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Proto-Norse language
*** Shopping-Tip: Proto-Norse language
Image:Einangsteinen inscription2.jpg thumb|390px|composite photograph of inscription'''Proto-Norse''', '''Primitive Norse''', '''Proto-Nordic''', '''Ancient Nordic''', '''Old Scandinavian''' or '''Proto-North Germanic''' was an
Indo-European language spoken in
Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from
Proto-Germanic between the
1st century BC and the
2nd century, and was spoken until ca
700, corresponding to the
Roman Iron Age and the
Germanic Iron Age, until it evolved into the
Old Norse language at the beginning of the
Viking Age.
Proto-Norse was a uniform language with small dialectal difference regardless of the time and place at which it was spoken. In fact this is one of the definitions of Proto-Norse: the uniform
North Germanic language spoken in prehistoric Scandinavia.
Phonology
Accent
The
stress accent fell on the first syllable. Several scholars have proposed that Proto-Norse also had a separate
pitch accent, which was inherited from the
Proto-Indo-European language and has evolved into the
tonal accent tonal accents of modern
Swedish language Swedish and
Norwegian language Norwegian. Another recently advanced theory is that each Proto-Norse long syllable and every other short syllable received stress, marked by pitch, eventually leading to the development of the Swedish and Norwegian tonal accent distinction. Finally, quite a number of linguists have assumed that even the first phonetic rudiments of the distinction didn't appear until the
Old Norse period.
Vowels
A distinguishing feature of the Proto-Norse vowel system is the lack of symmetry between long and short vowels as seen below.
'''Short vowels'''
*'''a''': {{IPA|[a]}}
*'''e''': {{IPA|[e]}}
*'''i''': {{IPA|[i]}}
*'''u''': {{IPA|[u]}}
'''Long vowels'''
*'''Å?''': {{IPA|[oË?]}}
*'''Ä«''': {{IPA|[iË?]}}
*'''Å«''': {{IPA|[uË?]}}
'''Diphthongs'''
*'''eu''': {{IPA|[eu]}}
*'''au''': {{IPA|[au]}}
*'''ei''': {{IPA|[eɪ]}}
*'''ai''': {{IPA|[aɪ]}}
Consonants
'''Stops'''
Proto-Norse had the same six stops as had Old Norse. When one of the voiced stops stands in between vowels, it is realized as a fricative.
*'''p''': {{IPA|[p]}}
*'''t''': {{IPA|[t]}}
*'''k''': {{IPA|[k]}}
*'''b''': {{IPA|[b]}}
*'''d''': {{IPA|[d]}}
*'''g''': {{IPA|[g]}}
'''Fricatives'''
*'''f''': {{IPA|[f]}}
*'''þ''': {{IPA|[θ]}}
*'''h''': {{IPA|[χ]}}
*'''s''': {{IPA|[s]}}
*'''z''': {{IPA|[z]}}, at later stages probably pronounced like a retroflex ''r''.
'''Nasals'''
*'''n''': {{IPA|[n]}}
*'''m''': {{IPA|[m]}}
'''Continuants'''
*'''j''': {{IPA|[j]}}
*'''w''': {{IPA|[w]}}
Sources of Proto-Norse
Runic inscriptions
The surviving examples we have of Proto-Norse are all runic inscriptions in the
Elder Futhark. There are about 260 surviving Elder Futhark inscriptions in Proto-Norse, the earliest dating to the
2nd century.
Examples of inscriptions:
*Øvre Stabu spearhead, Oppland, Norway.
2nd century ''raunijaz'', O-N ''raun'', tester, cf.
Swedish language Swedish ''utröna'' (find out). The word formation with a suffix ''ija'' is evidence of
Siever's law.
*
Golden horns of Gallehus Gallehus gold horn 2, South Jutland, Denmark 400 A.D. ''ek hlewagastiz holtijaz horna tawido'', I Hlewagastis of holt made the horn. Note again the ''ija'' suffix
*Tune stone, Østfold, Norway 400 A.D. ''ek wiwaz after woduride witadahalaiban worahto. [me]z widuride staina þrijoz dohtriz dalidun arbijarjostez arbijano'', I Wiwaz, after Woduridaz bread-warden wrought. For me Woduridaz, the stone, three daughters prepared, the most noble of heirs.
*The
Einang stone is dated to the
4th century. It contains the message ''[ek go]dagastiz runo faihido'' ([I, Go]dguest drew the secret), in O-N ''ek goðgestr rún faða''. The first four letters of the inscription have not survived and are conjectured, the personal name could well have been Gudagasti, or something similar.
*The
Björketorp Runestone is one of three
menhirs, but is the only one of them where, in the
6th century, someone has written a curse: ''haidz runo runu falh'k hedra ginnarunaz argiu hermalausz ... weladauþe saz þat brytz uþarba spa'' (Here, I have hidden the secret of powerful runes, strong runes. The one who breaks this memorial will be eternally tormented by anger. Treacherous death will hit him. I foresee perdition.)
Loan words
Some Proto-Norse words have survived as borrowings in
Sami language Sami and
Finnish language Finnish. Some of these words are (with the reconstructed form in P-N): ''rengas'' < *''hrengaz'' (ring), ''kuningas'' < *''
kuningaz'' (king), ''ruhtinas'' < *''druhtinaz'' (sv. ''
drott'').
Other
Some Proto-Norse names are found in Latin works, for example tribal names like ''
Suiones'' (*''Sweoniz'', Swedes). Others can be conjectured from manuscripts such as
Beowulf.
Evolution from Proto-Germanic into Old Norse
Proto-Germanic to Proto-Norse
The differences between attested Proto-Norse and unattested
Proto-Germanic are small. The difference in name is mostly a matter of convention. Inscriptions found in Scandinavia are considered to be in P-N; inscriptions found elsewhere that are old enough are considered to be Proto-Germanic. For example, the name inscribed on the
Negau helmet is Proto-Germanic though it would be the same in Proto-Norse. One distinctive difference between the two is the P-N lowering of P-G ''Ä“'' to ''Ä?''; this is easiest seen in the pair ''mÄ“na'' (
Gothic language Gothic) and ''máni'' (
Old Norse) (English ''moon'').
Proto-Norse to Old Norse
In the period 500–800, two great changes occurred within Proto-Norse.
Umlauts appeared which means that a vowel was influenced by the succeeding vowel or semi-vowel, e.g. Old Norse ''gestr'' (guest) came from P-N ''{{Unicode|È?}}astiz'' (guest). Umlauts also resulted in the appearance of the new vowels ''y'' (e.g. ''fylla'' from *''fullian'') and ''ö'' (e.g. ''döma'' from *''dÅ?mian''). There was also a special umlaut resulting in
diaeresis, i.e. the vowel changed into a diphthong e.g. ''hiarta'' from *''herto''. This change was by and in itself no great disruption in the language. It merely introduced new allophones of
back vowels if certain vowels were in following syllables. However, the changes brought forth by
syncope made umlaut a distinctive non-transparent feature of the morphology.
Due to syncope the long vowels of unstressed syllables were shortened and the shortened vowels lost. As in P-N the stress accent lay on the first syllable words as P-N *''katilÅ?z'' became ON ''katlar'' (cauldrons), P-N ''horna'' was changed into Old Norse ''horn'' and P-N ''{{Unicode|È?}}astiz'' resulted in ON ''gestr'' (guest). Some words underwent even more drastic changes, like the polysyllabic *''χaÆ€ukaz'' which changed into a monosyllabic ON ''haukr'' (hawk).
The postpositioned definite article also appeared during this time e.g. ON ''dagrinn'' (the day).
Category:North Germanic languages
Category:Proto-languages
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