Proto-Norse language
Encyclopedia : P : PR : PRO : Proto-Norse language
Contents
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 accents of modern Swedish and 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: [a]
- e: [e]
- i: [i]
- u: [u]
- ō: [oː]
- ī: [iː]
- ū: [uː]
- eu: [eu]
- au: [au]
- ei: [eɪ]
- ai: [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: [p]
- t: [t]
- k: [k]
- b: [b]
- d: [d]
- g: [ɡ]
- f: [f]
- þ: [θ]
- h: [χ]
- s: [s]
- z: [z], at later stages probably pronounced like a retroflex r.
Nasals
- n: [n]
- m: [m]
- j: [j]
- w: [w]
- l: [l]
- r: [r]
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 utröna (find out). The word formation with a suffix ija is evidence of Sievers' law.
- 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 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 and 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 ē to ā; this is easiest seen in the pair mēna (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 ȝastiz (guest). Umlauts also resulted in the appearance of the new vowels y (e.g. fylla from *fullian) and œ (e.g. dœma from *dōmian). 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 *katilōz became ON katlar (cauldrons), P-N hurna was changed into Old Norse horn and P-N ȝastiz resulted in ON gestr (guest). Some words underwent even more drastic changes, like the polysyllabic *χaƀukaz which changed into a monosyllabic ON haukr (hawk).
The postpositioned definite article also appeared during this time e.g. ON dagrinn (the day).
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.