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Viking Language 1 Viking Language 1 Learn O ld Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas Jesse L. Byock ÎV iW Î Jules William Press www.vikingnorse.com Jules William Press w w w .vikingnorse.com Copyright © 2013, Jesse L. Byock Maps Copyright © 2013, Jesse L. Byock All rights reserved. No part of this copyrighted book may be reproduced, transmitted, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including internet, photocopying, recording, taping, pdf, or any information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from Jesse L. Byock. Cataloging-in-Publication Data Byock, Jesse L., 1945- Viking Language 1 : Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas / Jesse Byock. - 1st ed. v. cm. - (Viking language series) Contents: v. 1. Viking language 1 : Learn Old Norse, runes, and Icelandic sagas, v. 2. Viking language 2 : The Old Norse reader. Summary: Old Norse Icelandic language introductory textbook with readings from sagas, runes, and the Viking Age in Scandinavia. Includes bibliographical references, vocabulary, appendices, and student's guide. ISBN-13: 978-1480216440 (v. 1, pbk.) ISBN-10:1480216445 (v. 1, pbk.) 1. Old Norse language-Grammar. 2. Old Norse language-Readers. 3. Vikings-Language. 5. Sagas-lcelandic. 6. Runes-Scandinavian. I. Title. PD2235.B9 2012/v.l 439/.6/v.l-dc 2012921210 (LCN) Printed in Calibri Cover Picture Permission: Cf24063_C55000_100_VSH: Vikingskipshuset, det akademiske dyrehodet fra Oseberg © Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet I Oslo / Ove Holst Viking Language 1 5 Dedication This book is dedicated to my teachers of Old Norse: Einar Haugen at Harvard University; Kenneth Chapman and Eric Wahlgren at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and Gosta Holm at Lunds Universitet. They were great scholars with deep learning in different aspects of Old Norse. It was an honor and a pleasure to learn with them. I believe this book would please them. 6 Viking Language 1 A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s Viking Language was long in the making, and I am indebted to many for their help. I thank the students and post docs who worked with me during the many phases of this project. I especially thank Kevin Elliott, a brilliant student in Indo-European Studies with an extraordinary knowledge of Old Norse. So also, I thank Randall Gordon, Marcin Krygier, Colin Connors, and Davide Zori for their insights and critique. It is a professor's joy to have such astute students. I also thank the undergraduates in my Old Norse classes at UCLA. A good part of this book was written in Iceland, where for several years I was affiliated with the Medieval Studies Program at the University. I thank Professors Torfi Tulinius, Helgi Porläksson, Ärmann Jakobsson, and Ästräöur Eysteinsson for providing me with an office and assistance. I warmly thank my friends Adalsteinn Davidsson, Gunnlaugur Ingölfsson, and Khstjan Johann Jönsson for their assistance. These specialists in Old Icelandic cast their sharp eyes over the manuscript. Camilla Basset, Chad Laidlaw, Miriam Mayburd, Rabea Stahl, and Arngrimur Vidalin Stefänsson, excellent graduate students at the University of Iceland, read the advanced draft. Their attention to detail and the additional suggestions by Sigrid Juel Hansen, Ilya Sverdlov, and Brett Langenberger were a boon for the last phases of the project. Gudmundur Ölafur Ingimundarson, Jean-Pierre Biard, Robert Guillemette, and Ilya Sverdlov worked with me in making the charts and maps, and I warmly thank them for their great skill. I also thank Gayle Byock for her careful reading of the manuscript and constant cheerful support. David Lasson and J. Sebastian Pagani read portions of the manuscripts and contributed many useful suggestions. Any errors that remain are my own. I am grateful to the Arcadia Foundation, Menntamälaräduneyti (the Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture), the Alcoa Foundation, the Institute for Viking and North Atlantic Studies, the Gelsinger Memorial Fund, the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the UCLA Academic Senate. Their support made this project possible. Finally, I thank the President of Iceland, Ölafur Ragnar Grimsson, for his constant support for this long project and Björn Bjarnason, the former Minister of Culture. V iking Language 1 7 Organization and Notes For Using Viking Language 1 This book has two narratives. One is the tale of teaching Old Norse language, especially the Icelandic variant in which the sagas are written. The other is the story of the people who spoke Old Norse, traveled widely, and carved runes. Both tales are extraordinary. Figure 1. Viking Age head carved on elk-horn found in Sigtuna, Sweden. The Book Includes Table of Contents - a comprehensive listings so that all readings and grammatical information can be easily located. Introduction - defines the sources and culture for learning Old Norse / Icelandic and runes. Discussions, Lists, and Features Old Norse / Icelandic Alphabet and Spelling. List of Abbreviations. Extensive Grammar Index telling where to find grammatical explanations and rules. A list of Sagas and their locations on a map of Iceland. Maps, Charts, and Illustrations. Lessons - include Old Norse / Icelandic language, runic writing, and the history, mythology, and literature of the Viking Age. Each lesson focuses on an aspect of 8 Viking Language 1 language and life. The Old Norse reading passages and cultural sections in the first and second lessons concentrate on the settlement of Iceland and Greenland. Succeeding lessons turn to different locations in the Viking world including Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the British Isles, Europe, the Baltic region, Russia, Byzantium, the East. An extensive series of maps visualize the seafaring and travels of the Viking Age. All lessons include grammar and exercises. Runes are taught in almost all lessons. Grammar Toolboxes. Special review sections defining basic parts of speech are strategically located in the lessons. They offer overviews of core grammatical elements for those readers wishing to brush up their grammar while learning Old Norse. Appendix A - Quick Guide to Old Norse Grammar is a study resource offering the most important tables of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. Appendix B - The Most Frequent Words In the Sagas. Viking Language is designed with a word frequency strategy to speed learning. Each lesson has a word frequency section and the symbol ♦ marks each of the 246 most common words in the sagas. Two listings in Appendix B give the 70 most frequent words in the sagas and the 246 most frequent words. Appendix C - Pronunciation of Old Icelandic. In addition to this appendix, www.vikingnorse.com offers an audio learning section with Icelandic speakers pronouncing reading passages from the early lessons. Vocabulary. The rear of the book contains a comprehensive Vocabulary. So also, the reading passages in the first 7 lessons have their own specific vocabularies. These small vocabularies free the learner to concentrate on mastering the grammar of the early lessons. For those interested in word stems, the vocabulary entries offer all necessary information. Viking Language 1 i v i w i Contents Introduction Icelandic Sources Scandinavian Runes Old Norse Language Cognates and Borrowings Iceland Where the Sagas Were Written The Viking Age The Rus End of the Viking Age T ools for Using V ik in g La n g u a g e Old Norse/lcelandic Alphabet and Spelling Anglicizing Old Norse Personal Names List of Abbreviations Grammar Index Lesson 1: Sailing W est to Iceland, G reenland, and North A merica 1.1 Culture - Atlantic Seafaring 1.2 The Letters P and 0 1.3 Reading - Ingolf Gives Land to Herjolf (Grcenlendinga saga) 1.4 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns and Personal Pronouns 1.5 Gender of Nouns and Pronouns - Masculine, Feminine, Neuter 1.6 Case of Nouns and Pronouns - Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive 1.7 Exercise - Case: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive 1.8 Apposition - Case Agreement of Nouns 1.9 Word Frequency - The Most Common Words in the Sagas Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 1. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas 10 Viking Language 1 in each part of speech Exercises 1.10 to 1.17 1.18 Culture - Gudrid Travels from Vinland to Rome Lesson 2: Norse Settlers in G reenland and V inland 2.1 Culture - Norse Greenland 2.2 Reading - 'Land-taking' in Greenland (Landndmabdk) 2.3 Exercise - The Reading Selection from Landndmabdk 2.4 Culture - Vinland (Vinland) 2.5 Grammar Toolbox. Definite and Indefinite Article 2.6 Proper Nouns 2.7 Grammar Toolbox. Verbs 2.8 Verbs, Infinitives 2.9 Linking Verbs - Vera, VerOa, and Heita 2.10 Culture - The Family and Sturlunga Sagas 2.11 Culture - Saga Genres 2.12 Grammar Toolbox. Adjectives 2.13 Old Norse Word Paradigms 2.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 2. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 2.15 to 2.22 Lesson 3: Denmark: Runestones and the First V iking State 3.1 Culture - Runes 3.2 Reading-The Small Runestone at Jelling, Denmark 3.3 Culture - The Elder and Younger Runic Alphabets 3.4 Runic Letters Which Spell More Than One Sound 3.5 Runic Spelling Variations and Standardized Old Norse 3.6 Exercise - Runic Script 3.7 Reading - Gorm and Thyri (6ldfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta) 3.8 Culture - Gorm the Old and the Danish Jelling Dynasty 3.9 Personal Pronouns - 1st and 2nd Persons 3.10 Exercise - Personal Pronouns - 1st and 2nd Persons 3.11 Personal Pronouns-3rd Person 3.12 Exercise - Personal Pronouns - 3rd Person 3.13 Nouns - Strong and Weak 3.14 The Verb Vera 'to be' - Present and Past 3.15 Exercise - The Verb Vera 3.16 Culture -S o n and Ddttir in Names 3.17 Exercise - Son and Ddttir 3.18 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 3. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Viking Language 1 11 Exercises 3.19 to 3.26 Lesson 4: Kings and Heroes 4.1 Reading - The Large Runestone at Jelling 4.2 Exercise - Reading the Large Runestone at Jelling. 4.3 Grammar Toolbox. Vowels and Consonants 4.4 U-Umlaut 4.5 Exercise - O-Umlaut 4.6 Strong and Weak Verbs 4.7 Exercise - Strong and Weak Verbs 4.8 Weak Verbs in the Present Tense 4.9 Word Frequency - Weak Verbs 4.10 Exercise - Weak Verbs in the Present Tense 4.11 The Reflexive Possessive Pronoun Sinn 4.12 Exercise - The Pronoun Sinn and Personal Pronouns 4.13 Reading - Midfjord-Skeggi (Landndmabdk) and Hrolf Kraki's Sword 4.14 Exercise - The Reading Selection from Landndmabdk. 4.15 Culture - Harald Bluetooth Forges a Viking Age State 4.16 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 4. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 4.17 to 4.27 Lesson 5: Sw eden: A Family Runestone 5.1 Culture - Lands of the Swedes (Sviar) and Goths (Gautar) 5.2 Reading - Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer on the Ramsund Runestone 5.3 Culture - Sigurd the Dragon Slayer 5.4 Short and Long Vowels -Stressed and Unstressed 5.5 The Two Special Stem Rules 5.6 Verbs and the Special Stem Rules 5.7 Exercise - Special Stem Rules 5.8 Words with Stem Endings -j- and -v- 5.9 Strong Nouns - Introduction 5.10 Strong Nouns - Type 1 Masculine 5.11 Exercise - Strong Nouns - Type 1 Masculine 5.12 The Nouns Madr and Sonr 5.13 Exercise - Madr and Sonr 5.14 The Weak Verb Hafa in the Present Tense 5.15 Exercise - Hafa 5.16 Grammar Toolbox. Prepositions 5.17 Reading-A Man of Moderation (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu) 5.18 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 5. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas 12 Viking Language 1 Exercises 5.19 to 5.30 Lesson 6: Sacral Kingship in A ncient Scandinavia 6.1 Culture - The Ynglings in Sweden and Norway 6.2 Reading - Domaldi Sacrificed for Better Harvests (Ynglinga saga, from Heimskringla) 6.3 Culture - The Temple at Uppsala and Human Sacrifice 6.4 Strong Nouns - Type 1 Feminines and Neuters 6.5 Exercise - Strong Nouns, Type 1 Feminines and Neuters 6.6 Past Tense of Weak Verbs 6.7 Vowel Sounds and Assimilation 6.8 /-Umlaut 6.9 Identifying The Four Weak Verb Conjugations 6.10 Exercise - Identifying Weak Verb Conjugations 6.11 Verbs - Voice, An Introduction 6.12 Culture - Snorri Sturluson and Heimskringla 6.13 Reading - Halfdan the Black's Body in Four Parts (Hdlfdanar saga svarta, from Heimskringla) 6.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 6. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 6. IS to 6.25 Lesson 7: Norway' s Harald Fairhair and His Son Eirik Bloodaxe 7.1 Culture - Harald Fairhair 7.2 Reading - Harald Fights His Way to the Throne (Grettis saga Asmundarsonar) 7.3 Culture - Harald Fairhair 7.4 Reflexive Pronouns 7.5 Exercise - Reflexive Pronouns 7.6 Strong Nouns - Type 2 7.7 Exercise - Type 2 Strong Nouns 7.8 Weak Nouns 7.9 Exercise - Weak Nouns 7.10 Nouns Whose Stems End in a Long Vowel 7.11 Reading - Eirik Bloodaxe, the King's Son, Receives a Ship (Egils saga Skalla- Grimssonar) 7.12 Culture - Eirik Bloodaxe - A Viking King in England 7.13 Reading - A Cruel King, a Cunning Wife, and Their Promising Children (Harolds saga ins hdrfagra, from Heimskringla) 7.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 7. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 7.15 to 7.25 Viking Language 1 13 Lesson 8: Harald hardradi in Constantinople 8.1 Culture - Harald and the Varangians 8.2 Reading - Harald Hardradi Leads the Varangian Guard (Harolds saga Sigurdarsonar, from Heimskringla) 8.3 Exercise - Translating from Harolds saga Sigurdarsonar 8.4 Culture - The Rus Across Russia and Further 8.5 Nouns - Kinship Terms in -ir 8.6 Nouns Whose Stems End in -nd- 8.7 Present Tense of Strong Verbs 8.8 Past Tense of Strong Verbs 8.9 Exercise - Principal Parts of Strong Verbs 8.10 Past Tense Ending -t of Strong Verbs 8.11 Exercise - Past Tense Ending -t of Strong Verbs 8.12 Reading - Harald Hardradi Sends Famine Relief to Iceland (Harolds saga Sigurdarsonar, from Heimskringla) 8.13 Grammar Toolbox. Verb Mood 8.14 Commands and the Imperative Mood of Verbs 8.15 The Present Subjunctive of Verbs 8.16 Culture - Harald Hardradi, A Violent End 8.17 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 8. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 8.18 to 8.30 Lesson 9: Raiding in the W est 9.1 Reading - Onund Tree-Foot Raids in the West {Grettis saga Asmundarsonar) 9.2 Exercise - Reading Grettir's saga 9.3 Culture - Western Norway 9.4 More on the Definite Article 9.5 Strong Nouns - Type 3 9.6 Strong Nouns - Type 4 9.7 Demonstrative Pronouns Pess/' and S6 9.8 Clauses - Independent, Dependent, and Relative 9.9 Exercise - Main and Dependent Clauses 9.10 Verbs - The Past Subjunctive 9.11 Exercise - The Past Subjunctive of Verbs 9.12 Reading - Murder, Fosterage, and a Widow's Resourcefulness [Grettis saga Asmundarsonar) 9.13 Culture - Vikings in the British Isles and Western Europe 9.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 9. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 9.15 to 9.25 14 Viking Language 1 Lesson 10: Beached W hales in Iceland 10.1 Culture - Competition for Resources 10.2 Reading - A Whale Washes Ashore {Grettis saga Asmundarsonar) 10.3 Exercise - Grettir's Saga 10.4 Strong Adjectives 10.5 Exercise - Nouns and Strong Adjectives 10.6 Strong Adjectives of Two Syllables 10.7 Strong Adjective Endings 10.8 Exercise - Strong Adjectives 10.9 Verbs - Past Participles Introduction 10.10 Past Participles of Strong Verbs 10.11 Present and Past Perfect of Verbs 10.12 Verbs - Passive Voice 10.13 Reading - The Whale Dispute Turns Deadly (Grettis saga) 10.14 Exercise - From Grettir's Saga 10.15 Culture - Resources and Subsistence in Iceland 10.16 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 10. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 10.17 to 10.25 Lesson 11: T he Endless Battle 11.1 Reading - The Battle of the Hjadnings (Skdldskaparmdl, from The Prose Edda) 11.2 Exercise - Close Reading of The Battle of the Hjadnings 11.3 Weak Adjectives 11.4 Exercise - Nouns with the Definite Article and Weak Adjectives 11.5 Strong Verbs - Guidelines for Distinguishing Strong Verb Classes 11.6 Strong Verbs - Class I 11.7 Strong Verbs - Class II 11.8 Exercise - Strong Verbs, Class I and II 11.9 Verbs Taking Dative and Genitive Objects 11.10 Exercise - Verbs Taking Dative or Genitive Objects 11.11 Reading-The Battle of the Hjadnings Continues (Skdldskaparmdl, frorr Prose Edda) 11.12 Possessive Pronouns 11.13 Verbs - Impersonal Constructions 11.14 The Indefinite Pronoun Engi 11.15 The Indefinite Pronoun Annarr 11.16 Direct and Indirect Speech 11.17 Grammar Toolbox. Adverbs Viking Language 1 15 11.18 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 11. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 11.19 to 11.28 Lesson 12: Feud in Iceland's East Fjords 12.1 Reading - Helgi Earns his Nickname (Vdpnfirdinga saga) 12.2 Culture - Norse Farmsteads 12.3 The Indefinite Pronoun Nokkurr 12.4 Pronouns - Hverr and Hvdrr 12.5 The Indefinite Pronoun Einnhverr 12.6 The Pronoun Hvdrrtveggi 12.7 Strong Verbs-Class III 12.8 Verbs - Present Participles 12.9 Reading - The Outlaw Svart Steals Old Thorstein's Sheep (Vdpnfirdinga saga) 12.10 Culture - Icelandic Chieftains, Godar 12.11 Word Frequency Vocabulary - List 12. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas Exercises 12.12 to 12.19 Lesson 13: S p ike-H elg i K ills a T h ie f in W e a p o n ' s Fjord 13.1 Reading - Spike-Helgi Hunts Down Svart (Vdpnfirdinga saga) 13.2 Culture - Assemblies and Courts in Iceland, Background to the Sagas 13.3 Strong Verbs - Classes IV and V 13.4 Preterite-Present Verbs 13.5 Preterite-Present Verbs - Modals With and Without at 13.6 Exercise - Preterite-Present Verbs 13.7 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives 13.8 Comparative Adjective Endings 13.9 Superlative Adjective Endings 13.10 Usage of Comparative and Superlative Adjectives 13.11 Exercise - Comparative and Superlative Adjectives 13.12 Comparative and Superlative Adverbs 13.13 Reading - Brodd-Helgi's Relationship to Geitir (Vdpnfirdinga saga) Exercises 13.14 to 13.20 Lesson 14: Norse M ythology and T he W orld T ree Yggdrasil 14.1 Culture - The World Tree 14.2 Reading - Gangleri Asks About Yggdrasil (Gylfaginning, from The Prose Edda) 14.3 Reading - Norns, Well of Fate, and Baldr (Gylfaginning, from The Prose 16 Viking Language 1 Edda) 14.4 Strong Verbs - Class VI 14.5 Verb Middle Voice - Introduction and Formation 14.6 Verb Middle Voice - Meaning and Use 14.7 Cardinal Numbers 1 to 20 14.8 The Past Subjunctive of Preterite-Present Verbs 14.9 Two-Syllable Nouns - Syncopated Stems 14.10 Exercise - Vowel Loss in Two-Syllable Nouns Exercises 14.11 to 14.16 Lesson 15: T he Saga of King Hrolf Kraki 15.1 Reading - Bodvar Rescues Hott from the Bone Pile (Hrolfs saga kraka) 15.2 Culture - The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki and Beowulf 15.3 Enclitic Pronouns 15.4 Strong Verbs - Class VII 15.5 Verbs - Subjunctive Middle 15.6 Verbs - Subjunctive and Indirect Speech in Main and Dependent Clauses 15.7 Past Infinitives of the Verbs Mundu, Skyldu, and Vildu 15.8 Cardinal Numbers Above 20 15.9 Ordinal Numbers 15.10 Exercise - Ordinal Numbers 15.11 Reading - Bodvar Kills the Monster (Hrdlfs saga kraka) 15.12 Culture - Legendary Lejre (Hleifiargarflr) 15.13 Reading - Hrolf Gets The Nickname Kraki (Skatdskaparmat, from The Prose Edda) 15.14 Culture - Berserkers Exercises 15.15 to 15.22 A ppendix A: Q uick G uide to the O ld Norse G rammar A ppendix B: T he M ost Frequent W ords in the Sagas A. The 70 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas B. The 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas (by part of speech) C. T he 246 M o s t Fr e q u e n t W o r d s in t h e Sa g a s (in alphabetical order) A ppendix C: Pronunciation of O ld Icelandic V o c a b u l a r y Viking Language 1 17 Fig ur es 1. A Viking Age Head 2. Helmet Nose-Piece, Sweden 3. The Skivum Runestone from Denmark 4. Indo-European Languages Arriving at Proto Old Norse 5. Proto Old Norse (North Germanic) and Its Descendant Languages 6. Scandinavian Settlement in England 7. Norse Settlement in Normandy 8. Sailing Distances from Iceland 9. The World of the Vikings, West 10. The World of the Vikings, East 11. Beads Excavated by the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) in Iceland 12. The Norse Cross the Atlantic 13. The Travels of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir 14. The Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggd) of Norse Greenland (Greenland) 15. Locations of Major Family and Sturlunga Sagas 16. The Runestone, front and back, of King Gorm the Old (Gormr inn gamli) at Jelling, Denmark 17. Runic and Latin Equivalents 18. Viking Age Denmark (Danmork) 19. Eirik the Red's Family Tree 20. The Large Jelling Runestone, Denmark 21. Sides B and C of the Jelling Runestone 22. Dental Consonants 23. The Ramsund Runestone, Sweden 24. Viking Age Sweden (Svialand or Svi'bjdO) 25. The Swedes Kill Their King Domaldi 26. The Vowel Space Chart and the Vocal Tract 27. Pronunciation of the Vowel /, as in English 'see' 28. The Vowel / 29. Old Icelandic Vowel System 30. /-Umlaut of Old Icelandic Vowels 31. Snorri Sturluson 32. King Halfdan's Sleigh Falls Through the Ice 33. The Sea Battle at Hafrsfjord 34. The Negative Prefix 6 35. Viking Age Norway {Noregr) 35. Ships Riding at Anchor in a Fjord 37. The Route Probably Taken by Haraldr Hardr30i 38. The Ed (Boulder) Inscription from Uppland, Sweden

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.