrases into English Translate the phrases into Old Norse Translate the text into English Translate the text into Old Norse 0. 4u((le$ent 0.1 Alternati%e for$s We have stated that the language taught in this course is standardised &(th century *celandic. =eople using other material to supplement this course #or using this course to supplement other material% often find that their books do not always use the same spelling or form of every word. *t is perhaps high time that some of those variants be discussed. To begin with it is difficult to pin down a language as it was at any particular time and location. We say that we-re teaching the *celandic language &(th century but even that is not all too precise ! *celandic underwent many changes in the &(th century. 5ome of our forms may reflect early &(th century language while others mirror that of the late part of the century. =erfect consistency is very hard to achieve #and is certainly not in evidence in any manuscript ! even the same scribe would often spell the same word in more than one way% but we prefer to have some kind of standard. Thus our choices are arbitrary here and there and may not exactly reflect that of any other study material. ,on-t panic. That said the interested student may find a discussion of variant forms to be of some value. The variations can be grouped into two categories. 1. /ariations in s(ace We have already mentioned that the West Norse language forms are different from those of East Norse. Mut how different are they? This 8uestion is best answered by providing examples. One of the better known East Norse texts is The "egendary .istory of Putland . *t starts with those words; Gutland hitti ,yrsti ma7r 7an sum 7ieluar hit. 7a %ar gutland so eluist at 7et daghum san6 =6 natum %ar u!!-. En 7ann ma7r Auam ,yrsti eldi a land =6 si7an san6 7et aldri. Translated word for word into English this produces; Putland found first Sa manU that who Thieluar Swas calledU. Then was Pautland so bewitched that it Sduring daysU sank and Sduring nightsU was up. Mut that man put first fire on KtheL land and since sank it never. Note that the spelling is that of the original manuscript. No normalisation has been undertaken. This is in line with the usual trend that Old *celandic texts are normalised but other Old Norse texts are not ! or to a lesser extent. This makes comparison with our standardised language more difficult but we will attempt it nevertheless. 5o here we provide those lines as they would look in our Norse 3ourse spelling; Gautland hitti ,yrst mar s sem -alarr h(t. var Gautland sv Belv*st at 7at dgum skk ok nttum var u!!i. En s mar kvm ,yrst eldi land ok s*an skk 7at aldri. 1ost of the differences are insignificant differences between manuscript spelling and normalised

spelling ! but some of them are 8uite interesting. "et-s take a better look at those; Old Putnish Old *celandic Dan sF daghum dQgum sanc sQkk The word Dann is actually not as far from sF as it might seem. The declension paradigm of sF is like this; nom sF acc Dann dat Deim gen Dess *n essence, what has happened in Old Putnish is that the accusative form has been generalised to include the nominative. <s a side note it might be mentioned that the exact same thing happened in English. This pronoun is the origin of the English definite article, -the-. The Old English paradigm was like this; nom se acc Done dat DFm gen DRs The irregular s!form was thrown out in favor of the D!forms to #eventually% yield the . The next word on our list is daghum , as opposed to dQgum . Cirst we note that the -gh- is a common East Norse way of spelling the soft g #see pronunciation guide%. *t also sometimes occurs in *celandic manuscripts. *n any case the difference between -gh- and -g- is merely one of spelling. The other difference is much more interesting. *nstead of the umlauted Q!vowel the Putnish text has the un!umlauted -a-. This reflects a general tendency. The u!umlaut effect, while remaining in full force in *celandic up to the present day, was much less prevalent in other Old Norse dialects ! and it is completely lacking from the dialect of Puta saga. The third difference is no less interesting. *nstead of the Old *celandic sQkk we have the much more English form sanc . <gain we have not an exception but a general tendency. The assimilation of -nk- to -kk- happened to a lesser extent in East Norse than in West Norse. *n this case English and Old Putnish maintain the more archaic forms. <gain the u!umlaut has not taken place in the East Norse form. There are many small, differences between East Norse and West Norse. One that might interest the English reader is that West Norse dropped the -v- in -vr- clusters early on but East Norse has preserved it to the present day. Where West Norse has reiIr East Norse had vrJIr and 1odern ,anish has vred . English has preserved this consonant in its spelling but dropped it in the pronunciation. The English cognate is wrath . Now let-s turn our attention to Old Norwegian. We already know that Old Norwegian and Old *celandic are collectively known as West Norse. We might wonder what the key differences between the two dialects are. Cor the student of Old Norse the most visible difference is that Old Norwegian texts are usually published in their manuscript spelling ! unlike Old *celandic texts which are usually normalised. Cor the linguist the difference is mainly that Old *celandic is in some instances slightly more conservative than Old Norwegian. One example where Old *celandic is more conservative is in keeping the -h- in the consonant clusters -hr- and -hl-. Those were dropped in Old Norwegian before the writing age. One stan2a from the Norwegian Bune =oem illustrates this. Cei kvea rossum vesta' Ceginn sl2 sverit besta. "A %agon is said to be %orst ,or horses' Ceginn ,orged the best s%ord.# 0ou notice the alliterative triad reiI!rossum!Beginn. This would be destroyed in translating into *celandic since rossum would become hrossum.

2. /ariations in ti$e No living language is static and Old *celandic underwent many changes from &'$$ to &+$$. 1a)or changes include the merging of the phonemes Q and Z and R and oe respectively. Moth happened in the &(th century. Q T Z !c Q R T oe !c R Other noteworthy changes include the softening of final -t- and -k- in several common words. Thus; ok !c og ek !c eg Dik !c Dig Dat !c DaI hvat !c hvaI vit !c viI !it !c !iI #neuter article% The absence of Z and oe and the soft consonants in the common words are two features that can easily be used to differentiate between Old *celandic and 1odern *celandic spelling at a glance The forms of many individual words changed with time according to arbitrary rules/ we have had to decide in each case which form to use as our standard one. Our choices are not entirely consistant. *n cases where this course gives another form than other grammar references you can rest reasonably assured that both forms are correct ! though one may be older than the other. < few common variants are listed below. it ! Dit Jr ! DJr hon ! hYn ! hHn hFnum ! honum ek hef ! ek hefi 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 &eniti%e 1aseI 0ossession The fourth and last remaining case in Old Norse declension is called -genitive-. English has the following relations; John o%ns an eD!ensive 6om!uter. John<s 6om!uter is eD!ensive. Eill steals John<s eD!ensive 6om!uter. The orthographic !-s ending here is one part of the English genitive. *t is the characteristic role of the genitive to mark the owner of a following item. Words marked with the !-s genitive stand in the same position as normal ad)ectives, as can be seen above. *n ON, the strong masculine nouns we have encountered so far are also marked with !s in the genitive singular/ thus, the full singular declension of a word like -hestr- is; nom hestr acc hest dat hesti gen hests *n the plural, the ending is !a for all masculine nouns, and most other nouns as well; nom hestar acc hesta dat hestu$ gen hesta <gain, the article must be declined with the noun. Now that we have all the cases, let-s see the full

masculine declension of the suffixed article; sg pl nom inn inir acc inn ina dat inu$ inu$ gen ins anna <nd combined with a noun; sg pl nom hestrinn hestarnir acc hestinn hestana dat hestinu$ hestunu$ gen hestsins hestanna There@ Now you have the full declension of the normal strong masculine noun. We-ll look at the full declension of our only irregular noun to date as well. sg pl nom $a=r $enn acc $ann $enn dat $anni $:nnu$ gen $anns $anna 1.2 &eniti%e 1aseI ;or$s 5ection &.& already has the forms of most strong masculine nouns. .ere is the full declension of most of the personal pronouns encountered so far; -we -you -*-you-he-it-we-youtwotwonom ek DH hann Dat vit vJr Dit DJr acc mik Dik hann Dat okkr oss ykkr yIr dat mJr DJr hFnum DvG okkr oss ykkr yIr gen mGn DGn hans Dess okkar vFr ykkar yIvar -they- #masc% -they- #neut% -they- #fem% nom Deir Dau DRr acc DF Dau DRr dat Deim Deim Deim gen Deira Deira Deira The personal pronouns all have a special form for the genitive, often a very distinctive one, so extra attention must be paid here. Note that the (rd person plural pronouns all have the same dative and genitive forms. The only pronoun not presented in this table is -hon- #she%, since we won-t be using it )ust yet. The full declension of ad)ectives in masculine form; sg pl nom rei=r rei=ir acc rei=an rei=a dat rei=u$ rei=u$ gen rei=s rei=ra Note especially the plural genitive ending; !ra. To students- relief, the plural dative and genitive forms are the same for all genders, so make sure you learn them well. 1.3 Article Hsage .ith the &eniti%e *n English titles , such as; he king o, $or%ay. he lord o, men. he sound o, battle. he keel o, the shi!.

There, the titled entity always has an article attached to it. .owever, if we change the titles to a different type of genitive, the !s marked one, the article disappears; $or%ay<s king. &en<s lord. Eattle<s sound. he shi!<s keel. Mut with titles, it is more customary to use the prepositional genitive #with of and article%. *n Old Norse however, the genitive is only marked with an inflection, where the same rule applies/ i.e. no article should be attached to the titled entity ; 8onungr $oregs. ;rottinn mannanna. Mut if this were to be paraphrased into a title with a preposition, we would have an article )ust as in English; 8onungrinn * $oregi. *t is merely that such usage is not the norm in ON, unlike in English. 1.4 Kefle5i%e 0ronouns When the ob)ect of a sentence is the same as its sub)ect the reflexive pronouns come into play. *n English it works like this; > see mysel,. You see yoursel,. He sees himsel,. Fe see ourselves. You see yourselves. hey see themselves. Old Norse, however, is content with letting its first and second person personal pronouns perform this duty. Ek s( mik. / s(r 7ik. )it s-m okkr. it s( ykkr. )(r s-m oss. (r s( yr. Mut when it comes to the third person it has a special pronoun. Hann s(r sik. Hon s(r sik. eir s- sik. .r s- sik. This -third person reflexive pronoun- has the following declension; -himselfVherselfVitselfVthemselvesacc sik dat sJr gen sGn *t observably declines )ust as -ek- and -DH- do. This pronoun has exact e8uivalents in many other *ndo!European languages that you may be familiar with. Perman has sich . Crench, 5panish and "atin have se . "et-s have more examples of usage; Hann kallar sik konung. .e calls himself a king. eir ge,a s(r g2an mat. They give themselves KsomeL good food. <nd other reflexive usage; Ek kalla mik Eir*k. * call myself Eric. )it tel-um okkr $ormenn. We consider ourselves Norwegians.

Ek ,oeri mik brott. Hv* ,oerir 7/ 7ik til m*n+ #-til- T gen A KoverL to% 2. /ocabulary

* move myself away. #-foera- A bring, move% Why do you move yourself over to me?

This lesson is light on vocabulary and exercises ! for historical reasons relating to the composition of the course. 2.1 Nouns Degn sporIr 2.2 0ronouns sik 2.3 Ad2ecti%es saIr V saddr vFndr fastr 3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish .vFrt etr ormrinn s)Flfan sik? 1enn konungs eru Degnar hans. Eigi er sporIr fisks matr gYIr. Bagnarr vill vega orm/ hann hefir geirinn meI sJr. Bagnar vegr orminn en oddr geirs hans stendr fastr G honum. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse The helm of the dwarf is gilded. The earl-s hawk sees itself. =eople do not eat the tail of the serpent. Bagnarr-s spear is broad. The point of Bagnarr-s spear is big. 5entences like the last one with nested genitives are actually not idiomatic in Old Norse. thane, freeman, sub)ect of a king, citi2en tail of a fish or serpent

himself, herself, itself

sated, having had one-s full evil, wicked fast, firm, stuck

Old Norse for Beginners - Lesson #ight by skar Gulaugsson and Haukur orgeirsson Prammar =resent!=reterite :erbs <ssimilative Nouns and <d)ectives Misyllabic 5tems :ocabulary Nouns =ronouns <d)ectives

:erbs <dverbs =repositions 3on)unctions =hrases Exercises Translate the phrases into English Translate the phrases into Old Norse Translate the text into English Translate the text into Old Norse 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 0resent-0reterite /erbs ON has a small group of verbs that con)ugate in a special way. English has the same phenomenon, but less noticeable. The verbs are called present!preterite , because their con)ugation for the present is imitative of the preterite #A past% con)ugation. This has to do with a development or shift that is believed to have happened early on in the ancestral =roto!Permanic language. To put this all into context we will state that the Permanic languages have three kinds of verbs. They are all still represented in English. 4trong %erbs =reterite formed with ablaut #certain type of vowel change% 3ertain endings in the present #in English an -s- in third person% !ea) %erbs =reterite formed with a dental suffix #in English -d- or -t-% 3ertain endings in the present #in English an -s- in third person% 0resent-(reterite %erbs =reterite formed like the preterite of a weak verb =resent formed like the preterite of a strong verb We-ll demonstrate by comparing a present!preterite verb #-can-% with your garden!variety strong #-come-% and weak #-love-% verbs. * co$e ca$e you co$e ca$e he co$es ca$e * lo%e lo%ed you lo%e lo%ed he lo%es lo%ed * can could you can could he can could 3omparing the actual con)ucations with the blurbs above we see that -can- does not add an -s- in the third person of its singular present tense/ )ust like the other verbs don-t have an -s- in their preterite. We also see that it forms its preterite with a -d-/ )ust like the weak verb. The Old Norse cognate of -can-, -kunna-, is also present!preterite. While the English difference in con)ugation is minor, ON present!preterites are more divergent. We have learnt two irregular verbs whose con)ugation is somewhat similar to this class of verbs, -veraand -vil)a-/ they are not historically present!preterites but it may be practical to speak of them in the same context;

%era &p 'p (p %il2a 5g. e$ ert er =l. eru$ eru= eru

5g. =l. &p %il %il2u$ 'p %ilt %ili= (p %ill %il2a The present!preterite verbs are some of the most useful and common in the language so you should be careful to learn their con)ugation by heart. The first verb we-ll look at is the auxiliary -skulu- which is the cognate of English -shall- and similar in meaning. s)ulu 5g. =l. &p s)al s)ulu$ 'p s)alt s)ulu= (p s)al s)ulu The change of vowels from -u- to -a- is not our everyday umlaut but something even more arcane called -ablaut-. We-ll look at that again later. Our next auxiliary verb does not have an English cognate but it is most similar in meaning to English -will-. One of its primary uses is to indicate the future. $unu 5g. =l. &p $un $unu$ 'p $unt $unu= (p $un $unu Note the anomalous infinitives, with ending !u instead of !a. The verbs -skulu- and -munu- are the only verbs in the language with this infinitive ending. *n the :QluspF we have a lot of -munu- where the seeress is speaking of the future. One example is Maldr mun koma which is easily translated as Maldr will come . My now you may have noticed something characteristic about present!preterites/ in the singular, the only endings are !t in the 'nd person. *n the plural, they have !uI and !u in the 'nd and (rd persons. Our next verb has the same ablaut as -skulu- but now our normal infinitive is back. )unna 5g. =l. &p )ann )unnu$ 'p )annt )unnu= (p )ann )unnu The meaning of -kunna- is related to that of its cognate -can- but there are some differences. While English -can- means to be able to do something either through ability or circumstances, ON describes only ability. <lso, English -can- is always an auxiliary, while -kunna- can be a main verb with a simple direct ob)ect; Ek kann 7at. > kno% Gho% to doH it' > 6an do it One more verb for now, -eiga- #own%; eiga 5g. =l. &p , eigu$ 'p ,tt eigu= (p , eigu 0ou should already be familiar with its (p sg form, -F-, which has been used already. The vowel

change between -F- and -ei- is actually neither ablaut nor umlaut but don-t worry about it #it has to do with a phenomenon called :erner-s law%. The verbs -skulu-, -munu-, and -kunna- from above are some of the most common auxiliaries in the language, )ust as they are in English #substitute English -will- for -munu-%. >ust as in English, no infinitive marker is used with them when they are used as auxiliaries; You %ill go. but not WWYou %ill to go / munt koma. but not WW/ munt at koma 1.2 Assi$ilati%e Nouns and Ad2ecti%es *t often happens in languages that a consonant assimilates to a neighbouring consonant. We have already seen some examples of this in the etymological ponderings; Wbenkr !c bekkr #bench% #the -n- has been assimilated to the -k-% WFhta !c Ftta #eight% #the -h- has been assimilated to the -t-% One type of assimilation is important in declensions/ their nominative !r has been assimilated by the final consonant of the stem. This happens with three consonants, -s-, -l- and -n-, and only when the vowel of the stem is long. "et-s look at some examples; WGsr !c Gss #ice% WhYlr !c hYll #hill% Wsteinr !c steinn #stone% The complete declension of those nouns is as follows; 5ingular nom Gss hNll steinn acc Gs hNl stein dat Gsi hNli steini gen Gss hNls steins =lural nom Gsar hNlar steinar acc Gsa hNla steina dat Gsu$ hNlu$ steinu$ gen Gsa hNla steina [uite simply, the nominative !r is replaced by one of the other consonants. Nothing else happens. Then there are ad)ectives with the same feature, declining thus in masculine indefinite; hFss hoarse hFll slippery groenn green 5g. nom h,ss h,ll groenn acc h,san h,lan groenan dat h,su$ h,lu$ groenu$ gen h,ss h,ls groens =l. nom h,sir h,lir groenir acc h,sa h,la groena dat h,su$ h,lu$ groenu$ gen h,ssa h,lla groenna Take special notice of the genitive plural, where the assimilation occurs. Bemember that the assimilation only occurs in words with long!vowel stems, but not stems of short vowels; gulr yellow vanr accustomed 5g. nom gulr %anr

acc dat gen =l. nom acc dat gen 1." Bisyllabic 4te$s

gulan gulu$ guls gulir gula gulu$ gulsa

%anan %:nu$ %ans %anir %ana %:nu$ %anla

5ome strong masculine nouns have a bisyllabic stem/ observe their pattern of con)ugation; hamarr hammer #stem; hamar% himinn sky #stem; himin% sg pl nom ham!ar!r ham!r!ar acc ham!ar ham!r!a dat ham!r!i hQm!r!um gen ham!ar!s ham!r!a sg pl nom him!in!n him!n!ar acc him!in him!n!a dat him!n!i him!n!um gen him!in!s him!n!um Cirst off, -himinn- is assimilative. What is happening in these nouns is that whenever there is an ending with a vowel in it, the vowel of the second stem syllable is deleted; "sg dat# hamar I i J Bhamari J hamri Note that bisyllabic names, such as Bagnarr or Einarr, completely ignore this rule and decline normally. 5ome ad)ectives are bisyllabic/ they commonly have assimilation; gamall old #stem; gamal% sg pl nom gam!al!l gam!l!ir acc gam!l!an gam!l!a dat gQm!l!um gQm!l!um gen gam!al!s gam!al!la 2. /ocabulary 2.1 Nouns Fss Gss DrRll vagn hamarr himinn )Qtunn drottinn hringr hundr nGIingr viIr ace, god, one of the asir ice slave wagon, chariot hammer sky ettin, giant #mythological% lord #or usually, the "ord % ring, circle dog villain, oppressor wood

\Yrr \Yrshamarr NsgarIr 1iIgarIr 1iIgarIsormr >Qtunheimr :estrvegr 2.2 0ronouns

Thor, the thundergod Thor-s hammer <sgard, the world of gods #asir% 1idgard, the world of men 1idgard-s 5erpent #the serpent that encircles 1idgard% Pianthome #the mythological home of the giants% Westway #west across the North 5ea/ the Mritish *sles%

annarr other, another hverr? who, what #masc%? hverr each hinn the other -<nnarr- is a bisyllabic pronoun, with an irregular declension; sg pl nom ann!ar!r aI!r!ir acc ann!an aI!r!a dat QI!r!um QI!r!um gen ann!ar!s ann!ar!ra <s happens in -maIr-, the se8uence -nnr- becomes -Ir-. The main irregularity in the word is its sg acc form, -annan-, where we-d expect -WaIran-. -.verr- declines like an ad)ective with )!insertion; sg pl nom h%err h%erir acc h%ern h%er2a dat h%er2u$ h%er2u$ gen h%ers h%erra <n alternative #old% form of sg. acc. is the more regular -hver)an-. -.verr- is the interrogative that refers to masculine nouns or persons. *t can also mean -each-; 0Hverr 7eira segir 7 rum...0 Ea6h o, them then says to another... sg pl nom hinn hinir acc hinn hina dat hinu$ hinu$ gen hins hinna ,eclines )ust like the article ending/ in fact, it is )ust a modification of the pronoun from which the article is derived. 2.3 Ad2ecti%es s)Flfr Grskr slGkr groenn hFll heill vGss gamall gulr vanr #him%self *rish such green slippery whole, healthy, hail #greeting% wise old yellow accustomed

2.4 /erbs g)Zra, g)Zri aka, ek T dat hringa, hringa h)Flpa, help rYa, roe leiIa, leiIi vernda, vernda do drive wind around #as serpents do% help row #a boat% lead protect drive out, drive sth forward from behind reka, rek #such as cattle% verIa, verIr T nom become -verIa- is followed by a compliment, i.e. a noun in nominative. The ob)ect of -aka- is in dative rather than accusative. 2." Ad%erbs aftr saman bRIi DvG nRst nJ 2.3 0re(ositions viI T acc um T acc af T dat yfir T dat gegn T dat h)F T dat til T gen 2.@ 1on2unctions at svF at svF at is sometimes contracted to svFt 2.B 0hrases again together both then, thereafter, subse8uently nor

by, next to about, around, through off over against, in front of by, with, in the company of to

that so KthatL

K*t seems to me that some modern phrases have crept into Eskar-s text/ *-ll check on this later. ! .aukurL standa saman stick together, stand united standa meI T dat stick with someone, help someone gefa sik give in, surrender 3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish \eir ganga saman um vGIan vang. \eir s)F menn standa viI forsinn. <nnarr spyrr, .verir standa Dar, viI forsinn? \F svarar hinn, \eir kalla sik EirGk ok .auk, ok eru norskir. .vat g)Zra slGkir menn hJr? , spyrr annarr hinn.

>arlar Noregs eigu marga hunda ok DrRla Grska. X Noregi er oft Gss G vFgum, svF at vGsir menn sigla Dar eigi. .ann gengr til groenna skYga, Dar er Flfarnir bHa. \eir ganga saman F hFlum Gsi, en falla eigi. .Jr er hFll Gss. Ek vil eigi ganga hJr um. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse "ord, protect us, an *rish man says. * am lord here, and protect you, says the earl. KTheL "ord in .eaven # ,rottinn F himni % will not help. KTheL "ord himself is with us, another *rish man says. Mut is he not in .eaven? # F himni? % , the earl asks. KTheL "ord in .eaven protects the men while they sail. The earl calls #says% himself the lord of the slaves. *celandic men protect themselves # vernda sik s)Flfa % against Norwegian kings. They take #go with% an old man to the boat. 3.3 9ranslate the te5ts into #nglish \Yrr heitir Fss, ok er sterkr m)Qk ok oft reiIr. .ann F hamar gYIan. \Yrr ferr oft til >Qtunheima ok vegr Dar marga )Qtna meI hamrinum. \Yrr F ok vagn er fl]gr. .ann ekr vagninum um himininn. \ar er \Yrr ekr, er stormr. \Yrr kennir orm, er menn kalla 1iIgarIsorm. Ormrinn er langr ok hringar sik allan um heim manna, 1iIgarI. \Yrr vill veiIa orminn ok vega hann, DvG at hann er illr. \Yrr kennir ok )Qtun er F bFt. \Yrr tekr vagninn ok ekr. .ann ekr vagninum Yr NsgarIi ok um himininn. .ann ferr til )Qtunsins. Er hann finnr )Qtuninn kallar hann til hans, >Qtunn, DH skalt taka bFtinn er DH Ftt ok h)Flpa mJr. :it munum fara ok veiIa s)Flfan 1iIgarIsorm. >Qtunninn er m)Qk hrRddr, ok svarar, Ek skal g)Zra sem DH b]Ir, \Yrr, DvG at ef ek g)Zri eigi svF, vegr DH mik. En ormrinn mun eta okkr bFIa, DvG at hann er stYrr ok illr. En \Yrr er Fss bRIi d)arfr ok reiIr ok vill fara gegn 1iIgarIsormi. \vG nRst rYa Deir saman F bFti )Qtunsins. \F kZmr slGkr stormr, at )Qtunninn verIr hrRddr m)Qk. Er \Yrr sJr hann svF hrRddan, mRlir hann, 5)F, )Qtunn, hJr er hamarrinn er vegr Dik ef DH roer eigi, ok s]nir hFnum reiIr hamarinn. ElFfr kallar sik konung alls Noregs. >arlar Noregs skulu ok kalla hann konung. Ef )arl g)Zrir eigi svF, ferr ElFfr konungr gegn hFnum ok rekr hann Yr Noregi. En margir )arlar vil)a eigi kalla ElFf konung, svF at Deir standa saman gegn hFnum. >arl heitir Bagnarr, er kallar ElFf eigi konung. ElFfr konungr foerir marga menn gegn hFnum ok segir; .eill, Bagnarr )arl. balla DH mik ,rottin, eIa ek mun reka Dik Yr Noregi. 5vF b]Ir konungr )arli #translate; the earl %. Bagnarr svarar, .eill, ElFfr. :it skulum eigi leiIa svF marga menn hver)a gegn QIrum. Ek skal nH fara ok leiIa alla er standa meI mJr. :Jr skulum sigla brott G bFtunum ok vJr skulum eigi koma aftr til Noregs, meIan DH lifir. En ek mun eigi kalla Dik konung, ElFfr, DvG at DH ert eigi gYIr maIr ok DH munt eigi gYIr konungr verIa. .inir )arlarnir standa eigi meI Bagnari gegn ElFfi. bonungrinn hefir svF marga menn, at Bagnarr gefr sik hFnum ok ferr. .ann segir mQnnunum er eru meI hFnum; :Jr skulum nH fara, DvG at nGIingrinn ElFfr leiIir marga menn gegn oss, ok hinir )arlarnir standa eigi meI oss. ElFfr gefr oss griI, svF at vJr skulum sigla brott ok finna oss n])an heim. 1argir menn fara meI hFnum G bFtana, en sumir g)Zra eigi svF. \eir fara til ElFfs konungs, DvG at Deir eru norskir menn ok vil)a bHa G Noregi. bormFkr heitir DrRll ok 5vartr annarr. bormFkr er Grskr maIr. 5vartr er danskr, ok ungr m)Qk ok sterkr. bormFkr er gamall maIr ok spakr.

>arl b]Ir nH bRIi bormFki ok 5varti at fara G skYginn ok finna viI. :iIinn skal brenna h)F )arli. \eir fara nH bFIir G skYginn. :iI skYginn er stYrr hYll, ok hFll Gss G vangi. 5vartr segir viI bormFk # to 3ormack %, :it skulum ganga yfir Gsinn. bormFkr mRlir DF 5varti, Eigi skal Dat svF, DvG at yfir Gs svF hFlan, sem DH sJr Dar, skal eigi ganga. \ar falla menn G Gsinn, ok dey)a. bom DH meI mJr, ok gQngum vJr nH F hYlinn. Panga Deir svF F hYlinn ok af hFnum G skYginn. bormFkr mRlir, X skYgum eru oft illir vargar. En ver eigi hrRddr, DvG at ,rottinn himna verndar okkr. 5vartr segir DF, himna!drottin kenni ek, er hefir hamar gYIan ok fl]gr G vagni um himininn. 5)F, bormFkr, hJr hefi ek \Yrshamar, en meIan ek hefi hann mun \Yrr vernda okkr bFIa. bormFkr segir, Eigi verndar okkr \Yrr nJ hamarrinn/ ,rottinn F himni er meI okkr, ok mun vernda okkr gegn illum vQrgum. Cinna Deir nH viIinn ok foera hann )arli. 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse Bagnar now leads many vikings into the boats and sails away. We have no slaves, for Olaf the Oppressor takes them all. We shall go and find *rish slaves, in Westway. Then we shall find another homeland and live there. The vikings say 0ou shall lead us, Earl Bagnar, to Westway # G :estrveg %, and we will do as # svF er % you bid. <s they sail away, out of the cove, they see many green meadows, broad cascades, and forests wide. Bagnar speaks, Evil is the oppressor Olaf, to # at % drive us out of Norway, with such green meadows and forests. We will not find such cascades in another home. 4. Loo)ing at real te5ts 4.1 -alf a stro(he fro$ Ory$s)%i=a "oki suggests the following to \Yrr; 1un ek ok meI DJr ambFtt vera. :it skulum aka tvau G >Qtunheima. Notice the plural of ->Qtunheimr-. ambFtt female slave tvau two Notice the difference between -munu- and -skulu-. The first is a statement of fact #as far as a statement about the future can be% while the second is more like a suggestion. Mut in reality the verbs could be interchanged here with no real change in meaning. Thorpe, for example, translates both with -will-; > %ill %ith thee as a servant go@ %e t%o %ill drive to Jtunheim. 4.2 An ans.er fro$ &ylfaginning .Fr segir; \at eru tveir Hlfar, ok heitir sF er eftir henni ferr 5koll. .ann hrRIisk hon ok hann mun taka hana. En sF heitir .ati .rYIvitnisson er fyrir henni hleypr ok vill hann taka tunglit, ok svF mun verIa. Bemember the feminine pronoun, -she-; nom. hon acc. hana dat. henni gen. hennar tveir two eftir T dat behind, after

fyrir T dat hrRIisk tunglit sF ferr

in front of fears the moon the one goes, fares

Old Norse for Beginners - Lesson Nine by skar Gulaugsson and Haukur orgeirsson Prammar Penitive 3ase; =artition ,ative 3ase; *nstrumental :erbs with ,ative and Penitive 5trong 1asculine ,eclensions *nfinitive 3lauses 3lauses of =urpose, 5e8uences :ocabulary Nouns =ronouns <d)ectives :erbs <dverbs =repositions 3on)unctions =hrases Exercises Translate the phrases into English Translate the phrases into Old Norse Translate the text into English Translate the text into Old Norse 1. &ra$$ar 1.1 &eniti%e 1aseI 0artition There are some more uses to the genitive case than possession, presented last lesson. This can be seen through observation of the English genitive/ in English, this case is marked by -s, for possession exclusively, but more commonly by the preposition -of-. Examples; -Norway-s king is called Olaf.--The bing of Norway is called Olaf.-=eter-s car is blue.--The car of =eter is blue.4sing the -s is normal for possession, except in the case of titles, like -The bing of Norway.- Mut there are other types of genitive, or at least other cases where the -of- preposition is used abstractively; < hree o, us 6ame over.< <He sa% all o, them.< This is called -partitive genitive-. There we-re using the genitive to mark the whole whence an amount derives/ -hundreds of men.- ! from an undefined mass called -men-, -hundreds- are selected. The genitive would seem logical, as the extracted amount belongs to the original whole. "uckily, Old Norse uses the genitive in the exact same way. Except, of course, its genitive is marked exclusively through inflection and not by the help of prepositions. 5o, first an example of the possessive usage we already know; Etr l,s er langr. Then, an example of the partitive genitive;

5umir vFr vil)a eigi vera G Olfarsheimi. -5ome of us don-t want to be in Olfarsheimr.Note, by the way, that the verb con)ugates in the third person in this example. Though it may seem to be a semantic first person, the verb refers to -sumir-, which is a third group. Bemember that verbs always agree to the sub)ect in the sentence, and the sub)ect is always in nominative #like -sumir-, but unlike -vFr-%. 1.2 'ati%e 1aseI Lnstru$ental <s detailed in lesson 7, section &.&, the dative case in ON originates from a fusion of many different case forms. Mut the various functions of those originally different cases still remain in the dative case. One of those functions is called instrumental , and marks the ob)ect with which the verb is executed. Examples; 0He slays the dragon %ith the mighty s%ord.0 0He 6omes to England by shi!.0 0>t<s a rial by :ire.0 *n those sentences, sword , ship and fire serve instrumental functions, and are marked in English by the instrumental case prepositions with and by . *n ON, we have until now relied on the preposition meI T dat, which marks instruments, among other things. Mut ON can also omit any preposition, relying on the naked dative form to identify the instrumental function. Example; 02rr vegr -tuninn hamri.0 hor slays the giant %ith a hammer. This function of the dative is not very common, especially not in prose. 1.3 /erbs .ith 'ati%e and &eniti%e 5o far, we have used only verbs followed by a direct ob)ect marked with accusative. .owever, to complicate matters, the -patients- of many ON verbs are not marked with accusative, but rather with dative or even genitive #rare%, as illogical as it may seem; Ek kasta steini. -* throw a stone.- #dative% \eir moeta hFnum. -They meet him.- #dative% .on saknar hans. -5he misses him.- #genitive% The explanation to this phenomenon probably lies in the etymology of the individual verbs/ a verb-s original meaning may have logically called for such case marking, but then changed meaning while retaining the case use. The compulsory dative marking would in a great many cases stem from instrumental dative usage #see &.' above% which has fro2en #become mandatory%. <t the same time, other verbs of similar meaning may then have changed to model themselves to the anomalous verb, so that all verbs of a similar theme meaning will govern the same case/ e.g. all verbs that describe pro)ectile meanings #like kasta above% tend to govern dative. *n any case, by the time of Old Norse it is no longer practical to consider such #perhaps obscure% historical details/ it is most practical to say that the grammatic case governed by an ON verb is one of its inherent variables, to be learnt as soon as one learns the verb itself. Thus, from now on, verbs will be specifically identified with the case they govern; vega, veg T acc slay kasta, kasta T dat throw sakna, sakna T gen miss, feel the loss of 1ost verbs learnt so far govern accusative/ the only exception is; sigla' sigli I dat sail *t may be of help to some students, however, to try to assign some minimal logic to some of the abnormal case use, perhaps especially with verbs that govern the genitive case. Cor example, with the example above of the verb -sakna-, one may assume something like this as an explanation; 0Hon saknar hans.0 01he misses his G!resen6eH.0 Mut this is only recommended as a mnemonic, for those whom it helps. 1.4 4trong Masculine 'eclensions The strong masculine is certainly the most varied declension. 5ome strong masculines end in !ir in the nominative. They decline 8uite easily; hilmir -king-

sg pl nom hilmir hilmar acc hilmi hilma dat hilmi hilmum gen hilmis hilma The dative cannot be -hilmii-, as -ii- is not possible in ON. < very large group of nouns within the declension are declined like this; staIr -placesg pl nom staIr staIir acc staI staIi dat staI stQIum gen staIar staIa 5trong masculines of this type are called -i!stems-/ the ones we know so far are called -a!stems-. To summari2e, i!stem declension is different in the following ways; a% gen sg !ar, not !s b% nom pl !ir, not !ar c% acc pl !i, not !a d% dat sg !d, not !i #-d- is commonly used to symboli2e no ending % < few strong masculines- declension is a mix between i!stem and a!stem declension; sg pl nom skYgr skYgar acc skYg skYga dat skYgi skYgum gen skYgar skYga That is, i!stem gen sg !ar, but otherwise )ust like other a!stems. The only such words we have encountered so far are -skYgr- and -matr-. 5ome i!stem nouns have !s in the sg gen. 5o, as you-ll be thinking by now, how do we keep track of all this? We intend to do so by using a new way to introduce future vocabulary from the strong masculine declension; hestr, hests, hestar horse vinr, vinar, vinir friend skYgr, skYgar, skYgar forest hilmir, hilmis, hilmar king Fss, Fss, Rsir god These three case forms are what characteri2e and identify the different declensions, nom sg #as before%, gen sg, and nom pl. Crom now on, make sure you learn to which declension each strong masculine noun belongs, before you continue. Names will also be presented this way, though not with the plural form, e.g.; N)Fll, N)Fls .araldr, .aralds \orvarIr, \orvarIar 1." Lnfiniti%e 1lauses With verbs like -claim- or -believe-, English can have full clauses following with all its main verbs in infinitive. *n those clauses, the infinitive is always marked with -to-; * believe him to be passed away. * claim her to be may legal heir. * believe it to have happened already. *n ON, such infinitive clauses are even more prolific. The difference to English is that the infinitive marker #at% is never used, and the verb infinitive tends to be idiomatically placed last in the sentence. <s in the English example sentences above, the sub)ect of the infinitive clause is not in

nominative, but rather in accusative; Ek tel hann gYIan mann vera. * believe him to be a good man. Ek segi Dik illan konung vera. * claim you to be an evil king. *n lesson (, section &.', infinitive clauses with sense words like -see- and -hear- were taught. They are analogous to the clauses presented above; :Jr s)Fm DF ganga um skYginn. We see them walking around the forest. \eir heyra konunginn mRla. They hear the king speak. <nd as mentioned there, clauses with the word -vita- #to know%; <sk veit ek standa. <n ash * know standing. 1.3 1lauses of 0ur(ose? 4eEuences 5ome subordinate clauses express purpose; They go to find the wood. # they go ! Kin orderL to find the wood % *n ON, such clauses are connected to the main clause by til at ; \eir fara til at finna viIinn. <lternatively, one might say; \eir fara at finna viIinn. This merely indicates a se8uence of events, though purpose is strongly suggested. This omission of til is 8uite common. 2. /ocabulary 2.1 Nouns vinr, vinar, vinir Fss, Fss, Rsir askr, asks, askar sveinn, sveins, sveinar peningr, penings, peningar mFttr, mFttar, mRttir kaupmaIr, !manns, !menn dYmr, dYms, dYmar DrRldYmr, !dYms, !dYmar bristr, brists 1)Qlnir, 1)Qlnis <skr 0ggdrasils OtgarIr 5urtr 1Hspellsheimr Nsa!\Yr 2.2 0ronouns ,emonstrative pronoun, masculine; sF that, the one that sg pl nom sF Deir acc Dann DF dat Deim Deim gen Dess Deira Example of the demonstrative that function; .vat heitir sF maIr, er stendr h)F )arli? What is that man called, who stands by the friend ace, god, one of the asir ash tree/ small wooden pot young man money power merchant )udgement, !hood # state of being suffix% slavery 3hrist 1)olner, Thor-s hammer The <sh of 0ggdrasil, the World Tree Outgard, alternate name for Pianthome 5urt, the Cire Piant 1uspellsheim, the World of Cire Piants Thor of KtheL asir , alternate name for Thor

earl? This also serves as a relative pronoun, the one that / for example 5F er fiska veiIir... The one who catches fish... Note how the plural simply uses the masc (p pl personal pronoun. 2.3 Ad2ecti%es heitr norroenn vitr alvitr fr)Fls s)Hkr blindr 2.4 /erbs hot Nordic wise omniscient, all!knowing free sick blind

smGIa, smGI craft, make trHa, trHi T dat believe/ believe in, have faith in leita, leita T gen search/ search for kaupa, kaupi buy halda, held T dat hold, keep vel)a, vel choose g)alda, geld T dat pay sigla, sigli T dat sail rGsa, rGs rise lRkna, lRkna heal <nd one present!preterite verb; vita know #a fact% sg pl &p veit vitum 'p vei2t vituI (p veit vitu *t should be mentioned now that the character -2- represents a combination of -t-,-d- or -I- T -s-, )ust as -x- is a combination of -k- and -s-. This makes the form -vei2t- more understandable, as it essentially the stem -veit- T the ending -!st-/ -veitst- c -vei2t-. The -2- was originally pronounced -ts-, but tended to simplify to -s- in later ON and its descendant languages. 2." Ad%erbs aldregi hvar hvaIan DaIan hJIan heldr enn til 2.3 0re(ositions undir T dat meIal T gen frF T dat 2.@ 1on2unctions never where whenceVwhere from thenceVthere from henceVhere from but rather still more, yet more

under among#st% from

svF sem 3. #5ercises 3.1 9ranslate the (hrases into #nglish

such as

5umir yIvar fara aldregi heim til Noregs. :ei2t DH eigi, hvFrt menninir skulu sigla brott? Eigi veit ek, hverir mannanna skulu sigla. bristr heitir drottinn sF, er verndar oss. Ek veit annan, er verndar oss hamri gegn illum )Qtnum. .vFrt mun sF \Yrr heita, ok hamarrinn 1)Qlnir? Eigi hefir sF bristr slGkan hamar er 1)Qlnir er. bristr hefir eigi hamra eIa branda, DvG at hann er gYIr ok vegr eigi menn nJ )Qtna. 3.2 9ranslate the (hrases into Old Norse There are many villains among Olaf-s friends. That viking is such a villain, that he never spares good men. Thor-s might is in the hammer. ,o you know, slave, whence they come, who they are, and what they call themselves? They come from Westway, and are *rish men. They call themselves free. No good men come from there. Take the sword and bring them to me. 5ome of you are thieves, who take horses. Who are they? Those who know, shall bring me the thieves. The thieves must give in. *f they do not do so, * will kill you all. 3.3 9ranslate the te5t into #nglish Oddr segir viI Bagnar )arl, 5eg mJr, )arl, af heiminum, af )Qtnum ok Fsum. Bagnarr svarar, \at skal ek, Oddr. X heimi stendr askr stYrr er vJr kQllum <sk 0ggdrasils. :iI askinn eru heimar Deir er heita 1iIgarIr, Dar er vJr bHm/ OtgarIr, Dar er )Qtnar bHa, en hann heitir ok >Qtunheimr/ ok NsgarIr, Dar er Rsir bHa. 4ndir askinum bHa dvergar, er smGIa bauga ok branda. ,rottin Fsa kQllum vJr EIin, ok er hann Fss m)Qk spakr. .ann hefir hrafna, er heita .uginn ok 1uninn, ok fl)Hga Deir hrafnar um heimana. \at, er hrafnarnir s)F, sJr ok EIinn. \vG er EIinn Fss alvitr. X NsgarIi b]r ok Fss sF er \Yrr heitir. \Yrr hefir hamarinn 1)Qlni ok fl]gr hann oft til >Qtunheims ok vegr meI hFnum )Qtna. 1argir Rsir bHa G NsgarIi, ok vernda Deir allir mennina ok heiminn, gegn illum )Qtnum. 5urt veit ek bHa G 1Hspellsheimi. 5F er stYrr ok illr )Qtunn elds. X heimi Deim brenna heitir eldar ok mun 5urtr leiIa DaIan )Qtna gegn Fsum. .ann mun vega Rsi eldi ok brandi Deim, er hann hefir. *llr er m)Qk )Qtunn sF. X 1iIgarIi bHm vJr menninir. 4m 1iIgarI allan veit ek orm hringa sik, er vJr kQllum 1iIgarIsorm. Ormr sF er illr. Nsa!\Yr vill veiIa Dann orm ok vega hann hamrinum. Oddr mRlir nH, benni ek nH marga Rsi. En sumir seg)a mJr af QIrum, er Deir nefna brist. .vFrt er sF meIal Fsa? Bagnarr svarar, 5F er eigi Fss, heldr maIr. 1enn seg)a hann lRkna s)Hka ok blinda, rGsa aftr dauIr, ok koma af himnum. 1argir norroenna manna trHa nH hFnum, en s)Flfr veit ek eigi mFtt brists. Cara nH Bagnarr ok vGkingarnir at leita sJr DrRla meIal Grskra manna. \eir kaupa Dar G :estrvegi marga unga sveina af norroenum kaupmQnnum, er halda sveinunum DrRldYmi. baupmaIr segir, 5veinarnir eru sterkir m)Qk, ok sF kaupir vel er DF velr. Tak DH, )arl, DF sveina er Dar standa, DF gef ek DJr annan til. Bagnarr telr kaupmanninn b)YIa sJr vel, ok geldr hFnum peningum. M]Ir hann svF DrRlunum at

ganga G bFtana, ok siglir brott. Er 5vartr ok bormFkr foera viIinn heim til )arls, spyrr 5vartr bormFk, .vFrt eru allir Grskir menn DrRlar, sem DH ert, bormFkr? bormFkr svarar, Eigi erum vJr allir DrRlar en mQrgum vFr halda norroenir menn G DrRldYmi. 3.4 9ranslate the te5t into Old Norse 1any #of% Nordic men believe in #the% asir, but not all of them. 5ome believe in 3hrist, "ord of .eaven. *rish men do not believe in the asir, but rather in "ord 3hrist. The bing of Norway commands all Norwegian men to call himself bing. .e also commands them not to have faith in the asir, but rather in 3hrist. Others, such as #the% earls of Norway, say that Thor will slay 3hrist himself # seg)a \Yr munu vega s)Flfan brist... %, with his hammer, 1)olner. 1any of #the% Norwegians believe the earls.