East Norse (EN)
EN refers to a form of early North Germanic language, spoken in
Sweden, Denmark and their colonies. It is a descendant of Proto-Norse (PrN), and began to show distinctions
from West Norse (WN) from the tenth century
AD. EN is preserved in some runic inscriptions and some early
manuscripts in the Roman alphabet (after the conversion of Scandinavia
to Christianity).
EN is characterised by the following main phonological features:
- Monophthongization of PrN [Ei] > [e:] and [9u], [Ey] > [o/:]
eg. Old Danish (ODa) e:n, Old Icelandic (OIc) einn "one"; ODa
do/:thaer, OIc daudhr "dead"
- More widespread vowel breaking than in WN
The break-up of East Norse
From the eleventh and twelfth centuries on, differences within EN
itself began to become apparent, until one can speak of it having
broken up into Old Danish, Old Swedish and Old Gutnish.
East Norse
___________|___________
| | |
Danish Swedish Old Gutnish