Proto-Norse (PrN)
PrN (also called Primitive Norse, Ancient Scandinavian and similar,
with the later form of the language also being distinguished as Common
or Viking Norse) refers to the ancestor of the North Germanic
languages, accessible through reconstruction and (to a certain extent)
early runic inscriptions. It was spoken during the first millennium
AD in southern Scandinavia, and is a descendant of Proto-Germanic (PrGmc). Its sister branches, according to the traditional classification, are West Germanic and East Germanic (Gothic).
It is characterised by the following main phonological innovations:
- PrGmc /ae:/ > /a:/ eg. ON va:ru, OE wae:ron "were"
- Loss of nasal in the sequences vowel + ns, vowel + mf, with
compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel (cf. Gmc nasal loss in
similar sequences) eg. ON a:ss, Goth ans "heathen god"
- Various vowel lowerings before R < z, original /h/, original
nasal eg. ON er, OE is "is"; ON re:tta, OE rihtan "to correct"; ON
drekka, OE drincan "to drink"
- Monophthongisation of /ai/ > /a:/ before /h r/ (cf. OE /ai/
> /a:/ eg. ON a:r, Goth air "early"
- "Breaking" of /e/ > /ja/ before unstressed /a/ and of /e/ >
/j9/ before unstressed /u/ eg. ON hjarta, Ger Herz "heart"; ON j9rdh,
Ger Erd "earth"
- u-Mutation (rounding) of some vowels before unaccented /u w/ eg. ON
m9gr, Goth magus "son"; ON land, pl. l9nd < *landu; ON h9ggva, OE
he:awan "to hew"
- i-Mutation (fronting) of back vowels before unaccented /i j/
eg. ON hylja, Goth huljan "to conceal"; ON einn, Goth ains "one"
- Apocope and syncope of short unaccented vowels
- Loss of some PrGmc /j/ eg. ON ungr, OE geong
- Change of PrGmc /z/ to /r/, perhaps via some kind of palatalized
fricative, represented in runic texts as R (change shared with WGmc)
eg. ON eyra, Old High German o:ra, Goth auso: "ear"
- Development of sequences -ggj- and -ggw- from PrGmc /jj ww/
(change shared with EGmc) eg. ON egg, OE ae:g; ON tryggr,
acc. tryggvan, Goth triggws, OE tre:owe "true"
- Development of /lth/ and /nth/ to /ll nn/ eg. ON finna, past
pl. fundinn "to find"; ON gull, OE gold
Some notable grammatical innovations developed during the Common Norse
period as well:
- A new set of verbal forms with reflexive / medio-passive
significance arose from the suffixation of the reflexive pronoun "sik"
to the verb eg. berja "to beat, strike", berjask "to fight"
- The combination of "to have" with the neuter past participle
produced new perfect and pluperfect constructions eg. fadhir hans
hafdhi haldit sk9ttum fyrir Ha:koni "his father had withheld taxes
from Ha:kon"
- A definite article was developed from the demonstrative "hinn"
which could be suffixed to nouns eg. medh 9llum farminum "with
all the cargo"; in arma j9tna systir "the wretched giants'
sister"
The Thorsberg Chape (c.200 AD)
owlthuthewaR niwajemariR
"Ullthe:r the glorious."
The first element, owlthu- (for wolthu-) corresponds to Old English
wuldor "glory", Old Norse Ullr (a god-name); the second element,
thewaR, corresponds to OE the:ow "slave": the whole forms a personal
name. The second word ni is the negative particle (OE ne, ON ne:);
then waj- corresponds to OE wa:, ON vei "woe". The final element of
the compound, mariR, becomes ON maerr, cognate with OE mae:re
"renowned, famous"; the whole is thus "not un-famous" i.e. "glorious".
The Gallehus horn (c.400 AD)
ekhlewagastiR:holtijaR:horna:tawido
"I, Hle:gestr of Holt, made the horn."
The first word, ek, corresponds to OE ic "I"; Hle:-gestr is a compound
personal name; Holt: "wood" is a place-name, modern Holstein. Tawido
would give ON ta:dha "made".
The break-up of Proto-Norse
PrN had developed a marked distinction into West Norse, spoken in
Norway, Iceland, and the other Norwegian colonies, and East Norse,
spoken in Sweden, Denmark and their colonies, by c.1000 AD.
Proto-Norse
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West Norse East Norse
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Icelandic Norwegian Swedish Danish Old Gutnish