Norrœnt mál (Old Norse)

[Remis]

Let's try to get this language going, aye?
I'll admit that I don't know all that much Old Norse (mostly Óláf vegr ormrinn, but yanno), but it's a hella' fun language to study.
So the few of you who are studying Old Norse, why do you do it? Myself, it's because I've always been fascinated by Norse mythology and as a result the language. This is obviously also because it's the parent language of my own mother tongue, Norwegian, so to me it's fun just seeing the etymology and evolution of grammar.
Also, Old Norse is eightfold cooler than modern Scandinavian. I suppose that if I only could learn a single language in addition to Norwegian and English, I'd do Old Norse or Latin.

Here are the resources that I'm using, if anyone could use them:
http://www3.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
http://norse.ulver.com/dct/zoega/index.html

Also, pen pals would be great. It's easier to learn a language if you practise it, right?

[księżycowy]

The old thread might be helpful.

I have an interest in Old Norse, but this has always been second to my interest in the older forms of English.

[tomaszdk]

Hey I'm in!

I'm new here, found my way by a Google Alert.

I'm always keen to learn Old Norse. I would like to join on this project.

[księżycowy]

An extensive online course, here: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ ... l-0-X.html

[sa wulfs]

I never got too far with Old Norse. It's just complicated enough that you need to make a serious effort to be able to learn the basics and start enjoying the literature.

[Karavinka]

I tried myself, except I stopped it after I found myself spending much less time with other languages. It's a big commitment.

Having learned Gothic, there were actually just a few things that were new in Old Norse...and what "a few" things they are. Like umlaut. It's not a total random, and it's quite predictable in most cases (there are cases you can't). Still, understanding what's going on behind the surface was pretty hard to grasp, unless you know your phonetics 101. Should you decide to ignore the underlying forms and just learn the tables, I guess you could do it, but that would make it even harder, I'm afraid. I stopped halfway through a grammar-based coursebook so I'll just shut myslef up.

[TimmyP]

So lets get going then!

I've got a Norse course starting in October and want to get as much of a head start as possible.

So is anyone still interested?

[Mulder-21]

Seeing as I will begin studying Faroese in September, and part of my curriculum is Old Norse, I'll also follow this thread. Count me in.

[Imyirtseshem]

.

[TimmyP]

Cool, sounds like we've got some interest then! If no one has any other suggestions of how we could do this then I suggest the following...

First get hold of Gordon & Taylor's Introduction to Old Norse as it has a grammar, glossary and some texts for us to translate. Any other grammar and dictionary should do as well though.

So starting with the first text A...

A. LOKI AND SVAÐILFARI.pdf

1. Say which selection of text you will translate. I'd suggest we take just a couple of lines each (well to begin with anyway!). We also need to make sure that where someone finishes a new person begins.

2. If any problems crop up we can then discuss them here.

3. Finally we can post the original line of text with the translation.

4. Once any discussions of the translation are over we go back to 1 again!

So, sounds like a plan? Any other ideas are welcome of course!

[TimmyP]

Well assuming we are going to do it this way. I can try and translate the following!

<<Þat var snimma í ǫndverða bygð goðanna, þá er goðin hǫfðu sett Miðgarð ok gǫrt Valhǫ6ll,>>

From: line 1, word 1
To: line 2, word 6

[aalmand]

Hi, I was wandering if anyone can tell me how to say, or more specifically write the word "Life" in Old Norse, or the closest word to it in the Old Norse dialect. I simply want it to say "Life" if possible. Thanks in advance.

[TimmyP]

Hiya,
Actually the noun for life is just simply "líf" not very exotic I'm afraid!

[TimmyP]

Is there anyone still interested in learning Old Norse here?

We could always try and find a beginners book on Norse grammar if that would be a better first step?

Ideas anyone?

[hlysnan]

I'm interested, but I don't know if I have enough time at the moment. Would it be problematic if I was learning a modern Scandinavian language at the same time?

[TimmyP]

Nope, I wouldn't think so! Everyone who studies a Scandinavian language at UCL also has to do an Introduction to Old Norse course in year one, and if those slackers can do it, I don't see why you couldn't too! The Icelandic students even do Danish as well as Norse and Icelandic in year one! Ouch!

I would also add that nynorsk and Norse is definitely a nice combination as Ivar Aasen relied quite a bit on Old Norse when constructing nynorsk.

So, any ideas on how to get going?

[aalmand]

Hiya,
Actually the noun for life is just simply "líf" not very exotic I'm afraid!

Wow lol, your right. I wanted this in a tattoo and "lif" is not at all what I expected. Thank you very much though.

[TimmyP]

Yeah, lots of the words are actually the same or very nearly so, especially for those types of key words.

For a tattoo you could always look at the runic alphabet which would definitely score higher on the cool looking exotic scale.

Remember even with laser surgery, you often can't get rid of a tatoo completely and you are left with a scar. So if you do choose one make sure you really, really like it!

[SvartiVíkingurinn]

Ef þið byrjið að læra íslensku fyrst, þá gætið þið lesið norrænu mjög vel án þess að hafa vandamál. Icelandic is like Modern Norse. Er það yndislegt?

[TimmyP]

True, but I'm more interested in medieval languages and the sagas. So would rather concentrate on Old Norse first rather than modern Icelandic. Also, the pronunciation has changed so much that it would probably be confusing... Thanks for taking the time to post though.