Vikings

• Sailed over one-third of the globe. The first northern Europeans to fully harness the technology of long-distance seafaring.

• Spoke Old Norse, the source of many English words and the parent of the modern Scandinavian languages: Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Faroese, and Norwegian.

• Told their myths, legends, and sagas wherever they went. Today these are the basis of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Wagner’s Ring cycle, and a host of games and fantasy books.

The Viking Language Series

Old Norse language, runes, Icelandic sagas, Viking history and literature

Viking Language 1, Learn Old Norse, Runes and Icelandic Sagas, 2nd Edition (Book 1 in The Viking Language Series) is a new introduction to Old Norse, Icelandic sagas, and runes. The beginner has everything in one book: graded lessons, vocabulary, grammar exercises, and pronunciation. There are extensive maps, and sections on Viking history, literature, and myth. An innovative word-frequency method greatly speeds learning. Modern Icelandic has changed little from Old Norse, so the student is well on the way to mastering the modern language. Free Answer Key and Audio Pronunciation Samples on our website

www.vikinglanguage.com

Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader (Book 2 in The Viking Language Series) is a treasure trove of Scandinavian lore, immersing the learner in Old Norse sources and runes. The book offers a large Vocabulary, chapters on eddic and skaldic poetry, and a full reference grammar. The learner reads complete sagas, myths, creation stories, legends, runic inscriptions, and poems about Scandinavian gods, monster-slayers, dwarves, giants, kings, and queens. This book takes the reader deep into the world of the Vikings.

Visit the Jules William Press websites:

www.oldnorse.org

www.vikinglanguage.com www.vikingnorse.com

Now Available: MP3 download Pronunciation Lessons

Two MP3 Download Audio Albums teach the pronunciation of saga passages and runes in Viking Language 1. Available on Amazon (search under ‘all’ and ‘Music/Digital Music’), itunes, and cdbaby.com

Viking Language 1 Audio Lessons 1-8: Pronounce Old Norse

Viking Language 2 Audio Lessons 9-15: Pronounce Old Norse

Sample pronunciation lessons on the website under Audio

www.oldnorse.org

www.vikingnorse.com www.vikinglanguage.com

About the Author

Jesse Byock is Research Professor of Old Norse and Medieval Studies in the Scandinavian Section at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. An archaeologist specialising in the Viking Age, he is Professor at UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. In Iceland, Professor Byock is the Director of the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP), excavating a Viking Age valley. The Mosfell excavations include a chieftain’s hall, Christian and pagan burial sites, a conversion-age church, and a harbor from the first centuries of Iceland’s Viking Age settlement. Prof. Byock is professor at the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) affiliated with the Dpartment of History and the Programs in Medieval Icelandic and Viking Studies.

Jesse Byock is author or translator of Viking Age Iceland (Penguin), Grettir’s Saga (Oxford), The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (Penguin), The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin), Feud in the Icelandic Saga (University of California Press), The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Penguin), Islande des Vikings (Aubier Flammarion) and The Viking Language Series (Jules Williams Press). The series includes Altnordisch 1: Die Sprache de Wikinger, Runen, und isländischen Sagas (found on Amazon.de).

Viking Language 1

Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas

2nd Edition

Jesse L. Byock

Jules William Press

www.oldnorse.org

www.vikinglanguage.com

www.vikingnorse.com

Jules William Press

www.vikingnorse.com

www.vikinglanguage.com

www.oldnorse.org

Copyright © 2017, Jesse L. Byock

Maps Copyright © 2017, 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.

Jesse L. Byock

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas / Jesse Byock. – 2nd ed.

(Book 1 of the Viking Language Series, Jules William Press)

Summary: Introduction to Old Norse and Icelandic language, history, and culture for beginner to advanced, with grammar exercises and readings from sagas, runes, and myths of Viking Age Scandinavia

ISBN-13 (Kindle e-book): 978-0-9881764-2-3

First published in 2013

2nd edition 2017

Printed in Calibri

Cover Picture Permission: Cf24063_C55000_100_VSH: Vikingskipshuset, det akademiske dyrehodet fra Oseberg © Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet I Oslo / Ove Holst

Keywords: Old Norse, saga, Icelandic, Viking, Scandinavian, mythology, rune, grammar, pronunciation, language

Viking Language 1, 2nd Edition, v2

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my teachers of Old Norse: Einar Haugen at Harvard; Kenneth Chapman and Eric Wahlgren at UCLA (the University of California, Los Angeles); and Gösta 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.

Books by Jesse Byock

Viking Age Iceland. Penguin Books

L’Islande des Vikings. Flammarion, Editions Aubier

La Stirpe di Odino: La Civiltá Vichinga in Islanda. Oscar Mondadori

Исландия эпохи викингов. Corpus Books

Feud in the Icelandic Saga. University of California Press

ｻｶﾞﾉ ｼｬｶｲｶｲｼ ﾁｭｰｾｲｱｲｽﾗﾝﾄﾞﾉ ｼﾕｳｺｯｶ. Tokai University Press

Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power. University of California Press

Island i sagatiden: Samfund, magt og fejde. C.A. Reitzel

ｱｲｽﾗﾝﾄﾞ ｻｶ Tokai University Press

Viking Archeology in Iceland: Mosfell Archaeological Project. Editors Davide Zori and Jesse Byock. Brepols Publisher (Cursor Mundi)

Translations from Old Norse

Grettir’s Saga. Oxford University Press

The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology. Penguin Books

The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Penguin Books

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Penguin Books

The Viking Language Series

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas. Jules William Press

Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader. Jules William Press

Altnordisch 1: Die Sprache der Wikinger, Runen, und Isländischen Sagas. Jules William Press (German Edition, available Amazon.de)

www.vikingnorse.com & www.vikinglanguage.com

This book has two narratives. One is the tale of learning 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. A Viking Age Head carved on elk-horn found in Sigtuna, Sweden.

Acknowledgments

Viking Language was long in the making, and I first thank Kenneth Chapman, my teacher and colleague at UCLA. Ken’s methods of teaching inspired me. I thank my graduate students and post docs at UCLA, especially Kevin Elliott, a brilliant student in Indo-European and Old Norse Studies. Randall Gordon, Marcin Krygier, Jeffrey Mazo, and Davide Zori offered insights and critiques. It is a professor’s joy to have such excellent students. I also thank the undergraduates in my Old Norse classes at UCLA for their comments.

Much of this book was written in Iceland, where I am a professor at the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) affiliated with the Department of History and the Graduate Programs in Viking and Medieval Icelandic Studies. I thank Professors Helgi Þorláksson, Torfi Tulinius, Vésteinn Ólason, Guðmundur Jónsson, Guðrún Nordal, Ármann Jakobsson, and Ástráður Eysteinsson.

A pleasure of Iceland is the seriousness with which elected officials value their country’s language and past. I thank the former President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, and the Ministers of Culture and Education (Menntamálaráðherrar) Björn Bjarnason, Tómas Ingi Olrich, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, and Katrín Jakobsdóttir for their support.

My friends and specialists in Old Icelandic language Aðalsteinn Davíðsson, Gunnlaugur Ingólfsson, and Kristján Jóhann Jónsson cast their sharp eyes over the manuscript. Gunnar Karlsson and Helgi Þorláksson critiqued the cultural sections. Graduate students at the University of Iceland Arngrímur Vídalín Stefánsson, Camilla Basset, Colin Connors, Cassandra Ruiz, Chad Laidlaw, Miriam Mayburd, and Rabea Stahl read and commented on parts of the advanced draft. Suggestions by Björn Þráinn Þórðarson and Sigrid Juel Hansen were a boon for the last phases of the project, while Ilya Sverdlov, who has a great knowledge of Old Norse, helped with graphics, examples, and grammar suggestions. Brett Landenberger and Brooks Walker aided with the cover design. Guðmundur Ólafur Ingimundarson, Jean-Pierre Biard, Robert Guillemette, and Ilya Sverdlov worked with me in making the charts and maps, and I greatly appreciate their skill. Gayle Byock provided critical readings of the typescript. Bob Björk, Paul Acker, David Lasson, and J. Sebastian Pagani read portions of the manuscript and contributed many useful suggestions. Any errors that remain are my own.

This project, which was often done in connection with the Mosfell Archaeology in Iceland, had an additional benefit. It supported many of my students during their studies at UCLA and at the University of Iceland. I am grateful to Menntamálaráðuneytið (the Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture), the Alcoa Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, Arcadia Fund, the Institute for Viking and North Atlantic Studies, the Gelsinger Memorial Fund, Norvik, and the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

The 2nd Edition of Viking Language 1 Includes

Expanded and Revised Grammar Explanations based on comments from students and teachers. Additional maps, charts, and illustrations. Two new Reading Chapters (after Lessons 5 and 6), with longer passages & increased coordination with Viking Language 2, The Old Norse Reader.

Free Answer Key to the Exercises in Viking Language 1 at www.vikinglanguage.com or www.vikingnorse.com, under ‘Study Resources.’ The same for the ‘Lösungsschlüssel’ for the German edition: Altnordisch 1: Die Sprache der Wikinger, Runen, und Isländischen Sagas.

Retains the 15 Lessons structure, with original readings, grammar, exercises, runes, history, myths, and sagas. Lessons begin with the North Atlantic settlement of Iceland and Greenland. The later lessons follow Viking activity in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the British Isles, Russia, Byzantium, and the East. The second edition offers more background history.

A Word Frequency Strategy that speeds up learning. The symbol ❖ (found in the lessons and vocabulary) marks the 246 most common words in the sagas. See also Appendix 1, The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas ❖.

Grammar Presentations explain core language processes, reducing memorization.

The letter ǫ in place of ö.

More on Runes as an integral part of the Old Norse language of Scandinavia.

Helpful student ‘Quick Guide to Old Norse Grammar’ (Appendix 2)

Comprehensive Table of Contents making it easier to locate numbered reading passages and grammatical information. In addition, there is a separate Grammar Index.

Expanded Introduction giving an overview of the Viking World, Old Norse languages, and sources.

Expanded Grammar Toolboxes. Special review sections strategically located in the lessons offer core grammar overviews: these have proven helpful for learning Old Norse and also for brushing up on English grammar.

References to Viking Age Iceland (Penguin Books) expand the discussion of central issues.

Expanded Website with ‘Study Resources’ (Quizlet Exercises, free Answer Key), Videos, Audio Pronunciation Samples, links to Resources. See www.oldnorse.org

List of Major Sagas and a map of Iceland with their locations.

Expanded Vocabulary – Reading passages in the first seven lessons have their own short vocabularies. The rear of the book contains an expanded, comprehensive Vocabulary.

Figure 2. The Viking Age ‘Fire-Hall’ (Eldskáli) of the Mosfell Chieftains. Built ca. 900 at Hrísbrú in Iceland’s Mosfell Valley, this large Viking Age longhouse measures 28 meters long and was situated in a defensive site on the southern slope of Mosfell Mountain. The front door overlooked the chieftain’s Harbor at Leiruvogur (Clay Bay) at the valley’s coastal mouth. The drawings are made from the archaeological floor plans and show the house as a one-story turf structure at the time of its first construction phase in the early settlement (landnám) period. The house is representative of the homes of the goðar(Iceland’s chieftains), and Grímr Svertingsson lived here. Grímr was Iceland’s Lawspeaker shortly after the conversion in the year 1000.

The internal drawing shows the wooden wall partitions separated by interior wooden doors. The excavation found all the foundation and floor plan elements in place, including pits for wooden tubs of sour whey used for food preservation and a very large long-fire (5.8 meters long) in the center of the floor of the main room (also called eldskáli). The building’s internal wooden frame was constructed mostly from driftwood. It provided the building’s structural strength.

The thick turf walls and grass-covered roof gave insulation and protection from the strong northern winds. The drawing shows the construction elements involved in the building of such a turf roof, including rafters and cross laid layers of branches under the turf. The trick was to leave enough airspace for moisture to evaporate. Egil’s Saga recounts that the warrior-poet Egill Skalla-Grímsson lived at Mosfell in his old age and died in this long house ca. 990. (The drawing is one of a series of archaeological/architectural studies by Jesse Byock and Grétar Markússon, Mosfell Archaeological Project).

Figure 3. The Viking World.

Introduction

Vikings and The Viking Age

Figure 4. Bronze Helmet Nose-guard, Sweden.

Vikings were people of the ship, the first northern Europeans to fully harness and exploit the technology of long-distance water travel. Their era, called the Viking Age, lasted more than three centuries from ca. 790-1100 AD. It was an epoch of sea-borne expansion.

When the Viking Age began, Scandinavia was a land of pagan chieftaincies, and Vikings, as part of their late Iron Age warrior culture, sailed from Scandinavia in all compass directions. They spoke Old Norse and their language would become the parent language of modern Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Faroese. It would also leave a profound imprint upon English, since many Scandinavians settled in the British Isles. During the Viking period, Old Norse speakers from the different regions within Scandinavia and in the overseas Norse settlements readily understood each other with few dialectical differences.

Wherever Scandinavians went, they brought with them their legends, myths, and language. Often, they carved runes, and thousands of such carvings are preserved. For several centuries after the end of the Viking Age, Old Norse continued to be spoken in Scandinavia and in the Norse Atlantic settlements, such as Iceland, with relatively few changes in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

Sources for the Study of Old Norse

Figure 5. The Skivum Runestone, Denmark

Knowledge of Old Norse language as well as the narrative history and storytelling (literature) of the Viking Age rests on two groups of Old Norse sources: medieval writings from Iceland and runic inscriptions found throughout the Viking world. Together these two groups give extraordinary insight into Old Norse language, history, and culture.

Icelandic Medieval Writings are the first and most extensive group of sources. At the end of the eleventh century, Icelanders mastered writing. They adopted a slightly altered Latin alphabet that included the consonants ‘þ’ (called thorn) and ‘ð’ (called eth). With writing at their disposal, Icelanders soon began capturing on skin manuscripts their laws, genealogies, histories, sagas, legends, and myths. These medieval writings, many of which have survived, provide much of what we know from native Old Norse sources of the history and personalities of the Viking Age.

In composing their prose sagas and histories (among the histories, the most important are The Book of Settlements [Landnámabók] and The Book of the Icelanders [Íslendingabók]), Icelanders recognized that the origins of their community were not timeless or very distant. Instead they saw their personal roots and those of their island-wide community encapsulated in the relatively recent, memorable events of the Viking Age. As part of keeping these memories alive, they composed the family sagas (Íslendingasögur) about Icelanders and the kings’ sagas (Konungasögur) about the rulers and history of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. These two groups of sagas form a large literature of quasi-historical prose stories focusing on private and public life and Viking Age conflicts. With often great social detail, the sagas recount moments of honor and deceit as well as the banality and humor of everyday life.

Icelanders also wrote others kinds of sagas (as is discussed in this book), including mythic-legendary sagas (fornaldarsögur). These ‘sagas of ancient times,’ retaining kernels of memory from the earlier Proto-Norse speaking period, are Viking Age stories of ancient heroes such as Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (Siegfried in the German Nibelung tradition) and King Hrolf Kraki, the Danish warrior king. Other Icelandic writings such as Prose Edda and Poetic Edda preserved Old Norse mythology, legends, and poetry. They recount the tales and the poetry about the Norse gods, telling of the origins of the gods in the great void of Ginnungagap and of the gods’ destruction at the final battle of Ragnarök. Icelandic writings also captured the heroic tales and verses of ancient Scandinavia. All of these sources are included in the reading passages of this book. When these texts were written down in the medieval period immediately following the Viking Age, Icelanders continued speaking Old Norse, as did Norwegians and other Scandinavians.

Runic inscriptions are the second of the two major groups of native sources for learning Old Norse language and the history of the Viking Age. Runes were an alphabetic writing system. The letters are made from short, straight strokes carved on wood, bone, bark, stone, and probably wax tablets. Sometimes runes were engraved, inlaid, or etched onto steel objects such as sword blades. At other times, they were carved on household artifacts such as spindle whorls and bone combs.

Figure 6. Indo-European Languages arriving at Proto Old Norse, the stage of language that precedes Old Norse (see the next figure).

Many of the longer runic inscriptions were carved as memorials on stones. Such stones, with their runes and sometimes pictorial ornamentation, are called runestones. Runes were also used for everyday messages and graffiti. Many inscriptions had a magical context, and some are found on wooden healing sticks. The majority of runic finds are from mainland Scandinavia, but examples of runes have been found in many areas where the Northmen traveled or lived.

The runic alphabet is called the ‘futhark’ after the first six runic letters . Runes pre-date the Viking Age by many centuries and offered an efficient way of sharing and preserving information. The oldest runes date from the first century AD, when writing in runes began among Germanic peoples, spreading to Goths, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons, and the Scandinavians who became the Northmen (Norðmenn) of the Viking Age.

Over the centuries, there were several different futharks. The earliest, from the first century, was called the elder futhark.

The elder futhark had twenty-four characters. With variations, it was in use into the late eighth century. At the beginning of the Viking Age, the elder futhark was replaced by the younger futhark, a shortened runic alphabet with sixteen characters.

The younger futhark remained in use throughout the Viking world, including Iceland, where archaeologists have found a small stone spindle whorl with runes etched on the back from early in Iceland’s settlement. It names a woman as its owner. Runic inscriptions provide our most direct link to the speech of the Vikings, and a comparison of the Old Norse of the Icelandic sagas and the runes of Viking Age Scandinavia shows a common language spoken throughout the Viking World, with small regional and dialectical differences.

The Old Norse Language

Figure 7. Proto Old Norse (North Germanic) and Its Main Descendant Languages. Proto Old Norse (PN) developed into Old Norse (ON) by the eighth century. Several smaller languages can be added to the larger West Old Norse and East Old Norse languages in this chart. These include Faroese (the language of the Faroe Islands) under ‘West Old Norse’ and Old Gutnish (the language of the Baltic Island of Gotland) under ‘East Old Norse.’ Old Gutnish is in some ways its own language, but it also shares many similarities with East Old Norse.

Medieval Scandinavians called their Old Norse language the ‘Danish tongue,’ dǫnsk tunga. No one is quite sure why this was so. Perhaps it was because Denmark was the first of the Scandinavian lands to become a powerful, centralized kingdom, and the speech of the influential Danish court became for a time the accepted standard. It may also have been because the Danes were closest to the Frankish Empire and the rest of Europe.

Several questions concerning Old Norse arise. One is: How close was Old Norse to Old English? The answer is that Old Norse was related to, but different from, the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England. With a little practice, however, Old Norse and Old English speakers could understand each other, a factor that significantly broadened the cultural contacts of Viking Age Scandinavians. The two languages derived from a similar Germanic source, which had diverged long before the start of the Viking Age (see the accompanying Indo-European language tree). Another question is: Does learning Old Norse/Old Icelandic help in learning Modern Icelandic? The answer is that the two languages are quite similar. The Old Norse of the medieval Icelanders, especially what is found in the sagas, remains the basis of Modern Icelandic. Most of the grammar and vocabulary taught in this book are current in Modern Icelandic.

As a distinct language, Old Norse has a traceable history. It is the most northerly and most westerly medieval member of the large Indo-European family of languages. The Indo-European language family tree offers an overview of the placement of Proto Old Norse (the ancestor of Old Norse) in the Germanic branch of Indo-European. Old Norse shares a close relationship with early Germanic languages such as Old English, Gothic, and Old High German, while the relationship with other Indo-European languages, such as Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, is more distant.

Figure 8. A Viking warship based on the Gokstad high seas ship found in the late 19th century in Oslo Fjord in a Viking Age burial mound. Such a long ship had a crew of more than 60 and could attain over 12 knots speed. These ships were designed with a small but robust keel. Their very shallow draught (see the midship cross-section above) allowed them to beach on sandy shores without the need of a harbor and to sail far up rivers. These factors offered Viking crews the element of surprise.

At the start of the Viking Age, there were two closely related varieties of Old Norse. East Old Norse was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, and the Norse Baltic region. West Old Norse was spoken in Norway and the Atlantic Islands, including the Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. Toward the end of the Viking period, around the year 1000, with accumulation of small changes, Old West Norse began to split into Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian.

Icelandic and Norwegian share an especially close kinship, since Iceland was settled largely by Old Norse speakers from mainland Norway and from the Norwegian Viking Age colonies in the British Isles. Today, we call the language of the sagas and the other written Icelandic sources Old Norse (ON) or more precisely Old Icelandic (OI). Old Icelandic is a branch of the Old West Norse that developed in Iceland and Norway from the Old Norse speech of the first Viking Age settlers. By the twelfth century, differences between Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian were noticeable but still minor, resembling to some extent present-day distinctions between American and British English. At roughly the same time, East Old Norse diverged into Old Swedish and Old Danish. Still, the four languages remained similar and mutually intelligible until about AD 1500, and all the Old Norse sources, from either the Atlantic or the Baltic regions, are accessible with training in Old Norse.

By the modern period, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish changed considerably from Old Norse. These languages were strongly influenced by Low German dialects and English. They dropped numerous aspects of Old Norse grammar and changed many sounds. Modern Icelandic, however, remained faithful to the older language and Icelandic underwent remarkably few alterations. Today, speakers of modern mainland Scandinavian languages can easily understand one other, but they cannot understand Icelandic. Old Icelandic grammar is very similar to Modern Icelandic grammar. The most noticeable diversions from the medieval language to the modern are a series of sound shifts, spelling modifications, and the adoption of new words and meanings.

The most noticeable spelling difference between Old and Modern Icelandic is the addition of the vowel -u- before the consonant r in many Modern Icelandic words. For example, the Old Icelandic words maðr ‘man,’ fagr ‘beautiful,’ and fegrð ‘beauty’ are spelled in Modern Icelandic maður, fagur, and fegurð. The addition of the -u- first appeared in manuscripts around the year 1300 and became standard in later Icelandic. Most alterations from Old to Modern Icelandic are small and systematic, and an Icelander today can read the sagas with greater ease than English speakers can read Shakespeare.

Cognates and Borrowings. Many words in Old Norse resemble English words in pronunciation and meaning. For example, Old Norse dalr is similar to English ‘dale,’ and taka has its counterpart in English ‘take.’ Such words are classified as either cognates or borrowings.

‘Cognate’ is a Latin term meaning ‘having the same ancestor’ and is used to refer to words that derive from a common parent language. Old Norse and English both originate from (Proto) Germanic, which was spoken in parts of northern Europe between 500 BC and AD 100. This early language split into dialects, with words retaining similarities. For example, the word ‘father’ is fadar in Gothic, fæder in Old English, fader in Old Saxon, fater in Old High German, and faðir in Old Norse. Many common Old Norse words have cognates in English as evidenced in the following:

Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

sonr

son

lítill

little

koma

to come

skip

ship

smár

small

bera

to bear

konungr

king

góðr

good

segja

to say

vápn

weapon

fár

few

vilja

to will

hǫnd

hand

fyrstr

first

hafa

to have

bróðir

brother

víss

wise

gefa

to give

land

land

dauðr

dead

láta

to let

dagr

day

langr

long

ríða

to ride

Numerous cognates deriving from the ancient parent language have been lost in Modern English. Among archaisms there are many word no longer used such as ‘quoth’ (ON kveða ‘to say’) and ‘sooth’ (ON sannr ‘true’). Others only survive in compounds, as in English blackmail, where the second element is cognate with Old Norse mál ‘speech.’

Figure 9. Scandinavian Settlement in England changed the vocabulary and structure of English. Raids began in the 790s. Serious Norse settlement began in 865, when the Great Army of mostly Danes arrived in East Anglia. York fell in 866 and became the Viking Kingdom of York (Jórvík). When Alfred the Great defeated the ‘Danes’ in the late 800s, they mostly withdrew north of the Danelaw (dashed line on the map) and settled among the Saxon population. Vikings were most active in the north and the east (K. Cameron, Scandinavian Settlement). The last Viking King of York, Eirik Bloodaxe, was killed in 954. The English re-conquered the Danelaw, and Norse settlers were integrated into the English Kingdom.

‘Borrowings,’ loan words taken from one language into another, are usually the result of close cultural contact. During the Viking Age, Scandinavian trade, conquest, and settlement in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe resulted in the adoption of Norse words into local languages. Some borrowed words are still present in the modern speech of different regions. Two contrasting examples of Old Norse influence on modern languages are found on either side of the English Channel. One is from the Danelaw, the area in northeastern England that saw widespread Scandinavian settlement, and the other from Normandy (Normandie, meaning ‘Northmen’s Land,’ from Old Norse) in northern France.

The closeness of Old Norse with Old English facilitated extensive adoption of everyday Norse words, and there were many borrowings into English dialects. Such borrowings included basic ‘grammatical’ words such as ‘they’ (þeir), ‘their’ (þeira), and ‘them’ (þeim). In addition, most words in English that begin with sk- or sc- are borrowings from Old Norse (e.g., sky, scrape, skill), while those beginning with sh- are of English origin (e.g., short, shape, shell). Sometimes both the Old Norse borrowing and its Anglo-Saxon/Old English cognate survive in Modern English, for example ‘skirt’ and ‘shirt.’

Today there are at least nine hundred words in contemporary English borrowed from Old Norse. Among these are common words such as ‘cast’ (kasta), ‘hit’ (hitta), ‘low’ (lágr), ‘egg’ (egg), ‘same’ (samr), ‘want’ (vanta), ‘wrong’ (rangr), ‘law’ (lǫg), ‘outlaw’ (útlagi), ‘viking’ (víkingr), ‘fjord’ (fjǫrðr), and ‘husband.’ ‘Husband’ comes from ON húsbóndi, a compound word composed of hús + bóndi (‘house’ + ‘farmer’ or ‘landowner’), meaning ‘the master of the house.’

In the area of the Danelaw, the local speech today retains many borrowings. These include words such as garth for ‘yard,’ beck for ‘stream,’ and mickle for ‘much’ (ON garðr, bekkr, and mikill). Many place names in the Danelaw contain Norse elements such as -by and -thorpe, derived from ON bær and þorp, meaning ‘farmstead.’ The town of York derives its name from Old Norse Jórvík, the Scandinavian adaptation of Eoforwic, the Old English name for the town. Many parish names in the areas of Scandinavian settlement are of Norse origin.

English words of Old Norse origin often have a history. For example, in Yorkshire the word ‘riding’ was officially used until 1974 to denote each of the shire’s three parts. Most people assume the word relates to horses, but ‘riding’ comes from ON þriðjungr, meaning the third (þriði) part of an assembly or of a geographically defined region.

The Old Norse word was adopted into Old English as þriðing. The word continued as thriding, with -riding as its core, into Middle English, where thriding continued to define the Northern, Eastern, and Western districts of Yorkshire. Thriding was adopted into Medieval Latin as tridingum. In its modern English form, the initial th- was dropped, and the word became ‘riding.’ The term, ‘riding’, was taken to Canada by British colonial administrators, where today it is used in parts of the country to denote a parliamentary constituency.

The relative ease with which large numbers of Old Norse words were adopted by Old English speakers and come into modern English contrasts to what occurred in other languages. Only a few Scandinavian loan words have survived in Gaelic-, Irish-, and Russian-speaking areas, despite significant Scandinavian settlements during the Viking Age.

So the linguistic situation between England and Normandy in Northern France is also different. The Viking incursions in Normandy started in the 800s with small settlements, but in 911 a Viking army under the leadership of the chieftain Rollo (Hrólfr) took possession of the lands around Rouen at the mouth of the river Seine. The settlers and their descendants rapidly established an aggressive new state, the duchy of Normandy, which became a powerhouse in tenth- to twelfth-century France. In the early years, Rollo’s Norse followers were joined by small Viking warbands and probably mixed Anglo-Scandinavian settlers. The Scandinavian colonists in the more westerly Cotentin region appear to have been principally Norwegian, perhaps arriving from the Viking encampments in Ireland.

Figure 10. Norse Settlement in Normandy. In 911 the Frankish King Charles the Simple ceded land at the mouth of the Seine around Rouen to the Viking chieftain Rollo. Rollo became a vassal of the Frankish King and undertook the region’s defense against future Viking incursions. Rollo’s descendants expanded their territory, forming the duchy of Normandy, a powerful feudal state.

While politically dominant, the Viking contingents in Normandy were never large. The Scandinavian settlers retained relations with the Norse world until the beginning of the eleventh century, but they had, by half a century after 911, lost most of their own language. In place of Old Norse, they adopted the local Old French dialects of langue d’oïl derived from Vulgar Latin.

Traces of Old Norse still exist in local place names in Normandy such as La Londe ‘grove’ (ON lundr) and Bricquebec ‘slope’ (ON brekka). Many words and terms remained in the local Norman dialects into the mid-twentieth century, when such local speech mostly died out. These dialects, however, never had a great influence on Modern French. Normandy remained distant from the center of French power and culture, and Modern French favored the dialects from the more inland regions. Today, the traces of Old Norse in Modern French are principally concerned with the sea, a Norman specialty. Words of Old Norse origin include vague ‘wave’ (ON vágr), crique ‘creek’ (ON kriki), and equiper ‘equip’ (ON skipa ‘fit out a ship’).

Norse Speakers at Opposite Ends of the Viking World: Icelanders and the Rus

Iceland. By the 800s Norse seafarers had discovered Iceland, far out in the North Atlantic. Reports of Iceland’s large tracts of available land soon circulated throughout the Scandinavian cultural area, including the Viking encampments in neighboring Celtic lands. The result was the rapid ninth- and early tenth-century settlement of Iceland, a period called the landnám (‘land-taking’).

In the seventy or more years of the landnám, c. 860-930, at least ten thousand people, and perhaps as many as twenty thousand, immigrated to Iceland. Initially it was a boom period with free land for the taking. The settlers came in merchant ships (knǫrr, pl. knerrir) loaded with goods, implements, and domestic animals. The sturdy single-masted, square-sailed knerrir were made to be sailed, but they could also be rowed for short distances. They were used throughout the Viking Age and carried between 30 and 50 tons of cargo depending on the size of the ship. After the Icelandic landnám period, Norwegian merchants used the knǫrr in the Iceland and Greenland trade.

Many of the prominent settlers arrived in their own ships, as noted in sources, such as Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements). It is also possible that other ships, not recorded in Landnámabók, went back and forth across the Atlantic, ferrying land-hungry people out to the island for a fee. Icelandic sources also tell of voyages further to the west of Iceland. At the end of the tenth century, Icelanders and Norwegians sailed from Iceland into the far North Atlantic, where they discovered and settled Greenland. About the year 1000, they reached the North American continent, which they called Vinland (Vínland, that is, Land of Vines or Wineland), and Viking Age archaeological remains have been excavated at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland.

Early Iceland, with its writings about the Viking Age settlement, is a laboratory for exploring Old Norse language, history, and social forces of the Viking Age, as well as the development of narrative. In most places, Norse colonists took land by force from indigenous populations. Iceland was different. It was uninhabited except for a few Celtic monks, who, seeking solitude, had earlier sailed there in small skin boats. The majority of Viking Age immigrants to Iceland were free farmers. Settlers came with their families, laborers, craftsmen, slaves, livestock, household equipment, and farm implements. They also brought their language – Old Norse, the language of Scandinavia during the Viking Age.

From the Icelanders’ medieval histories and sagas, we know a great deal about the men and women who settled Iceland. They were a predominantly Norse culture group with numbers of Celts, often women, as determined by DNA studies. Among the colonists were small-scale chieftains who in Iceland came to be called goðar (singular goði, a term which carries the meaning of ‘priest chieftain’). Some of these leaders are said in the medieval Icelandic sources to have left Viking Age Norway because they had troubles with the centralization of royal power there. Iceland’s settlers seized the opportunity to bring their families, their wealth, and their livestock nearly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) over the North Atlantic in search of land. During the landnám perhaps ten thousand or more people immigrated to Iceland.

Figure 11. Sailing Distances from Iceland. If somewhat isolated, Iceland was also well situated in the center of the Northern seas. Navigation across the North Atlantic was based on land sightings, astronomical observations, as well as knowledge of currents, bird-life, sea mammals, and light reflected from land and glaciers. In bad weather, when the sun in its east-west trajectory was obscured, mariners often lost their way. The sagas tell us that some seafarers sailed as far off course as North America.

Far out in the North Atlantic, Iceland developed in semi-isolation without national or regional commanders powerful enough to lead disputes with other countries over dynastic claims, territorial dominance, trade, or wealth. The task facing the immigrants to this new land was to prosper on an empty island with only a limited habitable area. Iceland is the second largest island in Europe, two-thirds the size of England and Scotland together – and yet much of the island is uninhabitable, as only the coast is warmed by a northern arm of the Gulf Stream.

Beginning in the tenth century with the close of the landnám (ca. 930), Icelanders established a general assembly, the Althing (Alþingi), and a system of regional and national courts. With this basic governance structure sufficient for regulating feud, Iceland functioned as a single island-wide polity.1 In the year 1000, Icelanders peacefully converted to Christianity by agreement at the Althing. In this decision, as in many decisions made at Icelandic assemblies, compromise played a large role, and for a time after the conversion, pagans were allowed to continue practicing the old religion in the privacy of their property.

During more than three centuries of independence, Iceland was never invaded nor to our knowledge mounted an attack against another country. In many ways, Viking Age Iceland was a decentralized, stratified society. It was kingless and operated with a mixture of pre-state features and state institutions. The island was an inward-looking country that was aware of, and at times influenced by, the cultures of other medieval lands, but which depended on its own institutions and leaders to maintain viability and stability. Iceland maintained its independence from the ninth-century settlement until the years 1262–1264, when by agreement of the farmers (the bændr, property owners), at a series of local Icelandic assemblies, they granted the king of Norway leadership of the country. The King of Norway became the King of Iceland and later this right was transferred to the King of Denmark.

Contemporaries of the Vikings, from places as distant as the British Isles and the lands of the Caliphate of Baghdad, recorded their impressions of the Northmen. Viking appear to have been easily recognizable and many aspects of culture such as seafaring, religion, and language distinguished them from those they came into contact with.

The Rus in the East

The Rus and Ibn Fadlan. Among the most detailed accounts is a description by Ibn Fadlan, an early tenth-century Arab diplomat and traveler, whose description of Scandinavian traders called ‘Rus’ (‘Rusiyyah’) is preserved in Arabic sources. Ibn Fadlan encountered Rus traders in the year 922 while in Russia on a diplomatic mission to the Turkic-speaking Khazars and Bulgars. At the time, Scandinavian merchants and warriors had been in contact with the Muslim world for more than a century.

The Bulgars were horsemen living in northern Russia on the upper Volga River. Their territory at the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers controlled the rich Volga trade route. Between the Bulgars in the North and the Caliphate in the South lay the Khaganate of the Khazars, whose territories stretched across the steppes between the Rus city state of Kiev and the Ural Mountains. The Khazars adopted Judaism, and their empire controlled the trade routes on the lower reaches of the Volga River and the north Caspian Sea (see the previous map).

Figure 12. Beads Excavated by the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) in Iceland. The Viking love of ornamental beads noted by the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan is well attested archaeologically. Beads were valuable trade goods, and both men and women wore them. These beads were found buried as a set of four in a pit inside the Hrísbrú longhouse in the Mosfell Valley in Iceland. They are of a type that originated in Central Asia on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. We call them ‘eye beads,’ since each bead has a clear glass rod in the center, with colored circular surroundings, giving the impression of a bloodshot eye. The bead on the top right shows the hole for stringing. (Jesse Byock, Mosfell Archaeological Project).

The Rus traveled up and down the Volga between the Baltic Region and the Middle East. They bought, bartered, and sold slaves, furs, glass beads, weapons, and silver. Ibn Fadlan, while at the Bulgars’ winter encampment, encountered a party of Rus, who arrived by ship and set up camp. Ibn Fadlan offers an eye-witness account, which, unlike any of the western Latin descriptions of the Vikings, was not written by a cleric. As a secular diplomat, Ibn Fadlan shaped his account in the manner of a report. He describes the behavior of the Rus, their dress, hygiene, customs, religious practices, table manners, trade, and sexual activities. In one passage, he reports the views of a Rus on mortuary practices. The passage also explains how Ibn Fadlan spoke with the Rus.2

[One of the Rus was standing beside me] and I heard him speak to my interpreter. I asked the latter [what he had said.] He replied:

‘You Arabs are fools!’

[‘Why is that? I asked him.] He said:

‘Because you put the men you love most, [and the most noble among you,] into the earth, and the earth and the worms and insects eat them. But we burn them [in the fire] in an instant, so that at once and without delay they enter Paradise.’

Ibn Fadlan’s description of the use of Arabic silver coins (dirhams) and glass trade beads agrees with modern archaeological finds in Russia, the Baltic, and as far away as Iceland. Coin hoards of dirhams struck in the Caliphate’s mints have been found throughout the Baltic and especially on the island of Gotland. The enormous size of the Gotland coin finds of Arabic silver, some weighing up to eighty kilograms, attest to the extent of the money economy and the Volga trade described by Ibn Fadlan.

Ibn Fadlan Meets the Rus on the Shores of the Volga
in the Year 922

The Rus Arrive in Their Ships

‘I saw the Rus, who had come for trade and had camped by the river Itil [the Volga]. I have never seen bodies more perfect than theirs. They were like palm trees. They are fair and ruddy. They wear neither coats nor caftans, but a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves one hand free. Each of them carries an axe, a sword, and a knife and is never parted from any of the arms we have mentioned. Their swords are broad-bladed and grooved like the Frankish ones. From the tips of his toes to his neck, each man is tattooed in dark green with designs, and so forth.’

The Rus – Women

‘All their women wear on their bosoms a circular brooch made of iron, silver, copper, or gold, depending on their husband’s wealth and social position. Each brooch has a ring in which is a knife, also attached to the bosom. Round their necks, they wear torques of gold and silver. Every man, as soon as he accumulates 10,000 dirhams, has a torque made for his wife. When he has 20,000, he has two torques made and so on. Every time he increased his fortune by 10,000, he adds another torque to those his wife already possesses, so that one woman may have many torques round her neck…. The most desirable ornaments they have are green ceramic beads they keep in their boats. They will pay dearly for them, one dirham for a single bead. They thread them into necklaces for their wives.’

Hygiene

‘They are the filthiest of God’s creatures. They do not clean themselves after urinating or defecating, nor do they wash after having sex. They do not wash their hands after meals. They are like wandering asses.’

The Rus – Men

‘When they arrive from their land, they anchor their boat on the Itil, which is a great river, and they build large wooden houses on the banks. Ten or twenty people, more or less, live together in one of these houses. Each man has a raised platform on which he sits. With them, there are beautiful slave girls, for sale to the merchants. Each of the men has sex with his slave, while his companions look on. Sometimes a whole group of them gather together in this way, in full view of one another. If a merchant enters at this moment to buy a young slave girl from one of the men and finds him having sex with her, the man does not get up off her until he has satisfied himself.’

More Hygiene

‘Every day without fail they wash their faces and their heads with the dirtiest and filthiest water there could be. A young serving girl comes every morning with breakfast and with it a great basin of water. She proffers it to her master, who washes his hands and face in it, as well as his hair. He washes and disentangles his hair, using a comb, there in the basin, then he blows his nose and spits and does every filthy thing imaginable in the water. When he has finished, the servant carries the bowl to the man next to him. She goes on passing the basin round from one to another until she has taken it to all the men in the house in turn. And each of them blows his nose and spits and washes his face and hair in this basin.’

Figure 13. The North Sea and Baltic Sea Coasts were areas of repeated Viking activity for almost three centuries. The map shows major trading and administrative centers. Europe’s long navigable rivers gave Vikings the ability to sail their ships deep into the European continent. Spoken Old Norse – whether through trade, war, diplomacy, or visit – was heard in all of these places.

Gifts to the Gods for Favorable Trading Terms

‘As soon as their boats arrive at this port, each of them disembarks, taking with him bread and meat, onions, mild and nabidh, and he walks until he comes to a great wooden post stuck in the ground with a face like that of a man, and around it are little figures. Behind these images there are long wooden stakes driven into the ground. Each of them prostrates himself before the great idol, saying to it:’

‘Oh my Lord, I have come from a far country and I have with me such and such a number of young slave girls, and such and such a number of sable skins...’ and so on, until he has listed all the trade goods he has brought. [Then he adds:] ‘I have brought you this gift.’ Then he leaves what he has with him in front of the wooden post [and says:]

‘I would like you to do the favor of sending me a merchant who has large quantities of dinars and dirhams and who will buy everything that I want and not argue with me over my price.’

Then he departs. If he has difficulty selling and his stay becomes long drawn out, he returns with another present a second and even a third time. If he cannot get what he wants, he brings a present for each of the little idols and asks them to intercede, saying:

‘These are the wives of our Lord and his daughters and sons.’

Thus he continues to make his request to each idol in turn, begging their intercession and abasing himself before them. Sometimes the sale is easy and after having sold his goods he says:

‘My Lord has satisfied my needs and it is fitting that I should reward him for it.’

Then he takes a certain number of sheep or cows and slaughters them, distributing part of the meat as gifts and carrying off the rest to set before the great idol and the little figures that surround it. Then he hangs the heads of the sheep or cows on the wooden stakes which have been driven into the ground. When night falls, the dogs come and eat all this, and the man who has made the offering says:

‘My Lord is pleased with me and has eaten the gift that I brought him.’

Treatment of the Sick

‘If one of them falls ill, [the others pitch a tent for him] in a place distant from them. They leave him some bread and water, but they neither go near him nor speak to him. [They do not even come to visit him] during all the days of his illness, particularly if he is a poor man or a slave. If he recovers and gets well, he comes back to them; if he dies, they burn him. If he is a slave, they leave him where he is, and the dogs and birds of prey devour him.’

Punishment of Thieves

‘If they catch a thief or a brigand, they lead him to a great tree, tie a stout rope round his neck and hang him [from the tree, and there he remains] until he drops to pieces to wind and rain.’

Vikings and History

The term ‘Viking’ is not a modern invention. Early Scandinavians employed the word víkingr, although they did not, as is done today, use it in an ethnic sense. Almost surely they would have understood the concept of a Viking Age, but calling Scandinavian society a ‘Viking society’ would have been a misnomer to them. Throughout medieval Scandinavia, víkingr meant ‘pirate’ or ‘freebooter,’ and víkingar (plural) were bands who raided from ships. The term applied to those who sailed the seas to steal and conquer as well as to mariners who robbed neighbors at home in Scandinavia. Víkingar also referred to non-Norse pirates, such as the Slavic Wends and tribal groups who from the southern shores of the Baltic Sea harassed shipping and raided throughout the region.

Figure 14. Long Ships Sailed Deep-inland on Europe’s Rivers.

Although the meaning of the term víkingr is clear, its origin is not. Probably it relates to the word vík, meaning ‘inlet’ or ‘bay’ — places where víkingar lived and lay in wait. A raid was called víking, and men were said to ‘go raiding’ (fara í víking). Viking plundering, extortion, and slave-taking differed little from the war practices of petty chieftains throughout Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Northern Europeans, mostly Christian by that time, made much of the fact that the Scandinavian raiders were pagan outsiders who did not respect holy sanctuaries. They called these raiders Northmen, Danes, and Vikings. In the East, as noted in the discussion of Ibn Fadlan, Scandinavian warriors and traders were called Rus and Varangians.

Seaborne Expansion. A factor underlying the seaborne expansion of the Viking Age was that Scandinavian shipwrights had advantages over most of their contemporaries. They could draw on native resources of high quality woods, tar, iron, and salt-water-resistant sea mammal hide for ships’ ropes. The navigational skills of the Northmen were prodigious, and they kept learning more throughout the age. Norse sailors reached several continents, making their presence felt in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Africa. Their voyages generated wealth for the expanding Viking world derived from places as distant from Scandinavia as Ireland, the Byzantine Empire, the silk-road lands of central Asia and the Caliphate of Baghdad.

Norse ships reached Gaelic-speaking Ireland in the far west early in the Viking Age. The first recorded Viking raid there took place ca. 795, when Vikings, probably Norwegians, looted the island of Lambay. To reach Ireland, they had sailed past Shetland, Orkney, Scotland, and the Hebrides. The route was not a secret, as the northern and western reaches of the British Isles were already known to Scandinavian raiders who plundered, traded, and settled in Gaelic and Pictish lands. These seaborne intruders established jarldoms (earldoms) and kingdoms in Orkney, Shetland, and Scotland. The Isle of Man in the Irish Sea soon fell under their control. The raids on Ireland grew in intensity. At first, they were quick and small-scale. Soon they were followed by greater numbers of invaders, who set up fortified trading towns and ports along the coast, founding Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick. These early urban centers became the first large towns in Ireland. Vikings, often with Irish allies, soon moved inland. The coastal raids were followed by inland warfare and had a profound effect. They disturbed, and in some ways ended, a period of Christian Irish culture that had been in place for centuries.

As the 9th century advanced, waves of Viking raiders plundered Ireland’s rich monasteries, destroying religious and secular communities throughout the country. The Irish sources, principally annals and chronicles, distinguish two basic groups of Vikings, the Dub Gaill or ‘Black Foreigners’ (mostly Norwegians already established in Scotland and the Western Isles) and the Finn Gaill (mostly Danes, sometimes connected with the Danish-Norse Kingdom of York). The two groups of competing Vikings were frequently antagonistic to each other. The result was several hundred years of intermittent warfare, along with considerable trade and new connections to the more distant Viking and European worlds.

Seizing Opportunity. Depending on the opportunities offered by different places, Northmen traded, raided, explored, and colonized. The distinction between Viking raiders and merchants was often unclear. Some Norse sailors were mostly raiders, and others were mostly merchants, but all were armed. Contingent on the defenses they met on the shores, Norse seamen might engage in raiding or commerce.

Especially in Iceland, but also in the Faroe Islands, England, Scotland, and Ireland, Vikings settled and brought their families. Frequently they found local mates. In some of these regions, as in parts of England, Scotland and the Western Isles (Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland islands), Viking customs and language had a lasting effect. In other regions, such as Normandy in northern France, the influence of the culture of the Norðmenn diminished quickly.

At home, most Scandinavians made their living from farming the land and hunting the forests, but in many regions subsistence depended on fishing the coastal waterways, the fjords, and inland lakes. The dependence on water for subsistence and travel had far-reaching effects. Scandinavian ship-building saw the development of a variety of specialized commercial craft and warships. Archaeologists can trace Scandinavian boat building back to the Bronze Age, that is, into prehistory.

In contrast to ships of Mediterranean construction, Northmen built their vessels from the outside inward. First they formed a flexible outer hull of overlapping planks held together with iron rivets. Then into this ‘clinker’ built hull they inserted the ship’s rigid internal wooden skeleton. Built with this clinker method, the hull was both flexible and strong – an innovative combination suitable for the rough seas of the North Atlantic. With single mast and square sail, Norse vessels were swift. When the sail was down, the ships were easily rowed.

Designed with a shallow draft, Scandinavian ships offered exceptional mobility. They could be beached without harbors on inlets, creeks, muddy shores, and sand beaches. This construction feature allowed Norse seafarers, whether in war, commerce, or exploration, to sail a wide variety of ocean and inland waterways. Vikings tended to attack when and where they detected weakness. Speed at landing their ships and then withdrawing increased the terror of Norse raiders. If they miscalculated, and the defenses proved too strong, Vikings returned to their ships and sailed off in search of weaker prey.

Seagoing Viking Age merchant ships (the knerrir mentioned earlier) were stubbier and slower than the longships. These stout ships transported furs, slaves, fish, walrus-tusk ivory, amber, honey, wheat, grains, iron, weapons, wool, wood, tin, and leather. In return, Viking merchants bought and transported to different places slaves, cloth, weapons, silver, silk, spices, wine, jewelry, beads, glass, luxury goods, and pottery. In Viking graves and at Viking Age trading sites, archaeologists have found several examples of small folding scales. These were likely used for weighing pieces of silver and coins, either whole or cut into pieces. Silver was the most precious metal during the Viking Age, although there was some gold.

Viking Raids and Attacks

Vikings targeted settlements, towns, monasteries, and sometimes, as in England, Ireland, and Scotland, whole kingdoms. Foreign leaders who faced repeated Viking attacks became accustomed to paying the Northmen to leave them in peace. In England, the Vikings were mostly Danes, and these payments were called ‘danegeld.’ A considerable number of written sources in Latin, Old Norse, Old English, Arabic, and runes have survived. These sources, when combined with archaeology and linguistic analysis, give considerable information about the Vikings and their raids.

At the start of the Viking Age, the Frankish king Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus 876-814) was concerned about these raiders. Early in his reign, he expanded control over large parts of Europe. By the year 800, Charlemagne from his capital at Aachen held sway over what is today France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Switzerland, and parts of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and northern Spain. In 800, the Roman Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor over this vast territory, The Holy Roman Empire.

The expansion of the Carolingian/Frankish Empire did not go unnoticed by the Scandinavians to the north. Danes especially were threatened when Charlemagne, after a long brutal war, conquered the pagan Saxons in Northern Germany. The Franks converted the Saxons by the sword and moved the main Christian Frankish frontier to the base of the Jutland Peninsula, bordering Danish lands. The Carolingian Empire was mostly a rural conglomerate, based on the wealth and resources of its northern provinces, including the Rhineland, the Low Countries, and the rich agriculture of Northern France. Vikings reached for this wealth, and for several centuries the northern Frankish lands experienced Viking violence as well as the benefits of Scandinavian trade. Vikings saw opportunity and weakness in the Empire’s rich and often undefended ports and monasteries.

The first reported raid on Frankish territory was an attack on the coast of Aquitaine in Southwestern France. Charlemagne understood the threat posed by sea-borne raiders, and, in response, he set up defenses at the coastal mouths of the Empire’s main rivers. Fortifications were constructed, coast guards stationed, and cavalry units capable of rapid response were placed in wait. At the same time, war fleets were readied to repulse the enemy on its own terms. Charlemagne’s river defenses protected the Empire’s inland districts, which were vulnerable to attack along Europe’s long navigable rivers. The Frankish coastline, however, was too long to be successfully guarded. From the start, the initiative was with the Vikings, who from their ships could choose the time and place of their attacks.

Frisia on the North German and Netherlands coast was especially close to the Danish lands, and it was the Carolingian Empire’s most exposed region. The first recorded raid against Frisia came in 810, when the Danish King Godfred (a shadowy historical figure) descended on Frisia with a fleet of 200 ships. Godfred demanded 45 kilos of silver in tribute from the Frisians. On learning of Godfred’s attack, Charlemagne mobilized his fleet and army. But by the time he reached Frisia, the Danes had sailed home with the silver. This was the last time Charlemagne led his army in the field, and he died in 814. For a time, Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious (814-840), held the empire together. Louis paid less attention to the Vikings than did his father, and toward the end of his reign Louis’s sons began to quarrel over their inheritance. Still, for almost twenty years after Charlemagne’s death, his defenses held against Scandinavian raiders.

In 834 a large Viking fleet penetrated more than 80 km into the Rhine Delta and sacked the town of Dorestad (see Figure 13). The attack(s) and the town itself offer insights into the life of raiders and their victims. At the time of the first attack, Dorestad was the largest and most important emporium/trading center in the Frankish Empire (Francia), and its commerce and production connected Francia with the British Isles, Scandinavia, and the Baltic. Artifacts found at Dorestad are indicative of the commerce and industry of the Viking Period. Archaeologists have unearthed the products of weavers, jewelers, metal-workers, comb-makers, basket-makers, and ship-builders. Metalwork, glass, grindstones, wine, and wheel-thrown pottery were brought to the town from the nearby Rhineland. From there, these goods were exported to Britain and Scandinavia.

The small number of material goods from Scandinavia found at Dorestad indicates that most imports to the Eastern Frankish Empire from the Norse speaking regions were perishable goods (in archaeological terms), such as furs and hides. Baltic amber was a valuable trade good found at Dorestad. Most likely, the amber passed through Scandinavia before reaching Dorestad, attesting to trade with the Baltic. In exchange, the Franks supplied the Norsemen with wine and the many products of continental Europe, including high-quality sword blades and other weapons that the Vikings at times turned against the Franks.

Attacks and Settlements Increase. The attack on Dorestad in 834 was the first of many Viking raids on that town. In the following decades, Vikings can be said to have swarmed along the coasts of Europe and the British Isles. They attacked towns such as Paris, London, and Canterbury and plundered as far inland as Burgundy. On numerous occasions, they raided as far south as Spain and several times passed into the Mediterranean.

Figure 15. The Base of the Jutland Peninsula. The Meeting Place of Peoples. This border region between Scandinavia and the European continent was a meeting place of peoples. In times of peace, Danes, Frisians, Saxons, Wends and other Slavic tribesmen, as well as Norwegians, Swedes, Gauts, and Franks traveled north, south, east, and west over this land bridge. In times of war, the border between the Danes and the Frankish Empire was the Danevirke (ON Danavirki, the ‘fortified wall of the Danes’) built across the southern base of the peninsula. The wall ran east-west with its eastern end anchored in the massive walls of Hedeby (ON Heiðabær), the Viking Age Danish trading port and administrative town connecting the Baltic regions with Western Europe. The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason describes the wall: ‘The Danevirke is situated in this manner: two fjords run into the land from the different directions, and between the inward ends of these fjords the Danes have erected a great defensive wall out of stone, turf, and wood. They have also dug a deep and wide ditch outside of the wall and erected towers protecting the gates.’ Here is the passage in Old Norse: Danavirki er svá háttat, at firðir 2 ganga inn í landit, sínum megin lands hvárr, en millum fjarðarbotna hǫfðu Danir gert borgarvegg mikinn af grjóti ok torfi ok viðum ok grafit díki djúpt ok breitt fyrir utan, en kastalar fyrir borgarhliðum. (Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar, Ch. 25)

The Different Regions of Scandinavia Tended to Concentrate Their Attacks
on Specific Geographical Areas. Vikings from

• Danish lands, which included at that time large parts of what is today Southern Sweden, focused on the North Sea regions. They attacked the Carolingian Empire, England, and at times Ireland. Some raided in the Baltic.

• Norway, whose lands faced west into the Atlantic, raided and conquered in Scotland, Orkney, the Shetlands, the Hebrides, and Ireland. The Faroes and Iceland were mostly settled by Norwegians. In the second phase of emigration into the North Atlantic, settlers from Iceland reached Greenland ca. 985 and North America ca. 1000.

• Sweden (Uppland) came from Eastern Scandinavia and raided, traded, and settled throughout the Baltic regions, including Finland. From the Baltic, they sailed the rivers of Russia and the Ukraine, reaching as far south as the lands of the Byzantine Greeks and the Caliphate of Baghdad. Some went further east into Central Asia. Those from Gotland (Gautland) sailed east into the Baltic and also west over the North Sea.

After the reign of the Frankish ruler Louis the Pious (d. 840) was over, his sons quarreled among themselves, and the Empire was divided into three often warring Frankish kingdoms: West Francia, the Middle Frankish Kingdom, and East Francia. The raids increased, and the history of the Viking period soon became more complicated than just Vikings (outsiders) against Franks (locals). Dorestad is again an example. In spite of repeated sackings and burnings, the town continued to thrive. For a time in the mid-800s, a series of Viking chiefs took control, and like the Vikings in Normandy in West Francia, the chiefs were nominally under allegiance to local Frankish authorities. Supposedly the Scandinavian warlords guarded the town and region from further Viking incursions, but in several instances they proved ineffective.

Probably Dorestad served as a resale depot with its merchants profiting from Viking raids elsewhere in the Empire and the British Isles. This happened with the port of Rouen at the mouth of the Seine in the West Frankish area. Rouen was known as a safe haven for Vikings, a place where sea raiders could refit their ships and sell acquired goods before sailing back to Scandinavia. Returning Vikings, themselves, faced the threat of Viking pirates on the home journey. There was no general loyalty among Vikings.

Effects of the Vikings

In the larger scheme of things, Vikings were key redistributors of wealth. Profit from raids and trade saw wealth come not just to Scandinavia, but widely across Europe and Eurasia. The effect of these mobile outsiders went far. Native rulers and leaders up and down the command chain soon discovered that they could raise tax levies and squeeze out resources, ostensibly to protect against Vikings, but directing only a portion of the income to that task. Especially in the early period of the raids, one region or town, on learning of a Viking attack on neighboring areas, might see their advantage in doing nothing rather than helping their neighbors.

In the mid-ninth century Viking armies across Europe and Eurasia settled in for long periods, sometimes for years, as Scandinavian leaders integrated themselves into the political and governmental arrangements of dissolving central authority. This occurred especially in the central and western Frankish regions, Ireland, and Scotland. It also occurred among the four often warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and Wessex, as well as in Russia. There were limits, however, and, as the ninth century progressed into the tenth, it became clear to locals, whether on the continent or in the British Isles, that common action was needed against the Vikings. As for Dorestad, by the 880s the town had been sacked one too many times. But mostly its river channels were silting up, and its importance as an easily approachable port ceased.

The Viking Age was in many ways a turning point. Vikings served as catalysts for social, commercial, and political transformations. In Western Europe, the need to respond to Viking attacks contributed to the consolidation of the kingdoms of England and France and, to a lesser extent, the Medieval German Empire. The latter developed out of East Francia between the Rhine and the Elbe. East Francia experienced the Vikings somewhat differently from most of the Carolingian regions. Apart from its short northern coast, which offered rich sites for attack such as Hamburg, East Francia was relatively spared from Viking incursions.

Further to the East in the Baltic region, Scandinavians maintained strong ties with the Western Slavic populations, who lived on the southern Baltic coasts, particularly in what is today northern Germany and Poland. Slavic tribesmen were late to convert to Christianity, and before the eleventh century, there were few towns and no churches or wealthy monasteries to attract large-scale Viking raids. Although Icelandic sources, especially the kings’ sagas and the family sagas,3 frequently refer to Viking attacks in the Baltic, Scandinavian-Slavic interactions, especially in the South Baltic regions were often relatively peaceful and based on trade and exchange. At times there were robust political connections between leaders of the Slavic tribes and Scandinavian kings and chieftains. Polish rulers especially extended their authority, establishing valuable dynastic contacts with the Scandinavian elites. The area of the south Baltic coast may be said to be in contact with or within the Viking world. The daughter of the Polish Prince Mieszko the First was mother of Cnut the Great, the eleventh-century Danish ruler of England, Denmark, and parts of Norway.

Material evidence for Scandinavian and Slavic contacts is found in various objects excavated by archaeologists at several former ports-of-trade established from the late tenth century onwards along the Baltic coast. Truso and Wolin, in modern Poland, were among the most prominent of such coastal towns. Further north in Russia and easily accessible from the Baltic across Lake Ladoga was the trading town at Staraja Ladoga, which the Norse called Aldeigjuborg. Further inland, but easily accessible by river was Novgorod (Hólmgarðr). This major trading center and meeting place of peoples was at the head of a series of long navigable river systems connecting the Baltic North with Constantinople or the Caspian Sea regions. Extending their power from Novgorod, the Rus/Northmen played a crucial role in the early formation of the Russian state and the region and country came to be called after them (see section 8.4 of Lesson 8).

The End of the Viking Age

Despite the frequent voyages and raiding, only a small proportion of the Scandinavians sailed on Viking journeys. Most people stayed home to farm. The climate in northern Europe and North Atlantic during the Viking centuries was a few degrees warmer than the average over the past thousand years, and in Scandinavia, the Viking Age was a time of population growth. Archaeology and landscape studies tell us that the amount of agricultural land increased. To bring more land into production, woodlands were cleared, wetlands drained, and the use of highland pastures expanded. At the end of the Viking Age, there were more farms, settlements, and cemeteries than at the start.

It is hard to calculate the exact end of the Viking Age, but around the year 1100 the raids on Europe mostly came to an end. At home in Scandinavia, the more than three centuries of the Age saw extensive social and economic changes. Socially and economically the societies became more complex. As signs of change, warfare by the eleventh century had in many ways moved from the local to the state level, and the older regional chieftaincies evolved into national kingdoms. By the twelfth century, Scandinavia was firmly divided into the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Sweden in the Baltic Sea region, more distant from Western Europe than either Norway or Denmark, was the last of the Scandinavian kingdoms to abandon the worship of the Norse gods and become Christian. The passing of the Viking Age saw little change in the lives of most of the Scandinavian population. People continued living their traditional farm life and went on speaking variants of their Old Norse language. Historically, from the modern point of view, an age of sea-borne expansion ended.

Jesse Byock

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland)

The Alphabet, Spelling, Vowels, and Anglicising Personal Names

Old Norse/Icelandic Alphabet and Spelling. The Latin alphabet adopted by the Icelanders in the eleventh century was probably modeled on Anglo-Saxon writing. From this source, Icelanders may have learned the letters þ (‘thorn,’ upper case Þ) and ð (‘eth,’ upper case Ð). Old Norse writers, whether they wrote runes or manuscripts, did not follow a standardized spelling. Scholars addressed this issue more than a century ago by adopting a standardized Old Norse/Icelandic spelling and alphabetic order. Reading passages and vocabularies in this book generally follow standardized Old Norse spelling found in the Icelandic Íslenzk fornrit saga editions.

The Old Norse vowels ǫ and ø coalesced in the medieval period into the single vowel ö, which is still used in Modern Icelandic. The first edition of Viking Language 1, generally employed ö. This current edition employs ǫ, but ö is found when a Modern Icelandic term or name is used. This book maintains the distinction between ǫ and ø. Modern Icelandic has also lost the distinction between æ and œ and employs æ for both letters. In most instances, this book retains the original medieval distinction. Overall, the spelling differences between Old and Modern Icelandic are minor.

In the Old Norse/Icelandic alphabet, long vowels are distinguished from short vowels by an acute accent (for example, long é and short e). The long vowels æ, œ, ø and ǫ (umlauted a, which becomes modern ö) are listed at the end of the Icelandic alphabet. The letters c, q, and w are occasionally found in manuscripts but have not been adopted into the standardized alphabet.

a, á, b, d, ð, e, é, f, g, h, i, í, j, k, l, m, n, o, ó,

p, r, s, t, u, ú, v, x, y, ý, z, þ, æ, œ, ǫ(ö), ø

Anglicizing Old Norse Personal Names. Rendering Old Norse and Icelandic names into English is always a problem. This book employs a set of rules. The Icelandic vowels ǫ and ø are written names as o, hence, Bjǫrn becomes ‘Bjorn’ in English. The long vowels œ and æ are retained, hence, Æsir remains ‘Æsir.’ Accents over long vowels are omitted in personal names when spelled in English, hence, Sigrún becomes ‘Sigrun.’ The letters þ and ð are spelled ‘th’ and ‘d’ in English, and Old Norse case endings are dropped, hence Þórðr (with case ending r) becomes ‘Thord’ and Ǫnundr becomes Onund. The exception is weak masculine and feminine names that end in vowels and keep their endings, hence Bjarni and Gyða are ‘Bjarni’ and ‘Gyda.’

Many names in Old Norse easily translate into English, as for instance, Laxárdalr = Lax ‘salmon’ + ár ‘river’ + dalr ‘valley.’ Others prove more difficult and some appear impossible. The Icelandic name of the Irish king Mýrkjartan does not easily lend itself to translation. Older translators choose Moorkjartan from the word mýri (‘moor,’ ‘swamp’) and the name Kjartan. In such instances, I give the original Old Norse name in English without accents, hence Myrkjartan. At times, where it seems best, the book uses the Old Norse name.

List of Abbreviations

1dual, 2dual

1st person dual, etc.

1pl, 2pl, 3pl

1st person plural, etc.

1sg, 2sg, 3sg

1st person singular, etc.

acc

accusative

adj

adjective

adv

adverb

art

article (definite)

aux

auxiliary (verb)

comp

comparative (adj or adv)

conj

conjunction

conjug

conjugation

dat

dative

def

definite (article)

defect

defective

dem

demonstrative (pron)

Eng

English

esp

especially

etc

et cetera

ex

example

f

feminine

fig

figurative

for ex.

for example

gen

genitive

imp

imperative

impers

impersonal (verb)

indecl

indeclinable

indef

indefinite (pron)

indic

indicative

inf

infinitive

interrog

interrogative (adv or pron)

intrans

intransitive (verb)

leg

legal usage

lit

literally

m

masculine

MI

Modern Icelandic

mid

middle voice

neg

negative

n

neuter

nom

nominative

num

number

obj

object

OE

Old English

OI

Old Icelandic

ON

Old Norse

ord

ordinal (number)

pl

plural

poet

poetical usage

poss

possessive (pron)

ppart

past participle

pref

prefix

prep

preposition

pres

present

pres part

present participle

pret-pres

preterite-present (verb)

pron

pronoun

refl

reflexive (verb or pron)

rel

relative (pron or particle)

sb

somebody

sg

singular

sing

singular

sth

something

str

strong (adj or verb)

subj

subject

subjunct

subjunctive

superl

superlative (adj or adv)

trans

transitive (verb)

transl

translation

usu

usually

var

variant

vb

verb

w

with

wk

weak (adjective or verb)

=

equals

~

alternative spelling

❖

246 most common words in sagas

Grammar Index

Adjectives

• 1.10 Grammar Toolbox, Case. Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives

• 2.12 Grammar Toolbox. Adjectives

• 10.4 Strong Adjectives

• 10.6 Strong Adjectives and the Two Special Stem Rules

• 10.7 Adjectives of Two Syllables ending with -inn and Indeclinable Adjectives

• 11.3 Weak Adjectives

• 13.8 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

• 13.10 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives, Usage

Adverbs

• 11.17 Grammar Toolbox. Adverbs

• 13.12 Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

Articles

• 2.5 Grammar Toolbox. Definite and Indefinite Article

• 9.4 More on the Definite Article

Case

• 1.10 Grammar Toolbox, Case. Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives

• 1.12 Apposition – Case Agreement of Nouns

Clauses

• 9.8 Clauses – Independent and Dependent (including Relative)

Gender

• 1.9 Gender of Nouns and Pronouns – Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

Nouns

• 1.8 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns, Personal Pronouns, and Prepositions

• 1.10 Grammar Toolbox, Case. Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives

• 2.6 Proper Nouns

• 2.13 Nouns – Strong and Weak

• 5.9 Strong Nouns – Introduction

• 5.10 Strong Nouns – Type 1 Masculine

• 5.11 Strong Masculine Nouns. Variations Among Type 1

• 5.12 Masculine Type 1 Strong Nouns. Examples and the Special Stem Rules

• 5.14 The Nouns Maðr and Sonr

• 6.4 Strong Nouns – Type 1 Feminine and Neuter

• 7.8 Strong Nouns – Type 2

• 7.10 Nouns Whose Stems End in a Long Vowel

• 8.5 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns – Family Members (Kinship Terms) with -ir Endings

• 8.6 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns Whose Stems End in -nd-

• 9.5 Strong Nouns – Type 3

• 9.6 Strong Nouns – Type 4

• 14.9 Two-Syllable Nouns – Syncopated Stems

Numbers

• 14.7 Cardinal Numbers 1 to 20

• 15.8 Cardinal Numbers Above 20

• 15.9 Ordinal Numbers

Prepositions

• 1.8 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns, Personal Pronouns, and Prepositions

• 2.14 Grammar Toolbox. Prepositions in Old Norse

• 2.15 Prepositions Governing One Case

• 5.17 Two-Way Prepositions

Pronunciation and Spelling

• 1.2 Letters þ, ð, ǫ and Spelling

• 1.5 Pronunciation

Pronouns

• 1.8 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns, Personal Pronouns, and Prepositions

• 1.9 Gender of Nouns and Pronouns – Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

• 1.10 Grammar Toolbox, Case. Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives

• 3.13 Personal Pronouns – 1st and 2nd Persons: Singular, Plural, and Dual

• 3.15 Personal Pronouns – 3rd Person

• 3.17 Two Ways of Expressing Possession: Hans as Opposed to Sinn

• 3.18 More on Possession in Old Norse: who possesses what?

• 3.20 Possessive Pronouns Minn and Þinn

• 7.5 The Middle/Reflexive Pronoun Sik

• 7.7 Personal Pronoun Declensions: A Review

• 9.7 Demonstrative Pronouns Þessi and Sá

• 11.12 Possessive Pronouns other than mínn, þínn and sínn

• 11.14 The Indefinite Pronoun Engi (M, F) and Ekki (N)

• 11.15 The Indefinite Pronoun Annarr

• 12.3 The Indefinite Pronoun Nǫkkurr

• 12.4 Pronouns – Hverr, Hvárr, and Hvárrtveggi

• 12.5 The Indefinite Pronoun Einnhverr

• 15.3 Enclitic Pronouns

Runes

• 3.1 Culture – Runes

• 3.3 Runes: The Elder and The Younger Runic Alphabets

• 3.4 Sounds of the 16 Letters of the Younger Futhark

• 3.5 Runic Sounds of the Viking Age, Discussion

Speech

• 11.16 Direct and Indirect Speech

Special stem rules (alveolar)

• 5.5 The Two Special Stem Rules (Alveolar)

• 5.6 Special Stem Rule 1: The -R Ending Assimilation Rule

• 5.7 Special Stem Rule 2: The -R Ending Drop Rule

• 5.12 Masculine Type 1 Strong Nouns. Examples and the Special Stem Rules

• 9.5 Strong Nouns – Type 3

• 9.6 Strong Nouns – Type 4

• 10.6 Strong Adjectives and the Two Special Stem Rules

• 10.7 Adjectives of Two Syllables ending with -inn and Indeclinable Adjectives

• 13.8 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Verbs

• 2.7 Grammar Toolbox. Verbs

• 2.8 Verbs, Infinitives ❖

• 2.9 Linking Verbs – ❖Vera, Verða, and Heita. Subject Complements & Predicates

• 3.9 The Verb Vera ‘to be’ ❖ – Present and Past

• 3.11 The Verb Hafa, ‘to have’ ❖ in the Present

• 4.8 Strong and Weak Verbs (Background)

• 4.10 Strong and Weak Verbs in the Vocabulary

• 4.13 Weak Verbs in the Present Tense

• 4.14 Weak Verbs – The Four Conjugations

• 4.15 Weak Verbs – Stem Suffixes

• 4.16 Weak Verbs with Stems Ending in -j- and -v-

• 4.17 Weak Verbs with Stems Ending in a Long Vowel

• 4.18 Weak Verbs and Word Frequency❖

• 5.16 The Verb ❖ Hafa, ‘Have’

• 6.8 Weak Verbs in the Past Tense have Dental Suffix

• 6.10 Verbs – Voice, An Introduction

• 8.7 Grammar Toolbox. Strong Verbs

• 8.8 Strong Verbs, Present and Past

• 8.10 Strong Verbs – Past Tense Ending -t

• 8.13 Grammar Toolbox. Verb Mood Review

• 8.14 Verbs – Commands and the Imperative Mood

• 8.15 Verbs – The Present Subjunctive

• 9.10 Verbs – The Past Subjunctive

• 10.9 Verbs – Past Participles

• 10.10 Past Participles of Strong Verbs

• 10.11 Verbs Hafa and Vera – The Perfect: Present and Past

• 10.12 Verbs – Passive Voice

• 11.5 Strong Verbs – Overview of the 7 Classes

• 11.6 Strong Verbs – Class I (í)

• 11.7 Strong Verbs – Class II (jú, jó, ú)

• 11.9 Verbs Taking Dative, Accusative, and Genitive Objects

• 11.13 Verbs – Impersonal Constructions

• 12.6 Strong Verbs – Class III (e, ja, já)

• 12.7 Verbs – Present Participles

• 13.3 Strong Verbs – Classes IV (e)

• 13.4 Strong Verbs – Class V (e,i)

• 13.5 Preterite-Present Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries

• 13.6 Preterite-Present Verbs – Modals with and without Infinitive Marker at

• 14.4 Strong Verbs – Class VI

• 14.5 Verb Middle Voice – Formation

• 14.6 Verbs in Middle Voice – Meaning and Use

• 14.8 The Past Subjunctive of Preterite-Present Verbs

• 15.4 Strong Verbs – Class VII

• 15.5 Verbs – Subjunctive Middle (Reflexive)

• 15.6 Verbs – Subjunctive and Indirect Speech in Main and Dependent Clauses

• 15.7 Mundu, Skyldu, Vildu: Past Infinitives of the Verbs Munu, Skulu, Vilja etc.

Vowels

• 4.4 Vowel Sounds and Assimilation

• 5.4 Vowels – Short and Long, Stressed and Unstressed

Umlauts/Vowel shifts

• 4.5 U-Umlaut

• 4.7 I-Umlaut (Fronting)

Word Frequency

• 1.5 Pronunciation

• 1.6 Word Frequency – ❖The 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas

• 2.17 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 2. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 3.23 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 3. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 4.20 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 4. ❖ Most Frequent Words

• 5.20 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 5. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 6.16 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 6. ❖ Most Frequent Words

• 7.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 7. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 8.17 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 8. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 9.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 9. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 10.16 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 10. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 11.18 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 11. ❖Most Frequent Words

• 12.10 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 12. ❖The Most Frequent Words

See also

• Appendix 1. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas❖An Old Norse – Icelandic Learning Strategy

• Appendix 2. Quick Guide to Old Norse Grammar

• Appendix 3. Pronunciation of Old Icelandic

List of Figures

• Figure 1. A Viking Age Head

• Figure 2. The Viking Age ‘Fire-Hall’ (Eldskáli) of the Mosfell Chieftains

• Figure 3. The Viking World

• Figure 4. Bronze Helmet Nose-guard, Sweden

• Figure 5. The Skivum Runestone, Denmark

• Figure 6. Indo-European Languages

• Figure 7. Proto Old Norse (North Germanic)

• Figure 8. A Viking warship

• Figure 9. Scandinavian Settlement in England

• Figure 10. Norse Settlement in Normandy

• Figure 11. Sailing Distances from Iceland

• Figure 12. Beads Excavated by the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) in Iceland

• Figure 13. The North Sea and Baltic Sea Coasts

• Figure 14. Long Ships Sailed Deep-inland on Europe’s Rivers

• Figure 15. The Base of the Jutland Peninsula. The Meeting Place of Peoples

• Figure 1.1. The Norse Cross the Atlantic

• Figure 1.2. 1,500 Years of Language History

• Figure 1.3. The Travels of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir

• Figure 2.1. The Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggð)

• Figure 2.2. Icelandic Skin Manuscripts

• Figure 2.3. Locations of Major Family and Sturlunga Sagas

• Figure 2.4. Old Norse Adjectives Decline or Are Indeclinable

• Figure 2.5. Old Norse Nouns Are Strong or Weak

• Figure 3.1. The Small Runestone of King Gorm the Old (Gormr inn gamli)

• Figure 3.2. Runes of the Younger Futhark and Their Latin Equivalents

• Figure 3.3. Viking Age Denmark (Danmǫrk)

• Figure 3.4. The Family Tree of Eirik the Red (Eiríkr rauði)

• Figure 4.1. The Large Jelling Runestone (Denmark)

• Figure 4.2. Sides B and C of the Jelling Runestone

• Figure 4.3. Sound Changes in Old Norse Are Mostly Regular

• Figure 4.4. The Vocal Tract

• Figure 4.5. The Vowel /i/

• Figure 4.6. Vowel Space Charts Showing the Old Icelandic Short and Long Vowel System

• Figure 4.7. The Vocal Space Chart and the Vocal Tract

• Figure 4.8. I-Umlaut of Old Icelandic Vowels

• Figure 4.9. Dental Consonants

• Figure 4.10. Weak Verbs in Old Norse

• Figure 4.11. Roots, Suffixes, and Endings

• Figure 5.1. The Ramsund Runestone, Sweden

• Figure 5.2. Viking Age Sweden (Svíaland or Svíþjóð)

• Figure 5.3. Alveolar Consonants

• Figure 5.4. The Two Special Alveolar Stem Rules

• Figure 5.5. The Four types of Old Norse Strong Nouns

• Figure RC 1.1. London Bridge Is Falling Down, Pulled Apart by Attacking Viking Ships

• Figure 6.1. The Swedes Kill Their King, Domaldi

• Figure 6.2. Snorri Sturluson

• Figure 6.3. King Halfdan’s Sleigh Falls Through the Ice

• Figure RC 2.1. Icelandic Skin Manuscripts Were Meant to be Read

• Figure 7.1. The Sea Battle at Hafrsfjord

• Figure 7.2. Viking Age Norway (Nóregr)

• Figure 7.3. The Negative Prefix ó-

• Figure 7.4. Ships Riding at Anchor in a Fjord

• Figure 7.5. The ‘Axed-Man of Mosfell’

• Figure 8.1. Harald Hardradi’s Probable Route after St. Olaf’s Defeat at Stiklastad

• Figure 8.2. The Ed (Boulder) Inscription from Uppland, Sweden

• Figure 9.1. Raids and Battles of the 9th Century Norwegian Viking, Onund Tree-Foot

• Figure 9.2. Fläckebo Runestone, Västmanland, Sweden. Known as the Fäckebo ‘a’ Stone

• Figure 10.1. The Strands in Iceland’s West Fjords

• Figure 10.2. The Väsby Runestone from Uppland, Sweden

• Figure 10.3. The Tingsflisan Runestone

• Figure 11.1. A Gotland Picture Stone

• Figure 11.2. Old Norse Strong Verbs Fall into 7 Classes

• Figure 11.3. Another Gotland Picture Stone from village of Stora Hammars

• Figure 12.1. Reconstruction of a Turf Hall (Skáli) Worthy of a Chieftain

• Figure 12.2. The Sites of the 10th Century Feud in Vápnfirðinga saga

• Figure 12.3. The Long House (skáli) at Stöng, Iceland

• Figure 12.4. Short Vowel Placement in the Mouth

• Figure 12.5. The Bro Church Runestone

• Figure 13.1. Archaeological Site Plan in the Mosfell Valley, Iceland

• Figure 13.2. The Icelandic Althing

• Figure 13.3. Reconstruction of the Law-Speaker’s Longhouse at Hrísbrú

• Figure 14.1. Mounted Warrior, Vendel, Sweden

• Figure 14.2. The World Tree Yggdrasil

• Figure 14.3. Cardinals and Ordinals

• Figure 14.4. The Altuna Church Runestone, Sweden

• Figure 15.1. Reconstruction of the 9th Century Great Hall at Lejre, Denmark

• Figure 15.2. End-View of the Great Hall at Lejre

• Figure 15.3. Bronze Helmet Matrix, Torslunda, Öland, Sweden

• Figure 15.4. Bears Fighting An Armed Man, Torslunda, Öland

• Figure 15.5. Interior of the Reconstructed 9th Century Great Hall at Lejre

• Figure 15.6. Warriors, Torslunda, Öland, Sweden

Lesson 1

Sailing West to Iceland, Greenland, and North America

Figure ‎1.1. The Norse Cross the Atlantic. Routes taken by settlers to Iceland, Greenland, and North America (Vínland) from the ninth to eleventh centuries.

Inn fyrsti fugl fær it fyrsta korn

(The early bird gets the first grain)

1.1 Culture – Atlantic Seafaring

Medieval sailors in Northern Europe followed the coast where possible, but from the late 700s, Norse seafarers were able to cross the open sea. The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók) records specific departure points for sailing to Iceland and Greenland. Weather permitting, an east-west course (one running along a line of latitude) could be fixed by noting the height of the sun at its midday zenith. Heading west, sailors corrected their course by sighting landmarks on the horizon such as Shetland and the Faroe Islands. Knowledge of geography was essential. Mariners, without maps or navigational charts, relied on personal experience and oral accounts.

When land was out of sight, the movements of the sun, winds, currents, and the orth Star served as directional indicators. Navigational experience was crucial. Weather conditions, sea mammals, seabirds, cloud formations, wave patterns, changing currents, and water color indicated when land was near. In the far North Atlantic, light reflected by glaciers was visible from considerable distances. Some Norse mariners may have relied on a navigational tool, a form of sundial, that utilized the sun’s shadow as cast by a central pin onto a small wooden disc with radial markings around the edge (similar to the degrees on a modern compass). Part of such a device was first found in Greenland in 1948, but its use is disputed. To avoid reefs and shallows, a simple weighted rope was cast overboard to measure water depth.

Icelandic medieval writings, including sagas and histories, are our major source of information about Norse exploration and settlement of the North Atlantic. Based on older oral traditions, they recount the events of the settlement or landnám (‘land-taking’) of Iceland, the Faroes, Greenland, and Vinland on the North American continent. Icelandic manuscripts tell of individuals, families, and conflicts in the first century and a half after the ninth-century landnám. The narratives are not always factual as the manuscripts were written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when writing became common among Icelanders.

Icelandic historical writings are far fewer than the sagas. The main ones are Landnámabók, probably first composed in the early-to-mid-twelfth century, and Íslendingabók (The Book of the Icelanders). Íslendingabók was written around the year 1122 by the Icelandic historian, Ari the Learned (Ari fróði), a careful historian who names his sources. Iceland’s extensive medieval law books called Grágás (The Grey Goose Laws) are an additional source of information about the society.

Ingolf Arnarson (Ingólfr Arnarson), whose name appears in the reading passage below, was the first recorded settler or landnámsmaðr (‘land-taking man,’ a term which includes women). Around the year 860, Ingolf sailed west from Norway and sighted land in the southeast of Iceland. Eventually he settled in southwestern Iceland at a site which he named Reykjavík (‘reykja’ [from the older form ‘reykjar’] refers to the smoke or steam escaping from hot springs; ‘vík’ means bay). Today, Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland. Ingolf initially claimed a large portion of land, much of which he subsequently distributed to other settlers.

1.2 Letters þ, ð, ǫ and Spelling

• The letter þ (upper case, Þ) is called ‘thorn’ and pronounced like ‘th’ in the English word ‘thought’ or the name of the god Thor (Þórr). Thorns are used at the beginning of words.

• The letter ð (upper case, Ð) is called ‘eth’ and pronounced like ‘th’ in the English word ‘breathe’ or Othin (Óðinn), often spelled ‘Odin’ in English. Eths are used within words.

• For the Old Norse/Icelandic Alphabet, Spelling Conventions, the Vowels ǫ and ö, and Anglicizing Old Norse Personal and Place Names, see the section at the end of the Introduction. This second edition adopts the vowel ǫ (for the vowel ö), but employs ö in a few instances for Modern Icelandic spellings.

• This 2nd Edition Contains Expanded ‘Grammar Toolboxes.’ These special review sections offer core grammar overviews. They help in learning the components and dynamics of the language; as a series of references, they reduce memorization and are useful for brushing up English grammar. Their explanations are useful if one is interested in learning Old or Middle English, since these languages share many similarities with Old Norse.

1.3 Old Norse, An Inflected Language

Old Norse is an ‘inflected language,’ meaning that parts of many words change in order to distinguish between grammatical categories. In particular, Old Norse nouns, pronouns, and adjectives have different endings depending on their gender, case, and number when conveying differing roles in a sentence (subject, object, etc.). Endings are traditionally called ‘inflections,’ a term coming from Latin. It is worth noting that modern English has dropped most of its endings (inflections), and for this reason English is only marginally an inflected language.4 When translating Old Norse, one needs to be able to distinguish differing endings to insure meaning. Issues concerning inflections are discussed in sections 1.8 - 1.10. These sections are found in this lesson immediately following the reading section below.

1.4 Reading – Ingolf Gives Land to Herjolf (Grœnlendinga saga)

The Old Norse reading passage below tells of Herjolf Bardarson (Herjólfr Bárðarson), his wife Thorgerd (Þorgerðr), and their son Bjarni Herjolfsson (Bjarni Herjólfsson). Bjarni’s last name is derived from his father’s first name plus son (the use of son and dóttir are discussed in lesson 3). The Saga of the Greenlanders (Grœnlendinga saga) was written in thirteenth-century Iceland. It was copied and preserved in a late fourteenth-century vellum (parchment)5 manuscript called Flateyjarbók (The Book of Flatey). This extensive compilation of Icelandic prose and poetry is so named because it was found on the island of Flatey (Flat Island) in Breiðafjǫrðr (Broad Fjord, Modern Icelandic [MI] Breiðafjörður) in western Iceland.

Flateyjarbók, the largest Icelandic manuscript, consists of 225 large sheets, some with illustrations. The book is organized around the history of Norway’s kings. It also includes many þættir (sg þáttr ‘short story’) and complete sagas such as Grœnlendinga saga. Flateyjarbók contains written sources not preserved in other manuscripts and is one of Iceland’s greatest treasures. Along with many of the major Old Icelandic [OI] manuscripts, Flateyjarbók is housed in the Arni Magnúson Manuscript Institute (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar) in Reykjavík.

Grœnlendinga saga (2. kap)

The Saga of the Greenlanders (Ch. 2)

Herjólfr var Bárðarson

Herjolf was the son of Bard,

Herjólfssonar;

[who was]* the son of Herjolf;

hann var frændi

he was [a] kinsman

Ingólfs landnámsmanns.

of Ingolf [the] settler.

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land

Ingolf gave land to Herjolf

á milli Vágs ok Reykjaness.

between Vág and Reykjanes.

Herjólfr bjó fyrst á Drepstokki.

Herjolf lived first at Drepstokk.

Þorgerðr hét kona hans,

Thorgerd was his wife’s name,

en Bjarni sonr þeira,

and Bjarni [was the name of] their son,

ok var efniligr maðr.

and [he] was a promising man.

*Brackets [ ] indicate words needed for English translation but missing in the Old Norse.

Vocabulary

❖*á prep [w dat] on; upon; at; in;
á Drepstokki at Drepstokk

á milli prep [w gen] between; variant of milli

Bárðarson m the son of Bard

Bárðr <gen Bárðar> m Bard (personal name); in patronymics (see 3.21) the masc -r ending of sonr [son] is dropped, for example, Bárðarson

Bjarni m Bjarni (personal name)

bjó (inf ❖búa) vb lived

Drepstokkr <dat Drepstokki> m Drepstokk (place name)

efniligr adj promising

❖en conj but; and (in a contrastive sense)

❖frændi m kinsman

fyrst adv first

gaf (inf ❖gefa) vb gave

Grœnlendingr <gen pl Grœnlendinga> m Greenlander

❖hann pron he

hans pron gen his

Herjólfr <gen Herjólfs> m Herjolf (personal name)

Herjólfssonar m gen ‘of the son of Herjolf’

hét (inf ❖heita) vb was named, called

Ingólfr <gen Ingólfs> m Ingolf (personal name)

Ingólfr landnámsmaðr m Ingolf the Settler (personal name)

❖kona f wife; woman

❖land n land

landnámsmaðr <gen landnámsmanns> m settler, lit land-taking man (refers to both women and men)

❖maðr <gen manns> m man; person, human being

❖milli prep [w gen] between, see á milli

nes n headland

❖ok conj and

Reykjanes <gen Reykjaness> n Reykjanes (place name) Headland of Smokes

saga f saga

❖sonr <gen sonar> m son; in patronymics (see 3.21) the masc -r ending in this word is dropped, for example, Bárðarson

var (inf ❖vera) vb was

Vágr <gen Vágs> m Vag (place name) Bay

þeira pron (gen pl of ❖sá) their

Þorgerðr f Thorgerd (personal name)

*The symbol ❖ indicates the word is one of the 246 most common words in the sagas. For the full list of these words, see Appendix 1 at the rear of the book.

1.5 Pronunciation

For Pronunciation, see the pronunciation charts in Appendix 3. In addition, two MP3 Download Albums for Viking Language 1 teach pronunciation for the reading passages.6

Viking Language 1: Audio Lessons 1-8 (Pronounce Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas)

Viking Language 1: Audio Lessons 9-15 (Pronounce Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas)

1.6 Word Frequency – ❖The 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas

Word frequency is a key to learning Old Norse, and the Viking Language Old Norse books are designed with a word frequency learning strategy. The strategy concentrates on the 246 most common words in the sagas, marked with the symbol ❖ in the vocabularies and lessons. These 246 most frequent words make up more than 80% of all the words in the sagas, and are the ones to concentrate on when learning Old Norse. For a full listing of the 246 most frequent words, see Appendix 1.

A word-frequency strategy is especially effective in Old Norse because the total vocabulary of the sagas is surprisingly small. Excluding names, there are only 12,400 different words in the family sagas out of a total word count of almost 750,000. The 70 most frequently used words account for nearly 450,000 or 60% of the total word count. As one might expect, these 70 words are the most frequently repeated small words in the texts, especially prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, verbs, and adjectives (see List 1 in Appendix 1 at the rear of the book).7

Increasing the list to the 246 most frequent words changes things. This larger list includes all parts of speech and forms the core vocabulary of Old Norse. The words are found in both the Icelandic sagas and mainland Scandinavian runic inscriptions. A learning strategy employing these most frequent words has an additional advantage. It provides an effective grasp of Modern Icelandic, since these basic words remain current in the modern language, and the grammar of Modern Icelandic has changed relatively little from Old Norse.

1.7 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 1. ❖ Most Frequent Words

This first list gives the most common of the 246 most frequent words in the sagas. In their different forms, these few words alone comprise 34% of all words in the sagas.

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

maðr

man, person

mikill

great

sá

that (one)

einn

one

konungr

king

margr

many

hann

he, it

skip

ship

góðr

good

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

vera

to be

til

to

ok

and

hafa

to have

í

in, into

at

that

segja

to say

á

on, onto

Similar lists are given in the next 12 lessons at the end of each grammar section until all 246 words are presented. Maðr is the most common word in the sagas and konungr the second most common. These words also occur in compounds. For example, maðr is found in landnámsmaðr (land+náms+maðr), while konungr is the final part of sækonungr (sæ+konungr, ‘sea-king,’ a viking chief who ruled from his ships). Because of compounds, connections with the 246 words account for an even larger percentage of the sagas’ total word count than the individual words themselves.8

1.8 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns, Personal Pronouns, and Prepositions

Nouns are words that name persons, places, or things. Personal Pronouns (for example, ‘I/me, he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them, you, it’) stand in the place of nouns and often refer to previous nouns. Nouns and personal pronouns function as subjects, objects, or complements (an example of a complement is ‘I’ in ‘it is I’). Pronouns are discussed in Lesson 3.

Gender. All nouns and pronouns in Old Norse belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The gender of a noun or pronoun can often be determined by looking at its set of case endings. For example, many masculine nouns, such as maðr ‘man; person’ and sonr ‘son,’ have the ending -r in the nominative case. If the noun denotes a living being, its gender often matches the being’s sex, for example, faðir ‘father’ (m) and móðir ‘mother’ (f).

• But keep in mind that sex is not a sure indicator of gender. For example, the neuter noun barn (‘child’) remains neuter whether the chiled is a ‘he’ or a ‘she.’ Many nouns referring to abstract concepts and objects have genders that bear no relationship to the word itself. For example: the word skǫr means ‘a male haircut’ but is feminine; other feminine nouns include elli ‘old age,’ bók ‘book,’ fjǫðr ‘feather,’ saga ‘tale.’ Examples of masculine nouns are bragr ‘poetry,’ matr ‘food,’ steinn ‘stone,’ kærleikr ‘love.’ Neuter nouns include hjarta ‘heart,’ land ‘land,’ þing ‘parliament,’ fen ‘marsh or bog.’

Case. All nouns in Old Norse decline; that is, they take endings indicating the noun’s case and role in the sentence. In most instances, the subject of a sentence is in the nominative case, the direct object is in the accusative case, the indirect object is in the dative, and the possessor (of something) is in the genitive.

Nouns following a preposition fall into different cases.9 They can be accusative, dative, or genitive depending on the preposition. For example:

• prepositions í gegnum and umhverfis take the accusative case: gera spjót í gegnum hann ‘to drive a spear through him,’ ganga umhverfis húsin ‘to walk/stroll around the houses;’

• prepositions at and frá take dative case: koma at húsum ‘to arrive at the buildings,’ ganga frá húsi ‘to be going away from the house;’

• prepositions til and milli take genitive case: koma til garðs ‘come to the yard,’ milli skógarins ok árinnar ‘between the forest and the river.’

• prepositions í and á take either accusative or dative case depending on the intended meaning. If one wants to denote a motion toward something, then the case is accusative: koma í garð ‘to come into a yard’ or koma á skip ‘to board a ship’ (‘come onto’). If, on the other hand, one wants to indicate a place where something is located (static placement), for example, ‘at’ or ‘within,’ then the case is dative: liggja í garði ‘to lie in/within a yard,’ standa á skipi ‘to stand aboard a ship.’ As a quick rule for these ‘two way prepositions,’ if one can can understand the prepositions í and á within the meaning of the sentence as ‘into’ or ‘onto’ instead of ‘in’ or ‘on’, then the preposition takes the accusative (indicating motion), otherwise the dative (indicating staying in place).

Number. Nouns in Old Norse distinguish between singular and plural.

Terminology: Declensions and Conjugations

Declensions are classes (or types) of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives with different sets of endings. To decline a noun is to give the complete set of its forms.

Conjugations are classes of verbs, each with its own set of endings and way of forming the present and past tenses. To conjugate a verb is to give the complete set of its forms.

Declension Type. All nouns in Old Norse fall into one of two declension types: strong or weak. Weak nouns take simpler endings than strong nouns. For example, dagr ‘day’ is always strong while goði ‘chieftain’ is always weak.

In Summary, Noun Endings are determined by their

• number: singular or plural

• gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter

• case: nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive

• declension type: strong or weak

1.9 Gender of Nouns and Pronouns – Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

As noted above, Old Norse nouns and pronouns belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Adjectives modifying nouns and pronouns agree in gender.

The gender of most nouns cannot be predicted. For instance, hlutr ‘part’ is masculine, brú ‘bridge’ is feminine, and nes ‘headland’ is neuter. Except in rare instances, a noun’s gender never changes.

Masculine Nouns (Strong and Weak). The most common masculine ending in the nominative singular is -r, as in the noun konungr, the name Herjólfr, and the place Drepstokkr. Another masculine ending is -i, as in the name Bjarni and the noun frændi ‘kinsman.’ Generally speaking, masculine nouns and names (proper nouns) that end in -r in the nominative singular are called strong nouns, while those masculines that end in -i are called weak nouns.

Compound Words, as mentioned, are formed from two or more words, as in English farmland (farm + land). Old Norse frequently employs compound words such as landnámsmaðr. Compound words always take the gender of the last noun. For example, Herjólfsnes (Herjólfs + nes) is neuter because nes is neuter, while landnámsmaðr is masculine because of maðr.

1.10 Grammar Toolbox, Case. Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives

Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive. Odin, who sees far with his one eye, would tell you that you cannot go far in learning Old Norse without knowing nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. These ‘parts of speech’ appear in one of four grammatical cases: nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive (nom, acc, dat, or gen). The role of the word in the sentence determines which ‘case’ is used. The subject of a sentence typically takes the nom case; a direct object takes the acc; an indirect object takes the dat; and the gen is used for possession or as the object of certain prepositions.

Compare the Old Norse pronouns hann and hon below with their English counterparts. Note how, in both languages, these words take different forms depending on their role in a sentence. Pronouns are an area in Modern English where the Old English case system is partially preserved.

Masculine

Case

Old Norse Pronoun

Grammatical role

English

nom

hann

subject

he/it

acc

hann

direct object

him/it

dat

honum

indirect object

him/it

gen

hans

possessive

his/its

Feminine

Case

Old Norse Pronoun

Grammatical role

English

nom

hon

subject

she/it

acc

hana

direct object

her/it

dat

henni

indirect object

her/it

gen

hennar

possessive

her(s)/its

Nominative (The Subject Case). The subject of a sentence is generally in the nominative case. Words modifying the subject, such as adjectives (for example, efniligr in efniligr maðr ‘a promising man’ are also in the nominative (this is called ‘agreement’). The same is true for predicate nouns and adjectives – words connected to the subject by way of a linking verb such as vera ‘to be,’ verða ‘to become,’ and heita ‘to be named, called.’ Predicate nouns agree with the subject in case and number; predicate adjectives agree in gender, case, and number. Two examples from the reading are Herjólfr var efniligr maðr (‘Herjolf was a promising man,’) and Þorgerðr hét kona hans (‘Thorgerd was the name of his wife’ or ‘was named’). Note the agreement between nouns and adjectives.

Accusative (The Direct Object Case). A noun which receives the ‘direct’ action of the verb is a direct object and stands in the accusative case. For example: Eiríkr nam land (‘Eirik took land’). The accusative case has other functions, such as indicating the objects of certain prepositions, for example, eptir hann ‘after him.’ (For prepositions, see Lesson 2). The accusative is used in expressions of time. For example, þenna tíma (‘at this/that time’) as in a reading in Lesson 6, Þenna tíma10 var ófriðr mikill í Nóregi. ‘At this time, there was great strife [lit. ‘unpeace’] in Norway.’

Dative (The Indirect Object Case). The indirect object of a verb takes the dative case. For example, in the sentence Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land, Ingólfr (subject) gave land (direct object) to Herjólfr (indirect object). A simple way to test if an object is indirect is to see if it can be translated into English with the preposition to or for. For example, the sentence above can be translated ‘Ingolf gave Herjolf land’ or ‘Ingolf gave land to Herjolf.’ The dative is commonly used with certain prepositions, for example, á Drepstokki ‘at Drepstokk’ (in the reading passage of this lesson) and with impersonal constructions (see 6.14 and 11.13).

Genitive (The Possessive Case). The genitive case usually denotes possession. Two common genitive endings in Old Norse are -s (Ingólfs) and -ar (sonar and Bárðarson). The English possessive ending -’s (John’s), like the Old Norse endings, is a remnant of the older Germanic case system, inherited in turn from Indo-European (see the Indo-European Language Tree and discussion in the Introduction). In English the possessive may also be expressed by the preposition of (gates of the city). The genitive appears in other contexts, for example, as the object of some verbs as well as with a small number of prepositions such as til (til Grœnlands ‘to Greenland,’ in the reading passage of the next lesson).

The table below gives sentences declining Herjólfr in all four cases, with case endings marked in bold.

Case

Old Norse

English

Noun stem +
Case ending

nom

Herjólfr bjó á Drepstokki.

Herjolf lived at Drepstokk.

Herjólf + r

acc

Þorgerðr sá Herjólf.

Thorgerd saw Herjolf.

Herjólf

dat

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land.

Ingolf gave land to Herjolf.

Herjólf + i

gen

Þorgerðr hét kona Herjólfs.

Herjolf’s wife was called Thorgerd.

Herjólf + s

Fifteen ❖Frequent Nouns as Examples

The following charts decline (in singular) the 15 most frequently occurring nouns found in the sagas. These words are grouped by their gender — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and they are examples of a broad range of strong nouns. Maðr, sonr, sǫk, and vík have characteristics which are discussed in later lessons. For the plurals of these 15 nouns, see section 1.26 (after the exercises at the end of this lesson).

Masculine

maðr

konungr

sonr

hestr

víkingr

endings

nom

maðr

konungr

sonr

hestr

víkingr

-r

acc

mann

konung

son

hest

víking

–

dat

manni

konungi

syni

hesti

víkingi

-i

gen

manns

konungs

sonar

hests

víkings

-s, -ar*

Transl.: maðr ‘man,’ konungr ‘king,’ sonr ‘son,’ hestr ‘horse,’ víkingr ‘viking’

*The m sg gen ending -s is far more common than -ar. The few masculine nouns and proper names that end in -ar in the genitive, such as Bárðr (gen Bárðar), are best memorized.

Feminine

ferð

sǫk

leið

vík

hlíð

endings

nom

ferð

sǫk

leið

vík

hlíð

–

acc

ferð

sǫk

leið

vík

hlíð

–

dat

ferð

sǫk

leið

vík

hlíð

–

gen

ferðar

sakar

leiðar

víkr

hlíðar

-ar, -r*

Transl.: ferð ‘journey,’ sǫk ‘cause,’ leið ‘way, road,’ vík ‘bay,’ hlíð ‘slope’

*The f sg gen ending -ar is the more frequent one

Neuter

skip

land

mál

sverð

þing

endings

nom

skip

land

mál

sverð

þing

–

acc

skip

land

mál

sverð

þing

–

dat

skipi

landi

máli

sverði

þingi

-i

gen

skips

lands

máls

sverðs

þings

-s

Transl.: skip ‘ship,’ land ‘land,’ mál ‘speech,’ sverð ‘sword,’ þing ‘assembly’

In Summary, Old Norse has four cases whose main functions are:

Case

Main Functions

nominative

subject; predicate nouns and adjectives

accusative

direct object; object of certain prepositions

dative

indirect object (to, for); object of certain prepositions

genitive

possessive; object of certain prepositions

1.11 Exercise – Case: Nominative, accusative, Dative, and Genitive

A. Rearrange the following sentences, putting the pronouns in the correct case.

Incorrect

Correct

Ex:

Us invited a friend to go with we.

We invited a friend to go with us

1.

Him went with his to he house.

2.

Her gave a gift to she.

3.

Them are sitting in they ship with their.

4.

Her brought food for he and I.

B. Identify the function of the italicized nouns in the English and Old Norse sentences below, and state what case must be used in Old Norse.

Ex:

A man was called Herjolf, Bard’s son.

possessor; genitive (son of)

1.

Eirik took Eirik’s Fjord and lived at Brattahlíð.

2.

Herjolf was a kinsman of the settler Ingolf.

3.

Ingolf gave him land.

4.

Ingolf gave land to her.

5.

Herjolf’s wife was named Thorgerd.

6.

Herjolf’s wife was named Thorgerd.

7.

Eiríkr nam Brattahlíð.

8.

Dróttning gaf Þorgerði land.

1.12 Apposition – Case Agreement of Nouns

In the sentence below, landnámsmanns is in the genitive case as is Ingólfs.

Hann var frændi Ingólfs landnámsmanns.

He was a kinsman of Ingolf, the settler.

In grammatical terms, we say that landnámsmanns is in the genitive case because it is in apposition with Ingólfs. Appositives like landnámsmanns are common in Old Norse, where they typically provide more information about a previous noun. An appositive always matches the case of the noun to which it refers. In English, the appositive is often set apart by commas: Herjolf, the settler.

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi landnámsmanni land

Ingolf gave land to Herjolf, the settler

In the above sentence, landnámsmanni is in apposition with Herjólfi, hence it too must be in the dative.

Eiríkr nam Eiríksfjǫrð ok bjó í Brattahlíð, en Leifr sonr hans eptir hann.

Eirik took Eiriksfjord and lived at Brattahlid, and Leif, his son, after him.

In this sentence sonr [hans] is in apposition with Leifr. Both nouns, sonr and Leifr are in the nominative case. The opening line of Ragnars saga loðbrókar (The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok) offers an example of apposition. The saga begins by telling that the legendary hero Heimir learns of the deaths of Sigurd Fafnisbani (the dragon slayer) and Brynhild (Sigurd’s valkyrie wife). In the sentence, dóttir is in apposition with Áslaug, as is fóstra:

Heimir í Hlymdǫlum spyrr nú þessi tíðendi, at dauðr er Sigurðr ok Brynhildr, en Áslaug dóttir þeira, en fóstra Heimis, var þá þrévetr.

x

Heimir in Hlymdalir now hears this news, that Sigurd is dead and also Brynhild, but Aslaug their daughter, Heimir’s foster daughter, was then three winters old.

1.13 Old Norse and Proto-Norse Words (Stems, Roots, Suffixes, and Endings)

Figure ‎1.2. 1,500 Years of Language History. Changes in the Old Norse words heimr, fundr, and skjǫldr (‘world,’ ‘meeting,’ ‘shield’)beginning in Proto-Norse (PN) and continuing to Modern Icelandic (MI). Note the changes in the stems (root+suffix) and endings (added to the stems).

Here is some basic information to keep in mind in the following discussion of ‘stems,’ ‘roots,’ ‘suffixes,’ and ‘endings’ in Old Norse words.

• Each word in Old Norse is composed of two primary parts: a stem and an ending (word = stem + ending).

• Within the word, the stem can also have two parts, a root and a suffix (stem = root + suffix). A root can be the core of a single word such as land, while a compound word such as landnámsmaðr (land+náms+maðr) can have a ‘multiple root’ such as landnámsmað-.

Old Norse Prehistory. In distinguishing the parts of Old Norse words, it is useful to know something of the earlier history, or prehistory, of the language.11 Such knowledge explains why certain seemingly arbitrary or irregular aspects of Old Norse grammar are instead understandable developments from an earlier stage of the language. The study of relationships over time between Old Norse words and related Indo-European languages falls under the field of Historical Linguistics. In this instance, we consider aspects of the history of Old Norse.12

Aside from the evidence of a few early runic inscriptions, linguists rely primarily on the techniques of language reconstruction to recover the prehistory of Old Norse. The parent language of ON is called Proto-Norse (PN), and its words are marked with an *(asterisk). Prehistoric languages leave few traces of themselves, and an asterisk* at the beginning of a word indicates that this form of the word is reconstructed from linguistic clues.

For Proto-Old Norse the attested vocabulary is small, and the main clues are runic inscriptions in the Elder Futhark (see the Introduction and Lesson 3). For unattested words, that is, words for which there are no known occurrences in texts, linguists work through the known, regular sound changes in previous and later languages.13 For example, based on a range of comparative data, the reconstructed immediate PN ancestor of ON gestr is *gastiR.

The word for ‘guest’ is not unique to PN or ON. *GastiR and gestr share common ancestry with words in other Germanic languages, for ex: Old English giest, Old High German gast, and Gothic gasts.14 Because these ‘related languages’ also share novel features not found in other Indo-European languages, linguists reconstruct an earlier parent source for Germanic languages, known as Proto-Germanic (PGmc).

1.14 Roots, Suffixes, Stems, and Endings: The Composition of Words

Indo-European languages, such as Old Norse, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit share an underlying word structure inherited from Proto-Indo-European. Typically this word structure consists of a root, one or more suffixes, and an ending. There are also stems (see below). In Old Norse as well as other Indo-European languages:

The root contains the essence of a word´s meaning.

The suffix determines the word’s grammatical class (noun, verb, etc).

The ending adds additional grammatical information to the word (marks nouns as singular or plural, verbs as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, etc).

Words are formed from the following components:

The root and suffix(es) together form a stem.

The stem and ending form a word.

Suffixes come between the root and the endings. They are found in many Old Norse words. Suffixes are especially visible in the past tense of weak verbs. For example:

• The 3rd singular past tense of herja (‘to raid/harry’) is herjaði: herj- is the root, -að- is the suffix, and -i is the ending (herj+að+i).

• In a similar manner, the 3rd singular past tense of the verb kalla ‘to call’ is kall+að+i ‘called.’

• Note that the ON suffix -að- in these words is related to English -ed, as in English ‘harried’ and ‘called.’

Stems and Endings. Most words in Old Norse take some form of ending. For nouns and adjectives, the endings are the part of the word that indicates number (sg or pl) and case (nom, acc, dat, or gen). For nouns, adjectives, and verbs, endings are added to the stem, which, as mentioned earlier, contains a root or a root+suffix. The stems of nouns, to which one adds an ending, are generally easy to distinguish. Hence the stem of haugr (‘mound’) is haug-, konungr is konung-, and saga is sag-. Verb endings are discussed in coming Lessons.

Basic information: Each word in Old Norse is composed of two primary parts: a stem and an ending (word = stem + ending). Within the word, the stem can also have two parts, a root and a suffix (stem = root + suffix). A root can be the core of a single word such as land or the core of a compound word such as landnámsmaðr (land+náms+maðr), which in the nominative sg has the ‘multiple root’ landnámsmað-.

Syncope and Sound Change. Below is a chart showing the changes from PGmc *gastiz to Modern Icelandic gestur. The chart notes that, in the process of language change from PN *gastiR to ON gestr, the suffix *-i- disappeared. The process is called ‘syncope,’ or shortening of words (much like the shortening in English of ‘won´t’ from ‘would not’). Before disappearing, the PN suffix *-i- influenced the pronunciation of the ON root vowel, changing *-a- of *gast- into the -e- of gest-. This sound change, which results in the root vowel -a- changing into -e-, is called i-umlaut. The change in pronunciation may seem small, but it is important, and such changes are explained as the language unfolds in the coming lessons.

Evolution of a Word from Proto-Germanic to Modern Icelandic15

Word

Language

Stem

Ending

Root + Suffix

*gastiz

Proto-Germanic (PGmc)

gast-

-i-

-z

*gastiR

Proto-Norse (PN)

gast-

-i-

-R

gestr

Old Norse (ON)

gest-

-r

gestur

Modern Icelandic (MI)

gest-

-ur

A Difference Between Old Norse and Modern Icelandic. The -r or -ur Ending

A vocalic link, -u-, precedes the ending -r in the Modern Icelandic spelling of gestur. This link, which reflects a change in pronunciation from Old Norse to Modern Icelandic, emerged in words such as ON gestr in the period after the Viking Age. The presence of this -u- (-ur ending) is one of the differences between Modern Icelandic and Old Norse/Old Icelandic. For example, ON hestr became MI hestur and ON brúðr (bride) became MI brúður.

Exercises

1.15 Genealogy. Most Icelandic sagas begin with genealogical information. Chart the genealogy from Grœnlendinga saga given in the first reading passage in this lesson by listing the Old Norse names (with accents) in the tree below. The connection with Ingolf Arnarson, who is mentioned as a kinsman, is unclear. Note that there are two men named Herjolf, a grandfather and his grandson (whose name has been entered in the proper place).

Note: in the figure below, ‘m’ means ‘married.’

Herljólfr       — m —

1.16 Nouns from Grœnlendinga Saga. Use the following words to complete the sentences below from the first reading and translate.

maðr kona var efniligr faðir sonr land fugl korn

Ex:

Inn fyrsti           fugl          fær it fyrsta           korn

The first bird gets the first grain.

1.

Þorgerðr hét                                                hans, en Bjarni                                             þeira.

2.

Herjólfr hét                                                                                     , Bárðarson Herjólfssonar.

3.

Bárðr var                                                                                                                         Herjólfs.

4.

Bjarni                                                                                                                                    maðr.

5.

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi                                                                                                                       .

1.17 Vocabulary. Match the nouns in each column with their English meanings by drawing a line between the two.

Ex:

korn

bird

fugl

grain

1.

maðr

bay

2.

kona

daughter

3.

víkingr

man, person

4.

fjǫrðr

settler

5.

vík

son

6.

frændi

fjord

7.

dóttir

country, land

8.

konungr

viking

9.

sonr

woman, wife

10.

land

kinsman

11.

landnámsmaðr

king

1.18 Translation. Translate the following reading passage from Grœnlendinga saga back into Old Norse. Remember to include accent marks where needed.

Herjolf was the son of Bard,

Herjólfr var Bárðarson

[who was] the son of Herjolf;

he was [a] kinsman of Ingolf [the] settler.

Ingolf gave land to Herjolf

between Vag and Reykjanes.

Herjolf lived first at Drepstokk.

His wife was named Thorgerd,

and their son [was named] Bjarni,

and [he] was a promising man.

1.19 Gender and Meaning of Nouns. Complete the chart below with words from the lesson’s reading passage.

Noun

Gender

English Meaning

Ex:

kona

feminine

woman , wife

1.

story, history

2.

vágr

3.

land, country

4.

frændi

5.

settler

The following words are the three most frequent nouns from List 1. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas in Each Part of Speech given in this lesson. Their genders can be found in the Vocabulary at the end of the book.

Noun

Gender

English Meaning

6.

maðr

7.

konungr

8.

skip

1.20 Cases. Rewrite the following sentences so that they refer to Haraldr and Eiríkr, which decline the same as Herjólfr.

1

Herjólfr bjó á Drepstokki.

Haraldr

Þorgerðr sá Herjólf.

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land.

Þorgerðr hét kona Herjólfs.

2.

Herjólfr bjó á Drepstokki.

Eiríkr

Þorgerðr sá Herjólf.

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land.

Þorgerðr hét kona Herjólfs.

1.21 Apposition. Fill in the correct form of landnámsmaðr (declines the same as maðr, the last word in this compound word) in the spaces below and translate.

1.

Hann var frændi Ingólfs                                                                                                .

2.

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi                                                                                                  land.

3.

Maðr hét Ingólfr                                                                                                             .

4.

Þorgerðr sá Ingólf

Hint: sá comes from sjá, meaning ‘to see.’

1.22 Word Frequency ❖. Using List 1. The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas, write below the most frequently used words for different parts of speech and translate.

Old Norse

English

Old Norse

English

Nouns

Adjectives

1.

4.

2.

5.

3.

6.

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

7.

10.

8.

11.

9.

12.

1.23 Culture – Gudrid Travels from Vinland to Rome

Guðríðr Þorbjarnardóttir (Gudrid Thorbjorn’s daughter) is an example of a traveler from the far North Atlantic at the turn of the first millennium. Gudrid lived and journeyed across the then known world, and she stands out as a widely traveled Viking Age Icelander. Her voyages are reported in the sagas in part because she was a respected ancestor of later Icelanders, including three twelfth-century bishops.

Grœnlendinga saga and Eiríks saga rauða (The Saga of Eirik the Red) describe Gudrid’s life and travels. Eiríks saga is preserved in two manuscripts: the Hauksbók compilation from the early fourteenth century and Skálholtsbók from ca. (that is, circa or ‘around’ the year) 1420. Although Grœnlendinga saga and Eiríks saga are different in numerous ways, they are in general agreement about Gudrid’s journeys, with Grœnlendinga saga recounting additional travels after Gudrid leaves Greenland.

Gudrid’s North Atlantic journeys, a mixture of entrepreneurial trading voyages and pioneering attempts at colonization, are a medieval picture of Norse long-range sailings. According to Grœnlendinga saga, Gudrid arrives in Greenland with her husband Thorir around the year 1000. The couple may have married in Norway, but it is more likely that Thorir, a Norwegian, first sailed to Iceland and there met and married Gudrid. With his wife on board, Thorir continues to Greenland, where his luck runs out. The two are shipwrecked on the Greenland coast, and their ship is lost. After they and their crew are rescued, Thorir dies of an illness during the winter in Greenland’s Eastern Settlement.

Gudrid, now a widow, marries Thorstein Eiriksson, the son of Eirik the Red (inn rauði), the settlement’s leader. With her new husband, Gudrid moves north up the Greenlandic coast to a farm in the Western Settlement, but then Thorstein dies of illness. Widowed again, Gudrid returns to the Eastern Settlement, where she stays at the farm Brattahlid with her brother-in-law, Leif the Lucky (inn heppni). Next, Gudrid marries Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelander recently arrived from Norway.

Figure 1.3. The Travels of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir from The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Eirik the Red. The solid and dotted lines show her possible routes as well as a number of the long distance routes of the Viking period.

The following year (ca. 1010), Gudrid and Thorfinn Karlsefni set out in Karlsefni’s ship in an ambitious attempt to settle Vinland (Vínland). The directions to the possible locations of Vinland are noted on the accompanying map by the two question marks with arrows leading west and southwest from l’Anse aux Meadows at the northern tip of Newfoundland. L’Anse aux Meadows is a modern English corruption of the French placename, L’Anse aux Méduses (The Bay of Jellyfish). Gudrid and Thorfinn, accompanied by men and women in two other ships, sail west to the North American continent and then south along the coast.

Reaching Vinland, they settle in. Some of the settlers use the cabins (búðir) built by Leif Eiriksson on his earlier Vinland voyage. Gudrid gives birth to a son named Snorri, which would make him the first European child born in North America. After a few years, the Vinland settlement fails. Gudrid and Thorfinn Karlsefni sail back to Greenland and spend the winter in the Eastern Settlement. The following spring, the couple sails east to Norway. They sell the cargo they acquired in Vinland and Greenland and winter in Norway.

In the spring, Thorfinn and Gudrid sail back to Iceland, presumably with a shipload of valuable Norwegian goods. According to Grœnlendinga saga, the couple land in Skagafjord, Thorfinn’s home region. There they buy the farm called Glaumbær, and after a successful life together, Thorfinn Karlsefni dies. Eiríks saga rauða also places Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid in Skagafjord, but at the farm Reynines. Eiríks saga rauða stops at this point.

Grœnlendinga saga, however, continues. It tells that Gudrid, a widow for the third time, manages the farm with the help of her son Snorri, the child born in Vinland. When Snorri marries, Gudrid, now an old woman, sets off on a pilgrimage south to Rome. Surviving this arduous and dangerous journey, Gudrid returns to Iceland where she lives the rest of her life in solitude as one of Iceland’s first anchorites, or independent nuns. She dies ca. 1050, having outlived three husbands and having seen the world from Vinland to the Mediterranean.

Was Gudrid unique in traveling so far? The medieval visitors’ book at the Swiss monastery of Reichenau contains hints about the travels of other Icelandic women. This register, used mainly to record names of pilgrims heading south to Italy, contains a page with the heading Hislant terra (Iceland). It lists eight Icelandic men and four Icelandic women (Vigdís, Vilbǫrg, Kólþera, and Þuríðr), who probably stopped at the monastery in the eleventh century.

1.24 Plurals of Strong Noun Examples Given Earlier in Section 1.10

Section 1.10 declines the 15 most frequent strong nouns in the three genders in singular. Here are the plurals. They are here for reference. You may want to return to this list as you complete the coming lessons.

Masculine

maðr

konungr

sonr

hestr

víkingr

endings

nom

menn

konungar

synir

hestar

víkingar

-r

acc

menn

konunga

sonu

hesta

víkinga

–, a, u

dat

mǫnnum

konungum

sonum

hestum

víkingum

-um

gen

manna

konunga

sona

hesta

víkinga

-a

Transl.: maðr ‘man,’ konungr ‘king,’ sonr ‘son,’ hestr ‘horse,’ víkingr ‘viking’

Feminine

ferð

sǫk

leið

vík

hlíð

endings

nom

ferðir

sakir

leiðir

víkr

hlíðir

-r

acc

ferðir

sakir

leiðir

víkr

hlíðir

-r

dat

ferðum

sǫkum

leiðum

víkum

hlíðum

-um

gen

ferða

saka

leiða

víka

hlíða

-a

Transl.: ferð ‘journey,’ sǫk ‘cause,’ leið ‘way, road,’ vík ‘bay,’ hlíð ‘slope’

Neuter

skip

land

mál

sverð

þing

endings

nom

skip

lǫnd

mál

sverð

þing

–

acc

skip

lǫnd

mál

sverð

þing

–

dat

skipum

lǫndum

málum

sverðum

þingum

-um

gen

skipa

landa

mála

sverða

þinga

-a

Transl.: skip ‘ship,’ land ‘land,’ mál ‘speech,’ sverð ‘sword,’ þing ‘assembly’

Lesson 2

Norse Settlers in Greenland and Vinland

Figure 2.1. The Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggð) of Norse Greenland (Grœnland). The farm Herjólfsnes of Herjolf Bardarson is in Herjólfsfjǫrðr (‘fjord’). Eirik the Red settled at Brattahlíð (Steep-Slope) in Eiríksfjǫrðr. The original settlers converted to Christianity around the year 1000. After the year 1124, Garðar became the seat of Greenland’s bishop.

Eigi fellr tré við fyrsta hǫgg

(A tree does not fall with the first blow)

2.1 Culture – Norse Greenland

Within a century of its settlement, Iceland was already crowded. ‘By the year 985, new settlers, as well as established Icelandic families, looked west of Iceland to Greenland, the land that Eirik the Red had recently discovered. The family of Herjolf Bardarson, who appears in this and the reading passage of the preceding lesson, sailed with Eirik to Greenland. They settled at Herjólfsnes (Herjolf’s Promontory) in the Eastern Settlement (see map above). At that time, the climate in Greenland was relatively mild on account of the ‘medieval climate optimum,’ a medieval warm period in the North Atlantic lasting from ca. 950 to 1250.

The Norse settlers were members of a herding culture, and Greenland’s southwestern coastline was appealing with its sheltered fjords and good grazing lands. Eirik’s followers established the Eastern Settlement (Eystribyggð) in southwestern Greenland, and soon there was a Western Settlement (Vestribyggð) on the coast 300 miles to the north. Native inhabitants had earlier lived along the coastline but at the time when the Norse settlers arrived, the areas were uninhabited. The ancestors of the modern Inuit Greenlanders were living in what is today Northern Canada. A century or so later, they began migrating to Greenland and came into contact with the Norse settlements.

Between the Eastern and Western settlements lay a small middle Norse region of approximately twenty farms. Of the three areas of Norse habitation, the Eastern Settlement was the most populated with approximately 190 farms, 12 parish churches, a cathedral, and Augustinian and Benedictine monasteries. The Western Settlement had approximately ninety farms and four churches. The count of sites increases as archaeologists undertake more surveys and excavations.

2.2 Reading – ‘Land-taking’ in Greenland (Landnámabók)

The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók) provides additional information about Herjolf Bardarson. Unlike the reading passage in the previous lesson from Grœnlendinga saga, the passage below from Landnámabók does not mention Herjolf’s wife or his son Bjarni. Instead it tells of Herjolf’s second landnám, or ‘land-taking,’ this time in northwest Greenland (the first was in Iceland, at Dreppstokk). Herjolf arrived with Eirik the Red, who was Norwegian-born. Eirik lived in Iceland for many years. After killing a neighbor in a feud, he served out a sentence of three years’ banishment from Iceland by exploring unknown lands to the west.

Eirik’s Saga (Eiríks saga) tells that Eirik, knowing that the name ‘Iceland’ sounded inhospitable, chose the name ‘Greenland’ in order to entice people to follow him to this new land. Returning to Iceland, Eirik announced his intention to settle Greenland. According to Ari Fróði (Ari the Wise) in Íslendingabók, Eirik led fourteen ships of settlers from Iceland to Greenland ‘fourteen or fifteen winters before Christianity came here to Iceland,’ i.e. around AD 985.

This reading selection from Landnámabók is found in entry 79 of the Hauksbók version/manuscript (H79) and in entry 92 from the Sturlubók version (S92) of Landnámabók. Landnámabók is a compilation of often short accounts (like the reading passage below) about Iceland’s first settlers. Overall, the different manuscripts of Landnámabók mention about 430 settlers, both men and women, and 600 farms. There were several versions of Landnámabók. The first was written in the early twelfth century but is lost, and we know little about it. Parts of another version called Melabók (M, the Book of Mel [a placename]) exists chiefly as small passages incorporated into the two principal versions, Hauksbók (H, named for its author Haukr Erlendsson, a lawspeaker in the early 1300s) and Sturlubók (S, named for its author, Sturla Þorðarson, a famous thirteenth-century chieftain).

Landnámabók (H79, S92)

The Book of Settlements (H79, S92)

Herjólfr hét maðr

[There] was [a] man called Herjolf,

Bárðarson Herjólfssonar;

the son of Bard, the son of Herjolf;

hann fór til Grœnlands með Eiríki.

he went to Greenland with Eirik [the Red].

Herjólfr nam Herjólfsfjǫrð

Herjolf took [= claimed] Herjolf’s Fjord

ok bjó á Herjólfsnesi. (H79)

and lived at Herjolfsnes.

Eiríkr nam Eiríksfjǫrð ok bjó í

Eirik took Eirik’s Fjord and lived at

Brattahlíð, en Leifr sonr hans

Brattahlid, and Leif, his son,

eptir hann. (S92)

after him.

Vocabulary

❖á prep [w dat] on; upon; at; in

Bárðr <-ar>* m Bard (personal name)

Bárðarson m Bard’s son (personal name)

bjó 1/3 sg** past of búa lived

Brattahlíð f Brattahlid (place name), Steep-Slope

❖búa <býr, bjó, bjoggu~bjuggu, búinn> vb live in a place, dwell, inhabit, live

Eiríkr <-s> m Eirik (personal name)

Eiríksfjǫrðr m Eiriksfjord (place name), Eirik’s Fjord

❖en conj but; (less frequently) and

❖eptir prep [w acc] after (in time)

❖fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb go, travel; move

fór 1/3 sg past of fara went

Grœnland n Greenland

❖hann <acc hann, dat honum, gen hans> pronoun he

hans pron (gen of hann) his

❖heita <heitir, hét, hétu, heitinn> vb to call, give a name to; <heitr> to call upon smb to do smth; (intrans w pres heitir) be called, be named, have a name; [w dat] promise

Herjólfr <-s> m Herjolf (personal name)

Herjólfsfjǫrðr m Herjolfsfjord (place name), ‘Herjolf’s Fjord’

Herjólfsnes n Herjolfsnes (place name), Herjolf’s Headland

hét 1/3 sg past of heita was named

❖í prep [w dat] in, within; at

❖maðr <acc mann, dat manni, gen manns, nom & acc pl menn, dat mǫnnum, gen manna> m man; person, human being

❖með prep [w acc/dat] with

nam 1/3 sg past of nema took

nema <nemr, nam, námu, numinn> vb take; claim (land as property)

❖ok conj and

❖sonr <dat syni, gen sonar, pl synir, acc sonu> m son

❖til prep [w gen] to

*In the vocabularies, the notations <-s> or <-ar> indicate whether a masculine noun takes its genitive singular with -s (such as Eiríkr, genitive Eiríks) or with -ar (such as Bárðr, genitive Bárðar).

**1/3 sg refers to 1st and 3rd person singular in conjugating the verb.

2.3 Exercise – The Reading Selection from Landnámabók.

Match the Old Norse on the left with the correct English translation on the right.

1. Herjólfr hét maðr

a. Herjolf took (claimed) Herjolf’s Fjord

2. Bárðarson Herjólfssonar;

b. Eirik took Eirik’s Fjord and lived at Brattahlid,

3. hann fór til Gr’nlands með Eiríki.

c. and Leif his son after him.

4. Herjólfr nam Herjólfsfjǫrð

d. [There] was [a] man called Herjolf

5. ok bjó á Herjólfsnesi.

e. the son of Bard, [who was] the son of Herjolf;

6. Eiríkr nam Eiríksfjǫrð ok bjó í Brattahlíð,

f. he went to Greenland with Eirik [the Red].

7. en Leifr sonr hans eptir hann.

g. and lived at Herjolfsnes.

2.4 Culture - Vinland (Vínland)

Shortly after Herjolf Bardarson settled in Greenland, his son Bjarni Herjolfsson set out from Iceland to join his father in the new country. But Bjarni, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, became lost in a fog. He sailed far off course and sighted land to the west and south of Greenland. Grœnlendinga saga tells that Bjarni refused to land and explore his discovery. For his lack of initiative, he was much criticized when he finally reached Greenland and settled there.

We know that Norse seafarers reached North America because Norse archaeological remains dating to about AD 1000 have been found at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Exactly who these settlers were is not clear. The sagas tell that in Greenland, Leif Eiriksson bought Bjarni’s ship and set out as the leader of an expedition intent on settling the new land. Leif the Lucky visited several places on the North American coast. These included Helluland (‘Slab-Land,’ Baffin Island), Markland (‘Forest-Land,’ Labrador), and Vínland (‘Land of Vines,’ ‘Wineland’).

Leif’s attempt to settle in Vinland failed, and he and his party returned to Greenland. Others, such as Leif’s brother and sister, Thorvald and Freydis, and later Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid, are said to have led further parties west. Ultimately, they were outnumbered and driven off by the skrælingjar (sg skrælingr), the unflattering Norse term for both North American Indians and Greenlandic Inuits.

Although the Norse Greenlanders had neither the resources nor the population to colonize the North American continent, they continued to sail there for wood and perhaps other provisions. An entry in the Icelandic Annals for the year 1347 states, ‘In this year a Greenlandic ship arrived in Iceland loaded with wood. It had been blown off course in returning from Vinland.’ The Norse colony in Greenland declined after 1300. The climate grew colder and sailing became more dangerous due to increased drift or sea ice. The Greenland settlement became isolated from the outside world for years at a time, and by the 1500s the Norse colony ceased to exist. The exact end of the colony is unknown. Possibly the last of the nearly forgotten Norse of Greenland abandoned the colony. They may also have died out or been carried off by slavers or pirates.

2.5 Grammar Toolbox. Definite and Indefinite Article

The definite article is the word ‘the.’ As noted below, the Old Norse definite article declines for case, number, and gender. There is no indefinite article (a, an) in Old Norse, although sometimes the numeral ‘one’ (einn) or its variations is used for emphasis.

When translating into English, the indefinite article usually has to be added.

Hann var frændi Herjólfs.

He was a kinsman of Herjolf.

Hann var efniligr maðr.

He was a promising man.

Hon var dóttir Þorgerðar.

She was a daughter of Thorgerd.

The Definite Article

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg nom

inn

in

it

Pl

inir

inar

in

acc

inn

ina

it

ina

inar

in

dat

inum

inni

inu

inum

inum

inum

gen

ins

innar

ins

inna

inna

inna

When the definite article is used with an adjective, as in inn fyrsti fugl ‘the first bird,’ it fyrsta korn ‘the first grain,’ and Eiríkr inn rauði ‘Eirik the Red,’ the article precedes the adjective.

When used without an adjective, the definite article is added as a suffix to the noun after its case ending. For example, the nouns maðr ‘man,’ bók ‘book,’ and land become maðrinn (m) ‘the man,’ bókin (f) ‘the book,’ and landit (n) ‘the land.’ When the case ending of a noun ends in a vowel, the initial -i- of the article is dropped. For example, kona ‘woman’ plus the feminine article in becomes konan (kona + in > konan). So also frændi ‘kinsman’ or ‘friend’ becomes frændinn (frændi + inn > frændinn).

When the definite article stands alone, it is sometimes spelled with initial h-: hinn, hin, hit. This is the old demonstrative pronoun the article is derived from. Modern Icelandic spells the definite article with h- when it stands alone: hinn, hin, hit.

2.6 Proper Nouns

Below are masculine and feminine names encountered in the readings of the first lessons.

With a few exceptions, proper nouns (that is, names of persons etc) decline like regular nouns. For instance, Eiríkr and Herjólfr take the same set of endings as the masculine nouns konungr and víkingr. Each proper noun, like all nouns, is either strong or weak. Masculine weak nouns/names, such as Bjarni or Hjalti, take a simpler set of endings than strong nouns/names.

Strong Masculine

Weak Masculine

nom

Eiríkr

Herjólfr

Þorsteinn

Bárðr

Bjǫrn

Bjarni

Hjalti

acc

Eirík

Herjólf

Þorstein

Bárð

Bjǫrn

Bjarna

Hjalta

dat

Eiríki

Herjólfi

Þorsteini

Bárði

Birni

Bjarna

Hjalta

gen

Eiríks

Herjólfs

Þorsteins

Bárðar

Bjarnar

Bjarna

Hjalta

Nouns have their peculiarities. For example, the name Þorsteinn ends with an -n rather than the more usual nominative masculine ending -r. Rather than being absent, the nominative -r has changed to -n in order to match the preceding -n-. This change, called assimilation, is a very common and regular process in Old Norse that likely occured because it was easier to pronounce the sound of double -nn than -nr. Other masculine names, such as Bjǫrn and Bjarni (see above), decline with different sets of endings. These too are explained in later lessons.

The first reading passage of this lesson contains only one feminine name, Þorgerðr. Þorgerðr is an example of a common type of feminine noun, which, like many masculine nouns, ends in -r in the nominative singular. Feminine names ending in -r follow the pattern of Þorgerðr: -r, -i, -i, -ar. Note that names like Freydís and Ólǫf decline somewhat differently. Feminine weak nouns/names, such as Gyða or Helga, take a simpler set of endings than their strong counterparts.

Strong Feminine

Weak Feminine

nom

Þórgerðr

Sigríðr

Freydís

Ólǫf

Gyða

Helga

acc

Þórgerði

Sigríði

Freydísi

Ólǫfu

Gyðu

Helgu

dat

Þórgerði

Sigríði

Freydísi

Ólǫfu

Gyðu

Helgu

gen

Þórgerðar

Sigríðar

Freydísar

Ólafar

Gyðu

Helgu

2.7 Grammar Toolbox. Verbs

Verbs are words at the core of language. They express action, existence, happenings, feelings, and thoughts. Verb usage in Old Norse corresponds closely to Modern English because of the close relationship between Old Norse and Old English.

This Grammar Toolbox Section provides an overview of the different aspects of Old Norse verbs. Rather than memorizing, use this information as a resource to refer back to when mastering Old Norse verbs in the coming lessons.

• Agreement. A verb agrees with the subject of the sentence in person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular and plural). Person and number are indicated by endings, called personal endings.

• Tense. Old Norse has two verb tenses: present and past. Reference to future events is expressed in several ways: use of the present tense; use of auxiliary verbs such as munu (‘shall’, ‘will,’ hence, ek mun fara, ‘I will go’) and skulu (‘shall’); and use of time expressions, such as á morgun (‘tomorrow’).

• Mood. Verbs have three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Mood reflects a speaker’s attitude toward the reality/truth of a statement.

The indicative is the most common and is used when an utterance is believed to be true: Úlfr var maðr svá mikill ok sterkr, at eigi váru hans jafningjar ‘Ulf was a man so big and strong that none were his equals.’ (Egils saga).

The subjunctive expresses doubt, uncertainty, or something hypothetical. In Old Norse, it is mostly used in dependent clauses, especially in indirect speech: Faðir hans hefir þat mælt, at hann myndi af hendi láta búit, en Hersteinn tæki við ‘His father has said that he would transfer (let go from his hand/give up) the farm, were Herstein to take it over’ (Hœnsa-Þóris saga).

The imperative is used in commands: Hǫgg þú ‘You must strike’ (Íslendinga saga).

Verb Classifications. In general there are three types of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and auxiliary verbs. Action verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs have objects while intransitive verbs do not.

Transitive Verbs express action on something or possession, for example gefa (‘to give’) and eiga (‘to own’ or ‘possess’). Such verbs always have a direct object (a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb), for example, Haraldr konungr gaf henni land (‘King Harald gave her land’) and hon á sverð (‘she has/possesses a sword’). Here cases become important: direct objects in Old Norse generally use the accusative, while indirect objects take the dative.

Intransitive verbs do not take objects, either direct or indirect. For example, hon dó (‘she died’) is a complete action. Hon dó menn (‘She died men’) is ‘ungrammatical’ because deyja (‘to die’) cannot take a direct object. The same for hlæja (‘to laugh’): hon hlær (‘She laughs’) is grammatical, and hon hlær barn (‘She laughed a child’) is not.

Transitive or Intransitive. Verbs are normaly either transitive or intransitive, but some verbs can be both. For example, the verb eta (‘to eat’) can function as an intransitive in hann át (‘he ate’), but also as a transitive in hann át kjǫt (‘he ate meat’).

Voice. It is important to understand ‘voice’ for learning the verbs of most languages. Voice refers to the distinction between active and passive. The passive voice occurs when the subject of a sentence is the object of the action. For example: ‘The man kicked the dog’ is active, but ‘The dog was kicked by the man’ is passive. Old Norse verbs have three types of voice: active, middle/reflexive, and passive. The active and middle have their own sets of endings, while the passive is formed using an auxiliary verb and past participle (a verb form which indicates certain tenses and functions as an adjective).

• Active Voice. The subject performs the action: he kicks, he kicked.

• Passive Voice. The subject undergoes the action: he is kicked, he was kicked.

• Verbs with Middle Endings have a range of functions, but fundamentally they are used in a reflexive manner. They express action that reflects back to the subject (for example, he kicked himself). Hence, the subject both performs and undergoes the action. The middle occasionally has passive meaning: skip búask ‘the ships are being made ready’ (lit. ‘ready themselves,’ Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka), landit eyddisk ‘the country would be laid waste’ (lit. ‘the land would empty itself,’ Íslendingabók).

Past Tense (Strong, Weak, and Preterite-Present). Verbs in Old Norse build their past tense in specific ways and can be divided into the categories of strong or weak.16 A small third type of verb, called preterite-present verbs, shows features of both strong and weak verbs.

Strong Verbs distinguish present and past tense by changing their root vowel. The same system existed in Old English, and elements of it survive in modern English: the present tense of the verb ‘take’ is ‘takes,’ and it forms its past tense, ‘took,’ by changing its root vowel.

Weak Verbs form their past by adding a dental suffix (d, t, or ð).17 For example, the past tense of kalla ‘call’ is kallaði with the dental suffix ð. English also employs dental suffixes ‘d’ (forming ‘-ed’) and ‘t’: the past of ‘call’ is ‘called,’ while past tense of ‘dream’ is ‘dreamt.’

Preterite-Present verbs show features of both strong and weak verbs. There are only ten of these verbs in Old Norse. Despite being few in number, they are frequent because they are often employed as modal auxiliaries (helping verbs that denote a sense of obligation, intention, need, or probability). Modals are also frequent in English and are employed in a manner similar to Old Norse. For example, ‘I sail to Iceland’ can be modified by adding an auxiliary to express obligation, ‘I ought to sail to Iceland’ (Ek skal sigla til Íslands) and/or ‘I have to sail to Iceland’ (Ek á at sigla til Íslands). For more on these verbs, see 13.5-13.6.

Infinitives and Participles. Old Norse makes frequent use of infinitives and participles.

Infinitives are fixed, unchanging verb forms. For example, taka meaning ‘to take’ and kalla meaning ‘to call’ are infinitives. Infinitives do not take endings in order to indicate person, number, or tense. Whereas English employs the word ‘to’ to denote an infinitive, Old Norse on occasion employs at (‘to’) but mostly does not. Instead the infinitive in Old Norse is the core verb form itself. Dictionaries of Old Norse, like those of English, refer to verbs by their infinitives.

Participles are adjectives derived from verbs. There are present and past participles, each having its own set of endings. For example, takandi ‘taking’ is a present participle (adjective, with Old Norse suffix -andi working in a manner similar to English suffix ‘-ing’) and tekinn ‘taken’ is a past participle (adjective).

Present Participles are rare in Old Norse, used mostly in special constructions such as the following: Hvat er þá til ráðs takanda? ‘What should now be adopted as the course of action?’ (Gísla saga).

Past Participles are common: Var þá Geirrøðr til konungs tekinn ok varð maðr ágætr ‘Then Geirrod was proclaimed (taken as) king and became a famous man’ (Grímnismál).

In summary, verbs are strong or weak (with a few preterite-presents) and have:

• person: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd

• number: singular or plural

• tense: present, past (future with auxiliary verbs)

• mood: indicative, subjunctive, or imperative

• voice: active, middle, or passive (usually with an auxiliary verb)

2.8 Verbs, Infinitives ❖

Almost all Old Norse verbs form the infinitive by adding -a to the verb stem (the basic verb minus any endings), for example, at gefa ‘to give’ and at fara ‘to go.’ The infinitive is commonly used with auxiliary verbs as, for example, in English ‘I want to give.’ When the infinitive is used in this way, it is called a complementary infinitive.

Ek vil nema land.

I want to take land.

Ek vil fara.

I want to go.

Hon vill búa á Drepstokki.

She wants to live at Drepstokk.

Ingólfr vill gefa Herjólfi land.

Ingolf wants to give land to Herjolf.

The following list gives the infinitive and the past tense of verbs in this lesson. In order to help distinguish infinitives in Old Norse, such words will be frequently preceded by the particle at, which corresponds to English ‘to.’

Inifinitive

Translation

Past Tense (1st/3rd Person Singular)

at búa

to live

bjó

lived

at fara

to go

fór

went

at sjá

to see

sá

saw

at gefa

to give

gaf

gave

at heita

to be named

hét

was named

at nema

to take

nam

took

at vera

to be

var

was

at verða

to become

varð

became

2.9 Linking Verbs – ❖Vera, Verða, and Heita. Subject Complements & Predicates

In the sentence Herjólfr nam land ‘Herjolf took land,’ the subject (Herjólfr) performs an action (nam, ‘took’) on an object (land). Many verbs, such as nema, gera, and gefa describe actions. Some verbs, however, such as vera ‘to be,’ verða ‘to become,’ and heita ‘to be called’ do not convey action; rather, they link the subject to a noun, adjective, or pronoun usually following the verb. Given its function, one could substitute an equals sign for a linking verb and lose little of the meaning. Consider the sentence, Leifr hét maðr as Leifr = maðr. The same sentence could be maðr hét Leifr (a man was called Leif).

Subject Complements and Predicates. A word connected to the subject by a linking verb is known as a subject complement, because it is equal to (if a noun) or describes (if an adjective) the subject. For example, ‘The land was Greenland’ (noun = noun) or ‘The land was fertile’ (noun described by adjective). A subject complement, like the subject of a sentence, is in the nominative case. Adjectives or nouns used as subject complements are commonly known as predicate adjectives and predicate nouns. Predicate adjectives and nouns are in the nominative case like the subject that they agree with.

Below are examples of sentences in which linking verbs connect the subject with a subject complement (and agree). In such instances, the subject complement is said to be in the predicate, with both subject and subject complement in the nominative case.

Predicate Nouns (in the nominative as they are in essence equal to the subject)

Leifr er sonr Eiríks.

Leif is the son of Eirik.

Hon var dóttir Ingólfs.

She was a daughter of Ingolf.

Haraldr varð konungr Nóregs.

Harald became king of Norway.

Maðrinn hét Ingólfr.

The man was called Ingolf.

Þorgerðr hét kona hans.

His wife was named Thorgerd.

Predicate Adjectives (in the nominative as they modify/agree with the subject)

Bjarni var efniligr.

Bjarni was promising.

Freydís er fǫgr.

Freydis is beautiful.

Barnit er lítit.

The child is little.

Óðinn er vitr.

Odin is wise.

Frigg varð reið.

Frigg became angry.

Þórr er sterkr.

Thor is strong.

In contrast to the examples above, the sentences below contain action verbs with direct objects in the accusative case. For example in English, ‘She kicked the ball.’

Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land.

Ingolf gave land to Herjolf.

Herjólfr nam Herjólfsfjǫrð.

Herjolf took Herjolfsfjord.

2.10 Culture – Introduction to the Sagas

The Icelandic sagas are one of the world’s great literatures. Unusual for European medieval period, they are often long prose narratives. Based on oral accounts and genealogies from the Viking Age, sagas were written down on parchment in Iceland beginning in the twelfth century, by which time the Icelanders, now Christians, had come to appreciate the potential of Latin writing and applied this new technology to preserving stories and information in their own native Old Norse. The origin and nature of the sagas can be discerned in the word/noun saga, which is connected with the Norse verb segja ‘to say,’ and means both ‘history’ and ‘story.’

Saga writing reached its height in the thirteenth century in what is called the classical period of saga writing. Many of the most famous of the family and Sturlung sagas, the two groupings of tales about Icelandic chieftains (goði, pl goðar) and farmers (bœndr, sg bóndi) were written down then.

The family sagas, such as Egil’s Saga, Njal’s Saga, Laxdæla Saga, and Grettir’s Saga, are the most famous group of sagas. The family sagas, called in Icelandic Íslendinga sögur18 (Sagas of the Icelanders), are written in Old Norse/Icelandic. They tell about people and events of the Viking Age, especially those in Iceland. They also tell of people and events throughout the northern world from the mid 800s to approximately 1030. The family sagas recount the lives and conflicts of the first generations of native Icelanders following the ninth-century settlement by the landnámsmenn. Generally, family sagas are grounded in the geographical area or travels of the individuals and chieftains featured. The family sagas and the related Kings’ sagas, such as Heimskringla, are the literature of the North about the Viking Age and the immediately following medieval centuries.

Sturlunga Saga is a compilation of sagas set in Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It is named after the Sturlungs, an influential Icelandic family of chieftains, who became especially powerful in the early and mid-thirteenth century. Along with the bishops’ sagas (biskupa sögur), the sagas in the Sturlunga compilation are called contemporary sagas (samtíðarsögur). This modern term is applied because the twelfth- and thirteenth-century events described in the Sturlunga sagas took place only a short time before these narratives were written down (in contrast to family sagas). Although Icelandic leaders mentioned in Sturlunga saga sometimes travel to Norway and other places abroad, the principal subject of these stories is life in Iceland in the high middle ages.

Figure 2.2. Icelandic Skin Manuscripts. Hundreds of such manuscripts have survived in different sizes. Some have wooden covers, and some are illustrated. The manuscripts preserve a variety of Old Norse texts, including sagas, laws, histories, and translated European literature. Photo Courtesy of Árni Magnússon Manuscript Institute, Reykjavík.

In addition to the family and Sturlunga sagas, medieval Icelanders wrote sagas in other ‘genres’:

• Bishops’ sagas (biskupa sögur), concentrating on the lives of distinguished Icelandic churchmen;

• Kings’ sagas (konunga sögur), relating the history of Scandinavian kings with a focus on the kings of Norway. Heimskringla is one of the major collections of kings’ sagas;

• ‘Sagas of ancient times’ (fornaldar sögur), consisting of mythic-legendary tales recounting fabulous and sometimes mythic stories of epic heroes such as Sigurd the killer of the dragon Fafnir (Sigurðr Fáfnisbani) of The Saga of the Volsungs (Vǫlsunga saga) and the bear warrior Bodvar Bjarki (Bǫðvarr Bjarki) of The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Hrólfs saga kraka);

• Saints’ lives (heilagramanna sögur), mostly about foreign saints and holy people;

• Knights’ sagas (riddara sögur), translations or adaptations of continental medieval romances;

• Tall tales, sometimes called ‘lying sagas’ (lygisögur)19.

2.11 Culture – More About the Family and Sturlung Sagas

Figure 2.3. Locations of Major Family and Sturlunga Sagas. Numbers refer to family sagas and letters to Sturlunga sagas. English and Old Norse titles are given in the list below. When a saga takes place in several regions, the map shows where the main character (often mentioned in the saga title) was raised or lived.

The Family Sagas are a literature of conflict. Region by region and often family by family, they lavish attention on details of private life that most medieval literatures ignore.20 Many issues stir the action. Disputes begin over insults, property claims, honor, status, power, seductions, inheritance, love, bodily injury, and missing livestock. There are accusations of witchcraft, fights over beached whales, cheating, stealing, harboring of outlaws, and vengeance sought for scurrilous or erotic verse. Repeatedly, individuals and families contend for prestige and survival in a rural society that accepted open feuding as the means for regulating wealth, power, and honor.

Family sagas vary in length from slim, tightly woven narratives with several key players to sprawling epics spanning generations. Additionally there are þættir, episodic short narratives which tend to concentrate on a particular anecdote, event, or conflict in the life of a notable individual, often during travels abroad.

The Sturlung Compilation also concentrates on conflict and feud, yet these two groups of sagas differ in social emphasis and chronological timing. The family sagas, set in the first centuries of Iceland’s settlement, are regional in nature. Sturlunga Saga focuses on quarrels among powerful Icelandic chieftains, leaders in the late twelfth and first half of the thirteenth century, who modern scholars refer to as stórgoðar or ‘big chieftains’ in order to distinguish them from the less powerful small-scale chieftains of the family sagas. The sagas in the Sturlung compilation treat the aspirations of individuals and families vying for control of large regions, with some leaders even attempting to assume authority over the whole of Iceland. In particular, Sturlunga Saga details events of the last decades of the Old Icelandic Free State, recounting the power struggles among an emerging new class of stórgoðar/overlords. The quarrels among these aspiring Icelandic lords involved the King of Norway and ultimately led to the Norwegian takeover of Iceland in 1262–64.21

Major Family Sagas (Íslendinga sögur)

Here is a list of 23 major family sagas. There are more, and, in addition, there are 60 or so short stories called þættir (sg þáttr).22 At times, it is difficult to distinguish between a short saga and a þáttr.

1. Egil’s Saga (Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar)

2. Hen-Thorir’s Saga (Hœnsa-Þóris saga)

3. The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu)

4. The Saga of the Slayings on the Heath (Heiðarvíga saga)

5. The Saga of the People of Eyri (Eyrbyggja saga)

6. The Saga of the People of the Laxardal (Laxdæla saga)

7. Gisli Sursson’s Saga (Gísla saga Súrssonar)

8. The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (Fóstbrœðra saga)

9. The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings)

10. The Saga of the Confederates (Bandamanna saga)

11. Grettir’s Saga (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar)

12. The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal (Vatnsdæla saga)

13. The Saga of the People of Svarfadardal (Svarfdæla saga)

14. Valla-Ljot’s Saga (Valla-Ljóts saga)

15. Killer-Glum’s Saga (Víga-Glúms saga)

16. The Saga of the People of Ljosavatn (Ljósvetninga saga)

17. The Saga of Reykjadal and of Killer-Skuta (Reykdæla saga ok Víga-Skútu)

18. The Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord (Vápnfirðinga saga)

19. The Tale of Thorstein Staff-Struck (Þorsteins þáttr stangarhǫggs)

20. The Tale of Ale-Hood (Ǫlkofra þáttr)

21. The Saga of Droplaug’s Sons (Droplaugarsona saga)

22. The Saga of Hrafnkel Frey’s Priest (Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða)

23. Njal’s Saga (Njáls saga, also known as Brennu-Njáls saga, The Saga of Burnt Njal)

Sturlung Sagas (Sturlunga saga)

A. The Saga of the Icelanders (Íslendinga saga)

B. The Saga of Sturla (Sturlu saga)

C. The Tale of Geirmund Helskin (Geirmundar þáttr heljarskinns)

D. The Saga of Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson (Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar)

E. The Saga of Thorgils and Haflidi (Þorgils saga ok Hafliða)

F. The Saga of Gudmund the Worthy (Guðmundar saga dýra)

G. The Saga of the Priest Gudmund the Good (Prestssaga Guðmundar góða)

H. The Saga of the Men of Svinafell (Svínfellinga saga)

2.12 Grammar Toolbox. Adjectives

Figure 2.4. Old Norse Adjectives Decline or Are Indeclinable. Declinable adjectives take strong or weak endings depending on their role in the sentence.

Adjectives are words that describe and modify nouns and pronouns. In the sentence Gormr sonr Hǫrða-Knúts var mikill maðr ok sterkr (“Gormr, the son of Hǫrða-Knútr, was a big and strong man”), mikill (‘big’) and sterkr (‘strong’) are adjectives. They describe the noun maðr.

• In ON, adjectives agree in gender, case, and number with the nouns they modify. Hence mikill maðr ok sterkr (‘a big man and strong’), with all words masculine and in nominative singular.

• Most Old Norse adjectives have two full sets of forms, strong and weak, with different endings. Some are indeclinable.

• Adjectives take strong endings unless preceded by a definite article, demonstrative pronoun, or other determinant, in which case they take weak endings.

• Adjectives decline similar to nouns and are discussed in coming lessons following the presentation of nouns.

• Most Old Norse adjectives have comparative and superlative forms corresponding to English adjectives such as ‘stronger’ and ‘strongest.’

2.13 Nouns – Strong and Weak

Figure 2.5. Old Norse Nouns Are Strong or Weak. The difference can often be determined by the endings.

All nouns in Old Norse fall into one of two broad declension types: strong or weak. A noun’s declension type never changes. For example, the noun hestr (‘horse’) is always strong, while goði (‘chieftain’) is always weak. Likewise the proper noun Herjólfr is strong and Bjarni is weak.

A noun can often be identified as strong or weak by its endings. Here are some general guidelines:

Most strong masculine nouns in the nominative singular are easily identifiable by the -r added to the word stem (hestr). Many weak masculine nouns end in -i in the nominative singular (goði). Weak feminine (tunga) and neuter nouns (auga) both usually end in -a in the nominative (but they decline differently). Strong feminine and neuter nouns are less easily distinguished, as they typically do not add an ending to the word stem.

The chart below gives examples of the most important groups of strong and weak nouns. These paradigms help to identify the majority of Old Norse nouns. Most nouns that end in -a are feminine and decline like tunga, but weak neuter nouns (a smaller group) also end in -a. The most common weak neuters are body parts, for example auga ‘eye,’ eyra ‘ear,’ hjarta ‘heart,’ lunga ‘lung,’ ǫkkla ‘ankle,’ and nýra ‘kidney.’ All decline like auga.

Strong Nouns

Weak Nouns

m

f

n

m

f

n

hestr

rún

kumbl

goði

tunga

auga

Sg nom

hestr

rún

kumbl

goði

tunga

auga

acc

hest

rún

kumbl

goða

tungu

auga

dat

hesti

rún

kumbli

goða

tungu

auga

gen

hests

rúnar

kumbls

goða

tungu

auga

Pl nom

hestar

rúnar

kumbl

goðar

tungur

augu

acc

hesta

rúnar

kumbl

goða

tungur

augu

dat

hestum

rúnum

kumblum

goðum

tungum

augum

gen

hesta

rúna

kumbla

goða

tungna

augna

Transl: hestr ‘horse,’ rún ‘rune,’ kumbl ‘grave,’ goði ‘chieftain,’ tunga ‘tongue,’ auga ‘eye’

2.14 Grammar Toolbox. Prepositions in Old Norse

Prepositions were introduced in Lesson 1. They are small words that specify the time, place, direction, and manner of actions. Prepositions are indeclinable and form phrases. In prepositional phrases, nouns and pronouns become objects (of their prepositions), and prepositions describe the relationship of the object to the subject of the sentence.

For example: in the sentence Herjǫlfr bjó á Dreppstokki, the preposition á begins the prepositional phrase, á Dreppstokki, which tells us that the subject (Herjǫlfr) lived á (English ‘at’) the object of the preposition (Dreppstokkr). Prepositions determine the case of the object (whether acc/dat/gen). In this instance, Dreppstokki is in the dative because the preposition á takes its object in the dative.

Old Norse has relatively few prepositions, and it is best to learn them according to the case(s) they govern, that is, the case the objects of these prepositions (nouns and adjectives which follow them) take. It helps to divide Old Norse prepositions into the following groupings:

• Prepositions Governing One Case. Many prepositions are what we call ‘prepositions governing one case,’ because they always trigger the same case in their object. Prepositions governing one case are given in the section below.

Terminology: ‘Paradigms’ in Old Norse

Paradigm is a term used frequently in Old Norse and in the study of other languages. The English word derives from Latin and Greek and means ‘model.’ Paradigms, in descriptions of Old Norse grammar, are models or patterns of verb conjugations and noun and adjective declensions. When a paradigm is written out (often in charts), one can easily understand sound or spelling changes within words and in endings according to the different cases (nom, acc, dat, gen). Take a look at a student’s Quick Guide to Old Norse Grammar (Appendix 2 at the rear of the book). It offers the most useful paradigms in the language and is generally helpful in learning Old Norse.

• Two-Way Prepositions are also frequent. They take take their objects in either: 1) the accusative or the dative or 2) the accusative or the genitive. The choice depends on the intended meaning of the phrase. Two-way prepostions are discussed in the next lesson.

2.15 Prepositions Governing One Case

Accusative Prepositions

gegnum

through (also í gegnum)

gegnum vegginn

through the wall

umfram

beyond, more than

umfram fjǫllin

beyond the mountains

Dative Prepositions

af

of, out of, from

af skipi

from a ship

at

towards, against, at, to

at þeim

toward them

frá

from, about

frá Íslandi

from Iceland

hjá

by, near, with, together with

hjá Haraldi

with Harald

móti

against, contrary to, toward

(usually á or í móti)

móti honum

against him

nær

near

nær konunginum

near the king

ór or úr

from

ór Nóregi

from Norway

undan

from under, from beneath, near (to)

undan strǫndum

near shores

Genitive Prepositions

meðal

among, between

meðal skips ok strandar

between ship and shore

milli

between
(often á or í milli)

á milli Vágs ok Reykjaness

between Vag and Reykjanes

til

to

til skipsins

to the ship

2.16 Exercise – Prepositions Governing One Case.

Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the word in parentheses and translate.

Ex:

Þær kómu af                                 skipi

(skip)

They (female) came from a ship

1.

Hann er frá

(Jótland)

2.

Þeir sigla gegnum

(fjǫrðrinn)

3.

Ingolfr býr hjá

(Herjólfr)

4.

Skip siglir móti

(vindr)

5.

Konungr fór til

(Hólmgarðr)

2.17 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 2. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

mál

speech; case, matter

lítill

little

ek

I

tveir

two

sonr

son

illr

bad, ill

þú

you

hǫnd

hand

sannr

true

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

koma

to come

þá

then

en

but, and

fara

to go, travel

þar

there

munu

will, shall

um

about, around

Exercises

2.18 Vocabulary. Match the ON verbs with their English meanings by drawing a line between the two. If needed, use the Vocabulary at the rear of the book.

Ex:

vilja

to live

búa

to want

1.

sjá

to become

2.

nema

to go

3.

heiti

to give

4.

fara

to be named

5.

vera

to take, claim

6.

gefa

to see

7.

verða

to be

2.19 Case. The Genitive in Saga Titles. The genitive case usually denotes possession. Give the genitive form for each name below to complete the saga title, then use the list of family sagas in this lesson to translate it.

Personal Name

Old Norse Saga Title

English Saga Title

Ex:

Glúmr

Víga-Glúms saga

Killer-Glum’s saga

1.

Ljótr

Valla -

2.

Gísli

saga Súrssonar

3.

Gunnlaugr

saga ormstungu

2.20 Verb Forms. Complete the chart below.

Verb (Past Tense)

English Meaning

Infinitive

Ex:

gaf

gave, granted

at gefa

1.

at búa

2.

fór

3.

sá

4.

at heiti

5.

nam

6.

at vera

7.

at verða

2.21 Translation Review. Translate the following passage from Landnámabók back into Old Norse. Refer to the previous reading sections.

[There] was [a] man called Herjolf

Herjólfr hét maðr

the son of Bard, the son of Herjolf;

he went to Greenland with Eirik.

Herjolf took Herjolf’s Fjord

and lived at Herjolfsnes.

Eirik took Eirik’s Fjord

and lived at Brattahlid,

and Leif, his son, after him.

2.22 Gender and Meaning of Nouns. Complete the chart below. Refer to the previous reading sections. If needed, check the Vocabulary. The words are found in the reading passages.

Noun

Gender

English Meaning

Ex:

hlíð

feminine

mountain-side, slope

1.

son

2.

nes

3.

fjǫrðr

4.

hǫnd

5.

skip

6.

bróðir

7.

land

8.

mál

2.23 Word Frequency ❖. Referring to the list of The Most Frequent Words given in this lesson, write the words from the different grammatical categories of Old Norse and translate.

Old Norse

English

Old Norse

English

Nouns

Adjectives

1.

4.

2.

5.

3.

6.

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

7.

10.

8.

11.

9.

12.

2.24 The Definite Article. Decline the definite article.

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg nom

in

Pl

inir

acc

it

inar

dat

inum

gen

ins

innar

inna

Add the suffixed definite article to the nouns below. (The following nouns are in the nominative case.) Check the gender of each word in order to use the correct article.

Ex: maðr

maðrinn

1. fjǫrðr

6. hlíð

2. hǫnd

7. konungr

3. land

8. skip

4. sonr

9. frændi

5. nes

10. kona

2.25 Proper Nouns. Give the correct form of the proper noun in parentheses and translate. Refer to the section on proper nouns in the lesson.

1.                                                                                                                     bjó fyrst á Drepstokki. (Herjólfr)

2. Þorgerðr sá                                                                                                                                          . (Eiríkr)

3. Ingólfr gaf                                                                                                                              land. (Þorgerðr)

4. Hann var frændi                                                                                                                                 . (Bárðr)

5.                                                                                                                 bjó fyrst á Drepstokki. (Þorsteinn)

6. Þorgerðr sá                                                                                                                                         . (Bjarni)

7. Ingólfr gaf                                                                                                                                    land. (Bjǫrn)

8. Hann var frændi                                                                                                                                    . (Þyri)

Lesson 3

Denmark: Runestones and An Early Viking State

Figure 3.1. The Small Runestone of King Gorm the Old (Gormr inn gamli) at Jelling, Denmark. Front (left) and back shown. Gorm was the last pagan king of Denmark. He founded the Jelling Dynasty.

Skalat maðr rúnar rísta, nema ráða vel kunni

(A man should not carve runes unless he knows well what he is doing)

3.1 Culture – Runes

Ancient Scandinavians wrote in runes, and surviving runic inscriptions are a main source of social, historical, and linguistic information. Runes are an alphabet, not a pictographic or a syllabic script. Just as we might call our alphabet the ABCs, the runic alphabet was composed of runic letters and called the futhark, named after the first six runes or runic characters, . Runes were carved on wood, stone, bone, antler, and metal. They are found on weapons, jewelry, everyday items, wood, and bark. Runes were used for identification, commemoration, messages, and magic. Runic inscriptions are the closest written sources to the speech of the Viking Age.

The earliest runes date to the first century AD, and runes were then used in Scandinavia for the next 1300 years or more. Almost surely, runes were adapted from writing systems employed in the Roman Empire. At that time, there was considerable contact between the Roman world and Germanic peoples. Speakers of Proto-Norse and other Germanic languages probably adapted the letters of either Latin or Northern Italic alphabets to fit the sounds of their own languages. They modified the letters in order to make them more suitable for carving.

Those who designed the runes used straight strokes, a feature which worked well with wood grain and on stones. Messages were usually short due to the limitations imposed by pieces of wood, strips of bark, bones, or tablets of wax. The use of pen and ink and the art of preparing pages of vellum for manuscripts were unknown in Scandinavia before the conversion to Christianity.

In Viking times, runes were common, and the Norse of the period left traces of their runic writing in most places where they traveled. Spelling was not standardized and letters were often left out of words. For example, -m- is missing from the word kubl (= kumbl) and -n- from kunukR (= konungr) in King Gorm’s stone pictured above and translated in the reading selection below. Rune carvers sounded out words, and missing letters sometimes reflect lightly pronounced sounds that were easily dropped. Words were abbreviated and word divisions often missing. Modern runologists sometimes differ on how to translate an inscription.

Runes were carved by members of all social classes, but property owners most frequently paid for and raised runestones. Many runestones honor the dead, and they often indicate the wealth and authority of those who erected the monuments. Inscriptions proclaim family relationships, authority, inheritance and property claims. Runestones, such as those at Jelling, announce the claims of aristocrats and royalty. Runes were sometimes written in poetic meter (see the runic verses and runestones in Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader). Note that the following runic passage employs two -r runes: and . These two characters were sometimes used in the same inscription (see the discussion of the two -r runes in Section 3.5, Runic Sounds).

3.2 Reading – The Small Runestone at Jelling, Denmark

Runes

Transliteration

(front)

(front)

: kurmR : kunukR :

: karþi : kubl : þusi :

: aft : þurui : kunu

(back)

(back)

: sina : tanmarkaR : but

Standardized Old Norse

Translation

Gormr konungr gerði kumbl þessi ept Þurvi (Þyri) konu sína, Danmarkar bót.

King Gorm made these monuments in memory of Thyri, his wife, Denmark’s adornment.

Vocabulary

aft () see eptir

bót <acc bót, pl bœtr> f improvement; compensation; remedy; adornment

Danmǫrk <gen Danmarkar> f Denmark

❖eptir (also ept/aft) prep [w acc] after (in time); in memory of; [w dat] after, along

❖gera (also gøra) <-ði, -ðr~gerr> vb make; do, act

gerði 3sg past of gera

Gormr <-s> m Gorm (personal name); first king of the Jelling dynasty in Denmark

❖kona <acc konu, gen pl kvenna> f wife; woman

❖konungr <-s, -ar> m king

kumbl <pl kumbl> n burial monument, mound or cairn (the word on Danish and Swedish rune stones is frequently in the plural)

❖sinn <f acc sg sína> refl poss pron one’s own

❖þessi <n acc pl þessi> dem pron this, these

Þurvi f Thurvi ( personal name, ON Þyri)

Þyri <acc Þyri> f Thyri ( personal name)

3.3 Runes: The Elder and The Younger Runic Alphabets

The futhark had several regional variations, and after its appearance in the first century AD, it continued to change over time. Different Germanic peoples, including Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Frisians, and early Scandinavians, used somewhat different runic alphabets. Into the eighth century, the basic runic alphabet consisted of 24 letters. This early futhark is known as the Elder Futhark,23 which divides into three groups or families called ættir.

The Elder Futhark (24 Letters)

Roughly 260 of the approximately 350 known Elder Futhark inscriptions are found in Scandinavia. The remainder are from continental Europe, with some from as far east as the Black Sea. Surviving inscriptions in the Elder Futhark are usually short and appear on artifacts such as jewelry, tools, and weapons. Typically they are found in graves and bogs and on materials that have the best chance of preservation, such as bone and metal. Presumably, there were longer inscriptions on wood, leather, and other organic materials, but most have been lost. The 65 or so early inscriptions found on runestones appear mostly in the late Elder Futhark or Proto-Norse period and principally in Scandinavia. The Elder Futhark is given here in order to provide background for better understanding the Younger Futhark of the Viking Age. From here on the lessons and exercises teach the Younger Futhark.

The Younger Futhark of the Viking Age (16 Basic Letters)

Around the start of the Viking Age in late 700s, the futhark was shortened to 16 runes. This shortened alphabet is known as the Younger Futhark. The Gørlev Runestone from Sjælland (the island of Zealand in Denmark) dates from ca. 900; it preserves an early complete Younger Futhark.

The runic letters of the Younger Futhark are simpler than those of the Elder Futhark. Each letter in the Younger Futhark has only one vertical mark or ‘stave’ and can be carved easily and quickly. The runes of the Younger Futhark are called ‘long-branch runes,’ because they are carved with full or long vertical strokes. With local variations and differences among carvers, the Younger Futhark’s 16 long-branch runes were the common form of Old Norse writing throughout the Viking Age. Like the Elder Futhark, the Younger Futhark divides into ættir, but the ‘families’ are shorter.

Inscriptions in the Younger Futhark have been found in many overseas regions of Norse activity, some at a great distance from Scandinavia. For example, an inscription from the fourteenth century was found in the north of Greenland. A runic inscription found in Iceland from around the year 900 was carved on a stone spindle whorl and names a woman called Vilbjǫrg as the owner. Detailed descriptions of runic writings are also mentioned repeatedly in the sagas. Many inscriptions in the Younger Futhark have been found in the British Isles, and runic inscriptions have also been found as far away as Greece and Russia. Especially in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate of Baghdad were frequent destinations for Norse traders and warriors.

Short-Twig Runes, A Variant of the Younger Futhark

Short-twig runes are usually found in Sweden and Norway. They grew in popularity toward the end of the Viking Age and in the following medieval centuries. Short-twig runes were easier to carve than long-branch runes, and they were often used as a kind of cursive script among traders. Some inscriptions mix the two systems, such as those found on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, where Viking Age settlers came from different regions of Scandinavia.

Later Runic Variations

Additional variants of the Younger Futhark appear toward the end of the Viking Age. For example, eleventh-century dotted runes added sounds such as /e/, /g/, and /y/.

In the mid-eleventh century an expanded medieval futhark came into use in Norway and a few other areas. Sometimes called ‘futhork,’ it incorporated short-twig runes. This alphabet, like other revised, later runic alphabets, continued in active use for several centuries after the Viking Age.

Following the conversion to Christianity, runic writing was increasingly influenced by medieval Latin. In some instances, runes were used to carve Latin inscriptions. One such inscription, dating to the end of the twelfth century, is found on a leather shoe from Bergen. It has a phrase known from Virgil (Amor vincit omnia, ‘Love conquers all’) written in short-twig runes (omnia:uinciþ:amor). Runes, often with variations and innovations, remained in usage in Scandinavia until early modern times, especially in rural regions.

Runic Spelling and Standardized Old Norse

Spelling often varies among runic inscriptions because of differences in pronunciation, regional dialects, personal ability in distinguishing sounds, and the lack of a recognized spelling standard. For example, gerði, the past tense of gera, is spelled (karþi/gærði) on the Jelling stone in this lesson but takes the form (kiarþi/gjærði) in the Swedish Ramsund inscription (Lesson 5).

Similar spelling variations widely exist in Old Norse manuscripts. For example, the infinitive form of the verb gera ‘do, make’ is spelled gøra, gǫra, gǫrva, gǫrwa, giǫrva, giora, and gjǫra in different manuscripts. To overcome the problem of variation, scholars adopted a standardized Old Norse spelling for saga editions, dictionaries, and transcriptions of runic writing. Standardized ON is based principally on Old Icelandic, the most conservative of the Old Norse dialects and the one that we know most about because of the large number of written sources.

3.4 Sounds of the 16 Letters of the Younger Futhark

Consonants (Voiced and Voiceless). Because the Younger Futhark has only 16 letters, single runes often represent more than one sound. For example, the runic symbol represents the consonant sounds /b/ and /p/, and represents /d/ and /t/. The difference in these similar sounds is the distinction of /b/ and /d/ being voiced while /p/ and /t/ are voiceless.

Like English consonants, Old Norse consonants are voiced or voiceless. The distinction is whether the vocal cords vibrate while the air passes through (producing voiced consontants), or do not vibrate (producing voiceless ones). The results are varying sounds altered one from the other by an obstruction of the free flow of air. For instance, compare the voiceless /s/ in English ‘singer’ to the voiced /z/ in ‘zinger.’ A similar distinction is found in the voiced ð and voiceless þ pronunciation of the single rune, serving for both sounds. Demonstrate this distinction for yourself. Put your fingertips on your throat when you make the above sounds: you will feel the buzz of voicing in the voiced consonants and not in the voiceless ones.24 Try also to feel the difference when pronouncing v and f: v is voiced whereas f is voiceless. One can guess that Viking Age individuals who devised and used the Younger Futhark and its variants understood this distinction.

Multiple Vowels. Single runes also represent several distinct vowel sounds with some overlap. For instance, the rune represented the vowel and semi-vowel sounds /u/, /v/, /o/, /y/, /ø/, and /w/. The two a-runes show considerable overlap with and representing the sounds /a/, /æ/, /o/, and /ǫ/.

3.5 Runic Sounds of the Viking Age, Discussion

Runes

Latin Equivalents

Consonants

voiced b / p voiceless

d / t

g / k

v / f

ð / þ

Vowels

i / e / æ / j

u / v / o / y / ø / w

a / æ

ą / a / o / ö / ǫ

Figure 3.2. Runes of the Younger Futhark and Their Latin Equivalents. Voiced consonants are to the left and voiceless to the right.

• Sounds. As symbols, characters, and letters in an alphabet, individual runes reflect sounds. The following discussion of these sounds relies on the International Phonetic Alphabet, which provides a uniform system of letters and symbols for writing speech sounds.

• Two r-runes, and . A noticeable feature of the futhark is the presence of two r-runes. In the Elder Futhark, represents the sound /r/, while represents the sound /z/. In West Scandinavia (Norway and Iceland), these two sounds merged by the early Viking Age into the trilled r. In East Scandinavia (Denmark and Sweden), the two sounds generally merged following the dental consonants /t/ and /d/, but otherwise remained distinct until the end of the Viking Age. The modern convention is to transliterate the rune as lower case r and the rune as upper case R.25

• Vowel sounds for /a/: and . Two runes for variants of the vowel sound /a/ are and . The rune represents /a/ as in modern English ‘father,’ while is nasalized sounding much like /æ/ in English ‘tank.’

• Some vowel and consonant sounds. The Younger Futhark did not distinguish between a number of vowel and consonant sounds in use during the Viking Age. For example, the runes , , and are letters for the vowel sounds /i/, /a/, and /u/, but there are no specific runes for the common sounds /e/, /o/, and /ǫ/ (although the rune , originally used for /a/, came also to be used for /o/). Similarly there are letters for the consonant sounds /b/, /t/, and /k/, but not for /p/, /d/, and /g/. It is not certain whether rune carvers saw the lack of separate letters as much of a problem. As explained below, they often employed one letter for several similar sounds, a solution which simplified spelling but not reading.

• Runes and . The runes and (representing the sounds /n/ and /m/) were often dropped before certain consonants. Hence on the Jelling Runestone, the word konungr is spelled (kunukR), dropping the second /n/.

• The long-branch m-rune is carved in two variants: and .

3.6 Exercise – Runic Script. Following the example below, transliterate the runes and change them into standardized Old Norse.

Runic Script

Transliteration

Standardized Old Norse

Ex:

tanmarkar

Danmarkar

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Reverse the process above and write the following words in runes.

Standardized Old Norse

Transliteration

Younger Futhark: Long-Branch Runes

6.

konungr

kunukR

7.

konu

kunu

8.

kumbl

kubl

9.

þessi

þusi

10.

bót

but

3.7 Reading – Gorm and Thyri (Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta)

King Gorm and his wife Thyri are also known from Icelandic writings. The Greatest Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason contains the following passage. Both the thirteenth-century Icelandic saga and the tenth-century Danish runestone agree in their reference to Queen Thyri as Danmarkarbót (‘Denmark’s Adornment’).

Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta (63. kap)

The Greatest Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason (Ch. 63)

Gormr, sonr Hǫrða-Knúts, var mikill maðr ok sterkr. Hann var atgervimaðr. En ekki var hann kallaðr vitr maðr.

Gorm, son of Horda-Knut, was a big and strong man. He was an accomplished man. But he was not
called a wise man.

Gormr fekk konu, er Þyri hét. Hon var dóttir Haralds jarls af Jótlandi. Hann var kallaðr Klakk-Haraldr. Þyri var fríð kona. Hon var mestr skǫrungr af konum á Norðrlǫndum. Hon hét Þyri Danmarkarbót.

Gorm married a woman called Thyri. She was the daughter of Earl Harald of Jutland, who was called Klakk-Harald. Thyri was a beautiful woman. She was the most notable of women in the northern lands. She was called Thyri, Denmark’s Adornment.

Note. Old Norse has two words for ‘not’: ekki and eigi, while Modern Icelandic only employs ekki.

Vocabulary

❖af prep [w dat] of, by; off (of), out of, from

atgervimaðr m man of accomplishments

❖á prep [w dat] on; upon; at; in

❖dóttir <acc, dat, & gen dóttur, pl dœtr, dat dœtrum, gen dœtra> f daughter

❖ekki adv not

❖en conj but; (less frequently) and

❖er rel particle who; which; that

❖fá <fær, fekk, fengu, fenginn> vb get, take, procure; grasp; marry; fekk konu got married, lit got a wife

fekk 1/3sg past of fá

❖fríðr <f fríð, n frítt> adj beautiful, handsome, fine

❖hann <acc hann, dat honum, gen hans> pron he

❖heita <heitir, hét, hétu, heitinn> vb be called

hét 1/3sg past of heita

❖hon <acc hana, dat henni, gen hennar> pron she

Hǫrða-Knútr <-s> m Horda-Knut (personal name)

❖jarl <-s, -ar> m earl

Jótlandi (dat) n Jutland

❖kalla <-að-> vb call

kallaðr ppart [past participle] of kalla called

Klakk-Haraldr <-s> m Klakk-Harald (personal name)

❖kona <gen pl kvenna> f wife; woman

❖maðr <acc mann, dat manni, gen manns, nom & acc pl menn, dat mǫnnum, gen manna> m man; person, human being

mestr superl adj greatest

❖mikill <f mikil, n mikit, comp meiri, superl mestr> adj big, tall, great; much

Norðrlǫnd <dat Norðrlǫndum> n pl Northern countries or region, Scandinavia

❖ok conj and

skǫrungr <-s, -ar> m notable man or woman, leader

❖sonr <dat syni, gen sonar, pl synir, acc sonu> m son

❖sterkr adj strong

var 1/3sg past of vera

❖vera <er; var, váru; verit> vb be

❖vitr <acc vitran> adj wise

3.8 Culture – Gorm the Old and the Danish Jelling Dynasty

Figure 3.3. Viking Age Denmark (Danmǫrk) is marked by horizontal lines. It included parts of what is today southern Sweden. Although the smallest of the Scandinavian countries, Denmark had the highest percentage of arable land and was the wealthiest and most densely populated of the Viking states. Exposed to attacks from the Frankish Empire to the south, Vikings to the north, and Slavic pirates on the Baltic Sea (ON Eystrasalt), Denmark developed early into a cohesive monarchy capable of resisting foreign threats.

Prehistory. Our knowledge of Danish history begins in the fifth or sixth century with the legendary Skjoldung Dynasty. This famous family had its royal seat at Hleiðr, modern-day Lejre, on the central Danish island of Zealand (Sjælland, ON Sjáland). The Skjoldungs figure prominently in the Icelandic Hrólfs saga kraka (The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki) and Old English Beowulf. Both epics are set in Denmark during the sixth-century Migration Period, and, although written and preserved in places outside of Denmark and far distant from each other, many of the same people appear in both tales.

Although there are relatively few reliable historical sources for Danish history until the mid-10th century, Frankish writings tell of Danish kings from the early 9th century such as Godfred, who opposed Charlemagne and the Frankish Empire. In the 930s-940s, a new family of overlords emerges in Denmark in central Jutland (Jótland) with a power base at Jelling (Jalangrsheiðr). Members of the Jelling dynasty immortalized themselves through ambitious building programs and monuments. Among these monuments are the two runestones whose runes we read in this and the next lesson.

Gorm the Old (Gormr inn gamli) was the founder of the Jelling dynasty and the last pagan king of Denmark. King Gorm’s Runestone is the earliest native documentary source to use the term ‘Denmark.’ During Gorm’s lifetime, Hedeby (ON Heiðabýr, Heiðarbýr, or Heiðarbær; ‘town’ or ‘dwelling [bær] on the heath [heiðr]’) became a major trading center for goods moving between the Baltic region and Western Europe (see the accompanying map of Viking Age Denmark). Large numbers of goods were made in Hedeby’s workshops, and merchants arrived in Hedeby with all manner of trade goods, exotic wares, and silver. Some of the trade goods came up the great rivers of Russia from places as far away as the territory of the Volga Bulgars, the Khaganate of the Khazars, regions of Central Asia, the Greek Byzantine Empire, and the Caliphate of Baghdad.

Once in Hedeby, trade goods from the Baltic and further east were transported west, across the base of the Jutland Peninsula. The goods were first carted on a short land road protected by the Danevirke (ON Danavirki), the fortified ‘wall of the Danes.’ Then the goods were loaded onto barges and transported on a small river leading to the North Sea coast for shipment to Frisia, Britain, and Western Europe. Another major land route from Hedeby went north and with a branch leading west to the Viking Age port at Ribe (ON Ripar) on the west Jutland coast facing the North Sea. These land routes connected the Baltic Hedeby with ports on the North Sea, helping to avoid sailing along the northern coast of Jutland through Eyrarsund and Jótlandshaf (modern straits of Öresund and Kattegat) – waters where Vikings lay in wait. The long, east-west Limfjord (Límafjǫrðr) cutting across the north of Jutland was another east-west sailing route that offered some protection from piracy.

About the year 930, Gorm’s kingdom probably included all of northern and central Jutland. The southern part of Jutland, including Hedeby, seems to have come under his power a few years later, giving him control of the valuable trade route protected by the Danevirke. Gorm’s authority east of Jutland is more difficult to determine. It probably extended at times to the islands of Funen (Danish Fyn, ON Fjón) and Zealand (Danish Sjælland, ON Sjáland), areas which outsiders, such as the Franks and peoples of England, considered Danish. At times Gorm’s power may have extended across Eyrarsund strait to Skåne (ON Skáney), Halland, and Blekinge (ON Bleiking), in modern Sweden.

3.9 The Verb Vera ‘to be’ ❖ – Present and Past

Vera is one of the most frequent Old Norse verbs. It is irregular (as in English).

Present Tense

Sg 1st

ek

em

(I am)

Pl

vér/vit

erum

(we are)

2nd

þú

ert

(you are)

þér/þit

eruð

(you are)

3rd

hann

er

(he is)

þeir

eru

(they are)

hon

(she is)

þær

þat

(it is)

þau

Past Tense

Sg 1st

ek

var

(I was)

Pl

vér/vit

várum

(we were)

2nd

þú

vart

(you were)

þér/þit

váruð

(you were)

3rd

hann

var

(he was)

þeir

váru

(they were)

hon

(she was)

þær

þat

(it was)

þau

Poems and runestones often employ archaic forms of vera, with -s- instead of -r-. For example: es ‘is’ for er and vas ‘was’ for var are found in some editions. Below is the opening stanza from the eddic poem, The Lay of Thrym (Þrymskviða). The stanza describes the anger of the god Thor when he awakens to find his hammer Mjǫllnir missing. In the poem, Thrym, a lord among the giants, steals Mjǫllnir. The loss of Thor’s hammer is a blow to the gods, leaving them unprotected against their foes. Later in the poem, the theft becomes even more serious when Thrym demands Freyja, the goddess of fertility, as ransom for the hammer. The first line of the stanza shows the archaic form of vera. Translate the verse.26

Þrymskviða, First Stanza

1. Reiðr vas þá Ving-Þórr

2. er hann vaknaði

3. ok síns hamars

4. um saknaði.

5. Skegg nam at hrista,

6. skǫr nam at dýja;

7. réð Jarðar burr

8. um at þreifask.

Notes for reading the verse: (1) Reiðr (adj): ‘angry’ or ‘wrathful;’ þá: ‘then;’ Ving-Þórr: ‘brandishing-Thor,’ describes Thor’s use of his hammer. (2-4) síns ... saknaði: ‘missed his hammer.’ The verb sakna takes the genitive case, hence síns ‘his;’ um: not a preposition but a particle for filling the line. (5) nam ...hrista both are verbs, nam past tense of nema (‘take’), hrista (‘shake’) is an infinitive: ‘his beard started to shake.’ (6) skǫr ... dýja ‘his hair started to shake.’ (7) réð from verb ráða (‘set about’ or ‘took to’); Jarðar burr, ‘son of Jǫrð’, i.e. Thor (Thor’s mother’s name is Jǫrð, gen sg Jarðar). (8) um at þreifask: ‘Jǫrð’s son [took to] feel around [himself].’ (Thor is trying to locate his hammer, þreifask is reflexive, an infinitive governed by réð in the preceding line). The exact meaning of these last words is not altogether clear: while þreifa means something like ‘grope along,’ the reflexive suggests that Thor was patting himself down, perhaps checking his pockets.

3.10 Exercise – The Verb Vera.

A. Fill in the spaces next to the pronouns with the appropriate verb forms from the list below and translate.

em var váruð ert várum eru vart er váru eruð var erum

Present Tense

Past Tense

Ex:

vér

erum; we are

Ex:

þau

váru; they were

1.

þú

6.

vér

2.

ek

7.

þú

3.

þér

8.

þér

4.

hon

9.

ek

5.

þær

10.

þat

B. Fill in the spaces below with the correct form of vera and translate.

Present Tense

Ex:

Þau                eru                frá Islandi

They are from Iceland

1.

Sigríðr                                  kona

2.

Þeir                               konungar

3.

Vér                          frá Gr’nlandi

4.

Hann                            góðr maðr

5.

Þit                                frá Nóregi

6.

Ek                                  konungr

Past Tense

Ex:

Þau           váru            frá Islandi

They were from Iceland

7.

Sigríðr                             kona

8.

Þau                   frá Norðlǫndum

9.

Hon                    Danmarkar bót

10.

Hann                        góðr maðr

11.

Þér                          frá Nóregi

12.

Ek                             konungr

3.11 The Verb Hafa, ‘to have’ ❖ in the Present

The weak verb hafa ‘have’ is one of the ❖ most frequently used verbs in Old Norse. At this point in the book, you need to know something about its present tense before going further. Hafa belongs to the 4th conjugation (see 4.14), but it is irregular in the present singular because of i-umlaut (see 4.7), with the stem vowel -a- shifting to -e-. (See also 5.16)

Present Tense

singular

plural

1st

ek

hef

I have

vér

hǫfum

we have

2nd

þú

hefr

you have

þér

hafið

you have

3rd

hon

hefr

He (she/it) has

þær

hafa

they have

3.12 Exercise – Hafa.

Give the proper form of hafa in the present.

Ex:

ek      hef

1.

þér

6.

vit

2.

vér

7.

þau

3.

þeir

8.

þit

4.

hon

9.

þær

5.

þú

10.

Haraldr

• Hafa also frequently occurs in ON texts with the vocalic link -i- between verb stem and ending in the present singular: ek hefi; þú hefir; hann hefir.

3.13 Personal Pronouns – 1st and 2nd Persons: Singular, Plural, and Dual

Singular. Pronouns ek, ‘I,’ and þú, ‘you,’ have singular and plural forms. They decline and their cases show parallels with English (mín ‘mine,’ þú ‘thou,’ þín ‘thine,’ oss ‘us,’ see the charts below).

Dual. In addition to plural pronouns, Old Norse employs dual pronouns. This means there are two ways to say ‘we’ and two ways to say ‘you.’

• The forms vér and þér are the plural pronouns (‘we,’ ‘you’) and refer to three or more people.

• The forms vit and þit are the dual pronouns (‘we two,’ ‘you two’) and refer to only two people.

1st

English

2nd

English

Sg nom

ek

I

þú

you

acc

mik

me

þik

you

dat

mér

me

þér

you

gen

mín

my, mine

þín

your, thine

1st

English

2nd

English

1st

English

2nd

English

Pl nom

vér

we

þér~ér

you

Dual

vit

we

þit~it

you

acc

oss

us

yðr

you

okkr

us

ykkr

you

dat

oss

us

yðr

you

okkr

us

ykkr

you

gen

vár

our

yð(v)ar

your

okkar

our

ykkar

your

• The 2nd person plural (þér) and dual (þit) pronouns also have older forms ér and it.

Vér fǫrum heim.

We [more than two] are going home.

Vit fǫrum heim.

We [the two of us] are going home.

Þér gerðuð þessi kumbl.

You [more than two] made these monuments.

Þit gerðuð þessi kumbl.

You [the two of you] made these monuments.

Speakers could be more specific with pronouns by adding a name. For instance: vit Þorsteinn means ‘the two of us, Thorstein and I.’ Such phrasing, with plural pronouns, is regularly used to denote a leader and his followers. Laxdæla saga offers an example: Um daginn gerði á hvasst veðr ok hljópu þeir Kjartan þá út at festa skip sitt: ‘During the day, it became extremely windy and they Kjartan [i.e. Kjartan and his men] ran out to tie down their ship.’ Ragnars saga Loðbrókar tells us that once Ragnar Lodbrok landed in England with the intent to conquer, ‘They King Ella [King Ella and his men] prepared themselves for battle’ (Nú búast þeir til bardaga Ella konungr = þeir Ella konungr búast nú til bardaga).

3.14 Exercise. Personal Pronouns – 1st and 2nd Persons.

Fill in the correct personal pronoun in each of the following sentences.

Ex:

Vér     (we pl)     hǫfum bók

We have a book.

1.

(I) geri kumbl.

I make a monument.

2.

(you, sg) kallar.

You call.

3.

Ek gaf                                                      (you, sg) land.

I gave you land.

4.

(we, the two of us) hǫfum land.

We have land.

5.

(I) fór heim.

I went home.

6.

(you, pl) gerið kumbl.

You are making monuments.

3.15 Personal Pronouns – 3rd Person

The 3rd person pronouns (he, she, it, they) decline in the following way.

M

English

F

English

N

English

Sg nom

hann

he/it

hon

she/it

þat

it

acc

hann

him/it

hana

her/it

þat

it

dat

honum

him/it

henni

her/it

því~þí

it

gen

hans

his/its

hennar

her(s)/its

þess

its

M

English

F

English

N

English

Pl nom

þeir

they

þær

they

þau

they

acc

þá

them

þær

them

þau

them

dat

þeim

them

þeim

them

þeim

them

gen

þeir(r)a

their(s)

þeir(r)a

their(s)

þeir(r)a

their(s)

As in all languages, gender in Old Norse is largely arbitrary, and many words considered neuter in English have masculine or feminine gender in Old Norse. For example: fjǫrðr (m) ‘fjord’ and bók (f) ‘book.’ When referring to masculine and feminine nouns, the Old Norse employs 3rd person personal pronouns hann and hon in their different cases and numbers (they function as relative pronouns in this role of referring back to other nouns); they should be translated into English as ‘it.’ For example, Herjólfsfjǫrðr er á Grœnlandi becomes hann er á Grœnlandi, ‘it is in Greenland.’

Unlike English, which has just ‘they,’ Old Norse distinguishes three genders in the plural: þeir (m), þær (f), and þau (n). The neuter plural form þau is used to refer to a mixed group of males and females, as in the following example from Vǫlsunga saga (The Saga of the Volsungs):

Rerir fekk sér konu ok eru þau mjǫk lengi ásamt.

Rerir got himself a wife, and they are together (ásamt) a very (mjǫk) long [time].

A plural pronoun followed by one or more names can have more than one meaning. For example, þeir Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn could mean ‘Thorolf and Bjorn,’ (dual) or it could signify ‘Thorolf and Bjorn and their companions or followers’ (plural). One relies on the context in the sentence to decide which meaning fits best, as in the following three examples:

Vǫlsunga saga recounts that Sigmund and his son Sinfjotli (þeir Sigmundr) put on magic wolf skins (m sg hamr, pl hamar):

Þeir Sigmundr fóru í hamina ok máttu eigi ór komask

Sigmund [and Sinfjotli] went into the skins, and were not able to come out [of them].

Ragnars saga loðbrókar (The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok) recounts:

þeir Ívarr koma fyrri heim en Ragnarr

Ivarr and his men came home sooner than Ragnar

3.16 Exercise. Personal Pronouns – 3rd Person

A. Identify the personal pronouns. For each, give gender, case, number, and translate.

Ex:

henni

henni:   f   dat  sg

her

1.

hann

2.

hennar

3.

þat

4.

þær

5.

þeim

B. Fill in the correct missing pronoun below and translate.

Ex:

hann

(m nom sg)

he

1.

(m dat sg)

2.

(fem gen sg)

3.

(m gen pl)

4.

(n dat sg)

5.

(f nom pl)

6.

(f dat sg)

3.17 Two Ways of Expressing Possession: Hans as Opposed to Sinn

Old Norse speakers employed two different ways of expressing possession, and it is wise to sort out the differences early on.

Hans, hennar, þess, and þeira are the genitive case forms of the 3rd person personal pronouns hann, hon, and þat. They express possession, indicating who possesses what. In this role, they also function as relative pronouns, that is, they refer back to persons or objects mentioned in a previous sentence or in a previous clause.

Ex: Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr ágætr í Nóregi. Hans sonr var Bjǫrn.

‘Skutaðar-Skeggi was the name of an excellent man in Norway. His [Skeggi’s] son was Bjǫrn.’

Sinn is also used to express possession. It is a 3rd person possessive pronoun (while hans is a 3rd person personal pronoun in the genitive, note the –s ending). Unlike hans, hennar etc, sinn can only refer back to the 3rd person subject of the same sentence or clause. Although sinn is possessive, it also has a reflexive aspect (for more details, see 7.5), and one can often translate sinn by adding ‘own’ to ‘his,’ ‘her,’ or ‘its.’ For example: ‘his own father’ and ‘his own mother.’ In the following example, sinn and sína refer back to the subject Haraldr.

Ex: Haraldr konungr bað gera kumbl ept Gorm fǫður sinn ok ept Þyri móður sína.

‘King Harald ordered mounds to be made for his [Harald’s] father Gorm and his [also Harald’s] mother Þyri.’

3.18 More on Possession in Old Norse: who possesses what?

In English, the pronouns his, her/s/, its, and their/s/ are ambiguous in expressing possession. Old Norse is more precise. For example, in the sentence ‘King Harald ordered memorial mounds to be made for his father Gorm and his mother Þyri,’ the listener needs a wider context than just the sentence to understand whose mother Þyri is. Could King Harald be making a mound for a woman called Þyri who is someone else’s mother and not his (own)? For example, Gorm’s?

In Old Norse, this problem is solved thanks to the two ways of expressing possession mentioned in 3.17. When the speaker refers back to the subject of a sentence (in this instance, Harald), he or she uses sinn to avoid any confusion. When the speaker refers back to persons or objects other than the subject of the sentence, he or she uses hans, hennar, þess, and þeira. The difference in meaning is evident in the following sentences adapted from The Prose Edda, the 13th-century treatise on mythology and poetry:

Tók Óðinn þá við konu sinni.

Then Odin lived with his [i.e. Odin’s own] wife.

Tók Óðinn þá við konu hans.

Then Odin lived with his [someone else’s, not Odin’s] wife.

The difference in meaning between sinn and hans is paralleled by a difference in their grammatical behavior. As mentioned in 3.17, hans, hennar, þess, and þeira are genitive case forms of 3rd person personal pronouns. As such, the choice of their gender and number depends on the subject of the sentence, that is, on the gender and number of the possessor (Haraldr, Gormr, or Odin). The gender, case, and number of the object of possession do not affect this choice.

In contrast, sinn, a 3rd person possessive pronoun, declines and functions like an adjective (as do its 1st and 2nd person counterparts, minn ‘my/mine’ and þinn ‘your/s/’). Like adjectives, sinn, minn, and þinn agree in gender, case, and number with the noun they modify, i.e., with the object of possession (kona, móðir). The gender and number of the possessor do not affect this choice. For example, Óðinn is masculine, but sinni, while referring reflexively to Odin and marking him as the possessor, is fem dat sg because konu, the noun it modifies, is fem dat sg. So also in the example of the mound built by Harald, sína is fem acc sg because of móður (the noun sína modifies). The full declension of sinn27 is given in the table below.

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg nom

sinn

sín

sitt

Pl

sínir

sínar

sín

acc

sinn

sína

sitt

sína

sínar

sín

dat

sínum

sinni

sínu

sínum

sínum

sínum

gen

síns

sinnar

síns

sinna

sinna

sinna

3.19 Exercise – The Pronoun Sinn and Personal Pronouns.

Fill in the correct personal pronoun in each of the following sentences.

1.

Hann sá konu                                                                                     (He saw his [own] wife)

2.

Hann sá konu                                                                 (He saw his [someone else’s] wife)

3.

Hon halp dóttur                                                                 (She helped her [own] daughter)

4.

Hon halp dóttur                                             (She helped her [someone else’s] daughter)

Note: hjalpa (helpr, halp~hjalp, hulpu, hólpinn, ‘to help’) takes a dative object.

5.

Hann ok konan                                     hittu Gunnar (He and his [own] wife met Gunnar)

3.20 Possessive Pronouns Minn and Þinn

The pronouns minn (‘my/mine’) and þinn (‘your/yours’) are 1st and 2nd person possessive pronouns. They decline like sinn.

• Minn is the possessive pronoun of the first person singular pronoun ek.

• Þinn is the possessive pronoun of the second person singular pronoun þú.

Possessive pronouns decline in singular and plural like strong adjectives (except in the masc acc sg, where the ending is -n).

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg nom

minn

mín

mitt

Sg

þinn

þín

þitt

acc

minn

mína

mitt

þinn

þína

þitt

dat

mínum

minni

mínu

þínum

þinni

þínu

gen

míns

minnar

míns

þíns

þinnar

þíns

Pl nom

mínir

mínar

mín

Pl

þínir

þínar

þín

acc

mína

mínar

mín

þína

þínar

þín

dat

mínum

mínum

mínum

þínum

þínum

þínum

gen

minna

minna

minna

þinna

þinna

þinna

• Minn and þinn decline like sinn, with short -i- before double -nn- and double -tt-, and long -í- elsewhere (nom minn, dat mínum). The double -nn- is an assimilation of -n- and the -r- ending (hence minn instead of minr).28 Feminine dative singular minni is composed of the stem min- and the strong ending -ri.

Assimilation. Minni (above) deriving from stem min- and the strong ending -ri is an example of assimilation. When pronouncing a combination of sounds within stems and endings, Old Norse speakers tended to merge related sounds. They combined them in order to make pronunciation easier and faster. We do this today in our common speech, for example: ‘gonna’ from ‘going to’ or ‘wanna’ from ‘want to.’ The next lesson considers the principal Old Norse assimilations/sound changes.

3.21 Culture – Son and Dóttir in Names

Scandinavians during the Viking period and Icelanders today have patronymics or matronymics (last names derived from their father or mother) rather than a family last name. Eirik (the Red) Thorvaldsson (Eiríkr Þorvaldsson) is an example. Eirik’s father was Thorvald, the son of Asvald (Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson), hence Eirik carried the patronymic ‘Thorvald’s son’ (Eiríkr Þorvaldsson). His nickname, ‘the Red’ (inn rauði), probably refers to his red hair color.

Ásvaldr Úlfsson

Jǫrundr Atlason — m — Þorbjǫrg knarrarbringa Gilsdóttir

Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson — m — ?

Eiríkr rauði Þorvaldsson — m — Þjóðhildr Jǫrundardóttir

Þorvarðr

Freydís

Leifr heppni

Þorsteinn

Figure 3.4. The Family Tree of Eirik the Red (Eiríkr rauði). ‘m’ = ‘married’

Patro- and matronymics are formed according to the rules of ON grammar. Note the double -ss- in Þorvaldsson. The first -s- (Þorvalds-) is the genitive case marker (English Thorvald’s). Þorvaldr, the name of Eirik’s father, is a proper noun that ends in -r in the nominative case but in -s in the genitive. The second -s- starts the word son. Some names, such as Bárðr, have the genitive ending -ar. Bárðr (‘Bard’) from the lesson’s readings is a good example, hence his son is called Bárðarson. Other names such as Atli have a genitive in -a, hence Atlason. Notice that ON son (from the word sonr, meaning ‘son’) when used in patro- and matronymics drops the -r ending of the nom sg and becomes just -son.

Women formed their patronymics by adding the word dóttir ‘daughter’ to their father’s name, and a woman’s name did not change if she married. For example, when Thjodhild the daughter of Jorund (Þjóðhildr Jǫrundardóttir; the genitive of Jǫrundr is -ar) married Eíríkr inn rauði Þorvaldsson, she continued to be Þjóðhildr Jǫrundardóttir. She and her husband thus had two different last names, just as did her parents Jǫrundr Atlason and Þorbjǫrg Gilsdóttir. When Þjóðhildr and Eiríkr had a son, Leifr, he was called Leifr Eiríksson and his sister Freydís was called Freydís Eiríksdóttir.

Some people were known by their mother’s name instead of a father’s. It occurred if the father was absent or unknown, or if the mother was viewed as more prominent or capable than the father. For example, the Hildiríðarsynir (‘sons of Hildiríðr’) in Egil’s Saga are named after Hildiríðr, their mother. Likewise, the Droplaugarsynir (the sons of Droplaug) in Droplaugarsona saga are named after their mother.

3.22 Exercise – Son and Dóttir.

Genealogies are a crucial aspect of Old Norse texts. They date events (reckoning by generations) and provide a means for understanding relationships within the society. In contrast to the modern nuclear family, medieval families were large, extended groups. Icelanders and Viking Age Scandinavians overall were keenly aware of genealogical relationships between both blood-kin and relations-through-marriage (affines). Saga events often cannot be fully understood unless the reader can work out relevant family connections.

Review the information about family trees and Icelandic names in this and the previous chapter and fill in the information below. Create your family tree in the Old Norse style. Give both first and last names for each individual and remember that each person is someone’s son or dóttir. If you are uncertain about the name of an ancestor, invent a name.

Ex:

John has two siblings, Pete and Kate. Their parents are Phil and Jennifer. Phil’s parents are Mike and Helen, while Jennifer’s parents are Jack and Ann. In Icelandic terms, John would be known as John Philsson, Pete as Pete Philsson, Kate as Kate Philsdóttir, Phil as Phil Mikesson, and Jennifer as Jennifer Jacksdóttir.

— + —

— + —

(your paternal grandfather’s name)

(your paternal grandmother’s name)

(your maternal grandfather’s name)

(your maternal grandmother’s name)

— + —

(your father’s name)

(your mother’s name)

(your name)

(your sibling’s name)

(your sibling’s name)

(your sibling’s name)

3.23 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 3. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

fé

wealth, livestock

fár

few

sinn

his, her, their (own)

þrír

three

bróðir

brother

dauðr

dead

vetr

winter

stórr

big

land

land

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

mæla

to speak

nú

now

er

who, which, that; when; where

vilja

to want

við

with; against

taka

to take

með

with

skulu

shall

svá

so; such

Exercises

3.24 Timetable of Early Danish History. Put in correct chronological sequence the following events from the culture section on the early history of the Danish kingdom at the end of this lesson following the exercises.

1

First construction of the Danevirke and Hedeby.

The Icelandic saga Hrólfs saga kraka is written.

King Godfred opposes Charlemagne’s northerly expansion.

Harald Bluetooth builds the great ring fortresses of Denmark.

King Gorm the Old reigns at Jelling as the last pagan king of Denmark.

3.25 Personal Pronouns. Decline the 3rd person personal pronouns in the singular and plural. Remember, 3rd person pronouns have three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter — hann, hon, þat ‘he, she, it.’ They are the most common pronouns in Old Norse.

M

F

N

Sg nom

hann

hon

þat

acc

dat

gen

M

F

N

Pl nom

þeir

þær

þau

acc

dat

gen

3.26 Verb Conjugation: Present Tense of Vera. Fill in the correct form of vera ‘to be’ in the present tense and translate the sentences.

1.

Ek                                               konungr.

4.

Þér                                           í Brattahlíð.

2.

Vit                                            konungar.

5.

Hann                                 landnámsmaðr.

3.

Þú                                                    sterkr.

6.

Þeir                                  landnámsmenn.

3.27  Review: Gender and Meaning of Nouns. Complete the chart below.

Noun

Gender

English Meaning

Ex:

maðr

masculine

man, person

1.

woman

2.

skǫrungr

3.

daughter

4.

atgervimaðr

5.

land

6.

earl

7.

konungr

8.

kumbl

9.

son

10.

bót

3.28 Verbs. Complete the chart below by giving the English translation and the infinitive of the verb.

Verb (Past Tense)

English Meaning

Infinitive

Ex:

vildi

wished

vilja

1.

hét

2.

gerði

3.

var

4.

nam

5.

fekk (konu)

3.29 Linking Verbs. As discussed earlier, a noun connected to the subject by a linking verb is called a predicate noun, and an adjective, a predicate adjective. In Old Norse, predicate nouns and adjectives are in the same case as the subject, that is, in the nominative case. In the passages below, circle the linking verbs, underline the predicate nouns and adjectives, and translate. Use the Vocabulary as needed.

1. Herjólfr hét maðr, Bárðarson Herjólfssonar; hann fór til Grœnlands með Eiríki. Herjólfr nam Herjólfsfjǫrð ok bjó á Herjólfsnesi. Eiríkr nam Eiríksfjǫrð ok bjó í Brattahlíð, en Leifr sonr hans eptir hann.

2. Gormr konungr gerði kumbl þessi ept (eptir) Þyri konu sína, Danmarkar bót.

3. Gormr, sonr Hǫrða-Knúts, var mikill maðr ok sterkr. Hann var atgervimaðr. En ekki var hann kallaðr vitr maðr.

4. Gormr fekk konu, er Þyri hét. Hon var dóttir Haralds jarls af Jótlandi. Hann var kallaðr Klakk-Haraldr. Þyri var fríð kona. Hon var mestr skǫrungr af konum á Norðrlǫndum. Hon hét Þyri Danmarkarbót.

3.30 Reflexive and Possessive Pronouns Sinn, Minn, and Þinn

A. Fill in the correct form of sinn for the noun it modifies and translate.

Ex:

Eiríkr gaf Herjólfi spjót (sg)                  sitt

Eirik gave Herjolf his spear

1.

Eiríkr gaf syni                                                                                                                                     land

2.

Þeir gera kumbl (pl)

3.

Hon gaf móður                                                                                                                                  land

4.

Hrólfr tók ór haugi sverð (sg)

5.

Hjalti tók ór haugi øxi

B. Fill in the correct form of sinn or the 3rd person pronoun in the genitive (hans or hennar) as appropriate and translate. Sinn must agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies.

Ex:

Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr ágætr í Nóregi.      Hans       (his) sonr var Bjǫrn.

Skeggi was the name of an excellent man in Norway. His son was          Bjorn.

1.

Haraldr konungr gerði kumbl þessi ept Þyri móður                                                            (his own).

2.

Ásgerðr bjó á Drepstokki með syni                                                                  (his: that is, Herjolf’s).

3.

Haraldr konungr spyrr frænda                                                                                                   (his own).

4.

Haraldr jarl af Jótlandi var faðir                                                                                                     (her).

5.

Kona Herjólfs hét Ásgerðr. Bjǫrn var sonr                                                                                 (their).

6.

Óláfr ok Bjarni fara til lands                                                                                                  (their own).

C. Possessive pronouns minn ‘my’ and þinn ‘your’ decline like sinn. Fill in and translate.

Ex:

Eiríkr sá son           minn             (my).

Eiríkr sá son            þinn                    (your).

Eirik saw my son.

Eirik saw your son.

1.

Ek mæli við (with) son                                                                                                                     (my).

2.

Þorsteinn reist (carved) rúnar                                                                                                     (your).

3.

Þyri fór til Nóregs með ni                                                                                                               (my).

4.

Gormr konungr var frændi                                                                                                          (your).

3.31 Word Frequency ❖. Using List 3. The Most Frequent Words from this lesson, give the words from the different grammatical categories and translate.

Old Norse

English

Old Norse

English

Nouns

Adjectives

1.

4.

2.

5.

3.

6.

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

7.

11.

8.

12.

9.

13.

10.

14.

3.32 Culture – Nicknames

People were known not only by their first names and their father’s or mother’s name, but also by nicknames. Hence Leifr Eiríksson was known as inn heppni (‘the lucky’) or Leifr inn heppni Eiríksson (often the inn is dropped). Leif’s maternal grandmother also had a nickname. She was called Þorbjǫrg knarrarbringa (‘boat-breasted’). The Saga of Thorstein the White (Þorsteins saga hvíta,
Ch. 8) offers insight into how nicknames were viewed. Discussing the young man Brodd-Helgi and his nickname Brodd (‘Spike’), the saga explains that when Brodd-Helgi was alive in the tenth century, ‘people thought that it was much more auspicious to have two names. It was a common belief that people who had two names lived longer.’ People also received nicknames for remarkable bodily features and injuries etc. In Grettis saga, Ǫnundr the family ancestor and landnámsmaðr is called tréfótr (Ǫnundr tréfótr), ‘wooden leg’ or ‘peg leg,’ after losing a leg in a Viking seabattle. Grettir’s father Ásmundr is called hærulangr ‘long grey haired,’ while Asmund’s father Þorgrímr was called hærukollr ‘white head’ or ‘hoary.’

3.33 Culture – Gorm’s Jelling Dynasty, the Attack on England, and Viking Kings in England

Gorm (Gormr) the Old sired a long line of powerful Viking Age kings. His son, Harald Bluetooth (Haraldr blátǫnn, ca. 958–987), solidified the authority of the Jelling dynasty. Harald expanded the Danish kingdom and christianized the Danes. He probably built some of the Viking Age ring (circular) fortresses in Denmark. Harald’s son Svein Forkbeard (Sveinn tjúguskegg, 987’1014, called in English Svein, Sven, or Sweyn) revolted against Harald, and Svein may have killed Harald Bluetooth, his own father.

Soon after ascending the Danish throne (ca. 987), Svein began a series of Viking raids against England. In the years 1013 and 1014 the raids turned into a full-scale invasion. Svein succeeded in conquering England. In 1014, he was recognized as king of England, only to die five weeks later. Svein was succeeded by his son, Knut (Knútr), known as Canute the Great (Knútr inn ríki). Knut/Canute became king of England in 1016. A few years later, after the death of Canute’s brother, Horda-Knut (Hǫrða-Knútr) who ruled in Denmark, Canute also became King of Denmark.

Canute the Great died in 1035, and Danish control of England ended with the early deaths of Canute’s sons. The Danish claim to English kingship resurfaced in 1066. At that time, Harald Hardradi (Harðráði, ‘Hard Counsel’) of Norway asserted that, because he had a claim to the throne of Denmark, he was holder of the Danish claim to England. Harald Hardradi’s defeat in 1066 at Stamford Bridge outside of York ended his claim.

Sources About the Early History of Denmark. Written sources as well as extensive archaeological evidence have survived. The written sources include the Old English poem Beowulf, Alcuin’s biography of St. Willibrord (the ‘Apostle of the Frisians’), Rimbert’s Life of St. Ansgar, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Annales Regni Francorum (The Royal Frankish Annals), the Orosius of Alfred the Great, the eleventh-century Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of the Archbishops of Bremen) by Adam of Bremen, the Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) by Saxo Grammaticus (ca. 1200), and the thirteenth- or fourteenth-century Icelandic Knýtlinga saga (The Saga of Canute’s Descendants). Mentions of the Danish Scylding kings known from the Old English epic poem Beowulf are found in the surviving scraps of the Icelandic Skjǫldunga saga (The Saga of the Skjoldungs), the complete Hrólfs saga kraka (The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki), and in Snorra Edda. In addition, the inscriptions on numerous runestones offer insight into the early history of the Danish lands.

Lesson 4

Kings, Vikings, Sound Changes, and Weak Verbs

Figure 4.1. The Large Jelling Runestone (Denmark) was commissioned by King Harald Bluetooth (Haraldr blátǫnn) Gormsson. Side A is shown here.

Opt kemr sólskin eptir skúr

(Often sunshine comes after a shower)

4.1 Reading – The Large Runestone at Jelling

Harald Bluetooth (ca. 958–987) is the first Danish king of the Viking Age who can be said to be more historical than legendary. Harald inherited the Danish throne from his father Gorm the Old, and like Gorm, Harald centered his power at Jelling in Jutland. His reign was a time when the monarchy in Denmark consolidated its authority. One of Harald’s most enduring legacies was the conversion of the Danes to Christianity ca. 965. It is unclear whether Harald’s own baptism, supposedly by the Frankish missionary Poppo, was motivated more by political ambition than religious belief. However, Harald’s handling of his parents’ memorials, two large mounds at Jelling, shows that he adjusted the authority and commitment of the Jelling dynasty to the new religion.

The Jelling mounds were placed on top of an earlier monument, a huge outline of a ship constructed from large erected stones. One of the mounds contained a chamber grave, while the other was a cenotaph, an empty monument commemorating a dead person. Harald’s monuments were integrated into the new Christian religious culture by the construction of a church between the mounds and the carving of the large Jelling runestone. Harald’s massive Jelling stone has three sides. Side A is shown above and sides B and C are pictured below. Side C is carved with one of the earliest images of Christ known in Scandinavia. This runestone is found near the smaller runestone of Gorm the Old. Parts of the large Jelling stone, particularly on Side C, are weathered.29

Runes

Transliteration

Side A

:haraltr : kunukR: baþ : kaurua

kubl : þausi aft : kurm faþur sin

auk aft : þãurui : muþur : sina : sa

haraltr ias : sãR : uan : tanmaurk

Side B

ala : auk : nuruiak

Side C

auk tani karþi kristna

Standardized Old Norse

Translation

Haraldr konungr bað gera kumbl þessi30 ept Gorm fǫður sinn ok ept Þyri móður sína – sá Haraldr es31 sér vann Danmǫrk alla ok Norveg ok Dani gerði kristna

King Harald commanded [someone] to make these monuments in memory of Gorm his father and Thyri his mother – that Harald who won all Denmark for himself and Norway and made the Danes Christian

Vocabulary

Figure 4.2. Sides B and C of the Jelling Runestone.

alla f acc sg of allr

❖allr <f ǫll, n allt> adj pron all, entire, whole

bað 1/3sg past of biðja

❖biðja <biðr, bað, báðu, beðinn> vb ask, beg; command, tell; biðja gera order to be made

Dani acc pl of Danir

Danir m pl (the) Danes

❖eptir (also ept) prep [w acc] after (in time); in memory of; [w dat] after, along

❖er (also es) rel particle who, which, that

❖faðir <acc fǫður, dat fǫður~feðr, gen fǫður, pl feðr, dat feðrum, gen feðra> m father

❖gera (also gøra) <-ði, gǫrr~gerr~-ðr> vb make; do, act

gerði 3sg past of gera

kristinn adj Christian

kristna m acc pl of kristinn

kumbl <sg and pl kumbl> n burial monument, mound or cairn

❖móðir <acc, dat, & gen móður, pl mœðr, dat mœðrum, gen mœðra> f mother

Nóregr (also Norvegr or Noregr) <-s> m Norway

❖sá <f sú, n þat> dem pron that (one)

❖sik <dat sér, gen sín> refl pron him-/her-/it-/oneself, themselves

❖sinn <m acc sg sinn, f acc sg sína> refl poss pron his, her, its own

vann 1/3sg past of vinna

vinna <vinnr, vann, unnu, unninn> vb gain, win; work; perform, accomplish

❖þessi <n acc pl þessi> dem pron this, these

4.2 Exercise – Reading the Large Runestone at Jelling.

Review the reading above and decide whether the following statements are true (rétt) or false (rangt).

1. Haraldr konungr bað gera kumbl þessi eptir fǫður sinn.

rétt

2. Þyri var móðir Haralds.

3. Haraldr var faðir Gorms.

4. Gormr var faðir Haralds.

5. Haraldr vann sér Ísland.

The Grammar of this Lesson

Figure 4.3. Sound Changes in Old Norse are mostly regular. They are best understood by focusing on: ‘umlaut’ for vowels; and ‘The Two Special Old Norse Stem Rules’ for consonants.

This lesson considers sound changes in vowels, an especially important aspect of Old Norse. The discussion begins with ‘regular sound changes’ followed by sections about: vowel sounds and assimilation; u- and i- umlaut; and verbs. The next lesson considers sound changes in consonants.

4.3 Regular Sound Changes. Vowels and Umlaut

Figure 4.4. The Vocal Tract: pronunciation of the vowel sound /i/, as in English ‘see.’

Regular Sound Changes in Old Norse result from two basic processes: Umlaut (this Lesson 4) and ‘The Two Special Old Norse Stem Rules’ (Lesson 5). Umlaut explains vowel changes. The Two Special Stem Rules explain consonant changes. Learning the nature of these regular sound changes avoids seemingly endless memorization of individual words.

4.4 Vowel Sounds and Assimilation

Figure 4.5. The Vowel /i/ as pronounced in the mouth.

Vowels are sounds made by the free passage of air through the mouth without closing the mouth or narrowing it to the point where the sound is obstructed. The position of the tongue and the lips differentiate one vowel from another. For example, when pronouncing the vowel in the English word ‘see,’ the lips are spread and the tongue is forward and up toward the roof of the mouth (see the international phonetic symbol /i/ circled in the accompanying figures).

When pronouncing the vowel in the English word ‘sue,’ the lips assume a more rounded shape and the tongue is farther back. Try these pronunciations yourself.

Figure 4.6. The Vocal Space Chart and the Vocal Tract, showing the portion of the vocal tract used for production of vowels.

Vowels can be charted according to whether they are high, mid, or low, and whether the tongue is moved to the front or the back of the mouth. Additionally, each vowel is rounded or unrounded, depending on the shape of the lips while the vowel is pronounced. The vowel in the word ‘see’ is high, front, and unrounded; the vowel in ‘sue’ is high, front, and rounded.

Vowels can be plotted on a vowel space chart, an effective tool for visualizing their relative positions in the mouth. It does not hurt in language learning to view the mouth as a form of machine, an instrument, with which sounds can be altered at will. Note that the sound /i/ in ‘see’ is high and front in the accompanying vowel space charts. The two vowel space charts, one for short vowels the other for long vowels, plot positions in the mouth of thirteenth-century Old Icelandic vowels.The Three Vowels of the Endings. In Old Norse words, whether nouns, adjectives, or verbs, endings employ only three vowels: the short vowels -i-, -a-, and -u-. These three are pronounced in the mouth at the different extremities of the vowel space: -i- is front and high; -a- is low and middle; and -u- is back and high. The placement of these three vowels strongly affects the pronunciation of Old Norse words and helps to explain the regularity of sound changes such as umlaut.

Figure 4.7. Vowel Space Charts Showing the Old Icelandic Short and Long Vowel System. Vowels in parentheses are rounded.

4.5 U-Umlaut

Old Norse has two systems of umlaut: u-umlaut and i-umlaut. This section treats u-umlaut; the next considers i-umlaut. Umlaut, a term borrowed from German, refers to a process of assimilation in which the pronunciation of one sound becomes more like a neighboring sound. Umlaut in Old Norse refers to the change in pronunciation that some vowels undergo when followed by certain other vowels, acquiring one or more of the other’s attributes: front/back, high/low, rounded/unrounded. Umlaut is also called vowel mutation or, rarer, vowel shift.

U-umlaut causes changes to the vowel -a-. Specifically, u-umlaut (and also w-umlaut) is the change of the vowel -a- to -ǫ- or -u in grammatical contexts. U-umlaut has its origins in a pre-Viking Age sound assimilation, in which the unrounded root vowel -a- became rounded because of -u- in a following syllable or ending. In many instances, the change simplified pronunciation. For example, the root vowel -a- in the word saga (nom sg f) becomes -ǫ- in the accusative, dative, and genitive, hence sǫgu, and not *sagu.

U-Umlaut in Initial (Stressed) Syllables. In Old Norse, -a- in an initial (stressed) syllable changes to -ǫ- when -u- follows in the next syllable.

Nouns

saga

armr

staðr

Verbs

kalla

vaka

Sg nom

saga

armr

staðr

Sg 1

kalla

vaki

acc

sǫgu

arm

stað

2

kallar

vakir

dat

sǫgu

armi

staði

3

kallar

vakir

gen

sǫgu

arms

staðar

Pl nom

sǫgur

armar

staðir

Pl 1

kǫllum

vǫkum

acc

sǫgur

arma

staði

2

kallið

vakið

dat

sǫgum

ǫrmum

stǫðum

3

kalla

vaka

gen

sagna

arma

staða

Transl.: armr (m) ‘arm,’ staðr (m) ‘place, stead,’ kalla ‘call,’ vaka ‘be/stay awake’

U-umlaut can also occur when no -u- follows in the next syllable. An example is the nominative and accusative plural of strong neuter nouns like land (pl lǫnd). In such instances, the -u- in the earlier Proto-Norse ending (*landu) that caused the change was lost. Words like lǫnd are discussed in later lessons.

U-Umlaut in Unstressed Syllables. In non-initial syllables (that is, in unstressed second or third syllables) -a- shifts to -u- if there’s an -u- in the ending: in the past tense, the -a- of herjaði (‘he raided’) in singular becomes -u- of herjuðu (‘they raided’) in the plural. This change is somewhat less frequent and mostly limited to the past plural of weak verbs (which regularly have more than two syllables). Verbs like leita ‘look for’ and elska ‘love’ offer more examples of the same change:

3sg past

leitaði

‘he/she/it searched’

3pl past

leituðu

‘they searched’

3sg past

elskaði

‘he/she/it loved’

3pl past

elskuðu

‘they loved’

Summary of U-Umlaut

• U-umlaut does not occur if there is an intervening syllable between the -a- and the -u- that does not contain an -a-. For example, landinu ‘the land (dat)’ does not show u-umlaut because an -i- intervenes between -a- of the stem and -u- of the suffixed article.

• U-umlaut applies to words containing -a- in both stressed and unstressed syllables followed by
-u-. For instance, compare kallaði ‘he called’ and kǫlluðu ‘they called.’ Here, the -u- of the ending shifted the -a- of the unstressed syllable to -u- (stem kallað- became kalluð-), in turn triggering the change of -a- to -ǫ- in the initial syllable (kǫlluðu).

• In nouns with prefixes, a of the root shifts to ǫ even when it is a non-initial syllable (viðtaka ‘acceptance’ from við and taka, gen viðtǫku; atganga ‘attack’ from at and ganga, gen atgǫngu).

4.6 Exercise – U-Umlaut.

Decline the nouns garpr, garðr, and gata below. Garpr and garðr are masculine and decline like armr. Gata is feminine and declines like saga.

garpr

garðr

gata

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: garpr (m) ‘bold man,’ garðr (m) ‘enclosed space,’ gata (f) ‘path’

4.7 I-Umlaut (Fronting)

Figure 4.8. I-Umlaut of Old Icelandic Vowels. Vowels within parentheses are pronounced with rounded lips. Arrows show fronting.

I-umlaut is the second series of regular vowel assimilations in Old Norse. Unlike u-umlaut, which applies only to the vowel -a- (for example, garpr, dat pl gǫrpum), i-umlaut operates on a range of vowels. In i-umlaut, the vowel shifts forward in the mouth (a process called ‘fronting’).

Like U-umlaut, Old Norse I-umlaut goes back to a process of sound assimilation in pre-Viking times. Then, back vowels were fronted when followed by a suffix containing -i- (or -j-): for example, á (back and low) in áss ‘god’ becomes æ (front and high) in æsir, see accompanying vowel charts.

By the Viking period, the conditioning environment for i-umlaut was lost in many words, but the fronted vowels remained and became part of the grammar of the language. For instance, a shifted vowel marks the difference between singular and plural in many nouns, such as maðr (pl menn), gás (pl gæss), fótr (pl fœtr), and mús (pl mýss). English also went through a period of i-umlaut and employs a shifted vowel in the plural of the same words: man (pl men), goose (pl geese), foot (pl feet), and mouse (pl mice). i-umlaut plays a similar role in strong verbs, distinguishing present singular from plural.

3 sg Pres with I-Umlaut

3 pl Pres without I-Umlaut

fara

ferr

<

fara

ráða

ræðr

<

ráða

koma

kømr

<

koma

fljúga

fljýgr

<

fljúga

hlaupa

hleypr

<

hlaupa

Because i-umlaut is a historical process of sound change, which occurred mostly in the centuries before the Viking Age, many words that developed during and after the Viking Age do not show i-umlaut. For this reason, a suffix in Old Norse containing -i- cannot always be used to predict the application of i-umlaut. Some examples that do not show shifted vowels are landi (dat sg of land), staði (dat sg of staðr), farinn (ppart of fara), standinn (ppart of standa), farið (2pl pres of fara), and standið (2pl pres of standa). Some examples which do show shifted vowels in such cases are words which have g and k before i: degi (dat sg of dagr) and tekinn (ppart of taka).

The Full Set of I-umlaut Vowel Alternations

vowel

with i-umlaut

vowel

with i-umlaut

a

>

e

u

>

y

á

>

æ

(j)ú / (j)ó

>

ý

o

>

ø (later e)

ǫ

>

ø

ó

>

œ

au

>

ey

I-umlaut vowel alternations occur throughout Old Icelandic grammar.

• The plurals of certain types of nouns: faðir, pl feðr; maðr, pl menn; bróðir, pl brœðr; áss ‘god,’ pl æsir.

• The dative singular of some nouns: vǫllr ‘field, plain’ (stem vall-), dat velli; hǫnd ‘hand’ (stem hand-), dat hendi.

• The comparative and superlative forms of adjectives: fagr, fegri, fegrstr ‘fair, fairer, fairest;’ hár, hær(r)i, hæstr ‘high, higher, highest;’ stórr, stœrri, stœrstr ‘big, bigger, biggest.’

• The present singular of strong verbs: fara, hon ferr ‘she travels;’ standa, hon stendr ‘she stands;’ ráða, hon ræðr ‘she rules;’ róa ‘to row,’ hon rœr ‘she rows.’

4.8 Strong and Weak Verbs (Background)

Figure 4.9. Dental Consonants. The consonants d, t, and ð are called dental because these sounds are pronounced when the tongue advances to touch the front teeth.

Verbs in Old Norse are either strong or weak. The difference cannot be determined by the infinitive alone but by how verbs form their past tense.

Strong Verbs in Old Norse form their past tense by changing the root vowel. For example, the 3sg past of taka is tók, that of gefa is gaf, and that of vinna, vann. English strong verbs form their past tense in the same way. For example, past tense forms of ‘take,’ ‘give,’ and ‘win’ are ‘took,’ ‘gave,’ and ‘won.’ This Lesson and Lesson 6 consider weak verbs. Strong verbs are taken up in Lesson 8.

Weak Verbs consist of stems and endings, and as mentioned earlier stems are composed of roots and suffixes. One way of finding the root of a weak verb is by removing the -a ending of the infinitive: kalla has the stem kall-, mæla has stem mæl-, telja has stem telj-, and vaka has stem vak-.

Weak verb stems in the past tense are distinguished by having a suffix containing the related consonants -ð-, -d-, or -t-. For example, the 3sg past of kalla is kallaði, telja is taldi, and mæla is mælti. Because the tip of the tongue comes into contact with the teeth during pronunciation of -ð-, -d-, and -t-, this suffix is called a dental suffix. English similarly adds a dental suffix in the past tense of weak verbs, for example, the past tense forms of ‘call,’ ‘count,’ ‘tell,’ and ‘have’ are ‘called,’ ‘counted,’ ‘told,’ and ‘had.’ These similarities exist because ON and OE (Old English) were closely related languages. (See the section, Old Norse Language, in the Introduction.)

4.9 Exercise – Strong & Weak Verbs.

Identify the following verbs as weak or strong and translate.

1.

nam (inf nema)

5.

fór (inf fara)

2.

kallaði (inf kalla)

6.

tók (inf taka)

3.

mælti (inf mæla)

7.

herjaði (inf herja)

4.

bjó (inf búa)

8.

gerði (inf gera)

4.10 Strong and Weak Verbs in the Vocabulary

The Vocabulary at the rear of this book distinguishes between strong and weak verbs in the following way:

Entries for strong verbs give the infinitive and the four principal parts.

• For example: ❖ganga <gengr, gekk, gengu, genginn> vb walk; go. These parts account for all forms of the verb. They are discussed in more detail in later lessons.

The first principal part is always the 3rd person singular present hann gengr‚ ‘he goes.’ The second principal part is the 3rd person singular past gekk, ‘he went.’ The third principal part is the 3rd person plural past gengu, ‘they went.’ The fourth principal part is the past participle hann er genginn, ‘he is gone.’ Here are two additional examples of strong verb entries:

❖koma <kemr~kømr, kom, kómu~kvámu, kominn> vb come

❖fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb go, travel; move

Entries for weak verbs indicate which of the past tense dental suffix (-d-, -ð-, or -t-) is used. The entries also give the past participle or the participle ending for each verb (these are explained further on).

❖hafa <hef(i)r, hafði, haft> vb have; hold, keep; take

❖mæla <-ti, -tr> vb say, speak

❖segja <sagði, sagt> vb say

4.11 Reading – Midfjord-Skeggi and Hrolf Kraki’s Sword (Landnámabók)

Medieval Icelanders had a good understanding of the northern world. Some traveled widely during the Viking Age, and many were well versed in the legends, history, and myths of their northern culture. In the twelfth century, when writing in Old Norse with ink on parchment became common, many oral traditions were written down. Midfjord-Skeggi is a famous tenth-century Icelander who appears in a number of sagas, including Laxdæla Saga, Kormak’s Saga (Kormáks saga), and The Saga of Thord the Menace (Þórðar saga hreðu).

The passage below from The Book of the Settlements tells of Skeggi’s father, his grandfather, and the settling of the family in Midfjord (Miðfjǫrðr) in northern Iceland. Skeggi travelled widely, and he was known as a Hólmgarðsfari, a merchant who voyaged to Novgorod (Hólmgarðr) deep in northern Russia. There Vikings traded in furs, slaves, Arabic silver coins, exotic glass beads, silks, and products of the northern forests and the East. The term Hólmgarðsfari comes from fari (pl farar) meaning ‘trader, merchant; traveler’ or Viking ‘seafarer.’ Hólmgarðsfarar were an important link in the trade networks that connected Northern Europe with the Baltic regions, Central Asia, and the Middle East. The ships of the Hólmgarðsfarar transported merchandise and slaves between regions as distant as Ireland and Iceland and the Middle East.

This passage offers considerable information. It tells of a multi-generational family with origins in Norway. Its members settled in Iceland, traded in Russia, and raided and robbed in the Baltic. Skeggi, while on a Viking voyage, landed on the Danish island of Sjáland (modern Zealand), where he grave-robbed the mound of the legendary King Hrolf Kraki. Skeggi is said to have carried away Hrolf’s famous sword Skofnung. In the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Hrólfs saga kraka), Hrolf uses Skofnung to slice off the buttocks of Adils, the sorcerer king of Sweden.

Landnámabók (S 174)

Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr ágætr í Nóregi. Hans sonr var Bjǫrn. Hann var kallaðr Skinna-Bjǫrn, því at hann var Hólmgarðsfari ok farmaðr mikill. Hann fór til Íslands ok nam Miðfjǫrð ok Línakradal.

Hans sonr var Miðfjarðar-Skeggi; hann var garpr mikill ok farmaðr. Hann herjaði í austrveg í Danmǫrk við Sjáland ok fór at brjóta haug32 Hrólfs konungs kraka ok tók hann þar ór haugi33 Skǫfnung, sverð Hrólfs, ok øxi Hjalta,34 ok mikit fé annat.

Vocabulary

at inf marker to

❖annarr <f ǫnnur, n annat> adj/pron one of two; other, another; num second

austrvegr <-s, -ir> m the East, i.e., the Baltic (lit the ‘eastern way’); fara í austrveg trading or raiding in the Baltic or journeying east and south down the rivers of Russia

❖ágætr adj excellent, noble, distinguished

brjóta <brýtr, braut, brutu, brotinn> vb break, break up, break open

❖fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb go, travel; move

fari m sea-farer, voyager, traveler, often in compounds such as Hólmgarðsfari

farmaðr m sea-farer; merchant, trader

❖fé <gen fjár, gen pl fjá> n cattle, sheep; wealth, money, treasure

fór 1/3sg past of fara

garpr <-s, -ar> m a bold, daring, courageous, or warlike man or woman

haugr <-s, -ar> m burial mound

herja <-að-> vb raid, harry; make war

herjaði 3sg past of herja ‘raided’

Hjalti m Hjalti (personal name; hjalt = ‘sword hilt’)

Hólmgarðr <-s> m Holmgard (place name, ON name for Novgorod in northern Russia)

Hólmgarðsfari m voyager to Hólmgarðr

Hrólfr kraki <gen Hrólfs kraka> m Hrolf Kraki (personal name)

❖í prep [w acc] into (motion); [w dat] in, within, at (position)

Ísland n Iceland

❖kalla <-að-> vb call

kallaðr ppart of kalla ‘called’

❖konungr <-s, -ar> m king

Línakradalr <-s> m Linakradale (place name), ‘Valley of Linen Fields’

Miðfjarðar-Skeggi m Skeggi of Midfjord (personal name)

Miðfjǫrðr m Midfjord (place name)

❖mikill <f mikil, n mikit, comp meiri, superl mestr> adj big, tall; great; much, very

mikit fé annat n other great treasure/wealth

nam 1/3sg past of nema

nema <nemr, nam, námu, numinn> vb take; claim land

Nóregr (also Norvegr or Noregr) <-s> m Norway

❖ór (also úr) prep [w dat] out of, from

Sjáland n island of Zealand (place name, ‘Sjælland’ in Modern Danish)

skinn n skin

Skinna-Bjǫrn m Bjorn Fur-Skins (personal name)

Skǫfnungr m Skofnung, possibly ‘Shin Bone,’ name of King Hrolf’s sword

❖sverð n sword

❖taka <tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn> vb take

❖til prep [w gen] to

tók 1/3sg past of taka ‘took’

❖við prep [w acc] at, by, close to

❖þar adv there

því at conj for, because

øx <acc/dat øxi, gen øxar, pl øxar> f axe

4.12 Exercise – Reading Landnámabók.

Based on the reading above, are the following statements true (rétt) or false (rangt)?

rétt eða rangt?

1. Skútaðar-Skeggi bjó í Nóregi.

2. Skinna-Bjǫrn var sonr Hrólfs konungs.

3. Bjǫrn fór til Íslands.

4. Miðfjarðar-Skeggi var farmaðr.

5. Miðfjarðar-Skeggi herjaði í Nóregi.

6. Konungr hét Skinna-Bjǫrn.

7. Miðfjarðar-Skeggi var garpr mikill.

8. Skútaðar-Skeggi fór at brjóta haug Hrólfs konungs kraka.

9. Skǫfnungr var sverð Hjalta.

Translation

Skutad-Skeggi was the name of an excellent man in Norway. His son was Bjorn. He was called Bjorn Fur-Skins, because he was a voyager to Holmgard and a great merchant. He went to Iceland and took Midfjord and Linakradale.

His [Bjorn’s] son was Skeggi of Midfjord; he [Skeggi] was a very bold man and a seafarer. He raided in the East [the Baltic region] in Denmark near Zealand and went to break open the burial mound of King Hrolf Kraki. There he took from the mound Skofnung, the sword of Hrolf, and Hjalti’s axe, and other great treasure.

4.13 Weak Verbs in the Present Tense

Present Tense Endings

singular

plural

1st

–

-um

2nd

-r

-ið

3rd

-r

-a

From here on, this lesson focuses on weak verbs in the present tense. The past of weak verbs comes in Lesson 6. In the present tense of weak verbs, endings are added directly to the stem. For example: kallið ‘you (pl) call’ is composed of the stem kall- and the ending -ið (kall + ið > kallið), while mælum ‘we speak’ has stem mæl- and ending -um (mæl + um > mælum).

All weak verb conjugations use the same present tense endings found in the accompanying box. Verb endings encode person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (sg or pl). Note there are three ways to translate the Old Norse present tense into English: ek kalla can be translated ‘I call,’ ‘I am calling,’ or ‘I do call’), since they all denote present tense in English.

4.14 Weak Verbs – The Four Conjugations

Figure 4.10. Weak Verbs in Old Norse fall into Four Broad Categories or Conjugations. The 1st conjugation is the largest with approximately 500 verbs. The 4th is the smallest with 30 or so verbs.

1st conjugation weak verbs are the largest verb group in Old Norse; they number approximately 500. Verbs of this first conjugation, such as kalla, svara, and tala are distinguished by having an -a- before the ending in the singular (for example, hann kallar, hann svarar, hann talar). There is no -a- in the plural (þér kallið, þér svarið, þér talið). Hence there are two stems, one for the singular with -a- (kalla-, svara-, tala-) and one for the plural without -a- (kall-, svar-, tal-). See the chart below. Notice u-umlaut. An ending containing -u-, such as the 1st plural ending -um, triggers u-umlaut (kall + um > kǫllum, tal + um > tǫlum).

Weak Verbs – Present tense, 1st and 2nd Conjugations

1st Conjugation

2nd Conjugation

kalla

leita

mæla

gera

Sg 1st

ek

kalla

leita

mæli

geri

2nd

þú

kallar

leitar

mælir

gerir

3rd

hann

kallar

leitar

mælir

gerir

Pl 1st

vér

kǫllum

leitum

mælum

gerum

2nd

þér

kallið

leitið

mælið

gerið

3rd

þeir

kalla

leita

mæla

gera

Transl.: kalla ‘call,’ leita ‘seek, search,’ mæla ‘speak,’ gera ‘do’

2nd conjugation weak verbs are also numerous, with several hundred verbs belonging to this class. In the singular, 2nd conjugation verbs are distinguished by having -i- before the ending, for example, hann mælir. In the singular, verbs like gera, mæla, and senda have the stems geri-, mæli-, and sendi-. In the plural, these verbs have the stems ger-, mæl-, and send-.

Weak Verbs – Present tense, 3rd and 4th Conjugations

3rd Conjugation

4th Conjugation

telja

spyrja

vaka

þola

hafa

Sg 1st

ek

tel

spyr

vaki

þoli

hef/hefi

2nd

þú

telr

spyrr

vakir

þolir

hefr/hefir

3rd

þat

telr

spyrr

vakir

þolir

hefr/hefir

Pl 1st

vér

teljum

spyrjum

vǫkum

þolum

höfum

2nd

þér

telið

spyrið

vakið

þolið

hafið

3rd

þau

telja

spyrja

vaka

þola

hafa

Transl.: telja ‘count,’ spyrja ‘ask, hear of,’ vaka ‘be/stay awake,’ þola ‘tolerate, endure,’ hafa ‘have’

3rd conjugation weak verbs number approximately 100. Unlike verbs of the 1st and 2nd conjugations, 3rd conjugation weak verbs do not have a stem-final vowel before endings in the present singular (for example, hann telr, hon spyrr). All 3rd conjugation verbs have stems ending in -j-. For example, the stems of telja, spyrja, leggja are telj-, spyrj-, leggj-.

• In most instances, however, the -j- has dropped within the conjugations (for example, ek tel, þú telr, hann telr, þér telið), and the -j- is only retained when followed by -a- or -u-. For example: the plural endings -um and -a (vér teljum, þeir telja) and the infinitive itself (telja).

• Whether or not the -j- is retained, 3rd conjugation weak verbs are distinguished by the influence of i/j-umlaut in the present tense. For example: telja is the result of i-umlaut on the root tal-. This root with the vowel -a- is seen in the past tense of the verb (i.e., hann taldi).

4th conjugation weak verbs are a small group of approximately 30. As in the 2nd conjugation, an -i- appears before the endings of the singular (for example, vaki, vakir, vakir). A difference between the 2nd and the 4th conjugations is that 4th conjugation verbs do not show i-umlaut, except for hafa (see 5.16).

4.15 Weak Verbs – Stem Suffixes

The past tense of weak verbs is discussed in Lesson 6, but in working with the present, it is helpful to be able to recognize the past. The past of weak verbs is marked by the dental suffixes -d, -ð, or -t, added to the root, followed by a standard singular or plural ending. The verbs kalla and spyrja offer examples of past suffixes as well as stem-final -j-.

Figure 4.11. Roots, Suffixes, and Endings of the present and past of weak verbs kalla (1st conjugation) and spyrja (3rd). The diagram shows the 3sg of the present and past of the two verbs and notes that these verbs add the dental suffix -ð to the root of the past tense stem. Spyrja has a stem-final -j-.

1st congjugation kalla in the 3sg past is kallaði (kall+að+i). The diagram shows 3sg present and past of kalla and spyrja with root, suffix, and ending.

3rd conjugation spyrja has a stem-final -j-. In Proto-Norse, the *-ja- suffix caused i-umlaut in the present tense, creating ON spyr(j)-. This mutation did not occur in the past tense where the root vowel remained -u- instead of being fronted (i-umlaut) to -y- as in the present stem.35

4.16 Weak Verbs with Stems Ending in -j- and -v-

Verbs with stem-final -j- (see the example of spyrja in the section above) occur in all four conjugations: herja (1st conjugation); sœkja (2nd conjugation); leggja/spyrja (3rd conjugation); and segja (4th conjugation). The essential point is that verbs with stem-final -j- drop the -j- unless followed directly by an -a- or -u-.

Weak Verbs – Present tense, Stems ending in -j-

Conjugations:

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

herja

sœkja

leggja/spyrja

segja

Sg 1st

ek

herja

sœki

legg/spyr

segi

2nd

þú

herjar

sœkir

leggr/spyrr

segir

3rd

hon

herjar

sœkir

leggr/spyrr

segir

Pl 1st

vit

herjum

sœkjum

leggjum/spyrjum

segjum

2nd

þit

herið

sœkið

leggið/spyrið

segið

3rd

þær

herja

sœkja

leggja/spyrja

segja

Trans.: herja ‘raid,’ sœkja ‘seek,’ leggja ‘lay,’ segja ‘say’

Weak verbs with stem-final -v-. A few weak verbs have stems ending in-v-, such søkkva ‘to cause smth to sink, force smth underwater’ (not to be mistaken with strong søkkva ‘to sink, go underwater’), or byggva ‘to settle a land; to build.’ These verbs only retain -v- before an ending beginning with -a- or -i- (søkkva, søkkvið), otherwise -v- is dropped (søkkum).

4.17 Weak Verbs with Stems Ending in a Long Vowel

In Standardized Old Norse (and Modern Icelandic), long vowels are differentiated with an acute accent. A small number of weak and strong verbs have stems ending in a long vowel. For example: the 4th conjugation verb trúa ‘believe’ (stem trú-).

• When a long vowel comes directly into contact with an ending containing a similar vowel, a contraction often results (for example, ú + u > ú, á + a > á, á + u > á). Hence trúa has 1st person plural trúm (trú + um). The full conjugation is trúi, trúir, trúir, trúm, trúið, trúa.

• Weak verbs with infinitives ending in -á, such as ná ‘obtain,’ spá ‘prophesize,’ and já ‘agree’ reflect a contraction of stem-final á plus infinitive marker -a (á + a > á). The full conjugation of ná is nái, náir, náir, nám (ná + um), náið, ná (ná + a). Examples of strong verbs which exhibit vowel contraction are sjá ‘see,’ fá ‘get,’ and slá ‘strike.’ Similar vowel contractions occur with many nouns and adjectives.

4.18 Weak Verbs and Word Frequency❖

Below, arranged by conjugation, are the most common weak verbs found in the sagas.

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

4th conjugation

kalla ‘call’

gera ‘do; make’

leggja ‘lay, put down’

segja ‘say’

leita ‘search’

mæla ‘speak’

setja ‘set’

hafa ‘have’

svara ‘answer’

senda ‘send’

skilja ‘part, separate’

trúa ‘believe’

tala ‘talk’

veita ‘grant; offer’

spyrja ‘ask; hear of’

þola ‘tolerate, be able to endure’

ætla ‘intend’

sœkja ‘seek’

vilja ‘want’

þykkja ‘seem; think’

4.19 Exercise – Weak Verbs in the Present Tense.

The 1st conjugation has an -a- before endings in the singular, while the 2nd conjugation has -i-. Provide the correct form for each of the 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs given below.

Ex:

(kalla)

þú                               kallar

1.

(leita)

hon

2.

(gera)

hon

3.

(ætla)

ek

4.

(veita)

ek

5.

(svara)

hann

6.

(senda)

hann

7.

(tala)

vér

8.

(sœkja)

vér

9.

(tala)

þeir

10.

(mæla)

þeir

3rd conjugation verbs do not add a vowel before endings in the singular and drop -j- unless the ending begins with an -a- or -u-. Provide the correct form for each of the 3rd conjugation verbs below. Remember that vilja is slightly irregular.

11.

(leggja)

hon

12.

(setja)

hann

13.

(skilja)

þær

14.

(spyrja)

ek

15.

(vilja)

hon

4th conjugation verbs have an -i- before the endings of the singular. Provide the correct form for each of the 4th conjugation verbs below. Remember that hafa is slightly irregular.

16.

(þola)

ek

17.

(trúa)

vér

18.

(hafa)

þú

19.

(hafa)

hann

20.

(hafa)

þér

4.20 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 4. ❖ Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

kona

woman

gamall

old

sjá

this

tólf

twelve

ráð

advice; plan

kyrr

quiet

dagr

day

fyrri

former

frændi

kinsman

varr

aware

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

ganga

to walk

eigi

not

sem

who, which, that; as

gera

to do; make

fyrir

before; for

verða

to become

af

of; from

kveða

to speak

ekki

not

Exercises

4.21 Old Norse Vowels. Complete the empty vowel space chart with the vowels of Old Norse.

a á e é i í o ó u ú y ý æ œ ø ǫ

Put rounded vowels in parentheses.

4.22 U-Umlaut. Decline and then translate gata, kona, and saga in the spaces provided below, applying u-umlaut where necessary. (Note, saga becomes sagna in the genitive plural, and kona has an irregular genitive plural, kvenna). Use the resources of the lesson and the Vocabulary.

saga

gata

kona

Sg nom

saga

kona

acc

dat

gen

gǫtu

Pl nom

gǫtur

acc

dat

sǫgum

gen

sagna

kvenna

Translate: saga                         , gata                             , kona

4.23 U-Umlaut. For each of the words below, give the form indicated in parentheses and mark its gender. Note that some words do not show u-umlaut.

Ex: saga (acc pl):           sǫgur      f

1.

dalr (dat pl):

5.

kalla (1pl pres):

2.

vargr (acc sg):

6.

saga (acc sg):

3.

kambr (dat pl):

7.

gata (nom pl):

4.

armr (dat sg):

8.

tala (1sg pres):

Transl.: vargr (m) ‘wolf,’ kambr (m) ‘comb.’

Note: Words in the exercises that do not appear in the lesson can be found in the vocabulary at the end of the book if no definition is given in the Exercise.

4.24 Word Frequency Review ❖.Write out List 4. The Most Frequent Words and translate

Old Norse

English

Old Norse

English

Nouns

Adjectives

1.

5.

2.

6.

3.

7.

4.

8.

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

9.

13.

10.

14.

11.

15.

12.

16.

4.25 Pronoun Review. Complete the following table of the personal pronouns.

1st person

2nd person

3rd person

M

F

N

Sg

nom

acc

dat

gen

Dual

nom

X

X

X

acc

X

X

X

dat

X

X

X

gen

X

X

X

Pl

nom

acc

dat

gen

4.26 Names for Special and Magical Weapons

Like the sword Skofnung (Skǫfnungr) in the Midfjord Skeggi reading, weapons frequently had names and were believed to carry special magical powers. Some were said to be forged by dwarves (dvergar, sg dvergr). Special weapons, such as Hrolf Kraki’s sword Skǫfnungr, had histories. Their names were well known, and they appear in several sources. Likewise, Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (Sigurðr Fafnisbani) had a famous sword called Gram (Gramr), a renowned treasure. The Saga of the Volsungs tells about Gram’s discovery and origins. Other swords of legend are Hneitir (‘Wounder’), Dragvendill (‘Draw-Wand’), and the cursed sword Tyrfingr (‘Tarry’). Axes were often named after giantesses and troll-wives (trollkonur, sg trollkona) and had names such as Gnepia (‘Towering’), Fála (‘Frightener’), and Vígglóð (‘Battle-Bright’). The gods’ most famous weapons were Odin’s spear, Gungnir, and Thor’s hammer, Mjǫllnir.

4.27 Vocabulary Review. Match the Norse word with its meaning in English.

1.

mikill

A.

for, because

2.

garpr

B.

won

3.

sverð

C.

man

4.

maðr

D.

excellent

5.

øx

E.

his (own)

6.

ágætr

F.

bade, commanded

7.

því at

G.

sword

8.

at kalla

H.

woman; wife

9.

at gera

I.

earl

10.

at spyrja

J.

to ask

11.

bað

K.

to call

12.

ept

L.

father

13.

sá

M.

that (one)

14.

sinn

N.

was called

15.

vann

O.

a bold man

16.

kona

P.

to do; to make

17.

faðir

Q.

axe

18.

var kallaðr

R.

time

19.

jarl

S.

after, in memory of

20.

tími

T.

great

4.28 Translation and Grammatical Analysis

A. Translate the following passage from the reading. Some words are underlined for use in part B of this exercise.

Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr ágætr í Nóregi.36 Hans sonr var Bjǫrn. Hann var kallaðr Skinna-Bjǫrn, því at hann var Hólmgarðsfari ok farmaðr mikill. Hann fór til Íslands ok nam Miðfjǫrð ok Línakradal. Hans sonr var Miðfjarðar-Skeggi; hann var garpr mikill ok farmaðr. Hann herjaði í austrveg í Danmǫrk við Sjáland ok fór at brjóta haug Hrólfs konungs kraka ok tók hann þar ór haugi Skǫfnung, sverð Hrólfs, ok øxi Hjalta, ok mikit fé annat.

B. The words below are underlined in the passage above. Give their relevant grammatical details following the examples below. If you need help, see the vocabularies.

Ex:

maðr

m nom sg of the noun maðr ‘man’

hann

m nom sg of the 3rd person personal pronoun

tók

3rd person sg past tense of the verb taka ‘to take’

til

prep with gen, ‘to’

1.

hét

2.

Nóregi

3.

hans

4.

var

5.

nam

6.

haug

7.

konungs

4.29 Reading Comprehension. Based on the reading passage above, decide which of the following statements are rétt or rangt.

rétt eða rangt?

1.

Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr.

2.

Bjǫrn var farmaðr.

3.

Skútaðar-Skeggi var Danmarkarbót.

4.

Sonr Skútaðar-Skeggja nam Línakradal.

5.

Skútaðar-Skeggi fór at brjóta haug Hrólfs konungs kraka.

6.

Skǫfnungr var sverð Hjalta.

7.

Bjǫrn herjaði í austrveg.

8.

Miðfjarðar-Skeggi tók øxi Hjalta ok mikit fé annat.

4.30 Review, Present Tense of Common Weak Verbs. Conjugate the following verbs and translate. Assume the neuter nouns are singular.

gera

1.

Ek                                                        kumbl

4.

Vér                                              skip

2.

Þú                                                         sverð

5.

Þér                                           haug

3.

Hann                                                         øx

6.

Þeir                                              hús

spyrja

7.

Ek                                           konung

10.

Vit                                       landnámsmann

8.

Þú                                              Ingólf

11.

Þit                                                         hana

9.

Hon                                    farmann

12.

Þau                                                       konu

kalla

13.

Ek

16.

Vér

14.

Þú

17.

Þér

15.

Hann

18.

Þær

4.31 Weak Verbs. Here are some additional weak verbs appearing in the lessons.

.

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

4th conjugation

blóta ‘sacrifice’

dœma ‘judge’

berja ‘strike, smite’

vaka ‘be awake’

elska ‘love’

fœra ‘bring, carry’

hyggja ‘think’

gnaga ‘gnaw’

leiða ‘lead’

krefja ‘demand’

lofa ‘praise’

nefna ‘name’

selja ‘give; transfer rights to something’

skipa ‘arrange’

sigla ‘sail’

telja ‘count’

Ex:

I speak.

Ek mæli

2nd conjugation

1.

You (sg) love.

2.

We (pl) lead.

3.

You (pl) think.

4.

They (f) praise.

5.

She names.

6.

He is awake.

7.

They (n) demand.

8.

I count.

9.

They (m) judge.

10.

It gnaws.

Verbs with stem-final -j- (for example belja, stem belj- and drekkja, stem drekkj-) appear in all four conjugations. Keep in mind, the -j- is dropped unless directly followed by an -a- or -u-. For example, the 1st conjugation verb belja ‘bellow’ retains its -j- before -a- and -u-, but not before -i-: ek belja, þú beljar, hann beljar, vér beljum, þeir belja but þér belið. In the other three conjugations, the -j- drops in the singular because there is no supporting -a- or -u-. For example, 2nd conjugation weak verb drekkja ‘drown’ conjugates ek drekk, þú drekkr, hann drekkr, vér drekkjum, þér drekkið, þeir drekkja.

1st conjugation

2nd conjugation

3rd conjugation

4th conjugation

belja ‘bellow’

drekkja ‘drown’

berja ‘strike’

segja ‘say’

eggja ‘incite’

syrgja ‘mourn’

hyggja ‘think’

þegja ‘be silent’

herja ‘raid’

telgja ‘cut wood into shapes’

krefja ‘demand’

Ex:

I demand.

Ek krefi

3rd conjugation

11.

You (sg) incite.

12.

We (pl) drown.

13.

You (pl) strike.

14.

They (f) are silent.

15.

She says.

16.

He mourns.

17.

They (n) think.

18.

I cut a wooden shape.

19.

They (m) raid.

20.

It bellows.

4.32 Weak Verbs. Give the present tense of the following weak verbs and translate.

senda (2nd conjugation)

1.

Vér             sendum

5.

Þat

We (pl) send

2.

Þær

6.

Hon

3.

Ek

7.

Þú

4.

Þau

8.

Þit

setja (3rd conjugation)

9.

Ek                   set

13.

Þú

I set

10.

Þeir

14.

Þau

11.

Þér

15.

Hon

12.

Hann

16.

Vér

svara (1st conjugation)

0

17.

Hann              svarar

21.

Þér

He answers

18.

Vér

22.

Þær

19.

Þú

23.

Hon

20.

Ek

24.

Vit

4.33 Verbs in Past Tense. Complete the chart below, giving the infinitive and translation.

Verb (Past Tense)

Old Norse Infinitive

English Meaning

Ex:

vildi

vilja

want

1.

tók

2.

gaf

3.

fór

4.

herjaði

5.

bað

6.

vann

7.

gerði

Lesson 5

Sweden, Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer, and Thorstein Egilsson in Gunnlaug’s Saga Serpent-Tongue

Figure 5.1. The Ramsund Runestone, Sweden. This large carving on the flat side of a sloping rock outcrop portrays the tale of Sigurðr Fafnisbani, the slayer or bane (bani) of the dragon Fafnir. Bottom right, Sigurd thrusts his sword up into Fafnir. Toward the left middle of the carving, Sigurd roasts Fafnir’s heart. He sucks the dragon’s blood from his thumb while listening to the speech of forest birds in the tree. Following the birds’ advice, Sigurd kills the smith Regin, who lies decapitated alongside his tongs, hammer, and bellows. Grani, Sigurd’s horse, chosen for young Sigurd by Odin earlier in the story, is tethered to the tree. On Grani’s back is the treasure taken from Fafnir. This treasure, which contains the magical ring, becomes the ‘Rhine Gold.’ Sigurd’s story is known from The Saga of the Volsungs, the Eddas, and the Nibelungenlied. It re-enters modern storytelling in Wagner’s Ring cycle and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

Eigi er allt gull sem glóar

(All that glows is not gold)

5.1 Culture – Lands of the Swedes (Svíar) and Goths (Gautar)

The Ramsund Runestone still sits in the open in Uppland, Sweden. Apart from the stone, characteristic of a large regional collection of runestones, there is little other documentation about this regions’ early history. A single national identity for Sweden (Svíþjóð or Svíaland) does not emerge until the late twelfth century. In part, this was because forests and bogs separate the populated regions of Central Sweden, making communication among areas difficult for much of the year. Clans and tribes were also a factor, with long-standing rivalries between Goths (Gautar) to the west in the Vatnsbú region around lakes Vättern and Vänern, and Swedes (Svíar) further north in central Sweden around Lake Mälaren (Lǫgr). These two regions, known as Gautland (Modern Swedish Götaland) and Svíaland (Modern Swedish Svealand), were economically and politically independent for much of their earliest history.

The Svíar developed elements of statehood as early as the Late Germanic Iron Age (beginning ca. AD 500). This pre-Viking historical period in central Sweden is known as the Vendel Period because of rich boat graves and other archaeological finds from burial mounds at Vendel and Valsgärde north of Lake Mälaren. The kingdom of the Svíar was centered at Uppsala (ON Uppsalir, often called Old Uppsala), which remained a pagan cult center throughout the Viking Age. The wealth of the Svíar and their kings lay in controlling trade over the Baltic Sea in such goods as amber, silver, silk, iron, fur, and slaves. Swedish traders and warriors tavelled widely.

Around 800, a permanently occupied trade and administrative center was established at Birka, a trading town on the island of Björkö (Modern Swedish, meaning Birch Island) on the lake Lǫgr (modern Lake Mälaren). Birka was an international trade emporium that was connected by commerce throughout the Swedish and Baltic regions and down the rivers of Russia to the Byzantine Empire, the Khaganate of the Khazars in the Caspian region, Central Asia, and the Caliphate of Baghdad. The burials at Birka, many of which are high-status chamber graves, attest to a wealth of imported items in the form of glassware, jewelry, bronze vessels, coins, and pottery. Excavations also point to a sizeable population of resident merchants and craftsmen. Birka remained important until the 900s, when changes in water levels, religion, and politics resulted in the rise of Sigtuna (Sigtúnir) as a royal Christian center on Lǫgr’s northern shore (see the map).

The Gautar (called Geatas or Geats in the Old English poem Beowulf) from Gautland did not attain the prominence or wealth of the Svíar. For several centuries the Gautar maintained a separate kingdom in the face of competition from the Svíar as well as from neighboring Danes and Norwegians. Svíar and Gautar may have had at times an uneasy alliance. Óláfr skautkonungr Eiríksson, king of the Svíar (ca. 980’1022, Olof Skötkonung in English), was the first king in Viking times to rule both regions. Olof’s reign was troubled. He was a Christian, but, because of the strength of the pagan majority, he did not force conversion. Olof’s union of the two peoples did not survive his reign. Lasting unification occurred only after Christianity took hold throughout the regions at the end of the twelfth century, a period relatively late in the conversion of Scandinavia.

Figure 5.2. Viking Age Sweden (Svíaland or Svíþjóð) faced east and dominated the Baltic Sea (Eystrasalt) and its trade. Regions marked by horizontal lines show areas of Swedish (Svíar) settlement and trade within the Scandinavian Peninsula and on the northern and eastern shores of the Baltic. Gotland was an independent island and a trading powerhouse. The then Finland was thinly settled by mostly independent, finno-Ugric speaking tribes. The Gautar, a people of western Scandinavia (Gautland) distinguished themselves from the Svíar. The Gautar lived in the region of Vatnsbú around the lakes Vänern and Vättern (both modern Swedish). Skáney (modern Skåne) is today in Sweden. During the Viking Age, Skáney was part of Denmark, and the Danes controlled both sides of the straits (Eyrarsund) leading in and out of the Baltic. Kúrland was the name for Latvia and Eistland for Estonia. The inhabitants of the large islands Eyland (modern Öland) and Áland (Åland) were Norse speakers.

5.2 Reading – Sigurd the Volsung on the Ramsund Runestone

The Jelling runestones in the previous lessons were carved on the orders of King Gorm the Old and his son, King Harald Bluetooth. However, most of the approximately 3,000 runestones known from Scandinavia commemorate, and were commissioned by, non-royal people.

The eleventh-century memorial stone from Ramsund in Södermanland, Sweden, is a non-royal runestone. Members of a family of local landowners had the stone carved to commemorate the construction of a causeway, a raised earthen path or bridge (brú) across swampy ground. The carving is on a large flat rock a short distance from the causeway and easily seen. The runes tell that one Sigríðr, a prominent local woman, commissioned the carving. Sigríðr publically makes known her relationships to the men in her family. These include: Ormr, her father; Hólmgeirr, her recently deceased father-in-law; Sigrøðr Hólmgeirsson, her husband; and Alrekr, her son from a previous marriage. The nearby Kjula Runestone provides additional information, telling that Spjútr, a known Viking, was the father of Alrekr.

This information had a purpose. If, as seems likely, one or both of the sons of Sigríðr were dead at the time this stone was carved, Sigríðr or her surviving son stood to inherit from three lines of descent: from Ormr, Spjútr, and Hólmgeirr. The stone announces the considerable inheritance of Sigríðr to all who wish to use the public causeway to keep their feet dry.

The runic inscription implies that Sigríðr (and/or Hólmgeirr) was Christian. The choice of the pagan hero, Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, as the decorative motif accompanying a Christian inscription is indicative of the contemporaneous mixing of religious cultures. Note that in the inscription, the carver uses a variant for the /o/ rune, .

Runes

Transliteration

siriþr : kiarþi : bur : þosi : muþiR :

alriks : tutiR : urms : fur :

salu : hulmkirs : faþur :

sukruþar : buata : sis

Standardized Old Norse

Translation

Sigríðr gerði brú þessa móðir
Alreks dóttir Orms fyr
sálu Hólmgeirs fǫður
Sigrøðar búanda síns.

Sigrid made this bridge, mother
of Alrek, daughter of Orm, for
the soul of Holmgeir, the father
of Sigrøðr, her husband.

Notice: In the noun phrases móðir Alreks and dóttir Orms, móðir and dóttir are in the nominative, that is, in apposition with Sigríðr. Similarly, fǫður and búanda are in the genitive in agreement with Hólmgeirs in the noun phrases fǫður Sigrøðar and búanda síns.

Vocabulary

Alrekr <-s> m Alrek (personal name)

❖bóndi (also búandi) <gen bónda, pl bœndr> m husband; farmer

brú <gen brúar, pl brúar~brúr~brýr> f bridge; causeway built over swampy ground

búandi <pl búendr> see bóndi

❖dóttir <acc, dat, & gen dóttur, pl dœtr, dat dœtrum, gen dœtra> f daughter

❖faðir <acc fǫður, dat fǫður~feðr, gen fǫður, pl feðr, dat feðrum, gen feðra> m father

❖fyr prep see fyrir in memory of

❖fyrir (also fyr) prep [w acc] for, on behalf of

❖gera (also gøra) <-ði, -ðr~gerr> vb to make

gerði see gera

Hólmgeirr <-s> m Holmgeir (personal name)

❖móðir <acc, dat, & gen móður, pl mœðr, dat mœðrum, gen mœðra> f mother

Ormr <-s> m Orm (personal name)

sála f soul

Sigríðr <acc & dat Sigríði, gen Sigríðar> f Sigrid (personal name)

Sigrøðr <-ar> m Sigrod (personal name)

❖þessi <f acc sg þessa> dem pron this

5.3 Culture – Sigurd the Dragon Slayer

The Ramsund Stone depicts part of a longer tale whose origins lie deep within the prehistoric Iron Age. The story is told in The Saga of the Volsungs (Vǫlsunga saga), one of the great tales of western storytelling. The unknown Icelandic author who wrote the saga in the 13th century based his prose epic on stories found in older heroic poetry. Vǫlsunga saga recounts the mythic deeds of the dragon slayer, Sigurd the Volsung. It is a story of love, betrayal, the vengeance of Queen Brynhild (Brynhildr Buðladóttir), and the schemes of her brother Atli Buðlason (the historic Attila the Hun).37

The saga describes events from the ancient wars among the kings of the Burgundians, the Huns, and the Goths, treating some of the same legends as the Middle High German epic poem, the Nibelungenlied. In both accounts, though in different ways, Sigurd (Siegfried in the German tradition) acquires the Rhine Gold. Then he becomes tragically entangled in a love triangle involving a supernatural woman – a valkyrie, one of Odin’s warrior-maidens who, following a battle, choose slain warriors for Valhalla. In the saga, the valkyrie recounts runic lore. (These eddic verses are given in Viking Language 2, Ch. 11, in the section ‘Runes in the Legendary Sagas.’)

The pictorial scenes on the Ramsund Stone witness that this legendary/mythological story was also known in Viking Age Sweden at least two hundred years before it was written down in Iceland. The Viking Age carving contains considerable detail about a tale filled with magic and shape-changing. In the nineteenth century, the Volsung story — with the schemes of a one-eyed Odin, a magical ring, and the sword that was reforged — was rediscovered and became widely known throughout Europe. Translated into many languages, The Saga of the Volsungs became a primary source for writers of fantasy and for those interested in myth, legend, and the ancient past of Northern Europe.

In the nineteenth century, the saga deeply influenced William Morris and Richard Wagner. Wagner drew heavily upon the Volsung material in composing his operatic Ring cycle, especially focusing on Odin’s single-minded obsession with regaining a ring of power by means of a hero, Siegfried/Sigurd, who carried a reforged sword. In the twentieth century, J. R. R. Tolkien, finding inspiration in Wagner’s operas as much as in The Saga of the Volsungs and the The Prose Edda version of the Sigurd story, also adapted the sword, the ring, the dragon lying on the hoard, and a small anthropomorphic creature who lived a shadow life below the earth and early possessed the ring.

5.4 Vowels – Short and Long, Stressed and Unstressed

Figure 5.3. Alveolar Consonants. The alveolar consonants l, n, s, and r are pronounced as the tongue rises and fronts, advancing toward the alveolar ridge.

Vowels in Old Norse are short or long, a distinction resulting from the way people ‘historically’ pronounced words and expanded their vocabulary. The division into short and long vowels in Old Norse is generally consistent, a factor which helps to discern rules and distinguish patterns of speech. A quick distinction is that long vowels are those with acute accents: á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, while short vowels do not have accents: a, i, o, u, y.

Vowel length. In earliest Old Norse, the difference between accented and unaccented vowels was one of the length of the sound. Later (and in Modern Icelandic) the distinction became less that of length of sound than that of being a slightly different sound. Hence, in Old Norse vowel length does not mean a change in the sound, only a lengthening of the duration of pronunciation. For example, a sound such as /a/ could be pronounced quickly or held longer as /á/. Long vowels in Old Norse also include digraphs (combinations of two letters resulting in one sound), for example /æ/ and /œ/, and diphthongs (vowels of two audible parts) such as ei, au, ey, jǫ, and ja, as well as jó, já, and a few others. Examples of words with long vowels are

hár ‘tall,’ bók ‘book,’ því ‘because,’ vél ‘device, deceit,’ rún ‘rune,’ ýsa ‘haddock,’ hœns ‘poultry,’ gæfa ‘luck,’ reið ‘ride,’ rauðr ‘red,’ ey ‘island,’ jǫkull ‘glacier,’ gjalda ‘to pay,’ ljár ‘scythe,’ þjófr ‘thief,’ kjúklingr ‘chicken,’ tíu ‘ten,’ róa ‘to row,’ snúa ‘to turn, turn around.’

Stress. Stress is a key element in the pronunciation of Old Norse. As a general rule, stress is on the first syllable, whether the vowel in that syllable is short or long. For example, the short -i- in the word vinr ‘friend’ and the short -e- in selr ‘seal’ are stressed. To a modern ear, stress makes the initial vowel seem long because of the emphasis. Grammatically, however, the short stressed vowel remains short, and is spelled without an accent.

The concepts of stress and vowel length come into play in the following discussion of the two Old Norse Special Stem Rules. Understanding short and long vowels and stress is of considerable importance when reading eddic and skaldic poetry.38 This is because Old Norse poetry was meant to be pronounced out loud.

5.5 The Two Special Stem Rules (Alveolar)

Figure 5.4. The Two Special Alveolar Stem Rules explain regular sound changes found throughout Old Norse concerning the stem-final alveolar consonants l, n, s, and r.

Two rules explain regular sound changes in Old Norse at the boundary between a word’s stem and its ending. These rules concern the ending -r when it is added to a word containing the stem-final consonants -l, -n, -r, and -s. We call these rules the Special Alveolar Stem Rules because l, n, r, and s are ‘alveolar’ cosonants. Specifically, alveolar consonants are pronounced in the front upper portion of the mouth at or near the alveolar ridge directly behind the front teeth. The speaker, in pronouncing these sounds, raises the tip of the tongue to meet the alveolar ridge.

Adding the ending -r (-s in some instances) potentially forms the combinations -lr, -nr, -rr, or -sr at the end of words. However, Old Norse speakers found the words easier to pronounce if they did not try to distinguish between these closely related alveolar sounds at the end of the word. Instead, they assimilated the -r ending (Rule 1) or dropped the -r ending (Rule 2).

The result is Rule 1: words such as Egill (instead of *Egilr), Þorsteinn, mikill, and ljóss; and Rule 2: the absence of endings on words such vagn and vitr. These changes occur throughout the language so, it is important to know them.

5.6 Special Stem Rule 1: The -R Ending Assimilation Rule

Rule 1 explains why many words double the stem-final consonant -l, -n, -r, or -s rather than adding the ending -r. For example: consider the nouns stóll (stem stól-), steinn, áss, jǫkull; and the adjectives sæll, mikill, lítill, vænn, and lauss. The doubling occurs when a vowel precedes a stem-final -l-, -n-, or -s-. In such instances, the ending -r assimilates to match the preceding -l-, -n-, or -s-. The result is a word concluding with -ll instead of -lr, -nn instead of -nr, and -ss instead of -sr. (Note that the second assimilated consonant takes the place of the -r ending.) The process of doubling the stem-final consonant is an example of how a preceding sound influences a following sound, making the word easier to pronounce, especially when speaking quickly.

In Rule 1, the ending -r is not dropped but changed in a regular way. Also note that the vowel preceding the stem-final consonant can take various forms. It can be long as in ás-; it can be unstressed short as in mikil-; or it can be a diphthong as in laus-.

Exceptions to Rule 1: The stems of a few words, such as the nouns vinr (‘friend’) and selr (‘seal’), end in -l,-n, -r, or -s but add the ending -r to the stem-final consonant rather than doubling. In most cases, this is because of the preceding vowel – it is short. Remember, in Old Norse the initial syllable, whether containing a short or long vowel, receives stress. The effect of this stress is a lengthening of the vowel of the first syllable during pronunciation. As a result, the stem accepts the usual -r ending. Hence the words, dal-r, vin-r, and sel-r all exhibit a lengthened stem vowel (as mentioned in the earlier discussion of stress), but these words do not double their stem-final consonant.

• The 3rd conjugation verb vilja is slightly irregular, with ending -l instead of -r in the 2nd and 3rd person singular (þú vill, hann vill). This is one of the few exceptions to the Two Special (Alveolar) Stem Rules, because, as noted above, the r-change rule generally does not apply to syllables containing a short, unstressed vowel.

Differences between the two rules. Rule 1 is about -r assimilation in environments following vowels. Rule 2 is about dropping the -r in environments following consonants.

5.7 Special Stem Rule 2: The -R Ending Drop Rule

Rule 2 explains dropping the -r ending when a consonant precedes a stem-final -l-, -n-, -r-, or -s-. Rule 2 is an example of apocope, a Greek loanword that denotes the cutting-off or omitting of one or more sounds from the end of a word. Apocope occurs in many languages. In Old Norse, we see it at the position of a word’s last sound or syllable, when this sound is preceded by a another consonant. For example, the masc word vagn (‘wagon’) is not vagn+r but simply vagn, with the masculine -r ending dropped. By dropping the third consonant in a row, the final consonant cluster becomes just two consonants, and the word is easier to pronounce. And Vikings, like speakers of other languages, adopted this easing of pronunciation.

• Additional examples of dropping the -r ending after stem’s final -l-, -n-, -r-, or -s- are the nouns: karl (stem karl-), hrafn (stem hrafn-), sigr, vetr, Bjǫrn, þurs.

• The -r ending also drops in the adjectives: fagr (masc gen fagrs, masc stem fagr-) and vitr (masc gen vitrs, stem vitr-). Note that while the -r ending drops, the gen -s ending does not drop. For example, the gen of karl is karls, while the gen of fagr is fagrs.

Rule 2, The -R Drop Rule holds true when the final consonant of the stem (not the ending) is -r, as in the noun sigr (stem sigr-) and the adjective fagr (masc stem fagr-). In these words, the -r dropped is the ending, not the final consonant of the stem, hence sigr, not sigr(r). This is seen in the gen sigrs where the gen ending -s is added to the stem sigr-.

• Other examples are akr (gen akrs), aldr (gen aldrs), hafr (gen hafrs), otr (gen otrs), and vetr (gen vetrar; vetr is one of the relatively few masc nouns that take -ar in the gen).

• Words with stem-final -s, such as the personal name Þorgils, also follow the rule. They drop the masc nom -r ending in the nom. They also drop the gen sg -s ending, for example þurs (‘giant,’ gen þurs) and Þorgils (gen Þorgils). The word lax (‘salmon,’ where -x is pronounced ks) behaves similarly.

5.8 Exercise – The Two Alveolar Special Stem Rules. With a few exceptions, verbs also follow these special stem rules. For instance, 3sg present skínn (skín + r) ‘it shines’ and kýss (kýs + r) ‘he chooses’ come from the infinitives skína and kjósa. Give the stem of the following strong masculine nouns and state the applicable rule. If no Special Stem Rule applies, write ‘n/a’ (not applicable).

Ex:

steinn (gen steins)

stein-            Rule 1 (r-Change)

vetr (gen vetrar)

vetr-              Rule 2 (r-Drop)

1. stóll (gen stóls)

2. selr (gen sels)

3. hrafn (gen hrafns)

4. akr (gen akrs)

5. karl (gen karls)

5.9 Strong Nouns – Introduction

Figure 5.5. The Four types of Old Norse Strong Nouns. Type 1 is the largest type and the only one with a full complement of masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.

As mentioned earlier, all Old Norse nouns fall into one of two broad declension types: strong or weak. Strong nouns have a wider range of endings than weak nouns. They are grouped into four major types, referred to as ‘Strong Noun Types I-IV.’

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Type 1

dagr, hellir, konungr, hersir

rún, fǫr, kleif, fjǫðr

skip, kvæði, sumar, ríki

Type 2

staðr, hvalr, vinr, sultr

hǫfn, borg, ǫxl, brúðr

Type 3

fjǫrðr, skjǫldr, vǫndr, svǫppr

Type 4

maðr, vindr, fingr

vík, tǫnn, kýr, mǫrk

• A small number of nouns do not easily fit into the strong noun types. These include nouns whose stems end in a long vowel: for example, mór (‘moor,’ Type 1), jór (‘stallion,’ Type 1), bú (‘farm,’ Type 1 neuter).

• Some nouns have characteristics of more than one type. For example: íþróttr (‘art,’ ‘sport’) nom pl íþróttir, gen sg íþrótts; and feldr (‘rough sheepskin cloak’) nom pl both feldir and feldar, gen sg feldar.

• Sounds lost as pronunciation changed during the Proto-Norse period and the early Viking Age often retained influence on the pronunciation of ON words, including strong nouns. Section 1.16 of Lesson 1 introduced noun stems and endings and included a chart (Figure 1.2) tracing the evolution of konungr, gestr, and skjǫldr from PN to Modern Icelandic. Now we can explain why (see Figure 5.5) the plural of Old Norse konungr (Type 1 strong noun) is konungar, the plural of gestr is gestir (Type 2), and skjǫldr is Type 3. As a Type 3 strong noun, skjǫldr has the characteristic acc pl skjǫldu. This is because in skjǫldu the -u ending resurfaces from the earlier form of the word *skeldunn.39 Note that the nom sg form alone does not determine a strong noun’s type. Instead, the types are based on root vowel changes in the word stems that are often the result of lost sounds. Figure ‎5.5, above, presents the four types of strong nouns across the three genders.

5.10 Strong Nouns – Type 1 Masculine

Masc strong nouns are found in all four types, but the majority of strong masc nouns belong to Type 1. This includes names such as Ragnarr, Óláfr, Haraldr, Þorgeirr, Eiríkr, and Herjólfr. Type 1 strong nouns are distinguished by -ar- in the nom pl ending and -a- in the acc and gen pl endings. The following chart shows variations within Type 1 masculines. Most Type 1 follow the declension of konungr and armr. For example, the name Ragnarr declines as follows: Ragnarr, Ragnar, Ragnari, Ragnars, as seen in the saga title, Ragnars saga loðbrókar.

konungr

armr

skógr

hersir

sǫngr

endings

Sg nom

konungr

armr

skógr

hersir

sǫngr

-r

acc

konung

arm

skóg

hersi

sǫng

–

dat

konungi

armi

skógi

hersi

sǫngvi

-i

gen

konungs

arms

skógar

hersis

sǫngs

-s, -ar

Pl nom

konungar

armar

skógar

hersar

sǫngvar

-ar

acc

konunga

arma

skóga

hersa

sǫngva

-a

dat

konungum

ǫrmum

skógum

hersum

sǫngum

-um

gen

konunga

arma

skóga

hersa

sǫngva

-a

Transl.: armr ‘arm,’ skógr ‘forest,’ hersir ‘lord,’ sǫngr ‘song’

5.11 Strong Masculine Nouns. Variations Among Type 1

• Some Type 1 masculines have gen sg ending -ar: for example, skógr (gen skógar, ‘forest’), mundr (gen mundar, ‘brideprice’), grautr (gen grautar, ‘porridge’), sær (gen sævar, ‘sea’), and sjór (gen sjóvar, ‘sea’).

• About 20 Type 1 masculine nouns, such as hersir (nom pl hersar), hirðir (nom pl hirðar), and læknir (nom pl læknar), have a stem-final -i- which is lost if followed by a vowel in dat sg and all plural forms. We see this in names such as Grettir (dat Gretti, not *Grettí), Skírnir (dat Skírni), Rerir (dat Reri), and Ymir (dat Ymi).

• A few Type 1 masculines nouns, such as sǫngr (sg: sǫngr, sǫng, sǫngvi, sǫngs and pl: sǫngvar, sǫngvar, sǫngum, sǫngva) show stem-final -v- in some cases. Other words are hǫrr, már, sær, spǫrr, as well as the names Sigtryggr, Nǫrr, and Niðhǫggr. (Sǫngr is discussed in the next lesson with words whose stems end in -j- and -v-).

5.12 Masculine Type 1 Strong Nouns. Examples and the Special Stem Rules

As noted, the Special Stem Rules are operative throughout the language. Here are some examples for Type 1 masc nouns: sveinn ‘boy’ (also a male name, Sveinn) shows Rule 1 (-r change), while and otr ‘otter’ and karl ‘a male; old man’ exemplify Rule 2 (-r drop).

-r change

-r drop

sveinn

otr

karl

endings

Sg nom

sveinn

otr

karl

-l, -n, -s, –

acc

svein

otr

karl

–

dat

sveini

otri

karli

-i

gen

sveins

otrs

karls

-s, -ar

Pl nom

sveinar

otrar

karlar

-ar

acc

sveina

otra

karla

-a

dat

sveinum

otrum

kǫrlum

-um

gen

sveina

otra

karla

-a

Trans.: sveinn ‘boy,’ otr ‘otter,’ karl ‘man’

(For more on strong nouns type 1, including neuters and feminines, see the next lesson).

5.13 Exercise – Strong Nouns – Type 1 Masculine. Decline the strong masc nouns below: víkingr and hestr follow the pattern of konungr, jarl follows karl.

víkingr

hestr

jarl

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: hestr ‘horse/stallion,’ jarl ‘earl’

5.14 The Nouns Maðr and Sonr

Two of the most common nouns, maðr and sonr, are somewhat irregular. They are cognate with English man and son.

Maðr means ‘person,’ whether male or female, as well as ‘man.’ It is frequently used in compounds, such as landnámsmaðr ‘settler,’ farmaðr ‘trader,’ and þingmaðr ‘thingman,’ the follower of an Icelandic goði or chieftain.40 The -ð- in maðr is the result of a sound change in which -nn- changed to -ð- when followed by -r. Hence, the nom singular *mannr from Proto Norse became maðr in the Old Norse; in other cases the original -nn- was retained.41 Finally, in the nominative and accusative plural, the -a- in the stem changes to -e- through i-umlaut (see Lesson 6).

Sonr declines with a -y- in the dat sg (syni) and nom pl (synir). As mentioned in section 3.21 of Lesson 3, sonr drops the nom sg -r ending when used in patronymic and matronymic compounds: Egilsson (not *Egilssonr), Bárðarson, Droplaugarson.

maðr

sonr

egilsson

Sg nom

maðr

sonr

Egilsson

acc

mann

son

Egilsson

dat

manni

syni

Egilssyni

gen

manns

sonar

Egilssonar

Pl nom

menn

synir

Egilssynir

acc

menn

sona

Egilssona

dat

mǫnnum

sonum

Egilssonum

gen

manna

sona

Egilssona

5.15 Exercise – Maðr and Sonr. Decline maðr and sonr in the following sentences and translate. The case is provided for you in the column on the left.

Ex:

Þorsteinn hét     maðr

Menn          fara til Grœnlands

There was a man named Thorstein

Men travel to Greenland

Case

Singular

Plural

nom

1. Herjólfr hét

5.                                       gera brú þessa

acc

2. Þórgerðr sá

6. Þyri sá

dat

3. Hon bjó á Drepstokki með

7. Hon var með

gen

4. Hon gerði brú þessa fyr sálu

8. Þeir fara til

Ex:

Bjarni hét     sonr      Herjólfs

Synir hans  búa á Dreppstokki

Herjolf’s son was named Bjarni

His sons live at Dreppstokk

Case

Singular

Plural

nom

9.                   hans fór til Gr’nlands

13.            hans fóru til Gr’nlands

acc

10. Óláfr mælir við                   sinn

14. Ingólfr mælir við                sína

dat

11. Hann bjó á Drepstokki með                           sínum

15. Hann bjó á Drepstokki með                              sínum

gen

12. Hon var móðir                    hans

16. Móðir              hans hét Ásgerðr

5.16 The Verb ❖ Hafa, ‘Have’

As mentioned in 3.11, the weak verb hafa ‘to have’ is one of the ❖most frequent words in Old Norse. It belongs to the 4th conjugation but is irregular in the present singular because it shows i-umlaut (stem vowel -a- shifts to -e-). Manuscripts show two spelling variants in the present, depending on whether or not the singular shows an -i- in the ending. The more common usage is when -i- is not present, with hafa conjugating in the following manner:

singular

plural

1st

ek

hef

I have

vér

hǫfum

we have

2nd

þú

hefr

you have

þér

hafið

you have

3rd

hon

hefr

he/she/it has

þær

hafa

they have

When the -i- is present, hafa conjugates in the singular as follows: ek hefi; þú hefir; hann hefir.

• The past of hafa is regular. It is given in the next lesson in Section 6.8.

5.17 Two-Way Prepositions

Two-way prepositions take their object either in

accusative or dative

accusative or genitive

Accusative or Dative. ‘Two-way prepositions’ usually take their object in the accusative when they express motion (for example, moving into, onto, or toward something). In contrast, they usually take the dative when expressing static position or lack of motion: ‘walking about on a ship’ (rather than ‘onto’) or ‘standing on the deck.’

á

on, onto

of

over, for

eptir (ept)

after

um

around, about; across

fyrir (fyr)

before, in front of

undir (und)

under

í

in, into

við

against, toward, with

með

with

yfir

over

Accusative (motion)

Dative (static)

Hann gekk á skip.

Hann gekk á skipi.

He went onto a ship.

He walked about on a ship.

Hann gekk í húsit

Hann gekk í húsinu

He went into the house

He walked inside of the house

Hon gekk við vegginn.

Hon stóð við vegginum.

She walked toward the wall.

She stood against the wall.

Á and Við. In the accusative examples above, á, í, and við indicate motion toward something: a ship or a wall. Such situations require that the object of the preposition (skip, veggrinn) is in the accusative. In the dative examples above, á, í, and við indicate a stationary position with respect to the ship and the wall.’

Eptir employs the accusative when the meaning is temporal (after, in time or in memory of), and the dative when the meaning has to do with location (after, or along.) For example in the readings, King Gorm raised the monument ‘ept(ir) konu sína’ (acc; ‘in memory of his wife’), and Haraldr lúfa raids ‘suðr eptir landinu’(dat; position, ‘along the country/coast’).

Með (‘with’) usually takes its object in the accusative if it is a thing or person being brought, carried, or forced.

Þeir hljópu á brott með konur (acc) þeirra, lausafé (acc), ok bátinn (acc).

They ran off with their women, movable property, and the boat.

If the object of með is a person or thing and expresses accompaniment (being ‘with’ someone or something, with the understanding of no force), then the dative is mostly used. The dative is also used when the object of með is an instrument, such as a weapon.

Þórólfr var með konungi

Thorolf was with the king

Hann kvaddi menn til ferðar með sér

He asked men to go with him on a journey

Hann fór útan með honum

He went outside with him

Hann varði (verja) sik með sverði

He defended himself with a sword

Um normally involves motion and takes the accusative, for example, um skipit (acc) ‘around the ship,’ bera ǫl um eld (acc) ‘carry ale around/across the fire.’ However, when um is used in time expressions, it takes either accusative or dative depending on the meaning:

with accusative, the meaning is ‘during’ and a concrete period of time is referred to

sigla vestr um haf

to sail west across the sea

sat Egill heima um þingit

Egill remained/sat at home during the [entire] althing

with dative, the meaning is ‘by’ and a recurring, typical period of time is referred to

þakt með ísum um vetrum ok sumrum (dat)

covered with ice in/by winter and summer (i.e. every winter and summer)

Accusative or Genitive. Two-way prepositions ending in -an take accusative when expressing motion and genitive (not dative) when expressing static position.

handan

‘from the other side of’

ofan

‘above the surface of’

innan

‘from the inside’

útan

‘from the outside’

neðan

‘from below’

With accusative:

Hann kom útan fjǫrðinn (acc)

He came into the fjord (into the region)

With genitive42:

Hann stóð útan dyra (gen pl)

He stood outside the door

Þá orrostu átti Haraldr konungr síðast innan lands (gen)

That battle was the last one King Harald had inside the country (i.e. Norway)

When preceded by fyrir, prepositions ending with -an answer the question ‘place where’ and take the accusative case, for example:

Hann gaf henni bústað í Borgardal fyrir innan Álftafjǫrð

He gave her a farm in Borgardal within Alftafjord

fyrir ofan sjó

above the water

fyrir útan hús

outside or beyond the house

fyrir ofan garð

above the farm

fyrir neðan brú

below the bridge

Alone, fyrir takes acc or dat depending on motion.

5.18 Exercise – Two-Way Prepositions: Motion and (Static) Position. A. Complete the following sentences with the acc or dat form of the word in parentheses. Pay attention to motion or static position.

Ex:

(Ísland)

Hann ferr á         Ísland     .

Hann er á     Íslandi      .

1.

(garðr)

Ingolfr fór í                       .

Ingolfr var í                      .

2.

(Nóregr)

Vér fǫrum í                       .

Vér erum í                     .

3.

(brú)

Sigríðr ferr um                  .

Troll býr undir                 .

B. Complete the following sentences in the same way as above. The prepositions used here trigger either the acc for motion or the gen for static position, unless fyrir precedes another preposition.

1.

(eyin)

Þeir ganga                           handan.

Þeir búa                                        handan.

2.

(garðr)

Hestr kom útan                               .

Hestar eru útan                                        .

3.

(fjallit)

Menn kom neðan                           .

Menn stóðu fyrir neðan                          .

5.19 Reading – A Man of Moderation (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu)

Icelandic chieftains were called goðar (sg goði) or hǫfðingjar (sg hǫfðingi). They played the role of advocate and were supposed to uphold a standard of moderation, termed hóf. An individual who observed this standard was called a hófsmaðr, a person of justice and temperance. The opposite of a hófsmaðr was an ójafnaðarmaðr, an overbearing and aggressive person (ójafnaðr literally means ‘inequality’ or ‘unbalancedness’). The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue (Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu) describes the chieftain Thorstein Egilsson (Þorsteinn Egilsson) whose penchant for restraint was in marked contrast with the violent temperament of his father, the Viking warrior-poet Egil Skalla-Grimsson (Egill Skalla-Grímsson).

Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu (Ch. 1)

Þorsteinn hét maðr; hann var Egilsson, Skalla-Grímssonar, Kveld-Úlfssonar hersis ór Nóregi; en Ásgerðr hét móðir Þorsteins ok var Bjarnardóttir. Þorsteinn bjó at Borg í Borgarfirði; hann var auðigr at fé ok hǫfðingi mikill, vitr maðr ok hógværr ok hófsmaðr um alla hluti. Engi var hann afreksmaðr um vǫxt eða afl sem Egill,43 faðir hans, en þó var hann it mesta afarmenni44 ok vinsæll af allri alþýðu.

Vocabulary

❖af prep [w dat] of, by; off (of), out of, from

afarmenni n a big, strong, or powerful man

afl n physical strength

afreksmaðr m outstanding or exceptional man

❖allr <m acc pl alla, f dat sg allri, f ǫll, n allt> adj pron all, entire, whole

alþýða f all the people, the majority of the people, the public, the common people

at prep [w dat] at, in; as to, with respect to; on account of, by reason of; close to, around, by

❖auðigr <acc auðgan> adj rich, wealthy; auðigr at fé very wealthy

Ásgerðr <acc & dat Ásgerði, gen Ásgerðar> f Asgerd (personal name)

Bjarnardóttir f daughter of Bjorn (personal name)

Borg f (place name, meaning a line of straight steep cliffs) the farm name

Borgarfjǫrðr <dat Borgafirði> m (place name)

búa vb to live in a place, dwell; bjó (3sg past)

❖eða conj or

Egill <dat Agli, gen Egils> m Egil (personal name)

en þó adv nevertheless

❖engi <f engi, n ekki> indef pron no one, none, no

❖fé <gen fjár, gen pl fjá> n cattle, sheep; wealth, money

hersir <-is, -ar> m regional military leader in Norway; chieftain; lord

❖hlutr <-ar, -ir, acc pl hluti> m lot; thing

hófsmaðr m man of moderation

hógværr adj gentle

hǫfðingi <gen -ja, pl -jar> m leader; chieftain

inn, in, it art the

Kveld-Úlfsson m son of Kveld-Ulf (personal name), Kveld-Ulfr, Night-Wolf

mesta (wk n nom sg) superl adj from mikill most

❖mikill <f mikil, n mikit, comp meiri, superl mestr> adj big, tall, great; much, very

Nóregr (also Norvegr or Noregr) <-s> m Norway

❖ór (also úr) prep [w dat] out of, from

❖sem conj as

Skalla-Grímsson m the son of Skalla-Grim (personal name) ‘Bald-Grim’

um alla hluti in every way, in every respect

❖vinsæll adj beloved, popular

❖vitr <acc vitran> adj wise

vǫxtr <acc vǫxt, dat vexti, gen vaxtar, pl vextir, acc vǫxtu> m size, stature, growth; shape

Þorsteinn <-s> m Thorstein (personal name)

Translation

There was a man named Thorstein. He was the son of Egil, the son of Skalla-Grim, the son of Kveld-Ulf, a chieftain from Norway; and Thorstein’s mother was named Asgerd and was the daughter of Bjarni. Thorstein lived at Borg in Borg’s Fjord; he was very wealthy and a great leader, a wise man and gentle and a man of moderation in all respects. He was not an outstanding man in size or strength as Egil, his father. Nevertheless, he was a most strong and powerful man and popular among the people.

5.20 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 5. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

jarl

earl

sterkr

strong

hon

she, it

fjórir

four

faðir

father

ungr

young

allr

all

ferð

journey

víss

certain; wise

sumar

summer

vándr

bad

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

þykkja

to seem, think

eptir

after

ef

if

eiga

to own

vel

well

eða

or

láta

to let

upp

up

heita

to call; be named

síðan

then

Exercises

5.21 Readings. Give the gender, case, number, and English meaning of the underlined nouns from the Ramsund Runestone. When applicable, consider the prepositions that accompany the noun.

Sigríðr gerði brú þessa móðir Alreks dóttir Orms fyr sálu Hólmgeirs fǫður Sigrøðar búanda síns.

Noun

Gender

Case

Number

English

1.

Sigríðr

2.

brú

3.

móðir

4.

Alreks

5.

dóttir

6.

Orms

7.

sálu

acc

8.

Hólmgeirs

9.

fǫður

10.

Sigrøðar

11.

búanda

5.22 Readings. Put the words of the following sentences in proper order. Check your word order with the readings.

Ex: þessi / Haraldr / eptir / kumbl / gera / Gorm / bað / konungr

Haraldr konungr bað gera kumbl þessi eptir Gorm.

1. gerði / Hólmgeirs / brú / Sigríðr / fyr / þessa / sálu

2. móðir / Ásgerðr / Þorsteins / hét / Bjarnardóttir / var / ok

3. hǫfðingi / hann / mikill / fé / ok / auðigr / var / at

4. afreksmaðr / eða / Egill / afl / engi / vǫxt / var / sem / um / hann

5.23 Readings. Translate the following passage from the Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue.

Þorsteinn hét maðr; hann var

Egilsson, Skalla-Grímssonar,

Kveld-Úlfssonar hersis ór Nóregi;

en Ásgerðr hét móðir Þorsteins

ok var Bjarnardóttir.

5.24 Special Stem Rules. Give the stem of the following strong masc nouns and state the applicable rule. If no Special Stem Rule applies, write ‘n/a’ (not applicable).

Ex:

steinn (gen steins)

stein-               Rule 1 (r-Change)

vetr (gen vetrar)

vetr-                Rule 2 (r-Drop)

1.

hafr (gen hafrs)

2.

hamr (gen hams)

3.

morginn (gen morgins)

4.

hungr (gen hungrs)

5.

vagn (gen vagns)

6.

sveinn (gen sveins)

7.

sigr (gen sigrs)

8.

jǫtunn (gen jǫtuns)

9.

þegn (gen þegns)

10.

hagr (gen hags)

11.

angr (gen angrs)

5.25 Nouns. Decline the following Type 1 strong masc nouns. Hundr and fiskr decline like konungr, læknir like hersir, and hǫrr like sǫngr.

hundr

fiskr

læknir

hǫrr

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: hundr ‘dog,’ fiskr ‘fish,’ læknir ‘physician,’ hǫrr ‘flax, linen’

5.26 Sonr and Maðr. Identify the case and number of the nouns underlined in the following sentences from Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu.

Þorsteinn hét maðr; hann var Egilsson, Skalla-Grímssonar, Kveld-Úlfssonar hersis ór Nóregi.

1. maðr

2. Egilsson

3. Skalla-Grímssonar

4. Kveld-Úlfssonar

5. Nóregi

5.27 Prepositions.

A. Translate the following sentences.

1. Bjarni gekk á skip.

2. Ásgerðr gekk á skipi.

B. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate preposition: í, til, eptir, á, á milli

1. Haraldr konungr bað gera kumbl þessi                     Gorm fǫður sinn ok                      Þyri móður sína.

2. Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr ágætr                                     Nóregi.

3. Hann fór                          Íslands ok nam Miðfjǫrð ok Línakradal.

4. Hann var                                               skipi.

5. Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land                                      Vágs ok Reykjaness.

5.28 Verb review. Conjugate the verbs vera and hafa in the present tense.

vera

1.

Ek                                    kona Herjólfs.

4.

Vér                                              víkingar.

2.

Þú                                    kona Herjólfs.

5.

Þér                                              víkingar.

3.

Hon                                 kona Herjólfs.

6.

Þeir                                             víkingar.

hafa

7.

Ek                                                     skip.

10.

Vér                                                    skip.

8.

Þú                                                     skip.

11.

Þér                                                    skip.

9.

Hann                                                skip.

12.

Þeir                                                   skip.

5.29 Pronoun Review. Fill in the blanks with the correct pronouns.

Ex: Ingólfr gaf Herjólfi land.

Hann          gaf Herjólfi land. Ingólfr gaf         honum        land.

1. Herjólfr var frændi Alreks.

var frændi Alreks. Herjólfr var frændi                                                 .

2. Herjólfr fór til Gr’nlands með Eiríki.

fór til Gr’nlands með Eiríki. Herjólfr fór til Gr’nlands með                           .

3. Móðir Bjarna hét Þorgerðr. (Remember that Bjarni is a man’s name)

hét Þorgerðr. Móðir                                                            hét Þorgerðr.

4. Haraldr gerði kumbl eptir Gorm.

gerði kumbl eptir Gorm. Haraldr gerði kumbl eptir                                     .

5.30 Runic Script. Fill in the blanks below. The first line is done as an example.

Runic Script

Transliteration

Standardized Old Norse

Ex:

siriþr

Sigríðr

1.

2.

3.

4.

Hulmkirs

5.

6.

fur

7.

tutiR

5.31 Runic Script. Write your name and the names of three other people in runes.

Note on Runic spelling: Runic inscriptions are distant voices from a mostly oral past, and reading runes is not a precise science. Vowels are few and sketchy; rune carvers were not trained in a standard spelling; individual carvers or rune masters sounded words and letters out differently, and they came from different regions with varying local accents. It is difficult to know exactly how runes were pronounced. In some instances, the rune master or writer set an assistant to do the actual carving, and this worker may not have been able to read runes, thus making mistakes.

In transliterating runes, it is helpful to keep in mind Section 3.4, ‘Sounds of the 16 Letters of the Younger Futhark.’ The section discusses voiced and voiceless consonants. Note especially Figure 3.2 giving a list of Latin letter equivalents. Note that many of the Latin letters are not found in the Younger Futhark. When writing runes in English or other languages, experiment by pronouncing aloud first the rune and then the whole word. Viking Age rune masters followed the same process. They depended on their ear. Like people who sing, some rune carvers had a good ear and some not.

5.32 Genealogy. Beginning with Kveld-Úlfr, chart the genealogy in the reading passage from Gunn-laugs saga ormstungu by filling in the family tree below. The wife of Þorsteinn was Jófríðr and one of their children was Helga in fagra (Helga the Fair).

Kveld-Úlfr

— m —

— m —

Reading Chapter 1

From the Kings’ and Family Sagas

Figure RC 1.1. London Bridge Is Falling Down, Pulled Apart by Attacking Viking Ships. The passage below from Heimskringla, a history of the kings of Norway written in medieval Iceland, describes the destruction of the fortified bridge in 1013. The event, remembered in Britain, is the historical source of the children’s song.

Þá veit þat, er reynt er – Grettis saga

(Then it is known, when it is tested)

Longer Readings. This is the first of two ‘reading chapters.’ Both are drawn from the opening pages of Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader. As you advance through the coming lessons of Viking Language 1, we recommend you begin reading longer passages found in the VL 2 Reader. These longer readings include myths, runes, eddic poems, skaldic verse, and a complete saga. For your translations of these readings, see the Vocabulary at the rear of this book.

RC 1.1 Vikings Pull Down London Bridge

From The Saga of St. Olaf (Óláfs saga helga, Heimskringla)

Beginning in the year 1003, King Svein Forkbeard (Sveinn tjúguskegg Haraldsson) of - Denmark carries out a decade-long military campaign against Anglo-Saxon England. The goal is conquest, and during this long war, London bridge is pulled down. Vikings from different parts of Scandinavia participated in the Danish-led invasion of England. After years of war, England’s King Æthelred II the Unready (OE Æthelrēd unrǣd, ON Aðalráðr konungr ráðlausi) is defeated, and in 1013 he flees across the English Channel to Normandy.45

In Normandy, Æthelred acquires supporters, and, in order to return to England, he hires shiploads of mercenaries. Among the hired warriors are many Vikings. One is a young Norwegian leader named Olaf (Óláfr) Haraldsson. Known as Olaf the Stout (inn digri), he has already fought for several years with King Svein of Denmark against Æthelred. Olaf, who later becomes Norway’s king and then its patron saint, switches sides. He abandons King Svein and fights for King Æthelred against the Danes in return for a large payment of silver.

The passage below is from The Saga of St. Olaf (Óláfs saga helga) in Heimskringla. It describes Olaf’s actions in 1013, when he is leading a contingent of Vikings in Æthelred’s army. Æthelred, with Olaf’s men in the English army, attacks the Danish-Viking garrisons holding London (Lundún) and the nearby market town of Southwark (ON Súðvirki). These two walled towns lie across from each other on the Thames and are connected by a bridge (bryggja) that controls traffic on the river (today’s London Bridge is slightly upstream). The bridge, a formidable obstacle with fortifications built upon it, rests on timber pilings driven into the riverbed. When assaults on the walled towns fail, Olaf volunteers to attack the bridge with his ships. The Vikings cover their ships for protection from the defenders on the bridge above and succeed in loosening the bridge’s pilings.

Óláfs saga helga (Chs. 12-13) from Heimskringla

Aðalráðr konungr var mjǫk hugsjúkr, hvernug hann skyldi vinna bryggjurnar.46 Hann kallaði á tal alla hǫfðingja hersins ok leitaði ráðs við þá, hvernug þeir skyldi koma ofan bryggjunum.47 Þá segir Óláfr konungr, at hann mun freista at leggja til sínu liði,48 ef aðrir hǫfðingjar vilja at leggja. Á þeiri málstefnu var þat ráðit, at þeir skyldu leggja her sinn upp undir bryggjurnar. Bjó þá hverr49 sitt lið ok sín skip.

Translate:

Óláfr konungr lét gera flaka stóra af viðartaugum ok af blautum viði50 ok taka í sundr vandahús51 ok lét þat bera yfir skip sín svá vítt, at tók út af borðum.52 Þar lét hann undir setja stafi svá þykkt ok svá hátt, at bæði var hægt at vega undan53 ok ýrit stinnt fyrir grjóti, ef ofan væri á borit.54 En er herrinn var búinn, þá veita þeir atróðr neðan eptir ánni.55 Ok er þeir koma nær bryggjunum, þá var borit ofan á þá bæði skot ok grjót svá stórt, at ekki helt við, hvártki hjálmar né skildir, ok skipin meiddusk sjálf ákafliga.56 Lǫgðu þá margir frá.

Translate:

En Óláfr konungr ok Norðmannalið með honum røru allt upp undir bryggjurnar57 ok báru kaðla um stafina, þá er upp heldu bryggjunum, ok tóku þá58 ok røru ǫllum skipunum forstreymis,59 sem mest máttu þeir. Stafirnir drógusk með grunni,60 allt til þess er61 þeir váru lausir undir bryggjunum. En fyrir því at vápnaðr herr stóð á bryggjunum þykkt, þar var bæði grjót mart62 ok hervápn mǫrg, en stafirnir váru undan brotnir, bresta af því niðr bryggjurnar, ok fellr fólkit mart ofan á ána, en allt annat liðit flýði af bryggjunum, sumt í borgina, en sumt í Súðvirki.

Translate:

Eptir þat veittu þeir atgǫngu í Súðvirki ok unnu þat. En er borgarmenn sá þat, at áin var unnin, Temps, svá at þeir máttu ekki banna skipfarar upp í landit, þá hræddusk þeir skipfarar ok gáfu upp borgina ok tóku við Aðalráði konungi.

Translate:

RC 1.2 Chieftains and Families from Njal’s Saga

Icelandic Chieftains: The Opening Chapter of Njal’s Saga

Njal’s Saga begins with the following description of Mord the Fiddle (Mǫrðr gígja), a leader from the south of Iceland. Mord’s father is mentioned as well as the site of his family’s landholding at Vǫllr, located near the broad plains of Rangárvellir (Rang+ár+vellir, the Crooked River Plains) of southern Iceland. Heroes in most epic traditions are celebrated for valorous deeds, enemies slain, territories taken, and booty and slaves acquired. Mord made his mark not as a warrior but as a lawyer. His weapons, an extensive knowledge of law and judicial procedure and his ability to use them, was valued in Viking Age Iceland.63

Mord’s daughter Unn (Unnr) is unhappy in her marriage to Hrut (Hrútr), a well-born and successful farmer. Hrut is half-brother to the influential chieftain Hoskuld Dala-Kollsson (Hǫskuldr Dala-Kollsson). This Hoskuld is the father of the chieftain Ólaf the Peacock (Óláfr pái), who in a later section in this Reading Chapter, gives a hound to Gunnar of Hlíðarendi (Slope’s End).64

The first chapter of Njal’s Saga quickly shifts from describing Mord to introducing the chieftain Hoskuld Dala-Kollsson and his family in the Dales of the Broadfjord region in western Iceland. The saga alerts the reader to the coming change in scene with the formulaic phrase nú víkr sǫgunni ‘now the saga turns’ to describing the tension between Hoskuld and his half-brother Hrut over ‘thief’s eyes’ in the family.

Brennu-Njáls saga (Ch. 1)

Mǫrðr hét maðr, er kallaðr var gígja; hann var sonr Sighvats ins rauða; hann bjó á Velli á Rangárvǫllum. Hann var ríkr hǫfðingi65 ok málafylgjumaðr66 mikill ok svá mikill lǫgmaðr, at engir þóttu lǫgligir dómar dœmðir, nema hann væri við.67 Hann átti dóttur eina,68 er Unnr hét; hon var væn kona ok kurteis ok vel at sér, ok þótti sá beztr kostr á Rangárvǫllum.69

Translate:

Nú víkr sǫgunni vestr til Breiðafjarðardala.

Maðr er nefndr Hǫskuldr; hann var Dala-Kollsson. Móðir hans hét Þorgerðr ok var dóttir Þorsteins ins rauða, Óláfs sonar ins hvíta, Ingjaldssonar, Helgasonar; móðir Ingjalds var Þóra, dóttir Sigurðar orms-í-auga, Ragnars sonar loðbrókar. Uðr in djúpúðga var móðir Þorsteins rauðs, dóttir Ketils flatnefs, Bjarnar sonar bunu. Hǫskuldr bjó á Hǫskuldsstǫðum í Laxárdal.

Hrútr hét bróðir hans; hann bjó á Hrútsstǫðum. Hann var sammœðr við Hǫskuld; faðir hans var Herjólfr. Hrútr var vænn maðr, mikill ok sterkr, vígr vel ok hógværr í skapi, manna vitrastr, harðráðr við óvini sína, en tillagagóðr inna stœrri mála.70

Translate:

Þat var einu hverju sinni,71 at Hǫskuldr hafði vinaboð, ok þar var Hrútr, bróðir hans, ok sat it næsta honum.72 Hǫskuldr átti sér dóttur,73 er Hallgerðr hét. Hon lék sér á gólfinu við aðrar meyjar; hon var fríð sýnum ok mikil vexti ok hárit svá fagrt sem silki ok svá mikit, at þat tók ofan á belti.

Hǫskuldr kallar á hana: ‘Far þú hingat til mín,’ sagði hann. Hon gekk þegar til hans. Hann tók undir kverkina ok kyssti hana; síðan gekk hon í braut.

Þá rœddi Hǫskuldr til Hrúts: ‘Hversu lízk þér á mey þessa?74 Þykki þér eigi fǫgr vera?’75 Hrútr þagði við.76 Hǫskuldr innti til annat sinn.77

Hrútr svaraði þá: ‘Œrit fǫgr er mær sjá, ok munu margir þess gjalda;78 en hitt veit ek eigi, hvaðan þjófsaugu eru komin79 í ættir várar.’

Þá reiddisk Hǫskuldr, ok var fátt um með þeim brœðrum nǫkkura hríð.80

Brœðr Hallgerðar váru þeir Þorleikr, faðir Bolla, ok Óláfr, faðir Kjartans, ok Bárðr.

Translate:

Lesson 6

Sacral Kingship in Ancient Scandinavia

Figure 6.1. The Swedes Kill Their King, Domaldi.

Er mér úlfsins ván, er ek eyrun sé

(I expect a wolf when I see its ears)

6.1 Culture – The Ynglings in Sweden and Norway

Icelandic written sources contain considerable legendary history from Old Scandinavia. The first reading in this lesson is from The Saga of The Ynglings (Ynglinga saga), the opening section of Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, a history of the kings of Norway. Ynglinga saga is a mixture of mythic and legendary stories about the Ynglingar, a line of Swedish rulers who claimed descent from the fertility god Yngvi-Freyr, and the family took its name from this god. Although the Ynglings were from Sweden, its members formed alliances with families in other Scandinavian regions.

One branch of the Ynglings rose to prominence in Vík/Víkin, the region in southern Norway on both sides of the large outer bay at the seaward mouth of Oslo Fjord (see the map of Norway in Lesson 7). The second reading of this lesson tells of Halfdan the Black (Hálfdan svarti), an early member of the Norwegian Ynglingar. Halfdan started as a petty king ruling the small kingdom of Agder (Agðir). Through war and negotiation, he greatly increased the size of his kingdom until he became a powerful chieftain in Vestfold, the agriculturally rich and well-populated western shore region of Oslo Fjord with seagoing connections to Norway, Denmark, the Baltic, and Europe. Halfdan was the ancestor of Norway’s Viking Age kings, who called themselves Ynglingar.

6.2 Reading – A King Sacrificed for Better Harvests (Ynglinga saga)

The following passage from Heimskringla is about Domaldi, a Swedish Yngling king. It takes place during a severe famine in Sweden, which lasted over three autumns. The story is told according to a chronology involving it fyrsta haust ‘the first autumn,’ annat haust ‘the second autumn,’ and it þriðja haust ‘the third autumn.’

Ynglinga saga (Ch. 15)

Dómaldi tók arf eptir fǫður sinn, Vísbur, ok réð lǫndum. Á hans dǫgum gerðisk í Svíþjóð sultr ok seyra.81 Þá hófu Svíar blót stór at Uppsǫlum. It fyrsta haust82 blótuðu þeir yxnum, en batnaði ekki árferð. En annat haust hófu þeir mannblót, en árferð var sǫm eða verri. En it þriðja haust kómu Svíar fjǫlmennt til Uppsala at hefja blót. Þá áttu hǫfðingjar ráðagørð sína, ok kom þat ásamt með þeim,83 at hallærit stóð af Dómalda, konungi þeira, ok þat með,84 at þeir skyldu blóta honum ok veita honum atgǫngu ok drepa hann ok rjóða stalla með blóði hans, ok svá gerðu þeir.

Vocabulary

af prep [w dat] from, by

❖annarr <f ǫnnur, nom & acc sg annat> adj pron one of two, other, another; second

arfr <-s> m inheritance

at prep [w dat] at, in

❖at conj that

at inf marker ‘to’

atganga f attack

❖á prep [w acc] onto, on, towards (motion); with respect to; [w dat] on; upon; at; in (position)

árferð f season, harvest

ásamt adv together

áttu 3pl past of eiga

batna <-að-> vb to improve; impers [e-m] batnar one recovers

batnaði 3sg past of batna

blóð n blood

blót n sacrifice

blóta <-að> vb [w acc] to worship; worship with sacrifice; [w dat] sacrifice, sacrifice in worship

blótuðu 3pl past of blóta (wk vb)

❖dagr <dat degi, gen dags, pl dagar, dat dǫgum> m day

Dómaldi m Domaldi (personal name)

❖drepa <drepr, drap, drápu, drepinn> vb to slay, kill, smite

❖eða conj or

❖eiga <á, átti, áttr> pret-pres vb to own, have, possess; eiga ráðagørð take council

❖ekki adv not

fjǫlmennt adv in crowds, in large numbers

❖fyrstr <wk n acc sg fyrsta> superl adj of fyrri first

❖gera (also gøra) <-ði, -ðr~gerr> vb to make; do, act; gerask mid become, come to pass, occur, happen

gerðisk 3sg past mid of gera

gerðu 3pl past of gera

hallæri n famine; hallærit the famine

haust n autumn

hefja <hefr, hóf, hófu, hafinn> vb to heave up, lift up, raise; to begin, hold an event [hefja blót to hold sacrifices, begin the season of sacrifices]

hófu 3pl past of hefja

hǫfðingi <gen -ja, pl -jar> m leader; chieftain

❖í prep [w acc] into (motion); [w dat] in, within, at (position)

kom 1/3sg past of koma

❖koma <kemr~kømr, kom, kómu~kvámu, kominn> vb to come

kómu 3pl past of koma

mannblót n human sacrifice

❖með prep [w acc] with (in the sense of bringing, carrying, or forcing); [w dat] with (in the sense of accompanying or togetherness); með adv well, with it

❖ráða <ræðr, réð, réðu, ráðinn> vb [w dat] to advise, counsel; rule, govern, manage; réð lǫndum ruled over (his) lands

ráðagørð f council

réð 1/3sg past of ráða

rjóða <rýðr, rauð, ruðu, roðinn> vb to redden

❖samr <f sǫm, n samt> adj pron same

seyra f starvation, famine

❖sinn refl poss pron his, her, its own

sína f acc sg of sinn

❖skulu <skal, skyldi, past inf skyldu> pret-pres vb shall (obligation, purpose, necessity, fate); should

skyldu 3pl past of skulu

stalli m altar (heathen)

❖standa <stendr, stóð, stóðu, staðinn> vb to stand; standa af [e-u] be caused by [sth]

stóð 1/3sg past of standa

❖stórr <n acc pl stór> adj big

sultr <-ar> m hunger, famine

❖svá adv so, thus; so

Svíar m pl the Swedes

Svíþjóð f Sweden (place name)

sǫm see samr

❖taka <tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn> vb to take; taka arf inherit

tók 1/3sg past of taka

Uppsalir <dat pl Uppsǫlum, gen pl Uppsala> m pl Uppsala (place name)

uxi (also oxi) <acc, dat, & gen uxa, pl yxn~øxn, dat yxnum~øxnum, gen yxna~øxna> m ox

❖veita <-tti, -ttr> vb to grant, give, offer; assist; veita [e-m] atgǫngu attack [sb]

verri comp adj of illr worse

Vísburr <-s> m Visbur (personal name)

yxnum see uxi

❖þá adv then, at that time

þeir <acc þá, dat þeim, gen þeira~þeirra> pron they (m pl)

þriði <n acc sg þriðja> ord num third

Adjectives. This reading passage employs numerous adjectives, for example: annarr (‘second’ or ‘other’), fyrstr (‘first’), samr and sǫm (‘same’), stórr (‘big’), þriðja (‘third’), and verri (‘worse’). Review the adjectives in this reading. Keep in mind that adjectives agree with their noun in gender, case, and number. They can be weak or strong, depending on their use in the sentence in relation to the noun they modify.

Translation

Domaldi took [the] inheritance after [the death of] his father Visbur and ruled over [his] lands. In his days, there was hunger and starvation in Sweden. Then the Swedes held large sacrifices in Uppsala. The first autumn they sacrificed oxen, but the season did not improve. A second autumn they held human sacrifices, but the harvest was the same or worse. In the third autumn, the Swedes came in great numbers to Uppsala to make sacrifices. Then the chieftains held their council. And it was agreed among them that the famine was due to Domaldi, their king, and because of that, they should sacrifice him and attack him and kill him and redden the altars with his blood. And so they did.

6.3 Culture – The Temple at Uppsala and Human Sacrifice

Accounts of pagan religious practice survive in medieval Christian writings. A famous example comes from the German cleric Adam of Bremen. Writing ca. 1070, Adam described what he had heard of the temple at Uppsala in Sweden. This building, he reports, contained cult statues of gods similar to Thor, Odin, and Frey. Adam, who wrote in Latin, gives an account of a pagan festival, which a traveler described to him:

It is customary also to solemnize in Uppsala, at nine-year intervals, a general feast of all the provinces of Sweden. From attendance at this festival no one is exempt. Kings and people all and singly send their gifts to Uppsala and, what is more distressing than any kind of punishment, those who have already adopted Christianity redeem themselves through these ceremonies. The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads, with the blood of which it is customary to placate gods of this sort. The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple. Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed to be divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims. Even dogs and horses hang there with men. A Christian seventy-two years old told me that he had seen their bodies suspended promiscuously.

(Trans. Francis J. Tschan. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen)

Adam’s Christian viewpoint, education, and perhaps his imagination may have influenced his description. Nevertheless, from this and other sources, it seems clear that open-air blood sacrifice was a part of pagan Norse religious practice.

6.4 Strong Nouns – Type 1 Feminine and Neuter

Feminine. Most Strong Feminine Nouns Belong to Type 1

U-umlaut is an prominent feature in feminine nom, acc, and dat sg. U-umlaut in these nouns originated at a time in the language when -u existed as an ending. This -u ending was dropped before the Viking Age, but its effect remained on stems containing the vowel -a-, as in the words fǫr (stem far-, gen farar) and mǫn (stem man-, gen manar). Because the -a of the gen fem ending did not cause u-umlaut on the stem vowel -a, one can usually see in the original stem of these words in cases where the ending starts with -a, as for instance in fǫr (stem far-, gen farar). Another distinguishing feature of Type 1 feminines is the -ar ending in the nom and acc pl.

rún

fǫr

kerling

skel

ǫr

heiðr

endings

Sg nom

rún

fǫr

kerling

skel

ǫr

heiðr

–, -r

acc

rún

fǫr

kerling

skel

ǫr

heiði

–, -i

dat

rún

fǫr

kerlingu

skel

ǫr

heiði

–, -u, -i

gen

rúnar

farar

kerlingar

skeljar

ǫrvar

heiðar

-ar

Pl nom

rúnar

farar

kerlingar

skeljar

ǫrvar

heiðar

-ar

acc

rúnar

farar

kerlingar

skeljar

ǫrvar

heiðar

-ar

dat

rúnum

fǫrum

kerlingum

skeljum

ǫrum

heiðum

-um

gen

rúna

fara

kerlinga

skelja

ǫrva

heiða

-a

Transl.: rún ‘rune,’ fǫr ‘journey,’ kerling ‘old woman,’ skel ‘shell,’ ǫr ‘arrow,’ heiðr ‘heath’

The Large Majority of Type 1 Feminine Nouns Decline Like rún and fǫr

The bullets below note small distinctions among the different groups of nouns within Type 1 feminine nouns. Such distinctions (here as elsewhere) are largely due to the effect that different combinations of vowels and consonants have on pronunciation. (For the meanings of words, see the Vocabulary).

• Some Type 1 feminines, such as skel and ey, have stem-final -j-, which appear only before -a- and
-u-. Many feminine names, such as Signý (acc Signýju), belong here.

• Some Type 1 feminines, such as ǫr (see above), have stems which end with -v- (stem-final -v-), which appears only before -a- and -i-.

• Some, such as laug, ull, ey, hel, and those ending in -ing (kerling) and -ung (lausung) have the ending -u in the dat sg.

• Some, such as heiðr and hildr, have -r in the nom and -i in the acc and dat sg. Feminine names ending in -r decline like heiðr (Ásgerðr, Þorgerðr, Brynhildr, Gunnhildr, and Sigríðr). Names ending in -dís (‘goddess’) such as Freydís and Ásdís, have no -r in nom sg, but otherwise decline like Ásgerðr. Nouns like heiðr, but whose stems end in -k- or -g-, show stem-final -j- before -a- and -u-: ylgr (pl ylgjar), gýgr (pl gýgjar) and rygr (pl rygjar).

Neuter. Strong Neuter Nouns Are Always Type 1

Like the Type 1 feminines, Type 1 neuter nouns show the influence of u-umlaut, with u-umlaut appearing in the nom and acc pl, as in the word land (pl lǫnd). Note that Type 1 neuters and masculines decline similarly, except for the nom sg and nom and acc pl.

skip

land

herað

kyn

hǫgg

kvæði

Endings

Sg nom

skip

land

herað

kyn

hǫgg

kvæði

–, -i

acc

skip

land

herað

kyn

hǫgg

kvæði

–, -i

dat

skipi

landi

heraði

kyni

hǫggvi

kvæði

-i

gen

skips

lands

heraðs

kyns

hǫggs

kvæðis

-s, -is

Pl nom

skip

lǫnd

heruð

kyn

hǫgg

kvæði

–, -i

acc

skip

lǫnd

heruð

kyn

hǫgg

kvæði

–, -i

dat

skipum

lǫndum

heruðum

kynjum

hǫggum

kvæðum

-um

gen

skipa

landa

heraða

kynja

hǫggva

kvæða

-a

Transl.: skip ‘ship,’ land ‘land,’ herað ‘district,’ kyn ‘kin,’ hǫgg ‘blow,’ kvæði ‘poem’

Type 1 Strong Neuter Nouns Are Frequent and Fall into
Several Subcategories with Small Differences

• The majority decline like skip, land, and herað (‘district’). Some Type 1 neuters, such as kyn (‘kin, kindred’), have stem-final -j- (gen pl kynja). So also egg (‘egg’), men (‘necklace’), nef (‘nose’), and ský (‘cloud’): dat pl eggjum, menjum, nefjum, skýjum.

• Some, such as hǫgg (see above), have stem-final -v- (which appears before -a- and -i-). Bǫl, mjǫl, and smjǫr (dat sg smǫrvi). Others, like kvæð/kvæði (‘poem, song’) insert -i- before the endings (gen sg kvæðis) except in the dative and genitive plura. Words leyfi, ørendi, enni, and fylki are similar. Notice also that fylki and ríki have their roots end in -k- or -g- and so have stem-final -j-. For example: fylkjum, fylkja and ríkjum, ríkja.

• As mentioned earlier in the section 4.5 of Lesson 4 on u-umlaut, words of more than one syllable follow a distinct pattern: u-umlaut shifts -a- to -ǫ- in the first syllable (stressed) and -a- to -u- in following (unstressed) syllables. For example herað, pl heruð, skarlat, pl skǫrlut (‘scarlet-cloth’), and sumar, pl sumur (‘summer’).

6.5 Exercise – Strong Nouns – Type 1 Feminines and Neuters. Decline mǫn (feminine), nál (feminine), and bak (neuter).

mǫn

nál

bak

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: mǫn ‘mane,’ nál ‘needle,’ bak ‘back’

6.6 Weak Nouns

Weak nouns tend to be regular and have a simpler set of endings than strong nouns. They come in all three genders, but there is only one basic type. The following tables divide weak nouns according to their gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Weak Masculine Nouns

Weak masc nouns, for example: goði, hluti, and arfi always end in -i in the nom sg. The pl endings are identical to Type 1 masc strong nouns such as konungr (pl konungar). Some weak masc nouns, such as bryti, hǫfðingi, and vǫðvi have stems ending in -j- or -v-.

goði

hluti

arfi

bryti

vǫðvi

endings

Sg nom

goði

hluti

arfi

bryti

vǫðvi

-i

acc

goða

hluta

arfa

brytja

vǫðva

-a

dat

goða

hluta

arfa

brytja

vǫðva

-a

gen

goða

hluta

arfa

brytja

vǫðva

-a

Pl nom

goðar

hlutar

arfar

brytjar

vǫðvar

-ar

acc

goða

hluta

arfa

brytja

vǫðva

-a

dat

goðum

hlutum

ǫrfum

brytjum

vǫðum

-um

gen

goða

hluta

arfa

brytja

vǫðva

-a

Transl.: goði ‘chieftain,’ hluti ‘part,’ arfi ‘heir,’ bryti ‘bailiff,’ vǫðvi ‘muscle, tendon’

The weak masc noun uxi ‘ox,’ like English ‘oxen,’ is irregular in the plural:

Sg uxi, uxa, uxa, uxa; Pl yxn, yxn, yxnum, yxna

Weak Feminine Nouns

Weak feminine nouns are characterized by -u in most endings and show u-umlaut, for example saga~sǫgu. The gen pl ending is -na. Gen pl kvenna (from kona ‘woman’) is irregular.

saga

kona

kirkja

vǫlva

endings

Sg nom

saga

kona

kirkja

vǫlva

-a

acc

sǫgu

konu

kirkju

vǫlu

-u

dat

sǫgu

konu

kirkju

vǫlu

-u

gen

sǫgu

konu

kirkju

vǫlu

-u

Pl nom

sǫgur

konur

kirkjur

vǫlur

-ur

acc

sǫgur

konur

kirkjur

vǫlur

-ur

dat

sǫgum

konum

kirkjum

vǫlum

-um

gen

sagna

kvenna

kirkna

[unattested]

-na

Transl.: kirkja ‘church,’ vǫlva ‘seeress’

• The stems of some weak feminine nouns, such as kirkja and gyðja, end in -j-. Of these, only those with roots ending in -k- or -g- take -na in the gen pl (kirkna). The gen pl of all others with stem-final -j- is -a (gyðja).

• The stems of a few weak feminine nouns end in -v- (vǫlva, slǫngva). The gen pl of these nouns is unattested (i.e. no examples known from manuscripts or runic inscriptions).

Weak Feminine Nouns Ending in -i. A small but frequent group of weak feminine nouns ends in -i in all cases of the singular. Most denote abstract notions and have no plurals:

speki

reiði

elli

frɶði

endings

Sg nom

speki

reiði

elli

frœði

-i

acc

speki

reiði

elli

frœði

-i

dat

speki

reiði

elli

frœði

-i

gen

speki

reiði

elli

frœði

-i

Transl.: speki ‘wisdom,’ reiði ‘anger,’ elli ‘old age,’ frœði ‘knowledge’

Weak Neuter Nouns

Weak neuter nouns are few, and all take the ending -a in the singular. Most refer to parts of the body (auga, hjarta, lunga, eyra, nýra, and eista).

auga

hjarta

lunga

eyra

endings

Sg nom

auga

hjarta

lunga

eyra

-a

acc

auga

hjarta

lunga

eyra

-a

dat

auga

hjarta

lunga

eyra

-a

gen

auga

hjarta

lunga

eyra

-a

Pl nom

augu

hjǫrtu

lungu

eyru

-u

acc

augu

hjǫrtu

lungu

eyru

-u

dat

augum

hjǫrtum

lungum

eyrum

-um

gen

augna

hjartna

lungna

eyrna

-na

Transl.: auga ‘eye,’ hjarta ‘heart,’ lunga ‘lung,’ eyra ‘ear’

6.7 Exercise – Weak Nouns. Decline bardagi (m), gata (f), and eista (n).

bardagi (m)

gata (f)

eista (n)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: bardagi ‘battle,’ gata ‘path,’ eista ‘testicle’

6.8 Weak Verbs in the Past Tense have Dental Suffix

Past Tense Endings of Weak Verbs

Singular

Plural

1st

-a

-um

2nd

-ir

-uð

3rd

-i

-u

All weak verbs form their past tense by adding a suffix containing a dental consonant (-ð-, -d-, or -t-) to the verb’s root and a past tense ending (root + suffix + ending). For example: kall-að-a ‘I called,’ mæl-t-a ‘I spoke,’ tal-d-a ‘I counted,’ and vak-t-a ‘I woke.’ This suffix with -ð-, -d-, or -t- is called a dental suffix because it is pronounced by moving the tongue behind the upper teeth. All weak verbs share the same past tense endings, while the dental suffix varies (-ð-, -d-, or -t-).

Examples of the Four Weak Verb Conjugations in the Past

1st Conjugation 2nd Conjugation 3rd Conjugation 4th Conjugation

kalla

mæla

telja

vaka

Sg 1stt

ek

kallaða

mælta

talda

vakta

2nd

þú

kallaðir

mæltir

taldir

vaktir

3rd

hon

kallaði

mælti

taldi

vakti

Pl 1st

vér

kǫlluðum

mæltum

tǫldum

vǫktum

2nd

þér

kǫlluðuð

mæltuð

tǫlduð

vǫktuð

3rd

þær

kǫlluðu

mæltu

tǫldu

vǫktu

1st conjugation weak verbs insert the past tense dental suffix -að- before the endings (kall-að-i). The past endings -um, -uð, and -u trigger u-umlaut in the plural, changing -að- to -uð- (kǫll-uð-u). All other weak verbs add a dental suffix without a linking vowel (mæl-t-i, tal-d-i, vak-t-i).

• A few frequent 2nd conjugation weak verbs have irregular past tense stems. These are sœkja (3sg past sótt-i), þykkja (þótt-i), and yrkja (ort-i). Note that in English the same verbs, such as ‘seek’ (past ‘sought’) and ‘think’ (past ‘thought’), show similar irregularity. A similar pattern in English (of a differing present and past tense stem) can be seen in ‘work’ and the archaic past tense form ‘wrought’ (‘worked’).

• 3rd conjugation weak verbs often show vowel alternation between present and past. The two most common patterns are e-a (3sg pres of telja, telr; past taldi) and y-u (spyrja, spyrr; spurði).

• The past tense of the frequent 4th conjugation weak verb hafa is regular: ek hafða, þú hafðir, hann hafði, vér hǫfðum, þér hǫfðuð, þeir hǫfðu. See the earlier discussion of the irregular present tense of hafa in Lesson 5.

6.9 Exercise – Past Tense of Weak Verbs. Below are the infinitive forms of weak verbs from all four conjugations. Give the third person past in singular and plural. Remember i- and u- umlaut when applicable.

Infinitive

3sg past

3pl past

Infinitive

3sg past

3pl past

Ex:

hafa

hafði

hǫfðu

5.

þykkja

1.

segja

6.

svara

2.

mæla

7.

spyrja

3.

vilja

8.

ætla

4.

gera

9.

kalla

6.10 Verbs – Voice, An Introduction

Middle Voice Endings

Singular

Plural

1st

-umk

-im(s)k

2nd

-isk

-izk

3rd

-isk

-isk

Old Norse verbs show three voices: active, middle, and passive, and have different active and middle endings. The passive voice is usually expressed with a auxiliary verb and past participle. Voice indicates the role of the subject in the sentence.

Active Voice. Verbs with active endings indicate that the subject performs the action expressed by the verb. All verb endings and formations discussed up to this point in the book are active, and the readings contain many examples.

Veit ek at þú ert hǫfðingi mikill en bróðir þinn er mér ókunnigr.

I know that you are a great chieftain, but your brother is unknown to me.

Dómaldi réð lǫndum.

Domaldi ruled the lands.

Blótuðu þeir yxnum.

They sacrificed oxen.

Hófu þeir mannblót.

They held human sacrifices.

Middle Voice. A verb generally takes middle endings when the subject performs an action on or for him- or herself. This use of the middle is called reflexive, because the action reflects back on the subject. Although the middle voice in Old Norse centers on the reflexive, it also encompasses a range of related functions, such as the expression of reciprocal actions (actions performed by subjects on ‘each other’). See the discussion of Middle Voice in Lesson 14.

The middle voice is easily recognized by its distinctive endings. In the 1sg, the ending is -umk and in the 1pl -umk or -umsk. The 2nd and 3rd persons add -sk to the active endings. Middle voice constructions involve certain sound changes. As can be seen in the examples in the chart below, -r- drops before -sk (for example, gerir becomes gerisk). Here as elsewhere, ease of pronunciation comes into play. When a dental (-ð-, -d-, -t-) precedes -sk, the dental drops and -sk changes to -zk (for example, gerið becomes gerizk). The middle voice is very common in Old Norse. Below are examples from readings of this lesson.

Á hans dǫgum gerðisk sultr ok seyra í Svíþjóð (gerðisk, ‘made itself’, i.e. happened)

In his days there was (it came about) hunger and starvation in Sweden.

Beiddusk allir at hafa líkit með sér (beiddusk, ‘all asked for themselves’)

All asked to take the body for themselves.

En þeir sættusk svá, at líkinu var skipt í fjóra staði.

And they agreed among themselves in the following way, that is, that the body was
divided among four (different) places.

Active: gera

Middle: gerask

Present

Past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

geri

gerða

gerumk

gerðumk

2nd

gerir

gerðir

gerisk

gerðisk

3rd

gerir

gerði

gerisk

gerðisk

Pl 1st

gerum

gerðum

gerum(s)k

gerðum(s)k

2nd

gerið

gerðuð

gerizk

gerðuzk

3rd

gera

gerðu

gerask

gerðusk

The passive voice is used when the subject undergoes an action rather than performs it. The passive does not have a distinct set of endings but employs the auxiliary verb vera (also verða and hafa) with a past participle. The readings contain several examples.

Lík hans var flutt á Hringaríki.

His body was moved to Hringariki.

Var hǫfuðit lagit í haug at Steini,

The head was placed in a mound at Stein.

ok eru kallaðir Hálfdanarhaugar.

and [they] are called Halfdan’s mounds.

6.11 Exercise – Voice. Identify the underlined verbs and verb phrases as active, middle (reflexive), or passive.

Ex:

It fyrsta haust blótuðu þeir yxnum.

active

1.

Á hans dǫgum gerðisk sultr ok seyra í Svíþjóð.

2.

En it þriðja haust kómu Svíar fjǫlmennt til Uppsala at hefja blót.

3.

Hann hafði verit allra konunga ársælstr.

4.

Beiddusk allir at hafa líkit með sér ok heygja í sínu fylki.

5.

Hann herjaði í austrveg í Danmǫrk við Sjáland.

6.

En þeir sættusk svá, at líkinu var skipt í fjóra staði.

7.

En þeir sættusk svá, at líkinu var skipt í fjóra staði.

8.

Ok eru þat allt kallaðir Hálfdanarhaugar.

6.12 Culture – Snorri Sturluson and Heimskringla

Figure 6.2. Snorri Sturluson.

Both readings in this lesson come from Heimskringla, attributed to the Icelandic chieftain Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241). Heimskringa is a major source for Scandinavia’s early history, myth, and legend as well as a great work of literature.

The oldest, complete manuscript of Heimskringla dates from the seventeenth century. It was probably about this time that Heimskringla acquired its name. This name is an inversion of ‘Kringla heimsins,’ the opening words of Ynglinga saga, the first saga in this compilation. The Old Norse word may originally be a translation of Latin orbis terrarum, meaning ‘The Circle of the World.’ Ynglinga saga uses these words because it starts with a description of world geography (though limited to Norway) before tracing the lineage of the Yngling kings to their mythical origins.

Although we know a good deal about Snorri as one of the most powerful Icelandic chieftains of his time (he’s a major character in Sturlunga saga), the sources tell little about him as a writer. For this reason, it is not certain how much Snorri wrote of Heimskringla or of other texts often attributed to him. Perhaps Snorri, who was a rich man, supplied the vision for the work and commissioned writers whose work he oversaw. It seems likely that the majority of Heimskringla was written between the 1220s and 1230s.

Heimskringla consists of a short prologue and 16 individual sagas. The first, Ynglinga saga, begins in mythic times and traces the descent of the Norwegian kings from the gods down to Halfdan the Black (Hálfdan svarti), who is the focus of the second saga. The rest of the sagas are dedicated to individual kings, whose sagas are arranged chronologically according to their reigns. Heimskringla reveals the characters of the different kings through their actions. The work recounts history as collections of stories motivated by the personalities of the kings.

Heimskringla relies on several sources: skaldic verse, oral story, and written Icelandic and Norwegian sources. Snorri had the opportunity to collect local Norwegian and Swedish traditions when he visited Norway and to a lesser extent Sweden in 1218–1220. He would also have known stories of the kings told in Iceland. Of the probable written prose sources, several have survived. These include sagas and þættir contained in the manuscripts Morkinskinna (‘Rotten Skin’), Fagrskinna (‘Beautiful Skin’), and the Norwegian Ágrip af Nóregs konunga sǫgum (‘The Short History of the Kings of Norway’), as well as several additional Icelandic sagas. Snorri also incorporated into his work some 600 verses from over 70 skalds. Some of these poems, often a stanza or two, were used for dramatic effect. Others seem to have been the sole source for information about the episodes they describe. Without Heimskringla, our knowledge of the Viking Age, especially in Norway and Sweden, would be much diminished.

6.13 Reading – Halfdan the Black (Hálfdanar saga svarta, from Heimskringla)

The Saga of King Halfdan the Black (Hálfdanar saga svarta) is found in Heimskringla and Fagrskinna. Halfdan was a petty king in the Vík region of Southern Norway. He carved out a small kingdom on the Vestfold side of the Oslo Fjord in the mid-ninth century.

Halfdan was the son of Queen Asa, who may be connected with remains found buried in the Oseberg ship. This extensively carved royal ship was excavated in 1904 and is one of the two most complete ship burial sites in Norway. The other major ship burial is the Gokstad ship, also from the Oslo Fjord area.

From Halfdan came a great dynasty. His son was Harald Fairhair (Haraldr hárfagri), the king who is said to have conquered most of Norway in the late ninth century. The saga reports that Halfdan died unexpectedly at the age of 40 at the height of his power while returning from a feast. He and his entourage drowned when his sleigh fell through the ice of Lake Rand during a spring thaw.

The reading passage below relates that, upon Halfdan’s death, people from each of the four fylki (‘counties’ or ‘districts’) of his kingdom sought to have the king buried in their own region in order to secure the continued prosperity and fertility of future harvests. The account may be an echo of sacral kingship in Old Scandinavia. The solution was to divide the king’s body into four parts and build burial mounds in each region.

Hálfdanar saga svarta (Ch. 9)

Figure 6.3. King Halfdan’s Sleigh Falls Through the Ice.

Hann hafði verit allra konunga ársælstr. Svá mikit gerðu menn sér um hann, at þá er85 þat spurðisk, at hann var dauðr ok lík hans var flutt á Hringaríki ok var þar til graptar ætlat,86 þá fóru ríkismenn af Raumaríki ok af Vestfold ok Heiðmǫrk ok beiddusk allir at hafa líkit með sér ok heygja í sínu fylki, ok þótti þat vera árvænt þeim,87 er næði.88 En þeir sættusk svá, at líkinu var skipt89 í fjóra staði, ok var hǫfuðit lagit í haug at Steini á Hringaríki, en hverir fluttu heim sinn hluta ok heygðu, ok eru þat allt kallaðir90 Hálfdanarhaugar.

Vocabulary

❖allr <m nom pl allir, gen pl allra, f ǫll, n allt> adj pron all, entire, whole

allt adv completely; everywhere

❖á prep [w acc] onto, on, towards (motion); with respect to; [w dat] on; upon; at; in (position)

ársæll adj fortunate as to the seasonal harvest; allra konunga ársælstr of all kings the most harvest-fortunate

ársælstr superl of ársæll

árvænn <f árvæn, n árvænt> adj promising a good seasonal harvest

beiða <beiddi, beiddr> vb to ask, beg; beiðask mid ask for, request on one’s own behalf

beiddusk 3pl past mid of beiða

❖dauðr <f dauð, n dautt> adj dead

❖er rel particle who, which, that

❖fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb to go, travel

❖fjórir <m acc pl fjóra> num four

flutt moved, carried (ppart of flytja)

flytja <flutti, fluttr> vb to convey, move, carry

fóru 3pl past of fara

fylki n province

❖gera (also gøra) <-ði, -ðr~gerr> vb to make; do, act; gera sér mikit um [e-n] make much of or admire [sb]

graptar see grǫptr

grǫptr <dat grepti, gen graptar> m digging, burial

❖hafa <hef(i)r, hafði, haft> vb to have; hold, keep; take

haugr <-s, -ar> m burial mound

Hálfdanarhaugar m pl Halfdan’s Mounds

Heiðmǫrk f Heidmork (place name)

❖heim adv (to) home, homeward

heygja <-ði, -ðr> vb to bury in a mound

hluti m part

Hringaríki n Hringariki (place name)

hverir m nom pl of hverr

❖hverr <m nom pl hverir> indef pron each, every, all

❖hǫfuð <dat hǫfði, pl dat hǫfðum, gen hǫfða> n head; hǫfuð-it the head

kallaðir called (ppart of kalla)

lagit placed (ppart of leggja)

❖leggja <lagði, lagiðr~lagðr~laginn> vb to lay, place, put

lík n body; corpse; lík-it (acc), lík-inu (dat) the body

❖með prep [w acc] with (in the sense of motion: bringing, carrying, or forcing); [w dat] with (in the sense of accompanying or togetherness)

❖mikit adv greatly

ná <náir, -ði, nát> vb [w dat] to get, obtain

næði would get (3sg/pl past subjunct of ná)

Raumaríki n Raumariki (place name)

ríkismaðr m great man, prominent man, wealthy man, man of power

sér refl pron (dat) himself, herself, itself

skipt divided (ppart of skipta)

skipta <-ti, -tr> vb [w dat] to divide; share

spurðisk became known (3sg past mid of spyrja)

❖spyrja <spurði, spurðr> vb to ask; hear, hear of, learn, be informed of, find out

❖staðr <dat stað~staði, gen staðar, pl staðir, acc pl staði> m place

Steinn <-s> m Stein (place name), ‘Stone’

sætta <-tti, -ttr> vb to reconcile; make peace among; sættask mid come to terms, agree, be reconciled

sættusk 3pl past mid of sætta

❖vera <er; var, váru; verit> vb to be

verit been (ppart of vera)

Vestfold f Vestfold (place name)

þótti 3sg past of þykkja

❖þykkja <þykkir, þótti, þótt> impers vb to seem to be; [w dat subject] think, seem (to one)

❖ætla <-að-> vb to intend

ætlat intended (ppart of ætla)

Translation

Of all kings he had been the most fortunate with good harvests. Men admired him so much that when it was learned he was dead, and his body had been carried to Hringariki and was intended for burial there, prominent men traveled from Raumariki and from Vestfold and Heidmork [to Hringariki]. All asked to take the body for themselves to bury it in their own districts. It was thought to ensure good harvests for whoever obtained it. And they agreed among themselves that the body would be divided [see next section for details of this impersonal construction] among four places. The head was placed in a mound at Stein in Hringariki, and each [group of men] took home their [allotted] part [of Halfdan’s body] and buried it in a mound, and all [these mounds] are called Halfdan’s Mounds.

6.14 Impersonal Constructions: A First Look

Impersonal constructions are clauses that a) do not have a subject in the nominative case, or b) whose subject is only ´grammatical.’ Consider the English sentence, ‘It seems to me.’ In this sentence, ‘it’ serves as the grammatical subject, but despite being the subject, ‘it’ does not refer to the person to whom something ‘seems’: that person is referred to by ‘me.’ One function of impersonal constructions is to describe psychological states that happen to a person spontaneously as if without his or her conscious effort. For example: ‘it appears to me,’ ‘it occurred to him,’ and ‘it struck her.’ In Old Norse, the ‘logical subject’ of some of these constructions (‘me,’ ‘him,’ ‘her’ in the preceding examples) often takes the dative or accusative case, depending on the verb. For example: mér (dat sg) þykkir (‘methinks’ or ‘it seems to me’); mik (acc sg) grunar ‘I suspect.’ Notice there is no word in this sentence that is in the nominative. Nevertheless, the clause still has a word that denotes the actor, or experiencer – mér and mik, in the dative and accusative respectively.

In other instances, the word referring to a sentence’s subject may be altogether missing. Consider the following clause from the reading, líkinu var skipt í fjóra staði. The word líkinu is dat sg, but it is not the subject. It is the object of the verb skifta ‘to split or to separate.’ The ‘subject’ of this clause is in reality the men who cut Halfdan’s body into four parts, but they are not mentioned at all. They are only assumed. This is another type of impersonal construction. Such ‘assumed subject clauses’ are frequent in Old Norse. For more on impersonal constructions, see 11.13, 14.6, and 15.6.

6.15 More on Words with Stem Endings -j- and -v-

As mentioned earlier, some words, such as the noun sǫngr ‘song,’ the adjective ríkr ‘powerful/wealthy,’ and the verb telja ‘count’ have stems ending in -j- or -v- in certain forms. For example, sǫngva (gen pl), ríkjum (dat pl), and the verb teljum (1st pl pres) have stem-final -v- or -j-. At first glance, the presence or lack of stem-final -j- or -v- seems arbitrary, but historical linguistics tells us differently.

Noun

Adjective

Verb

fen

sekr

telja

m

f

n

Present

Sg nom

fen

sekr

sek

sekt

Sg 1st

tel

acc

fen

sekjan

sekja

sekt

2nd

telr

dat

feni

sekjum

sekri

sekju

3rd

telr

gen

fens

seks

sekrar

seks

Pl nom

fen

sekir

sekjar

sek

Pl 1st

teljum

acc

fen

sekja

sekjar

sek

2nd

telið

dat

fenjum

sekjum

sekjum

sekjum

3rd

telja

gen

fenja

sekra

sekra

sekra

sǫngr

fǫlr

þryngva

m

f

n

Past

Sg nom

sǫngr

fǫlr

fǫl

fǫlt

Sg 1st

þrǫng

acc

song

fǫlvan

fǫlva

fǫlt

2nd

þrǫngt

dat

sǫngvi

fǫlum

fǫlri

fǫlu

3rd

þrǫng

gen

songs

fǫls

fǫlrar

fǫls

Pl nom

sǫngvar

fǫlvir

fǫlvar

fǫl

Pl 1st

þrungum

acc

sǫngva

fǫlva

fǫlvar

fǫl

2nd

þrunguð

dat

sǫngum

fǫlum

fǫlum

fǫlum

3rd

þrungu

gen

sǫngva

fǫlra

fǫlra

fǫlra

Transl: fen ‘fen, swamp,’ sekr ‘outlawed,’ telja ‘to number, count,’ sǫngr ‘song,’ fǫlr ‘pale, fallow,’ þryngva ‘to press, squeeze’

For example: Old Norse ríkr and sǫngr do not show stem-final -j- or -v- in the nominative. However, stem-final -j- or -v- existed in the Proto-Norse nominative of these words, which would have looked like *sangwar and *rīkijar. The *-ija- suffix in *rīkijar helps to explain why a -j- appears in the Old Norse pl dat and gen of ríkr (ríkjum and ríkja). Because the Proto-Norse word added a suffix with -ja- or -wa- to its root, historical linguists categorize these words as ‘ja-stems’ and ‘wa-stems’ (note there are also -wō- and -jō-stems). Consider these two basic rules:

• Stem-final -j- precedes some endings which begin with -a and -u, for example segjum (1st pl), from segja.

• Stem-final -v- precedes some endings begining with -a and -i. Stem-final -v- also occurs before -u- when between two vowels (hávum, dat pl of hár ‘high’). As the letter f in Old Norse is read as /v/ if found between two vowels, stem-final -v- between vowels could also be spelled -f- (háfum).

In summary. While it disappeared from the Old Norse nominative, stem-final -j- or -v- persisted in other forms. Similarly, verb infinitives telja and syngva whose stems end in -j- or -v- also kept it.

6.16 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 6. ❖ Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

dóttir

daughter

langr

long

sik

him-/her-/ themselves

sex

six

þing

assembly

sárr

wounded

orð

word

hálfr

half

annarr

other; second

hestr

horse

vænn

beautiful

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

búa

to live, dwell; prepare

þó

nevertheless

hvárt

whether

sjá

to see

heim

(to) home

ríða

to ride

út

out

svara

to answer

frá

from

Exercises

6.17 Readings. Are the following statements true or false?

rétt eða rangt?

1.

Dómaldi tók arf eptir sonr sinn.

2.

Vísburr var faðir Dómalda.

3.

Var í Svíþjóð sultr ok seyra.

4.

Svíar blótuðu yxnum.

5.

Svíar blótuðu mǫnnum.

6.

Svíar áttu ráðagørð.

7.

Svíar blótuðu konungi.

6.18 Readings. Use the following words to complete the sentences.

réð haust sultr yxnum seyra blót þriðja

1. Dómaldi                                lǫndum.

2. Þá hófu Svíar                                stór at Uppsǫlum.

3. It fyrsta                                blótuðu þeir                               .

4. It                                haust kómu Svíar fjǫlmennt til Uppsala.

5. Var í Svíþjóð                                ok                               .

6.19 Vocabulary. Match each of these verbs with its English meaning by drawing a line between the two.

Ex:

vilja

to live

búa

to want

Verbs

1.

hefja

take

2.

flytja

sacrifice

3.

taka

hold; begin; raise

4.

blóta

bury in a mound

5.

ráða

carry, move

6.

heygja

advise, govern over

Nouns

1.

lík

attack

2.

haust

famine

3.

fylki

mound

4.

hallæri

altar

5.

sultr

province

6.

haugr

harvest

7.

atganga

hunger

8.

árferð

body

9.

stalli

autumn

6.20 Nouns. Decline the following Type 1 strong nouns:

Feminine. Skǫr and nál decline like fǫr, dǫgg like ǫr, and elfr like heiðr.

skǫr

nál

dǫgg

elfr

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl: skǫr ‘edge; male haircut,’ nál ‘needle,’ dǫgg ‘water drop; dew,’ elfr ‘river’

Neuter. Barn and þing decline like land, egg like kyn, and fylki like kvæði.

barn

þing

egg

fylki

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl: barn ‘child,’ þing ‘assembly,’ egg ‘egg,’ fylki ‘province’

6.21 Weak Verbs. Conjugate weak verbs kalla, mæla, telja, and vaka in the past tense.

conjugations

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

kalla

mæla

telja

vaka

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér

2nd

þér

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

6.22 I-Umlaut. Fill in the blanks in the chart below.

vowel

with i-umlaut

vowel

with i-umlaut

1.

a

>

5.

u

>

2.

á

>

6.

(j)ú / (j)ó

>

3.

o

>

7.

ǫ

>

4.

ó

>

8.

au

>

6.23 Identifying Weak Verb Conjugations. The infinitive and 3sg past are given below for ten weak verbs. Identify the conjugation of each, using the method discussed earlier in this lesson. Note the
-gg- in hyggja and leggja.

Ex:

svara, svaraði             1st

1.

gera, gerði

6.

hyggja, hugði

2.

s’kja, sótti

7.

horfa, horfði

3.

kaupa, keypti

8.

spyrja, spurði

4.

vilja, vildi

9.

skipa, skipaði

5.

þykkja, þótti

10.

leggja, lagði

6.24 Weak Verb Translations. Translate the following phrases. Note: they are in the past tense.

Old Norse

Ex:

I called (kalla).

ek kallaða

1.

They (f) said (segja).

2.

You (pl) raided (herja).

3.

We (dual) made (gera).

4.

He sacrificed (blóta).

5.

She answered (svara).

6.

They (m) carried (flytja).

7.

You (sg) intended (ætla).

8.

They (f) said (mæla).

6.25 Weak Verb Conjugations. Identify the person, number, and tense of each weak verb below.

Person, Number, Tense

Ex:

kǫllum

1 pl, pres

gerði

3 sg, past

1.

geri

2.

herjaði

3.

veittir

4.

blótuðu

5.

þegi

6.

leiðið

7.

setti

8.

tǫluðuð

9.

mælta

10.

spurðu

6.26 Weak Verb Hafa. Conjugate hafa.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér

2nd

þér

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

6.27 Voice. Identify the underlined verbs and verb phrases as active, middle or passive.

Ex: It fyrsta haust blótuðu þeir yxnum. active

1. Á hans dǫgum gerðisk sultr ok seyra í Svíþjóð.

2. En it þriðja haust kómu Svíar fjǫlmennt til Uppsala at hefja blót.

3. Hann hafði verit allra konunga ársælstr.

4. Beiddusk allir at hafa líkit með sér ok heygja í sínu fylki.

5. Hann herjaði í austrveg í Danmǫrk við Sjáland.

6. En þeir sættusk svá, at líkinu var skipt í fjóra staði.

7. En þeir sættusk svá, at líkinu var skipt í fjóra staði.

8. Ok eru þat allt kallaðir Hálfdanarhaugar.

6.28 Strong and Weak Nouns. On the model of strong and weak nouns presented in this lesson, decline the following six nouns: haugr, nál, mál, tími, vika, and eyra.

Strong

haugr (m)

nál (f)

mál (n)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: haugr ‘mound,’ nál ‘needle,’ mál ‘speech’

Weak

tími (m)

vika (f)

eyra (n)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: tími ‘time,’ vika ‘week,’ eyra ‘ear’

Reading Chapter 2

Njal’s Sons Defend Themselves. Gunnar’s Faithful Hound.

Figure RC 2.1. Icelandic Skin Manuscripts Were Meant to be Read. Many were treasured for their contents, and they continued to be read down into early modern times, a factor which helped their preservation. Some medieval manuscripts, such as this one, had simple illustrations, often drawing attention to capital letters. Others had no illustrations, which lessened the effort and expense of production. A number of Icelandic manuscripts were richly illustrated with scenes from sagas and daily life. Courtesy of Árni Magnússon Manuscript Institute, Reykjavík.

Hverir eigu hér leik svá ójafnan? – Njáls saga

(Who are here the players in so uneven a game?)

RC 2.1 Vikings Attack Njal’s Sons Off the Coast of Scotland

Njal’s Saga tells that Grim and Helgi, the sons of the Icelander Njal (Njáll), sail to Norway. In Norway, they take passage to the British Isles on a trading ship skippered by two merchants, Bard the Black and Olaf. After a violent storm, the merchants find themselves lost in a dense fog off the coast of Scotland. Suddenly, they see thirteen Viking ships sailing towards them. The merchants want to surrender to the Vikings, but Helgi shouts out ‘þat vilja kaupmenn at verja sik’ (‘the merchants choose to defend themselves’). The passage begins when more ships round a promontory and row toward them. The new ships turn out to be friendly. They come from the Hebrides and are commanded by one Kari Solmundarson. Later in Njal’s Saga, Kari marries Helgi and Grim’s sister before becoming the avenger in an Icelandic feud.

Brennu-Njáls saga (Ch. 84)

Í þessu91 varð þeim litit til hafs. Sjá þeir þar skip fara sunnan fyrir nesit ok váru eigi færi en tíu; þeir róa mikinn ok stefna at þangat; er þar skjǫldr við skjǫld.92 En á því skipi, er fyrst fór, stóð maðr við siglu; sá var í silkitreyju ok hafði gyldan hjálm, en hárit bæði mikit ok fagrt; sjá maðr hafði spjót gullrekit í hendi.

Translate:

Hann spurði: ‚Hverir eigu hér leik svá ójafnan?‘93

Helgi nefndi sik ok sagði, at í móti váru þeir Grjótgarðr ok Snækólfr.

‚En hverir eru stýrimenn?‘ sagði hann.

Helgi svaraði: ‚Sá heitir Bárðr svarti, er lifir, en annarr er látinn, er Óláfr hét, en bróðir minn heitir Grímr, er mér fylgir.‘

‚Eruð þit íslenzkir menn?‘ segir hann.

‚Svá er víst,‘ segir Helgi.

Translate:

Hann spurði, hvers synir þeir væri;94 þeir sǫgðu. Þá kannaðisk hann við ok mælti: ‘Nafnfrægir eruð þér feðgar.’

‘Hverr ertu?’ segir Helgi.

‘Kári heiti ek, ok em ek Sǫlmundarson.’

Translate:

‘Hvaðan komtu at?’ segir Helgi.

‘Ór Suðreyjum,’ segir Kári.

‘Þá ert þú vel at kominn,’ segir Helgi, ‘ef þú vill veita oss nǫkkut.’

‘Veita slíkt sem þér þurfuð,’ segir Kári, ‘eða hvers beiðizk þér?’

‘Veita þeim atlǫgu,’ segir Helgi.

Kári sagði, at svá skyldi vera.

Translate:

RC 2.2 Gunnar’s Faithful Hound, A Gift in Njal’s Saga

Culture – Gift Giving in the Sagas

The following passage from Njáls saga recounts an episode in which Gunnar of Hlíðarendi leaves the Althing and rides to visit his new brother-in-law, the chieftain Olaf the Peacock. On their parting, Olaf gives Gunnar a hound. The dog serves Gunnar faithfully.

Gift-giving occurs throughout the sagas. The three gifts (including the dog) that the chieftain Olaf the Peacock gives to Gunnar of Hlíðarendi in the reading passage below are an example. Gift giving plays a significant role in what anthropologists call a ‘prestige economy,’ in which the giving serves to elevate a person’s status and cement alliances. In Iceland, gifts of friendship (vingjafar, sg vingjǫf) were given and often demanded when a person embroiled in troubles was seeking support or strengthening alliances.

Formal exchanges of gifts often resulted in contractual friendship (vinfengi), a sort of political alliance, and put the giver in a position to expect reciprocity.95 Gifts were also used to reconcile disputes. In such cases, gift-giving helped to prevent contention, which might develop into blood feud. Gifts also could replace judicial fines in out-of-court settlements.

Among chieftains and kings, gift-giving and displays of hospitality increased stature and authority. Hosts, such as Olaf the Peacock in the next reading section, typically give gifts to their guests at parting. Feasts, and those who held them, were judged by displays of wealth and the quality of gifts. Generosity in gift-giving was a public virtue in Norse society. In the poetry, which was a means of announcing qualities, generosity is reflected in kennings such as ‘distributor of gold’ (gullmiðlandi) when referring to a particular king or leader.

Brennu-Njáls saga (Ch. 70)

Reið Gunnarr þá vestr af þingi til Dala96 í Hjarðarholt. Tók Óláfr pái vel við honum; sat hann þar hálfan mánuð. Hann reið víða um Dala, ok tóku allir honum fegins hendi.97 En at skilnaði mælti Óláfr: ‚Ek vil gefa þér þrjá gripi: gullhring ok skikkju, er átt hefir Mýrkjartan Írakonungr, ok hund, er mér var gefinn á Írlandi; hann er mikill ok eigi verri til fylgðar en rǫskr maðr.98 Þat fylgir ok, at hann hefir manns vit; hann mun ok geyja at hverjum manni, þeim er hann veit, at óvinr þinn er, en aldri at vinum þínum; sér hann ok á hverjum manni, hvárt honum er til þín vel eða illa;99 hann mun ok lífit á leggja at vera þér trúr. Þessi hundr heitir Sámr.‘ Síðan mælti hann við hundinn: ‚Nú skaltu100 Gunnari fylgja ok vera honum slíkr sem þú mátt.‘ Hundrinn gekk þegar at Gunnari ok lagðisk niðr fyrir f‘tr honum.101

Translate the above passage from Njal’s Saga and compare your translation with the following four translations below from over a span of 140 years. The translations are given chronologically, the oldest first. Styles and tastes change.

RC 2.3 Four Translations of the Faithful Hound Episode

Translation 1 (1861). George Webbe Dasent, Everyman’s Edition

Then Gunnar rode from the Thing west to the Dales, till he came to Hjardarholt, and Olaf the Peacock gave him a hearty welcome. There he sat half a month, and rode far and wide about the Dales, and all welcomed him with joyful hands. But at their parting Olaf said, ‘I will give thee three things of price, a gold ring, and a cloak which Moorkjartan the Erse king owned, and a hound that was given me in Ireland; he is big, and no worse follower than a sturdy man. Besides, it is part of his nature that he has a man’s wit, and he will bay at every man whom he knows is thy foe, but never at thy friends; he can see, too, in any man’s face, whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay down his life to be true to thee. This hound’s name is Sam.’

After that he spoke to the hound, ‘Now thou shalt follow Gunnar, and do him all the service thou canst.’

The hound went at once to Gunnar and laid himself down at his feet.

Translation 2 (1955). C. F. Bayerschmidt, New York University Press

Gunnar then rode west from the Assembly to the Dales as far as Hjardarholt, where he was well received by Óláf Peacock. He remained there half a month. During that time he rode around far and wide in the Dales and was welcomed wherever he came.

At his departure Óláf said: ‘I wish to give you three things of value: a gold ring, a cloak which once belonged to Mýrkjartan, the king of Ireland, and a dog which was given to me in Ireland. The dog is big and will stand you in as good stead as a strong man. Also, he has human intelligence and will bark at every man whom he recognizes as your enemy, but never at your friends, because he can tell from a man’s look whether he means you well or ill; he will lay down his life for you. Sám is the dog’s name.’

Then he spoke to the dog: ‘Now follow Gunnar and serve him in every way you can!’ The dog immediately went to Gunnar and lay down at his feet.

Translation 3 (1960). Magnus Magnuson and Hermann Pálsson, Penguin Classics

Gunnar then rode from the Althing west to the Dales, to Hjardarholt, where he was warmly welcomed by Olaf the Peacock. He stayed there for a fortnight; he rode all over the Dales, and was welcomed gladly wherever he went.

When they parted, Olaf said, ‘I want to give you three gifts: a gold bracelet, a cloak that once belonged to King Myrkjartan of Ireland, and a dog I was given in Ireland. He is a big animal, and will make as good a comrade-in-arms as a powerful man. He has human intelligence, and he will bark at every man he recognizes as your enemy, but never at your friends; he can tell from a man’s face whether he means you well or not. He would lay down his life rather than fail you. His name is Sam.’

Then he said to the dog, ‘Go with Gunnar and serve him as well as you can.’ The dog went to Gunnar at once and lay down at his feet.

Translation 4 (2002) Robert Cook, Penguin Classics

From the Althing Gunnar rode west to Hjardarholt in Dalir. Olaf Peacock gave him a good welcome, and he stayed there for half a month. He travelled widely around Dalir, and everybody welcomed him gladly.

At their parting, Olaf spoke: ‘I want to give you three gifts: a gold ring, a cloak which King Myrkjartan of Ireland once owned, and a dog which was given to me in Ireland — he is large and no worse as a companion than a strong man. Furthermore, he has the common sense of a man: he will bark at every man whom he knows to be your enemy, but never at your friends. He can also see in any man whether he means you well or ill, and he will lay down his life out of loyalty to you. The dog’s name is Sam.’

Then he said to the dog, ‘Go with Gunnar from now on and serve him the best you can.’

The dog went at once to Gunnar and lay down at his feet.

For further readings to complement the lessons, see Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader.

Lesson 7

Norway’s Harald Fairhair and His Son Eirik Bloodaxe

Figure 7.1. The Sea Battle at Hafrsfjord. Sea battles were often fought as floating land battles. Ships of allies were tied together, and men moved from one ship to another. Here, King Harald meets his opponents in the battle at Hafrsfjord in Western Norway.

Illt er at fljúga fjaðralauss

(It is a bad idea to fly featherless)

7.1 Culture – Harald Fairhair

The Icelandic sources tell us that Harald Fairhair (Haraldr hárfagri) was the son of Halfdan the Black and a member of the Norwegian Yngling dynasty. Harald began his career as a chieftain. He ruled a series of small, separated kingdoms which his father had acquired in Vestfold in the Vík region (see Víkin on the map in this lesson). In the 860s, Harald began the conquest of all Norway.

According to the sagas, Harald vowed not to cut or wash his hair until he attained his goal, and Icelandic sources often refer to him as Harald Shaggyhair (Haraldr lúfa). After his conquest, in which he seems to have brought under his control a large part of the southern coastal region of Norway, Harald had his hair cut and washed, and he was then called ‘Fairhair’ (hárfagri).

7.2 Reading – Harald Fights for the Throne (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar)

At the time of Harald’s conquest, Norway was divided into chieftaincies and petty kingdoms. Harald conquered many of these previously independent entities. Harald’s final victory came at Hafrsfjord (ca. 885-890) in Southwestern Norway, where he and his allies defeated the combined fleet of the remaining opponents. Many Icelandic sagas begin with Harald’s story, and according to Grettir’s Saga (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar) in the passage below, Harald’s enemies were led by Kjotvi the Wealthy (Kjǫtvi inn auðgi), Thorir Long Chin (Þórir haklangr), and King Sulki (Súlki konungr).

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (Ch. 2)

Þenna tíma102 var ófriðr mikill í Nóregi; brauzk þar til ríkis Haraldr lúfa, sonr Hálfdanar svarta; hann var áðr konungr á Upplǫndum. Síðan fór hann norðr í land ok átti þar margar orrostur, ok hafði hann jafnan sigr. Herjaði hann svá suðr eptir landinu ok lagði undir sik, hvar sem hann fór; en er hann kom upp á Hǫrðaland,103 kom í móti honum múgr ok margmenni. Váru þar formenn: Kjǫtvi inn auðgi ok Þórir haklangr ok þeir Suðr-Rygirnir ok Súlki konungr.104 Fundr þeira Haralds konungs varð á Rogalandi, í firði þeim, er heitir í Hafrsfirði.

Vocabulary

❖áðr adv before; already

átti 3sg past of eiga

brauzk 3sg past mid of brjóta

brjóta <brýtr, braut, brutu, brotinn> vb to break, break up/open; brjótask til ríkis to fight for power

❖eiga <á, átti, áttr> pret-pres vb to own, possess

en er conj but when

❖eptir prep [w dat] after, for; along; eptir landinu along the coast

❖er rel particle who, which, that; conj when; where

❖fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb to go, travel; move

firði see fjǫrðr

fjǫrðr m fjord

formaðr m leader, chieftain

fór 1/3sg past of fara

❖fundr <-ar, -ir> m meeting, encounter; discovery

❖hafa <hef(i)r, hafði, haft> vb to have; hold, keep

Haraldr lúfa m Harald Shaggyhair (personal name)

Hafrsfjǫrðr m Hafrsfjord (place name, hafr ‘buck, a male goat’); í Hafrsfirði in Hafrsfjord

Hálfdan svarti m Halfdan the Black (personal name)

herja <-að-> vb to raid, harry; make war

❖hvar interrog adv where; hvar sem wherever

Hǫrðaland n Hordaland (place name)

jafnan adv always; constantly; equally

Kjǫtvi inn auðgi m Kjotvi the Wealthy (personal name)

kom 1/3sg past of koma

❖koma <kemr~kømr, kom, kómu~kvámu, kominn> vb to come

❖leggja <lagði, lagiðr~lagðr~laginn> vb to lay, place, put; leggja undir sik conquer

lúfa f rough, thick, matted hair; original nickname for Haraldr hárfagri [Fairhair]

margmenni n multitude, many men

❖margr <f mǫrg, f acc pl margar, n margt~ ~mart> adj [w sg] many a; [w pl] many

❖móti (also á móti and í móti) prep [w dat] towards; against, contrary to

múgr <-s, -ar> m crowd

norðr adv north, northward

orrosta f battle

ófriðr <-ar> m war, strife; lit un-peace, unrest

ríki <dat pl ríkjum, gen pl ríkja> n power; realm; kingdom

Rogaland n Rogaland (place name)

❖sá <f sú, n þat> dem pron that (one)

sigr <-rs> m victory

sik [undir sig ‘under himself’] refl acc pron him-/her-/it-/oneself, themselves <dat sér, gen sín>

❖síðan adv then

suðr adv south, southward

Suðr-Rygirnir m pl South Rogalanders

Súlki konungr m King Sulki (personal name)

❖svá adv so, thus; such; then; so (denoting degree)

tími m time

❖undir prep [w acc/dat] under, underneath

❖upp adv up

Upplǫnd n pl uplands, highlands (place name)

varð 1/3sg past of verða

❖verða <verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn> vb to become; happen, take place

þeim dat sg of sá

þenna see þessi

❖þessi <m acc sg þenna> dem pron this, these

Þórir haklangr m Thorir Longchin (personal name)

Translation

Figure 7.2. Viking Age Norway (Nóregr).

At this time, there was great strife in Norway. Harald Shaggyhair, the son of Halfdan the Black, was fighting his way to power. He was previously a king in the Uplands. Then he went north into the country, and there he had many battles and always had victory. He then raided south along the land and conquered wherever he went. But when he came up into Hordaland, all and sundry [lit. ‘a crowd and a multitude’] rose against him. The leaders there were Kjotvi the Wealthy and Thorir Longchin and King Sulki and his South Rogalanders. The battle [lit. ‘meeting’] between them and King Harald took place in Rogaland, in the fjord which is called Hafrsfjord.

7.3 Common Old Norse Prefixes and Examples

al-

‘quite,’ ‘very’

al-búinn ‘quite ready;’ al-snotr ‘very clever’

all-

‘all,’ ‘very’

all-valdr ‘all-ruler, monarch;’ all-harðr ‘very hard;’ all-stórum ‘greatly’

and-

‘against’

and-lit ‘countenance’ (líta, ‘look’), and-svar ‘answer’

fá-

‘few’

fá-máligr/fá-málugr ‘few worded’ (máligr/málugr, ‘talkative’)

fjǫl-

‘many’

fjǫl-menni ‘multitude’ (maðr)

mis-

‘mis-’

mis-líka ‘experience displeasure’

ó- (ú-)

‘un-’

ó-happ ‘misfortune’ (happ ‘luck’)

7.4 Culture – Harald Fairhair

Sources about Harald, all of which were written centuries after his death, suggest that he pursued his goals with intelligence and ruthlessness. He obtained an alliance with Hakon, the Earl of Lade (Hákon Hlaðajarl), the powerful northern ruler of the Trondelag (Þrœndalǫg/Þrándheimr region, Modern Norwegian Trøndelag/Trondheim). The alliance secured both ends of a lucrative coastal trade route between Vestfold and Þrándheimr. Together the allies subdued West Norway, the west-facing coastal fjord region that lay between them and whose Vikings preyed upon the rich trade moving north and south along the coast. According to Icelandic sources, many of the settlers to Iceland came from this West Fjord region.

Harald and his northern allies relied on substantial sea power. Their efforts culminated in their decisive victory at Hafrsfjord (Hafrsfjǫrðr) in West Norway. Although Icelandic sagas refer to Harald as ruler of all Norway, his control over Norway’s inland and northern regions was weak.

The cohesiveness of Harald fairhair’s mostly coastal realm did not last long after his death in the 930s. In becoming king of Norway, Harald set a pattern for later Norwegian kings. After Harald’s death, dynastic struggles among his many heirs and conflict with the rival dynasty of the northern earls of Lade resulted in violent power struggles that lasted into the thirteenth century.

The negative prefix ó- gives the opposite meaning to a word. It has the same function as un- in English. Hence, ófriðr (from friðr, ‘peace’) literally means ‘un-peace’ and can be translated as ‘strife’ or ‘war’. Consider the following examples:

- óvinr

‘un-friend’

enemy

- ólifi

‘un-life’

death

- óþýðr

‘un-amiable’

unfriendly

Figure 7.3. The Negative Prefix ó-.

7.5 The Middle/Reflexive Pronoun Sik

When referring back to the subject of a sentence, whether masc, fem, or neuter, Old Norse employs a special pronoun – the 3rd person reflexive pronoun sik. The reflexive meaning of sik makes it similar to the 3rd person possessive pronoun sinn (discussed in sections 3.17 and 3.18). Grammatically (that is from the point of view of grammar=language structure), sik behaves like other personal pronouns, such as 1st person ek, 2nd person þú, and 3rd person hann. Sik is unique in that is has identical forms for both sg and pl: sik, sér, sín (acc, dat, gen), as well as in having no nominative case form (meaning it can never be used as a subject of the sentence). Like ek and þú, sik does not distinguish gender: sik, sér, and sín are used for all three genders and could mean, depending on context, ‘himself,’ ‘herself,’ ‘itself,’ or ‘themselves.’ Compare the following:

Helgi hafði hann í brott.

Helgi sent him [a person who was mentioned before, not Helgi] away.

Helgi hafði sik í brott.

Helgi went away [lit. Helgi made himself (go) away].

Mennirnir fengu þeim skip.

The men procured a ship for them [other persons mentioned before].

Mennirnir fengu sér skip.

The men procured a ship for themselves.

Ásgerðr fór heim til hennar.

Asgerd went home to her [a different woman mentioned before].

Ásgerðr fór heim til sín.

Asgerd went home [i.e. to her own home].

Notice again: sik is unique among pronouns in that it does not have a nominative case form.

Personal Pronouns ek and þú

Reflexive pronoun sik

Sg nom

ek

þú

–

acc

mik

þik

sik

dat

mér

þér

sér

gen

mín

þín

sín

7.6 Exercise – Pronoun Usage. Choose the Old Norse equivalent, a) or b), to translate the English sentences.

1.

I have given myself a name.

a) Þeir hafa gefit mér nafn.

b) Ek hefi gefit mér nafn.

2.

King Gorm made a monument for himself.

a) Gormr konungr gerði sér kumbl.

b) Gormr konungr gerði oss kumbl.

3.

Hrafnkel had a great temple built for himself.

a) Hrafnkell lét gera þér hof mikit.

b) Hrafnkell lét gera sér hof mikit.

7.7 Personal Pronoun Declensions: A Review

The following is a review of Sections 3.13, 3.15, and 7.5, and the chart below is a comprehensive overview of the Old Norse personal pronouns. Mik, mér, mín mean either ‘me’ or ‘myself,’ and þik, þér, þín ‘you (sg)’ or ‘yourself.’ Likewise oss, oss, vár mean either ‘us’ or ‘ourselves,’ and yðr, yðr, yð(v)ar ‘you (pl)’ or ‘yourselves.’

Hann sér mik.

He sees me.

Ek sé mik.

I see myself.

Hon sér þik.

She sees you.

Þú sér þik.

You see yourself.

Personal Pronouns (Singular, Dual, and Plural)

1st

2nd

3rd

M

F

N

Reflexive

Sg

nom

ek

þú

hann

hon

þat

—

acc

mik

þik

hann

hana

þat

sik

dat

mér

þér

honum

henni

því~þí

sér

gen

mín

þín

hans

hennar

þess

sín

Dual

nom

vit

þit~it

—

—

—

—

acc

okkr

ykkr

—

—

—

sik

dat

okkr

ykkr

—

—

—

sér

gen

okkar

ykkar

—

—

—

sín

Pl

nom

vér

þér~ér

þeir

þær

þau

—

acc

oss

yðr

þá

þær

þau

sik

dat

oss

yðr

þeim

þeim

þeim

sér

gen

vár

yð(v)ar

þeir(r)a

þeir(r)a

þeir(r)a

sín

7.8 Strong Nouns – Type 2

Type 2 of the four types of strong nouns includes masculines and feminines but no neuters. A distinctive feature of this group is the -ir ending in the nom pl of both masc and fem nouns.

Masculine. The principal difference between Type 1 and Type 2 mascline is that Type 1 has -a- in the nom and acc pl (konungar, konunga) while Type 2 has -i- (staðir, staði). Also, Type 2 masculines usually lack dat sg -i.

staðr

vinr

gestr

elgr

bœr

endings

Sg nom

staðr

vinr

gestr

elgr

bœr

-r

acc

stað

vin

gest

elg

bœ

–

dat

stað

vin

gesti

elg

bœ

–,-i

gen

staðar

vinar

gests

elgs~elgjar

bœjar~býjar

-ar, -s

Pl nom

staðir

vinir

gestir

elgir

bœir

-ir

acc

staði

vini

gesti

elgi

bœi

-i

dat

stǫðum

vinum

gestum

elgjum

bœjum

-um

gen

staða

vina

gesta

elgja

bœja

-a

Transl.: staðr ‘place,’ vinr ‘friend,’ gestr ‘guest,’ elgr ‘elk,’ bœr ‘farmstead’

• Some Type 2 masc strong nouns have gen sg ending -ar, some -s; a few use both. For example: bekkr (‘bench’), gen bekks or bekkjar.

• Some have stem-final -j- (bœr, bœjum).

Feminine. Type 2 feminine nouns have -ir in the plural, where Type 1 have -ar. These nouns show u-umlaut in the nom, acc, and dat sg when the stem contains -a-. Some Type 2 feminines, such as jǫrð and borg, have the ending -u in the dat sg. Nevertheless, most follow the declension of ǫxl, hǫfn, and norn, shown below. Note that the -i- of the pl ending does not cause i-umlaut. For example axlir, hafnir, and jarðir.

ǫxl

hǫfn

norn

jǫrð

borg

endings

Sg nom

ǫxl

hǫfn

norn

jǫrð

borg

–, -r*

acc

ǫxl

hǫfn

norn

jǫrð

borg

–

dat

ǫxl

hǫfn

norn

jǫrðu

borgu

–, -u

gen

axlar

hafnar

nornar

jarðar

borgar

-ar

Pl nom

axlir

hafnir

nornir

jarðir

borgir

-ir

acc

axlir

hafnir

nornir

jarðir

borgir

-ir

dat

ǫxlum

hǫfnum

nornum

jǫrðum

borgum

-um

gen

axla

hafna

norna

jarða

borga

-a

Transl.: ǫxl ‘shoulder,’ hǫfn ‘harbor,’ norn ‘Norn,’ jǫrð ‘earth,’ borg ‘a dome-shaped hill; castle’

*The -r ending in Type 2 feminine nouns was mostly obsolete in early Old Norse, but some words like nauðr (‘distress, need’), brúðr (‘bride’), and vættr (‘creature’ or ‘wight’) retained the -r ending.

7.9 Exercise – Type 2 Strong Nouns.

Decline the masculines hugr (like staðr), svanr (like gestr) as well as the feminines þǫkk (like ǫxl), hǫll (like jǫrð).

hugr (m)

svanr (m)

þǫkk (f)

hǫll (f)

Sg nom

hugr

svanr

þǫkk

hǫll

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: hugr ‘mind,’ svanr ‘swan,’ þǫkk ‘thanks,’ hǫll ‘hall’

Manuscripts show some nouns declining as both Type 1 and 2, and for these nouns both forms probably existed in the spoken language. For instance, the dative of staðr in some texts is stað and in others staði. Similarly, gestr shows alternate dative forms gest and gesti, skógr (‘forest’) has skógi and skóg, and vegr (‘way, road’) has vegi and veg.

In the plural, hvalr (‘whale’) is either hvalar or hvalir, and sǫk (‘a legal case; prosecution, accusation’) sakar or sakir. In some instances, there is a chronological sequence. For example, dalr (‘dale’ or ‘valley’) is dal (with dali attested in the oldest texts) and dalar or dalir in the plural (with dalir in Modern Icelandic).

7.10 Nouns Whose Stems End in a Long Vowel

A few common nouns, such as mór, skór, á, brú, bú, and tré have stems that end in a long vowel. These nouns can be masc, fem, or neuter. When a case ending is added which begins with a vowel, such as -ar or -um, the vowel of the ending is often dropped. For example: á + ar becomes ár (‘rivers’) and skó + -um (dat pl) becomes skóm.

mór (m)

skór (m)

á (f)

brú (f)

bú (n)

tré (n)

Sg nom

mór

skór

á

brú

bú

tré

acc

mó

skó

á

brú

bú

tré

dat

mó

skó

á

brú

búi

tré

gen

mós

skós

ár

brúar

bús

trés

Pl nom

móar

skúar~skór

ár

brúar~brúr~brýr

bú

tré

acc

móa

skúa~skó

ár

brúar~brúr~brýr

bú

tré

dat

móm

skóm

ám

brúm

búm

trjám

gen

móa

skúa~skóa

á

brúa

búa

trjá~tréa

Transl.: mór ‘moor,’ skór ‘shoe,’ á ‘river,’ brú ‘bridge,’ bú ‘farm,’ tré ‘tree’

7.11 Reading – Eirik Bloodaxe Receives a Ship (Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar)

Figure 7.4. Ships Riding at Anchor in a Fjord. The sails of the two ships on the right have been taken down and used as tents for the crew in the harbor.

In the following passage from Egil’s Saga, Prince Eirik Bloodaxe (Eiríkr blóðøx), the favorite son of King Harald Fairhair, admires a ship owned jointly by two companions, the Icelander Thorolf Skalla-Grimsson and the well-born Norwegian Bjorn Brynjolfsson. The companions see an opportunity to gain favor with the future king of Norway.

Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar (Ch. 36)

Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn hǫfðu karfa,105 er reru á borð tólf menn eða þrettán,106 ok hǫfðu nær þrjá tigu manna;107 skip þat hǫfðu þeir fengit um sumarit í víking; þat var steint mjǫk fyrir ofan sjó ok var it fegrsta. En er þeir kómu til Þóris,108 fengu þeir þar góðar viðtǫkur, ok skipit flaut tjaldat fyrir bœnum.109

Þat var einn dag, er þeir Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn gengu ofan til skipsins. Þeir sá, at Eiríkr konungsson var þar. Hann gekk stundum á skipit út, en stundum á land upp. Hann stóð þá ok horfði á skipit.

Þá mælti Þórólfr: ‘Vandliga hyggr þú at skipinu, konungsson; hversu lízk þér á?’

‘Vel,’ segir hann, ‘skipit er it fegrsta,’ segir hann.110

’Þá vil ek gefa þér skipit,’ sagði Þórólfr, ’ef þú vill þiggja.’111

’Þiggja vil ek,’ segir Eiríkr.

Vocabulary

at conj that

á prep [w acc] onto; with respect to

borð n side of a ship (larboard and starboard); á borð on each side

bœr (also bær) <gen b’jar~býjar, pl bœir, dat bœjum, gen bœja> m farm, farmhouse, farmstead; landed estate; fyrir bœnum at/by the farmstead

❖dagr <dat degi, gen dags, pl dagar> m day

❖einn <f ein, n eitt, ord fyrstr ‘first’> num one; indef pron a, an, a certain one

en conj and, but

❖er rel particle who, which, that; conj when; where

❖fagr <f fǫgr, n fagrt, comp fegri, superl fegrstr> adj beautiful, fair, attractive

❖fá <fær, fekk, fengu, fenginn> vb to get, take, procure; fá góðar viðtǫkur receive good welcome

fegrstr superl adj of fagr; it fegrsta the most beautiful

fengit ppart of fá

fengu 3pl past of fá

flaut 1/3sg past of fljóta

fljóta <flýtr, flaut, flutu, flotinn> vb to float; skipit flaut the ship floated (at anchor)

fyrir ofan prep [w acc] above

❖ganga <gengr, gekk, gengu, genginn> vb to walk; go; ganga til go up to, go toward

❖gefa <gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn> vb to give, grant

gekk 1/3sg past of ganga

gengu 3pl past of ganga

❖góðr <f góð, f acc pl góðar, n gott; comp betri, superl beztr> adj good

hersir <-is, -ar> m regional military leader in Norway; chieftain

horfa <-ði, horft> vb to turn, look (in this or that direction); horfði á skipit he looked at the ship

❖hversu adv how

hyggja <hugði, hugðr~hugaðr> vb to think, believe; vandliga hyggr þú at skipinu you carefully consider the ship

karfi m fast, coastal rowing ship

❖koma <kemr~kømr, kom, kómu~kvámu, kominn> vb to come

kómu 3pl past of koma

konungsson m prince

líta <lítr, leit, litu, litinn> vb to look; mid lítask [e-m] appear (seem) to [sb]; hversu lízk þér á? How do you like [it]?

lízk 3sg pres mid of líta

❖mjǫk adv much, very

❖mæla <-ti, -tr> vb to say, speak

❖nær adv almost, nearly

❖ofan adv from above, down; downwards

reru 3pl past of róa

róa <rœr, røri~reri, røru~reru, róinn> vb to row

❖segja <sagði, sagt> vb to say

sáu 3pl past of sjá

❖sjá <sér, sá, sá(u), sénn> vb to see, look

sjór <gen sjóvar~sjófar> m sea; fyrir ofan sjó above the waterline

❖skip n ship; skip-it (nom & acc), skipi-nu (dat), skips-ins (gen) the ship

❖standa <stendr, stóð, stóðu, staðinn> vb to stand

steina <-di, -dr> vb to paint (cf. English ‘stain’)

steint ppart of steina; steint mjǫk fully painted

stóð 1/3sg past of standa

stundum ... stundum conj sometimes ... sometimes, at times ... at times

❖sumar <pl sumur> n summer; um sumarit in the summer

tjalda <-að-> vb to pitch a tent

tjaldat ppart of tjalda tented; with its awning up

❖tólf <ord tólfti ‘twelfth’> num twelve

❖upp adv up; á land upp up onto land

❖út adv out; á skipit út out onto the ship

vandliga adv carefully

❖vel adv well

viðtaka f reception

❖vilja <2/3sg pres vill, vildi, viljat> vb to wish, want

vill 2/3sg pres of vilja

víking f raid; í víking on a raid

þiggja <þiggr, þá, þágu, þeginn> vb to accept

Þórólfr <-s> m Thorolf (personal name)

þrettán num thirteen

þrír tigir <m acc pl þrjá tigu> num thirty

Translation

Thorolf and Bjorn had a fast ship, which twelve or thirteen men rowed on a side, and they had a crew of nearly thirty [of] men. They had gotten the ship in the summer on a raid. It was fully painted down to the waterline and was the most handsome [ship]. And when they came to Hersir Thorir’s home, they received there a good reception, and the ship floated [at anchor] [with its sail] tented [as an awning] just off the farmstead.

It was one day, when Thorolf and Bjorn went down to the ship. They saw that Prince Eirik was there. He went first out onto the ship and then up onto land. He stood then and looked at the ship.

Then Thorolf spoke, ‘You are carefully considering the ship, prince; How does it please you?’

‘Well,’ says he, ‘the ship is extremely beautiful.’

‘Then I want to give you the ship,’ said Thorolf, ‘if you are willing to accept it.’

‘I will accept it,’ says Eirik.

7.12 Culture – Eirik Bloodaxe – A Viking King in England

Figure 7.5. The ‘Axed-Man of Mosfell’ excavated in the Hrísbrú graveyard in the Mosfell Valley is among the closest we will come to a native speaker of Old Norse. This man, in his mid-forties, was found close to the eastern wall of the small stave (wooden) church chancel. The grave shaft was about 8 meters distance from the front door of the Mosfell chieftains’ long house. Reflecting the violence of feuding described in the sagas, this man died of head wounds from an axe or sword. Isotopic analysis of his tooth enamel showed that he was reared as a young child in Iceland, and was probably born in Iceland. Radiocarbon dating places his death in the latter half of the 10th century or in the early 11th. (Jesse Byock, Mosfell Archaeological Project)

Eirik Bloodaxe succeeded Harald in the early 930s. Eirik began his reign by sharing the throne with two of his brothers, but he subsequently killed them both, gaining his nickname. Despite his renown as a warrior, Eirik’s cruelty earned him many enemies. Around the year 936, Eirik’s half-brother, Hakon the Good (Hákon góði), drove Eirik out from Norway. Eirik sailed to England, where in 948 the English Archbishop of York, Wulfstan I112 and Viking settlers in Northumbria asked Eirik to be king of York (Jórvík). At the time, the town was in Viking hands, but the English King Eadred drove Eirik out within the year. York was a great prize, and next Olaf Sigtryggsson (called Amlaíb mac Sitriuc in Irish), the Irish-Norse king of Dublin, took control of Jórvik. But Olaf too was expelled, and Eirik regained York in 952.

Viking success in England often relied on local support, and Eirik’s fortunes faded when Eadred arrested Archbishop Wulfstan. In 954 Eirik was again toppled from his shaky throne. That same year, he was ambushed while crossing the Pennine Mountains and fell at the battle of Stainmore. Norse power in the north of England now waned, and King Eadred assumed control of York and Northumbria.

7.13 Reading – Cruel King, Cunning Wife, Promising Children (Haralds saga ins hárfagra)

This passage from The Saga of King Harald Fairhair in Heimskringla gives a memorable description of the young royal pair, Eirik Bloodaxe and his wife Gunnhild.

Haralds saga ins hárfagra (Ch. 43)

Eiríkr var mikill maðr ok fríðr, sterkr ok hreystimaðr mikill, hermaðr mikill ok sigrsæll, ákafamaðr í skapi, grimmr, óþýðr ok fálátr. Gunnhildr, kona hans, var kvenna fegrst,113 vitr ok margkunnig, glaðmælt ok undirhyggjumaðr mikill ok in grimmasta.114 Þau váru bǫrn þeira Eiríks ok Gunnhildar:115 Gamli var ellstr, Guthormr, Haraldr, Ragnfrøðr, Ragnhildr, Erlingr, Guðrøðr, Sigurðr slefa. Ǫll váru bǫrn Eiríks fríð ok mannvæn.

Vocabulary

❖allr <f ǫll, n allt, n nom & acc pl ǫll> adj pron all, entire, whole

ákafamaðr m aggressive man

barn <pl bǫrn> n child

Eiríkr m Eirik (personal name)

ellstr superl of gamall

Erlingr <-s> m Erling (personal name)

❖fagr <f fǫgr, n fagrt, comp fegri, superl fegrstr> adj beautiful, fair, attractive

fálátr adj silent, reserved, taciturn

fegrstr <f fegrst, n fegrst> superl of fagr

❖fríðr <f fríð, n frítt, n nom pl fríð> adj beautiful, handsome, fine

❖gamall <acc gamlan, f gǫmul, n gamalt, comp ellri, superl ellstr> old; ellstr oldest

Gamli m Gamli (personal name), Old One

glaðmæltr adj cheerful in speech

grimmastr superl of grimmr

grimmr adj cruel, savage; severe, stern; in grimmasta the severest (f nom sg wk superl)

Guðrøðr <-s> m Gudrod (personal name)

Gunnhildr f Gunnhild (personal name)

Guthormr <-s> m Guthorm (personal name)

hermaðr m a warrior

hreystimaðr m a valiant man, champion

❖kona <gen pl kvenna> f wife; woman

kvenna gen pl of kona

mannvænn <n nom pl mannvæn> adj promising

margkunnigr adj skilled in magic

óþýðr adj unfriendly; intimidating

Ragnfrøðr <-s> m Ragnfrod (personal name)

Ragnhildr <acc & dat Ragnhildi, gen Ragnhildar> f Ragnhild (personal name)

sigrsæll adj victorious, lucky in battle

Sigurðr slefa m Sigurd the Slobberer (personal name)

skap n state, condition; temper, mood

slefa f slobber, slobberer (nickname)

❖sterkr adj strong

undirhyggjumaðr m guileful or deceitful person

❖vitr <f vitr, n vitrt> adj wise

ǫll see allr

Translation

Eirik was a big and handsome man, strong and valiant, a great and victorious warrior, impetuous by nature, cruel, unfriendly and taciturn. Gunnhild, his wife, was the most beautiful of women, wise and skilled in magic, cheerful in speech, a great deceiver, and the most savage. These were the children of them, of Eirik and of Gunnhild: Gamli was the oldest, Guthorm, Harald, Ragnfrod, Ragnhild, Erling, Gudrod, and Sigurd the Slobberer. All Eirik’s children were handsome and promising.

At this point, the English translations and accompanying vocabularies for the Old Norse reading passages and proverbs end. See the full Vocabulary at the rear of the book.

7.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 7. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

nótt

night

verðr

worthy

hinn

the other

fimm

five

tíðindi

news, tidings

líkr

alike

hverr

each, every; who?

fundr

meeting

vitr

wise

lið

following, troops

harðr

hard

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

spyrja

to ask; learn

hér

here

bæði

both

biðja

to ask; tell

mjǫk

very

mega

may

þegar

at once

fá

to get, obtain

ór

out of, from

Exercises

7.15 Reading Comprehension. Based on the second reading decide whether the following state-ments are true or false.

rétt eða rangt?

1.

Þórólfr kom á skip.

2.

Eiríkr er konungr.

3.

Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn váru víkingar.

4.

Þórólfr gaf Eiríki skip.

5.

Eiríkr vill (wants) þiggja skipit.

6.

Bjǫrn er konungsson.

7.

Konungsson hyggr vandliga at skipinu.

8.

Bjǫrn horfði á skipit.

9.

Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn gengu eigi ofan til skipsins.

10.

‘Skipit er it fegrsta,’ sagði Bjǫrn.

7.16 Reading Comprehension. Read the short passage below and give the case, number, and gender for each of the underlined nouns.

Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn hǫfðu karfa, er reru á borð tólf menn eða þrettán, ok hǫfðu nær þrjá tigu manna; skip þat hǫfðu þeir fengit um sumarit í víking; þat var steint mjǫk fyrir ofan sjó ok var it fegrsta. En er þeir kómu til Þóris, fengu þeir þar góðar viðtǫkur, ok skipit flaut tjaldat fyrir bœnum.

Þat var einn dag, er þeir Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn gengu ofan til skipsins. Þeir sá, at Eiríkr konungsson var þar, hann gekk stundum á skipit út, en stundum á land upp, hann stóð þá ok horfði á skipit.

Noun

Gender

Case

Number

Ex:

skipi

neuter

dative

singular

1.

borð

2.

menn

3.

sjó

4.

viðtǫkur

5.

konungsson

6.

land

7.17 Review – Reflexive Pronoun. Complete the following sentences with the correct pronoun.

1. Hann hafði                                                                                      í brott (He got himself away).

2. Hann hafði                                                                í brott (He got him [someone else] away).

3. Hann fekk                                                                                           skip (He got himself a ship).

4. Hann fekk                                                                     skip (He got him [someone else] a ship).

7.18 Infinitives. Give the infinitives of the following verbs.

Ex:

váru

vera

1.

sagði

5.

gerði

9.

hyggr

2.

hǫfum

6.

fór

10.

vill

3.

fluttu

7.

nam

11.

kómu

4.

var

8.

hét

12.

reru

7.19 Strong Nouns Type 1. Decline heimr (m) ‘world,’ fǫr (f) ‘journey,’ and land (n).

heimr (m)

fǫr (f)

land (n)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

7.20 Strong Nouns Type 2. Decline fundr (m) ‘meeting’ and ferð (f) ‘journey.’

fundr (m)

ferð (f)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

7.21 Weak Nouns. Decline goði (m) ‘chieftain,’ saga (f) ‘story,’ and hjarta (n) ‘heart.’

goði (m)

saga (f)

hjarta (n)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

7.22 Verbs. Change the underlined words from singular to plural and rewrite the sentences accord-ingly. Remember: verbs must agree with their subjects, sg or pl.

Singular

Plural

Ex:

Hann hyggr at skipi.

Þeir hyggja at skipum

1.

Ek horfi á skip.

2.

Þú gerðir brú.

3.

Hon kallar at manni.

4.

Víkingr herjaði land.

5.

Ek mælta við hana.

6.

Maðr hugði at konungi.

7.23 Sentence Completion. Complete the sentences with the following words.

sála fara með segja hafa til vera hǫfðingi vilja gera brú

1. ‘Skipit er it fegrsta,’                                                                                    hann. (present tense)

2. Vér                                                                                                  gefa þér skipit. (present tense)

3. Þeir                                                                                                 fengit skip í víking. (past tense)

4. Þorsteinn                                                                                   mikill ok auðigr at fé. (past tense)

5. Hon                                                           fyr                                               Hólmgeirs. (past tense)

6. Ek                                                     Íslands                                                          Eiríki. (past tense)

7.24 Review: The Two Special Stem Rules (Alveolar). Give the stem for each of the following strong masc nouns, and state the applicable Special Stem Rule (from Lesson 5). Remove the ending of the gen sg to find the stem for each noun. If no Special Stem Rule applies, write ‘N/A.’

Ex:

steinn (gen steins)

stein-                    Rule 1 (r-Change)

1.

vinr (gen vinar)

2.

otr (gen otrs)

3.

jǫkull (gen jǫkuls)

4.

fugl (gen fugls)

5.

hváll (gen hváls)

6.

ofn (gen ofns)

7.

íss (gen íss)

8.

hafr (gen hafrs)

9.

fundr (gen fundar)

10.

kjóll (gen kjóls)

11.

fleinn (gen fleins)

12.

gísl (gen gísls)

7.25 Review: Prepositions. Give the correct forms of the nouns in parentheses and translate.

1.

Hann gekk á                                                                                                                                 (skip) út.

2.

Sigríðr bjó hjá                                                                                                                                    (jarl).

3.

Haraldr konungr fór til                                                                                                              (Nóregr).

4.

Ingólfr bjó á milli                                                   (Vágr) ok                                               (Reykjanes).

5.

Elfráðr inn ríki (Alfred the Great) var konungr í                                                                 (England).

6.

Bǫðvarr gekk móti                                                                                                                            (dýr).

Note: the neuter noun dýr ‘beast’ declines like land.

Lesson 8

Harald hardradi in Constantinople

Figure 8.1. Harald Hardradi’s Probable Route after St. Olaf’s Defeat at Stiklastad (Stiklastaðir) in 1030 and his later journey to Sicily. Many Norse merchants and warriors traveled to Constantinople (Miklagarðr) from the Baltic Sea, following these river routes.

Frændr eru frændum verstir

(Kinsmen are the worst to kinsmen)

8.1 Culture – Harald and the Varangians

The Norse referred to Constantinople as Miklagarðr116, meaning ‘the great city.’ The name is formed from mikill ‘great, large’ and garðr (‘enclosure,’ cognate with English ‘yard’). The word garðr is also found in Old Norse mythological place names such as Ásgarðr (home of the Æsir gods), Miðgarðr (‘Middle Enclosure,’ often called Middle Earth), and Útgarðr (‘Outer Enclosure,’ the home of the giants), and is used in the Old Norse name for Constantinople because it was a walled city.

Harald Sigurdsson Hardradi (Haraldr Sigurðarson harðráði) was the most famous Norse traveler to Constantinople. A descendent of Harald Fairhair, he ruled as king of Norway from 1045 to 1066, but his ascent to the throne was not easy. Heimskringla, other Icelandic writings, and a Greek chronicle recount his exploits and rise to kingship.

Harald’s half-brother was Saint Olaf Haraldsson, king of Norway beginning in 1015. Olaf’s reign ended in 1028 when the Danish King Canute took the throne of Norway. When Olaf attempted to regain his kingdom in 1030, he was killed at the Battle of Stiklastad (ON Stiklastaðir, Modern Norwegian Stiklestad). At the age of fifteen, Harald Hardradi fought alongside his half-brother. After Olaf was killed, Harald, although wounded, escaped across the mountains into Sweden.

For the next fifteen years, Harald lived in exile. He went first to Sweden; then crossing the Baltic (ON Eystrasalt), he sailed south up the rivers into what is today Russia and Ukraine. There he served in the army of Jaroslav the Wise, the Prince of Kiev (ON Kænugarðr). Jaroslav was a member of the Norse-Slavic Rurikid dynasty. Harald quickly rose to distinction and was promised Elizabeth, Jaroslav’s daughter. Before the marriage, Harald set off with 500 warriors for Constantinople, the capital of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire (also called the Eastern Roman Empire). There he offered his service to Emperor Michael IV. (Norsemen called the Greek emperor stólkonungr, ‘throne king.’) Michael reigned with his powerful wife, Empress Zoe, and they accepted Harald and his men into their service.

In the Byzantine Empire, as well as in what was to become Russia, Scandinavians were called Varangians (ON Væringjar, sg Væringi). The name means ‘men of the pledge’ and comes from the ON várar (pl), ‘pledges’ or ‘oaths.’ The term was applied to the companies of merchants and warriors who vowed to stand together (a pledge of fellowship) while traveling along the dangerous Russian rivers. In the Byzantine army, Varangians formed the emperor’s personal bodyguard troops and were known as the Varangian Guard. In the late Viking Age, Anglo-Saxons also became members of the Varangian Guard, especially after the Norman Conquest in 1066 forced many into exile.

Harald arrived in Constantinople with his 500 men, and, after a time, he and his mercenaries were incorporated into the Byzantine army as members of the Varangian Guard. Harald and his men were first sent to fight corsairs (pirates) in the Aegean Sea. As the campaigns continued, the Varangians turned to him as their leader in battle. The Byzantine Greek source Logos nouthetetikos pros basilea (Oration of Admonition to an Emperor),117 written in the 1070s, confirms Harald’s participation in military campaigns and his ascent to leadership of the Varangian Guard.

From roughly 1035 until 1044, Harald campaigned widely in the Black Sea region, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. He fought against Bulgars, Saracens, and Lombards and probably came into contact with Normans. At that time, these French speakers from Normandy, who were the descendants of Vikings, were taking control of regions in Southern Italy and Sicily.

Ostensibly, the Varangian Guard was subordinate to the leader of the Byzantine army. In Harald’s time, the leader was the Greek general George Maniakes (Greek Γεώργιος Μανιάκης, known in ON sources as Gyrgir), a relative of the empress. Harald seems to have frequently clashed with him for control of the Guard. He undermined Maniakes by holding back the Varangians from fighting when the full army assembled for battle. When Harald, not Maniakes, chose to fight, the Varangians distinguished themselves. Finally, a frustrated Maniakes gave Harald an independent command. Harald then became famous. The Varangians fought separately from the rest of the army and won victories.

Harald spent over ten years in the Varangian Guard and amassed huge wealth. Icelandic and Byzantine sources agree that Empress Zoe forbade Harald to return to his native country. She imprisoned him in Constantinople, but Harald escaped. After stopping in Kiev to fulfill his wedding vow, he returned home to Norway in 1045. There he demanded to share the thrones of Norway and Denmark, which since 1035 were claimed by his Norwegian nephew Magnus the Good (Magnús góði Óláfsson, 1024–1047). Magnus agreed reluctantly to share his authority with Harald. The two then ruled uneasily until Magnus’ death. Harald then became the sole ruler of Norway, but his grip on Denmark was tenuous.

8.2 Reading – Harald Leads the Varangian Guard (Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar)

The following passage from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar (The Saga of Harald Sigurdsson) in Heimskringla describes Harald’s arrival in Miklagarðr and his rise to leadership.

Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar (Ch. 3)

Þá réð fyrir Griklandi Zóe dróttning in ríka ok með henni Michael kátalaktús.118 En er Haraldr kom til Miklagarðs ok á fund dróttningar,119 þá gekk hann þar á mála120 ok fór þegar um haustit á galeiðr með hermǫnnum þeim.121 Þeir fóru út í Griklandshaf. Helt Haraldr sveit af sínum mǫnnum. Hǫfðingi yfir herinum hét Gyrgir. Hann var frændi dróttningar. Haraldr var litla hríð122 í herinum, ok allir Væringjar fóru saman,123 þegar er bardagar váru. Kom þá svá, at124 Haraldr varð hǫfðingi yfir ǫllum Væringjum. Fóru þeir Gyrgir125 víða um Griklandseyjar, unnu þar herskap mikinn á kussurum.

8.3 Review Exercise – Translating from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar. When translating an Old Norse sentence, first identify the verb and then find its subject. Match the verb to a noun in the nominative case that agrees with it in person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and number (sg or pl). For each sentence below, circle the verb, underline the subject. Translate.

1.

Þá réð fyrir Griklandi Zóe dróttning in ríka.

In Old Norse when a word other than the subject appears before the verb (in this instance the adverb þá ‘then’), the subject follows the verb later in the main clause.

What is the infinitive of the verb réð?

2.

...ok með henni Michael kátalaktús.

This clause relies on an understood verb (not present). What is this verb?

3.

En er Haraldr kom til Miklagarðs ok á fund dróttningar...

En er is composed of two conjunctions meaning ‘but when.’

4.

...þá gekk hann þar á mála...

What type of word is þar?

5.

...ok fór [hann] þegar um haustit á galeiðr með hermǫnnum þeim.

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its object (í Brattahlíð, á Íslandi, etc). How many prepositional phrases occur in the above clause?

With the information above, translate the full passage:

8.4 Culture – Northmen In Russia and Further South and East

Scandinavians called the region of the Eastern Baltic austrvegr (‘the way east’), and they were active in these waters for centuries before the Viking Age. At least by the mid-seventh century, norsemen, especially Swedes and Gotlanders, began traveling inland, sailing up the rivers that flow into the Baltic Sea. Northern traders and warriors (from all regions of Scandinavia) were initially drawn inland by the availability of furs and slaves (see the discussion of Ibn Fadlan and the Rus in the Introduction). Slavic peoples and other inhabitants of these regions, and eventually Greeks, Arabs, and Western Europeans came to call these northmen Rus, and the northmen themselves adopted the term. Although there is debate, it may be that the name ‘Rus’ originates from Finnish ruotsi, which in modern Finnish means ‘Sweden.’ The term likely referred in general to the western regions of the Baltic Sea and their peoples during the Viking Age. The Finnish word, in turn, appears to be derived from ON róðr (gen róðs), itself derived from the ON verb róa and meaning ‘rowing’ or ‘crew of rowers.’ This meaning would reflect the fact that Vikings often rowed their ships. With time, Viking Age ‘rowers’ settled in the east Slavic regions, where they traded widely. They eventually established themselves as rulers and princes along the trade routes, and their name was ultimately adopted by locals and foreigners as name of the country itself – Russia.

Old Norse speakers called the area further east and inland Garðaríki, ‘land of towns.’ This inland region was bordered by Lake Ladoga in the north and crossed by several navigable rivers: Dvina, Velikaya, Volkhov, and Lovat (see the map at the start of the lesson). The fortified river towns of Ladoga (ON Aldeigjuborg) and Novgorod (ON Hólmgarðr) became important centers of Norse trade and influence. These towns, and especially Novgorod, were astride major waterways and near portages or sites where boats and trade goods could be transported overland between branches of the rivers.

The waterways leading southward were divided into two main groupings. One led to the Black Sea and the other to the Caspian Sea. The route leading to the Black Sea began with the Dvina River and continued down the Dnieper. These combinations of rivers, with sometimes difficult portages between them, formed a great highway to the Black Sea. Large sections of this water route were often controlled by the Norse/Slavic rulers of Kiev (ON Kænugarðr), a city sitting on the banks of Dnieper. From the Black Sea, ships would reach Constantinople and then the Mediterranean.

In the ninth century, Novgorod and Kiev, both under Norse control, were rivals. The rivalry diminished when Prince Oleg of Novgorod captured Kiev ca. 882 and made the city his capital. Strong leadership along the rivers was necessary to protect the trading fleets, which were open to attack on the Dnieper from neighboring Slavic tribes and steppe nomads, such as Pechenegs and Bulgars.126 The Kievan Norse, known as Kievan Rus, became powerful enough to attack Constantinople several times.

Garðaríki also included the inland areas further to the east, bordering the headlands of the Volga River. This was the second great north-south waterway used by the Norsemen. It led southward through the lands of the nomadic Volga Bulgars and then across regions controlled by the Kaganate of the Khazars. The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic peoples, many of whom in the seventh and eighth centuries adopted Judaism. From their capital at Itil, on the northern reaches of the Caspian Sea, the Khazars ruled a huge territory north, east, and west of the Black and Caspian Seas as well as lands between these great bodies of water. Throughout the ninth, tenth and into the eleventh centuries during the time that the Rus were active, the Khazars guarded and taxed the river trade routes, protecting the Rus traders.

Once reaching the regions of the Khazars, Scandinavian voyagers could choose two further routes. Some would leave the Volga and go east overland along what became later known as the Silk Road. Others sailed south over the Caspian Sea and continued to Persia and the Caliphate of Baghdad. Especially in the late ninth and tenth centuries, Norse merchants and warriors returned via the Russian rivers to the Baltic from the eastern and southern regions with large quantities of Arabic silver, especially coins called dirhams.127 In the Baltic area, as well as in parts of Eastern Europe, dirhams brought north by Rus traders were for a time a major currency. The silver was then used in trade with continental Western Europe, which from the eighth to the eleventh centuries relied on Rus trade links as a crucial source of silver and goods from the east.

From the ninth to the eleventh-century, the river routes of Russia and especially the regions under the control of Novgorod and Kiev were prominent sites within the Viking World. In the eleventh century, Norse leaders such as Saint Olaf of Norway and his half brother Harald Hardradi spent considerable time in Kiev, and Scandinavian leaders maintained connections with the Kievan Rus, who by that time, had become well-integrated with the local Slavic population. The Kievan Rus and especially their princes were heavily influenced by Byzantine culture, and under the leadership of the Kievan Prince Vladimir the Great (ON Valdamarr gamli), they converted in 988 to Greek Orthodox Christianity. This did not stop the Rus from attacking Constantinople.

The grammar of this lesson begins with two sections on nouns and then turns to verbs

8.5 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns – Family Members (Kinship Terms) with -ir Endings

Five words for family members – bróðir, dóttir, faðir, móðir, and systir – form a small group of nouns. All have i-umlaut in the plural and the endings -ir and -ur in the singular. Some manuscripts show the more archaic datives: feðr and brúðr. (For sonr see 5.14)

masculine

feminine

faðir

bróðir

systir

dóttir

móðir

endings

Sg nom

Faðir

bróðir

systir

dóttir

móðir

-ir

acc

Fǫður

bróður

systur

dóttur

móður

-ur

dat

fǫður, feðr

bróður~brœðr

systur

dóttur

móður

-ur, (i)-r

gen

fǫður

bróður

systur

dóttur

móður

-ur

Pl nom

feðr

brœðr

systr

dœtr

mœðr

(i)-r

acc

feðr

brœðr

systr

dœtr

mœðr

(i)-r

dat

feðrum

brœðrum

systrum

dœtrum

mœðrum

(i)-um

gen

feðra

brœðra

systra

dœtra

mœðra

(i)-a

Note: superscript (i) in the endings column indicates the ending triggers i-umlaut.

More distant relations are expressed by compounds such as móðurbróðir ‘maternal uncle (mother’s brother),’ fǫðurmóðir ‘paternal grandmother (father’s mother),’ fǫðursystir ‘paternal aunt (father’s sister),’ móðursystir ‘maternal aunt (mother’s sister)’, bróðurdóttir ‘niece (brother’s daughter)’ etc.

8.6 Grammar Toolbox. Nouns Whose Stems End in -nd-

Nouns such as bóndi and frændi belong to a small group of masculine nouns known as nd-nouns. These end in i in the nom sg and decline like weak masculines. In the nom and acc pl they have the ending -r with i-umlaut. nd-nouns derive from present participles; for example: gefandi ‘the giving one’ (from gefa) and bóndi (a shortening of búandi) ‘the one living (there)’ from búa.

bóndi

frændi

gefandi

endings

Sg nom

bóndi

frændi

gefandi

-i

acc

bónda

frænda

gefanda

-a

dat

bónda

frænda

gefanda

-a

gen

bónda

frænda

gefanda

-a

Pl nom

bœndr

frændr

gefendr

(i)-r

acc

bœndr

frændr

gefendr

(i)-r

dat

bóndum

frændum

gefǫndum

-um

gen

bónda

frænda

gefanda

-a

Transl.: bóndi128 ‘farmer,’frændi129 ‘kinsman,’gefandi ‘giver’

8.7 Grammar Toolbox. Strong Verbs

Strong verbs were discussed in Lesson 4. They are among the most frequently used verbs in Old Norse and follow patterns/classes often derived from far older parent languages of Old Norse.

Principal Parts: Old Norse strong verbs have five principal parts. With gefa as an example, the principal parts are gefa <gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn>.

1.

infinitive

gefa ‘give’

2.

3sg present

hann gefr ‘he gives’

3.

3sg past

hann gaf ‘he gave’

4.

3pl past

þeir gáfu ‘they gave’

5.

past participle (m nom sg)

var gefinn ‘was given’

Learning the principal parts of strong verbs is a short cut for mastering Old Norse, because the principal parts provide the stems to which one adds the endings. Using gefa as an example, the past singular adds endings to the stem gaf- (gaf, gaft, gaf) and the past plural to the stem gáf- (gáfum, gáfuð, gáfu).

The Seven Major Classes of Strong Verbs. Strong verbs fall into seven major classes according to the pattern of vowel alternations exhibited by their principal parts.

Class

Example

I

líta <lítr, leit, litu, litinn> look

II

bjóða <býðr, bauð, buðu, boðinn> offer; invite

III

verða <verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn> become

IV

bera <berr, bar, báru, borinn> carry

V

gefa <gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn> give

VI

fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> go, travel

VII

ráða <ræðr, réð, réðu, ráðinn> advise, counsel; rule, govern; decide

For each of the strong verb classes, see the coming lessons.

Examples in the Present of the Seven Major Classes

líta

bjóða

verða

bera

gefa

fara

ráða

Sg 1st

ek

lít

býð

verð

ber

gef

fer

ræð

2nd

þú

lítr

býðr

verðr

berr

gefr

ferr

ræðr

3rd

hann, hon, þat

lítr

býðr

verðr

berr

gefr

ferr

ræðr

Pl 1st

vér, vit

lítum

bjóðum

verðum

berum

gefum

fǫrum

ráðum

2nd

þér, þit

lítið

bjóðið

verðið

berið

gefið

farið

ráðið

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

líta

bjóða

verða

bera

gefa

fara

ráða

Transl.: líta ‘look,’ bjóða ‘offer; invite,’ verða ‘become,’ bera ‘carry,’ gefa ‘give,’ fara ‘go,’ ráða ‘advise, counsel’

Two phonological/sound rules help to explain the changes which occur in consonants that are found in the principal parts of a few strong verbs. For example, consider the verbs verða and binda:

• v- drops before -o- or -u-. Hence the 4th and 5th principal parts of verða (verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn) and vinna (vinnr, vann, unnu, unninn) lack the initial v.

• strong verbs whose stems end in -nd-, -ng-, and -ld- have -tt, -kk, and -lt in the past sg (and the imperative, discussed below). For example: binda ‘to bind’ becomes batt in the past sg (binda, bindr, batt, bundu, bundinn); ganga – gekk; and halda – helt.

Present Tense Endings of Strong Verbs

Singular

Plural

1st

–

-um

2nd

-r

-ið

3rd

-r

-a

8.8 Strong Verbs, Present and Past

Present Tense

Strong verbs take the same basic set of endings in the present tense as weak verbs. The endings are added to the present stem (found by removing the -a of the infinitive). Additionally, in the present sg the root vowel shows i-umlaut where possible. For instance, strong verbs with root vowel -á- in the infinitive have -æ- in the present sg. For example, ráða, láta, and fá become hann ræðr ‘he advises,’ hann lætr ‘he allows,’ and hann fær ‘he gets.’

The vowels -i-, -í-, -e-, and -y-, being already fronted, never undergo i-umlaut and hence remain unchanged in the present sg. For example, strong verbs with -e- in the infinitive (bera, verða) show no change of vowel in the present sg (hann berr, hann verðr).

A few small points are useful when forming the present tense of strong verbs:

• Verbs with root vowel -a-, such as fara, standa, and ganga, undergo u-umlaut in 1st person plural, where the ending is -um. Hence fǫrum ‘we travel,’ stǫndum ‘we stand,’ and gǫngum ‘we go.’

• Some strong verbs, such as hefja, sitja, deyja, and liggja, have present tense stems ending in -j-. Others, such as hǫggva and syngva, have stem-final -v-. See section 4.16 of Lesson 4 for details.

• heita is somewhat irregular. Its basic meaning is ‘to be called,’ and in this meaning it inserts an -i- in the present sg: heiti, heitir, heitir. A rarer meaning is ‘to call upon somebody to do something’, and in this meaning it conjugates without an -i-: heit, heitr, heitr. For example, Hann heitir Gísli ‘His name is Gísli’ (Gísli is a predicate nominative, on these, see section 2.9 of Lesson 2) but Gísli heitr á menn sína at skýli ‘Gísli commands his men to [go into] the shed.’

Past Tense Endings of Strong Verbs

Singular

Plural

1st

–

-um

2nd

-t

-uð

3rd

–

-u

Past Tense.

Strong verbs form their past tense by changing their root vowel, for example, bera has its past sg as bar, past pl báru, past participle borinn, while gefa has its past sg as gaf, past pl gáfu, past participle gefinn. Compare English bear, bore, has/is borne and give, gave, has/is given.

Examples of the Seven Major Classes in the Past

líta

bjóða

verða

bera

gefa

fara

ráða

Sg 1st

ek

leit

bauð

varð

bar

gaf

fór

réð

2nd

þú

leizt

bautt

vart

bart

gaft

fórt

rétt

3rd

hann

leit

bauð

varð

bar

gaf

fór

réð

Pl 1st

vér

litum

buðum

urðum

bárum

gáfum

fórum

réðum

2nd

þér

lituð

buðuð

urðuð

báruð

gáfuð

fóruð

réðuð

3rd

þeir

litu

buðu

urðu

báru

gáfu

fóru

réðu

8.9 Exercise – Principal Parts of Strong Verbs. Give the requested form of the following verbs by referring to the principal parts. (Use the Vocabulary at end of the book).

Ex:

fara (3sg pres)

ferr

1.

gefa (3pl past)

6.

draga (1pl pres)

2.

koma (past part)

7.

ráða (2sg pres)

3.

ganga (3sg past)

8.

verða (3pl past)

4.

heita (2pl past)

9.

nema (1sg pres)

5.

hefja (1sg pres)

10.

halda (2pl pres)

8.10 Strong Verbs – Past Tense Ending -t

The following rules apply when the 2sg past ending -t is added to strong verbs whose third principal part (3sg past) ends in a dental consonant (-t-, -ð-, or -d-) or a long vowel (such as -é-, -á-, or -ó-):

• -t- or -tt- preceded by a vowel changes to -z-. For example, the third principal part of geta is gat; hence gat + t > gazt. Another example is binda: batt + t > bazt;

• -ð- changes to -t-. For example, the 3sg past (third principal part) of ráða is réð; hence réð + t > rétt;

• A dental consonant preceded by -r-, -l-, or -s- changes to -t and no ending is added. For example, for the verbs verða, halda, and ljósta: varð + t > vart, helt + t > helt, and laust + t > laust;

• After a long vowel the ending -t doubles. For example, sjá has 2sg past sátt.

8.11 Exercise – Past Tense Ending -t of Strong Verbs. Give the principal parts and 2sg past tense for each of the following strong verbs.

Principal Parts

2nd person singular, Past Tense

Ex:

geta

getr, gat, gátu, getinn

gazt

1.

binda

2.

ráða

3.

verða

4.

halda

5.

ljósta

6.

sjá

8.12 Reading – Harald Sends Famine Relief (Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar)

After Magnus the Good died without a son in 1047, his uncle and co-king Harald became sole ruler of Norway. A man with many enemies, Harald brutally consolidated his power. He gained a reputation among Norwegians as a harsh and uncompromising tyrant and became know to history as harðráði, ‘harsh ruler.’ Icelanders, however, looked favorably on Harald. In part, the difference is because Harald permitted the export of badly needed grain to Iceland during a famine. The following passage from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar in Heimskringla claims that no leader of men in the northern lands was as djúpvitr (‘deep-witted’ or ‘resourceful’) as Harald.

Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar (Ch. 36)

Haraldr konungr var maðr ríkr ok stjórnsamr innan lands, spekingr mikill at viti, svá at þat er alþýðu mál,130 at engi hǫfðingi hefir sá verit131 á Norðrlǫndum, er jafndjúpvitr hefir verit sem Haraldr eða ráðsnjallr. Hann var orrustumaðr mikill ok inn vápndjarfasti. Hann var sterkr ok vápnfœrr betr en hverr maðr annarra,132 svá sem fyrr er ritat…

Hann var ok inn mesti vinr hegat til allra landsmanna. Ok þá er var mikit hallæri á Íslandi, þá leyfði Haraldr konungr fjórum skipum mjǫlleyfi til Íslands.

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8.13 Grammar Toolbox. Verb Mood Review

Mood is the expression of a speaker’s attitude concerning the likelihood that a statement is true. It is also connected with commands and requests. To add to what was said earlier about mood in Lesson 2 (Grammar Toolbox. Verbs), Old Norse verbs have three moods: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.

The indicative is sometimes called the mood of truth-telling. It is used when the speaker believes his or her utterance to be factual. The indicative is generally the most frequently encountered mood in Old Norse texts. For example: Eyrbyggja saga, Ch. 17, tells the following (in the indicative) about the holding of the Thorsness Thing/Assembly (Þorsnessþing) and the disruption that the weather caused to the plans of one Þorgrímr Kjallaksson.

Um þingit váru stormar miklir, svá at engi maðr mátti koma til þingsins af Meðalfellsstrǫnd; hamlaði þat mjǫk afla Þorgríms [Kjallaksson], at frændr hans kómu eigi.

At the time of the assembly there were strong storms, such that no man was able to come to the assembly from the Middle Mountain Strand; that seriously hampered Thorgrim’s strength, because no relatives of his came [to the assembly].

The imperative (see the next section in this lesson) expresses commands and requests, for example ‘listen!’ or ‘go!’ Commands can be to one person or to several people.

The subjunctive is used when the speaker wishes to express uncertainty about the truth of a statement. Typically this occurs when describing an action which is potential, doubtful, or contrary to fact (something that might be, could be, would be) rather than concrete or factual (something that is). For example: in Vápnfirðinga saga, when the chieftain Brodd-Helgi makes a proposal for something he would like to see happen in the future, he uses the subjunctive of vera. For example:

’en ek mun koma til þings, ok sém vit þá báðir saman.’

And I will come to the assembly, and we would then be both together [in jointly pursuing a legal case].

The subjunctive is also used in indirect speech; that is, speech which recounts what someone else has said without necessarily using his or her exact words. In the following example from Vápnfirðinga saga, the saga writer reports the question of a young man named Bjarni (later a chieftain, goði) to a shepherd (smalamaðr) without quoting Bjarni. The passage uses segi, pres subjunctive of segja.

Í þetta mund kom smalamaðr inn at Hofi, ok spurði Bjarni, hvat hann segi tíðenda.

At that moment a shepherd came indoors at Hof and Bjarni asked what news/tidings he might have/say.

8.14 Verbs – Commands and the Imperative Mood

Old Norse employs the imperative mood when addressing a command or request to a single person. When addressing more than one person, it uses the indicative.

Commands To One Person

• The imperative of 1st conjugation weak verbs looks just like the infinitive: tala ‘talk!’ and svara ‘answer!’

• Most other verbs form the imperative by dropping the -a of the infinitive. For example: the imperatives of the weak verbs mæla and gera are mæl ‘talk!’/’say!’ and ger ‘do!,’ while fara and láta are far (far þú) and lát (láttu). The imperatives of the strong verbs gefa and koma are gef ‘give!’ and kom ‘come!’

• Verbs such as spyrja and hǫggva drop stem-final -j- or -v- and the -a of the infinitive, resulting in: spyr ‘ask!’and hǫgg ‘strike!’

Vápnfirðinga saga offers the following examples

‘Mæl við mik slíkt, er þér líkar,’ segir Þorsteinn, ‘en tala ekki slíkt við Brodd-Helga,’ segir hann.

‘Talk to me as you like,’ says Thorstein, ‘but do not talk this way to Brodd-Helgi,’ he says.

‘Far þú heim sem tíðast ok lát eigi verða við vart.’

‘Travel home as quickly as possible and let no one become aware [of your journey].’

• Most 4th conjugation weak verbs drop the -a of the infinitive but add -i. For example, þegja and duga have imperatives þegi ‘be silent!’ and dugi ‘show your strength, help!’

• Commands are often followed by a 2nd person pronoun, as in hǫgg þú ‘strike!’ In many instances, however, the pronoun loses its status as a separate word, and the initial þ- of þú assimilates to the preceding consonant, with the vowel -ú becoming short: kallaðu (kalla+ þú), skjóttu (skjót + þú), þegiðu (þegi + þú). Pronouns attached to the end of a verb are called enclitic pronouns.

• As mentioned above in discussing the past tense of strong verbs, the imperative provides the environment for the change of -nd-, -ng-, and -ld- to -tt, -kk, and -lt, for example: the imperatives of binda, ganga, and halda are bitt, gakk, and halt.

• The 3sg indicative is sometimes used to express a command. For example: Eigi skal [hann] hǫggva, ‘[he] shall not strike,’ means ‘do not strike.’ Snorri’ Comands: The following passage from Ch. 151 of Íslendinga saga (in the Sturlunga saga compilation) contains two types of imperatives when describing the violent death of Snorri Sturluson. Around the year 1240, both Snorri and Gizurr Þorvaldsson (Snorri’s enemy) vied to rule Iceland in the name of Norway’s King Hákon Hákonarson. Ultimately Hákon decided that Gizurr was the more reliable and allowed Snorri to be killed. On September 23, 1241, a party led by Gizurr surprised Snorri at his estate at Reykholt in western Iceland. They found Snorri hiding in his secret cellar under the house. Gizurr’s henchman Símon knútr ordered another of Gizurr’s followers, Árni beiskr, to strike (hǫggva) Snorri. Snorri famously told Árni: ‘Eigi skal hǫggva!’ In the end Árni, together with a third man named Þorsteinn, ‘worked him over/struck him’ (unnu á, 3pl past of vinna, an expression that also means ‘to torture’). Snorri received his death wound (banasár).

Snorri Sturluson’s Death

Símon knútr bað Árna hǫggva hann.

‘Eigi skal hǫggva,’sagði Snorri.

‘Hǫgg þú,’ sagði Símon.

‘Eigi skal hǫggva,’ sagði Snorri.

Eptir þat veitti Árni honum banasár, ok báðir þeir Þorsteinn unnu á honum.

Present Subjunctive Endings

Singular

Plural

1st

-a

-im

2nd

-ir

-ið

3rd

-i

-i

Commands To More Than One Person

• Examples of commands given to more than one person using the indicative are mælið ‘speak!,’ takið ‘take!’, skjótið ‘shoot!’

• When the speaker is part of a group, there is an additional way to issue a command. In these instances, the 1pl present indicative can be used, for example: tǫkum ‘let’s take,’ skjótum ‘let’s shoot.’ This usage is sometimes called the adhortative, a term from Latin meaning ‘encourage.’

8.15 Verbs – The Present Subjunctive

All verbs form the present subjunctive by adding the subjunctive endings to the verb stem (found by dropping the final -a of the infinitive). For example, the stem of hlaupa is hlaup- and the stem of spyrja is spyrj-. Verbs with stem-final -j- such as spyrja drop -j- before subjunctive endings beginning with -i-. Below are examples of frequently used verbs, conjugated in the present subjunctive.

Infinitive →

kalla

gera

spyrja

hafa

ráða

eiga

Pres. stem →

kall-

ger-

spyrj-

haf-

ráð-

eig-

Sg 1st

ek

kalla

gera

spyrja

hafa

ráða

eiga

2nd

þú

kallir

gerir

spyrir

hafir

ráðir

eigir

3rd

hann, hon, þat

kalli

geri

spyri

hafi

ráði

eigi

Pl 1st

vér, vit

kallim

gerim

spyrim

hafim

ráðim

eigim

2nd

þér, þit

kallið

gerið

spyrið

hafið

ráðið

eigið

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

kalli

geri

spyri

hafi

ráði

eigi

Note: Verbs vera and sjá are irregular in the present subjunctive. They resemble each other, but are not related words/cognate forms. Vera has the following subjunctive forms: sé, sér, sé, sém, séð, sé, and the set of subjunctive forms of sjá is nearly identical: sjá, sér, sé, sém, séð, sé.

8.16 Culture – Harald Meets A Violent End

Harald’s reign in Norway was turbulent. Although he centralized power and founded the town of Oslo, he faced constant threats of rebellion from the prosperous Trondelag region. A complex and forceful character, Harald carried on a long and unsuccessful war to conquer Denmark and burned the Danish trading town of Hedeby. He and King Sveinn Ástríðarson (in English known as Sven Estridsson) of Denmark eventually agreed to peace in 1064. This truce freed Harald to turn his aggressive nature elsewhere.

With the death of the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor in 1066, Harald saw a chance to conquer England. Harald based his claim to the English throne on a treaty between his predecessor and co-king, Magnus the Good, and the earlier Danish King Horda-Knut (Hǫrða-Knútr). Horda-Knut, who died in 1042, had for a short period also ruled England. Harald gathered a large invasion force of 300 ships and perhaps as many as 9,000 men. He landed on the coast near York and quickly defeated the northern English army. But before Harald could enjoy his victory, the English king Harold Godwinsson of Wessex surprised him at Stamford Bridge near York. The Norwegians were caught without their heavy armor, and Harald was killed. Only a relatively small number of the invading Norwegians returned to Norway, but Harold Godwinsson’s victory was short-lived. Two weeks after the battle at Stamford Bridge, Harold lost the Battle of Hastings and was killed. b Victory at Hastings went to another invader, William of Normandy, who took control of England. William was a descendant of Vikings who had settled in Normandy in the tenth-century. Harald’s and Harold’s deaths signalled the twilight of the Viking Age.

8.17 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 8. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

bœr

farm

vanr

accustomed

minn

my

tíu

ten

bóndi

farmer

heill

whole

engi

no (one)

sverð

sword

lauss

loose, free

nǫkkurr

some, a certain

hlutr

thing; part

sekr

guilty, outlawed

þinn

your

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

ætla

to intend

fram

forward

þótt

although

vita

to know

yfir

over

leggja

to lay, place

fyrr

before

bera

to carry, bear

áðr

before

Exercises

8.18 Reading Old Norse. Circle the verb, underline the subject, and translate.

1.

Þeir fóru út í Griklandshaf.

2.

Helt Haraldr sveit af sínum mǫnnum.

3.

Hǫfðingi yfir herinum hét Gyrgir.

4.

Hann var frændi dróttningar.

5.

Haraldr var litla hríð í herinum,

6.

...ok allir Væringjar fóru saman,...

7.

...þegar er bardagar váru.

8.

Kom [þat] þá svá...

9.

at Haraldr varð hǫfðingi yfir ǫllum Væringjum.

8.19 Review – I-Umlaut. Strong verbs show i-umlaut in the present singular. Fill in the blanks below.

Infinitive

3sg present

Meaning

Ex:

fara

ferr

go, travel

1.

draga

2.

halda

3.

standa

4.

koma

5.

láta

6.

fá

7.

fljúga

8.

búa

8.20 The Present Tense of Strong Verbs and I-Umlaut

A. Below are strong verbs in the 3sg present, all showing i-umlaut. Give the infinitive.

Ex:

stendr

standa

1.

ræðr

5.

heldr

2.

tekr

6.

flýgr

3.

fær

7.

býr

4.

kømr

8.

dregr

B. Give the 3sg present for the following strong verbs. This exercise is the reverse of the previous exercise.

Ex:

kala ‘freeze’

kell

1.

hlaupa ‘leap’

6.

slá ‘strike’

2.

krjúpa ‘creep’

7.

grafa ‘dig’

3.

róa ‘row’

8.

gróa ‘grow’

4.

snúa ‘turn’

9.

aka ‘drive’

5.

súpa ‘sip’

10.

auka ‘increase’

C. Verbs with front vowels such as -e-, -i-, and -í- in their infinitives do not undergo i-umlaut. Give the 3sg present tense for the following strong verbs.

Ex:

hefja

hefr

1.

gefa

4.

verða

2.

liggja

5.

ríða

3.

nema

6.

sitja

8.21 Past Tense of Strong Verbs. Rewrite the following sentences so that the verb appears in the past tense, then translate.

Ex:

Ek bý í Reyðarfirði.

Ek bjó í Reyðarfirði

I lived in Reyðarfjǫrðr

1.

Þú gengr á skip.

2.

Heitir hann eigi Haraldr konungr?

3.

Vér komum þangat.

4.

Þér sjáið son hans.

5.

Þau ganga til hans.

8.22 Strong Verbs. Conjugate the following strong verbs using the principal parts provided below.

A. verða <verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn> become

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

Past Participle

Hann er                                                                konungr. ‘He has become king.’

B. taka <tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn> take

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

Past Participle

Hestrinn var                                                  af Ólafi. ‘The horse was taken from Olaf.’

C. fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> go, travel

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

Past Participle

Hann var                                                    út til Íslands. ‘He had gone out to Iceland.’

8.23 Present Tense of Strong Verbs. Give the infinitive for each of the underlined verbs in the passage below and convert to 3sg or pl present, as appropriate.

Þá réð fyrir Griklandi Zóe dróttning in ríka ok með henni Michael kátalaktús. En er Haraldr kom til Miklagarðs ok á fund dróttningar, þá gekk hann þar á mála ok fór þegar um haustit á galeiðr með hermǫnnum þeim. Þeir fóru út í Griklandshaf. Helt Haraldr sveit af sínum mǫnnum. Hǫfðingi yfir herinum hét Gyrgir. Hann var frændi dróttningar. Haraldr var litla hríð í herinum, ok allir Væringjar fóru saman, þegar er bardagar váru. Kom þá svá, at Haraldr varð hǫfðingi yfir ǫllum Væringjum. Fóru þeir Gyrgir víða um Griklandseyjar, unnu þar herskap mikinn á kussurum.

infinitive

present

infinitive

present

Ex:

réð

ráða

ræðr

1.

kom

5.

helt

2.

gekk

6.

hét

3.

fór

7.

varð

4.

fóru

8.

unnu

8.24 Strong Verbs. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the strong verbs in the past tense.

1.

Hann                                                                                  á Dreppstokki. (búa)

2.

Vér                                                                                      stundum á skipit út. (ganga)

3.

Þau                                                                                      skipit. (sjá)

4.

Bjǫrn ok Þórólfr                                                                til Grœnlands. (koma)

5.

Hon                                                                                     Sigríðr. (heita)

6.

Þú                                                                                        með landnámsmǫnnum. (koma)

7.

Þér                                                                                      í Reykjavík. (búa)

8.

Hon                                                                                     hesta. (sjá)

9.

Ek                                                                                         Njál. (heita)

10.

Hann                                                                                    til Nóregs. (fara)

8.25 Weak and Strong Verbs. Give the infinitives for the verbs in the sentences below and identify them as weak or strong.

Infinitive

Weak or Strong?

1.

Eiríkr nam Eiríksfjǫrð.

2.

Haraldr vann sér Danmǫrk.

3.

Dómaldi réð lǫndum.

4.

Hann herjaði í austrveg.

5.

It fyrsta haust blótuðu þeir yxnum.

6.

En at skilnaði mælti Óláfr.

7.

Reið Gunnarr þá vestr.

8.

Árferð batnaði ekki.

9.

Hann stóð þá.

10.

Þá svaraði Þórólfr.

8.26 Strong Verbs. Give the principal parts and 2sg past tense for each of the following strong verbs.

Principal parts

2nd person singular, past

Ex:

geta

getr, gat, gátu, getinn

gazt

1.

láta

2.

ráða

3.

draga

4.

binda

5.

bjóða

6.

búa

7.

heiti

8.27 Imperative Mood: Strong Verbs. Give the imperative form for each of the strong verbs below. (Hint: the consonant clusters -nd and -ng require a change at the end of a word.)

Ex:

koma

kom

1.

draga

2.

fara

3.

standa

4.

gefa

5.

hǫggva

6.

ganga

8.28 Imperative Mood: Weak Verbs. Identify the conjugation of each weak verb and provide its imperative form.

Ex:

mæla, mælti

2nd conjugation

mæl

1.

gera, gerði

2.

spyrja, spurði

3.

svara, svaraði

4.

veita, veitti

5.

tala, talaði

6.

þegja, þagði

8.29 Subjunctive Mood: Present Tense. Conjugate these verbs in the present subjunctive. Keep in mind that verbs with stem-final -j- drop -j- before endings beginning in -i-.

leita

draga

koma

horfa

skilja

hǫggva

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir

8.30 Reading Runes.

Figure 8.2. The Ed (Boulder) Inscription from Uppland, Sweden.

The Ed (Boulder) Inscription from Uppland, Sweden, tells of Rognvald, who served as an officer in the Byzantine army. The carver uses the variant for the /o/ rune, .

Transliteration

runa rista lit rahnualtr huar a griklanti uas lis forunki·

Standardized Old Norse.

Rúna[r] rísta lét Ragnvaldr, hverr á Griklandi vas li[ð]s foringi.

Vocabulary

foringi m captain, commander, leader

Grikland n Greece, Byzantine Empire (place name)

hverr rel pron who

láta <lætr, lét, létu, látinn> vb to allow, permit; have something done

lið n band of men, troop

Ragnvaldr <-s> m Ragnvald (personal name)

rísta <rístr, reist, ristu, ristinn> vb to carve, engrave; láta rísta rúnar have runes carved

rún <pl -ar> f rune, letter in the ‘futhark’

vas (older form of var) 3sg past of vera

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Lesson 9

Raiding in the West

Figure 9.1. Raids and Battles of the 9th Century Norwegian Viking, Onund Tree-Foot.

Onund (Ǫnundr tréfótr), from Rogaland in West Norway, raided in Scotland, the Hebrides, and Ireland. The map insert shows the regions where he sailed, battled, and wintered in the British Isles. Returning to West Norway, he fought against Harald Fairhair at the Battle of Hafrsfjord, ca. 870. Fleeing Norway after Harald’s victory, Onund sails to Iceland where he settles.

Af hreinu bergi kemr hreint vatn

(From a clean mountain comes clean water)

9.1 Reading – Onund Tree-Foot’s Raids (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar)

Grettir’s Saga opens with the story of Grettir’s ancestor Onund Tree-Foot (tréfótr, ‘peg-leg’), a Norwegian Viking. Onund led a group of raiders for years in the Hebrides, Scotland, and Ireland. Onund opposed Harald Fairhair’s rise to power, and in the sea battle of Hafrsfjord, he attacked Harald’s ship. In the fight, he lost a leg, earning his nickname. The saga says: ‘Onund’s wound was healed, but for the rest of his life he walked with a wooden leg.’ The following passage introduces Onund’s lineage and describes his Viking raids vestr um haf (‘west across the sea’, i.e. across the North Sea, i.e. in the British Isles). Forced to leave Norway as a fugitive, Onund settled in Iceland late in the landnám period.

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (Ch. 1)

Ǫnundr hét maðr; hann var Ófeigs sonr burlufótar,133 Ívars sonar beytils.134 Ǫnundr var bróðir Guðbjargar, móður Guðbrands kúlu, fǫður Ástu, móður Óláfs konungs ins helga.135 Ǫnundr var upplenz kr at móðurætt, en fǫðurkyn hans var mest um Rogaland ok um Hǫrðaland. Ǫnundr var víkingr mikill ok herjaði vestr um haf. Með honum var í hernaði Bálki Blæingsson af Sótanesi ok Ormr inn auðgi; Hallvarðr hét inn þriði félagi þeira;136 þeir hǫfðu fimm skip.

Þeir herjuðu um Suðreyjar, ok er þeir kómu í Barreyjar, var þar fyrir konungr sá,137 er Kjarvalr hét; hann hafði ok fimm skip. Þeir lǫgðu til bardaga við hann138 ok varð þar hǫrð hríð;139 váru Ǫnundar menn ákafir. Fell mart af hvárumtveggjum, en svá lauk,140 at konungr flýði einskipa; tóku þeir Ǫnundr þar bæði skip ok fé mikit ok sátu þar um vetrinn. Þrjú sumur herjuðu þeir um Írland ok Skotland; síðan fóru þeir til Nóregs.

Translate:

9.2 Exercise – Reading Grettir’s Saga. Based on the reading above, are the following statements rétt or rangt?

rétt eða rangt?

1. Ǫnundr var Ófeigsson.

2. Ǫnundr var bróðir Ívars.

3. Fǫðurkyn Ǫnundar var mest um Miðfjǫrð.

4. Bróðir Guðbjargar var Ǫnundr.

5. Bálki Blæingsson drap Ǫnund.

6. Inn þriði félagi þeira var Hallvarðr.

7. Konungr hét Herjólfr.

8. Konungr hafði fimm skip.

9. Ǫnundr ok menn hans herjuðu um Írland ok Skotland.

9.3 Culture – Western Norway

The author of Grettir’s Saga was well versed in Norwegian geography.141 The saga tells that the family of Onund Tree-Foot (paternal line) was from Rogaland and Hǫrðaland. These districts of Western Norway (along with neighboring Sogn, Firðir, Sunnmœrr, and Raumsdal) are mountainous coastal regions with deep fjords, sometimes reaching far inland. The climate is temperate due to a northern arm of the Gulf Stream, but arable land for tilling is in short supply. Western Norwegians exploited maritime resources to supplement their diet, and seafaring was a way of life.

The West Norwegians of the Viking Age watched the trading ships of their Norwegian neighbors to the north and south sail past the mouths of their fjords, and they seized rich prizes when they could. Stamping out Viking piracy in Western Norway was one of Harald Fairhair’s goals. He was from Vík in the south, a center of trade. The Tronders of Norway’s more northerly Trondelag region allied with Harald. According to Icelandic sources, the West Norwegians resisted but failed. Faced with the rise of Harald’s centralizing kingship (anthropologically a paramount chieftaincy) some West Norwegians fled from home and sought land in Iceland and other Atlantic islands.

9.4 More on the Definite Article

A distinguishing feature of the Scandinavian languages is that they normally affix the definite article to the end of a noun, for example hestrinn (hestr + inn) ‘the horse,’ konan ‘the woman,’ and barnit ‘the child.’ The declension of the definite article was introduced in Lesson 2, in the Grammar Toolbox: Definite and Indefinite Article. The basic rule is that the definite article follows the case ending of the noun. When a noun/case ends in a vowel, the initial i- of the suffixed article is lost. For ex. in the dat sg, hestinum (hesti + inum) has only one -i-.

hestr + inn

kona + in

barn + it

m

f

n

Sg nom

hestrinn

Konan

barnit

acc

hestinn

Konuna

barnit

dat

hestinum

konunni

barninu

gen

hestsins

konunnar

barnsins

Pl nom

hestarnir

konurnar

bǫrnin

acc

hestana

konurnar

bǫrnin

dat

hestunum

konunum

bǫrnunum

gen

hestanna

kvennanna

barnanna

Concerning the suffixed definite article:

• The initial i- of the suffixed article is always lost in the masc nom pl and the fem nom/acc pl. For example: hestarnir (hestar + inir); hallirnar (hallir + inar); and konurnar (konur + inar).

• In the dat pl, the noun loses the final -m of the ending, and the article loses its initial i-. For example: konungunum (konungum + inum); mǫnnunum (mǫnnum + inum); hǫllunum (hǫllum + inum; and bǫrnunum (bǫrnum + inum).

• Nouns of one syllable that end in a vowel, such as á ‘river,’ brú ‘bridge,’ and bú ‘farmstead’ do not drop the -i- when the article consists of one syllable, hence fem nom sg áin (á + in). Otherwise the -i- is dropped as expected, for example, dat sg ánni (á + inni).

• The noun maðr has special forms, nom pl mennirnir and acc pl mennina.

9.5 Strong Nouns – Type 3

Type 3 contains only masculine nouns, with most following the patterns of vǫllr and skjǫldr. These nouns show vowel alternations as the result of u- and i-umlaut as shown in the chart below. (For review of the 4 types, see Section 5.9)

vǫllr

ǫrn

skjǫldr

bjǫrn

fjǫrðr

þáttr

Sg nom

vǫllr

ǫrn

skjǫldr

bjǫrn

fjǫrðr

þáttr

u-umlaut

acc

vǫll

ǫrn

skjǫld

bjǫrn

fjǫrð

þátt

dat

velli

erni

skildi

birni

firði

þætti

i-umlaut

gen

vallar

arnar

skjaldar

bjarnar

fjarðar

þáttar

Pl nom

vellir

ernir

skildir

birnir

firðir

þættir

i-umlaut

acc

vǫllu

ǫrnu

skjǫldu

bjǫrnu

fjǫrðu

þáttu

u-umlaut

dat

vǫllum

ǫrnum

skjǫldum

bjǫrnum

fjǫrðum

þáttum

gen

valla

arna

skjalda

bjarna

fjarða

þátta

Transl. vǫllr ‘field,’ ǫrn ‘eagle,’ skjǫldr ‘shield,’ bjǫrn ‘bear,’ fjǫrðr ‘fjord,’ þáttr ‘tale’

An exception is the fem noun hǫnd (‘hand’), sg: hǫnd, hǫnd, hendi, handar, pl: hendr, hendr, hǫndum, handa.

Fine Points. Type 3 Strong Nouns.

• Some Type 3 nouns, such as ǫrn and bjǫrn, drop nom sg -r, in accordance with the Special Stem Rules (Alveolar);

• A few Type 3 nouns, such as viðr, litr, and tigr, have root vowel -i- with no alternation; for example, noun tigr ‘ten as a group of ten objects’ (as opposed to the numeral tíu ‘ten’) declines in the sg tigr, tig, tigi, tigar;

• Áss ‘god’ has variants in several of its cases: áss, ás, æsi~ás, áss~ásar, (pl) æsir, ásu~æsi, ásum, ása.

9.6 Strong Nouns – Type 4

Type 4 is a small class containing only a few masc and fem nouns. Type 4 is characterized by
i-umlaut and the ending -r in the nom and acc pl.

Masculine. There are only five Type 4 masculine nouns. (maðr see Section 5.14)

• Nagl drops the pl ending -r, as do vetr and fingr, whose stems end in -r, in accordance with the Alveolar Special Stems Rules.

• Fótr shows i-umlaut in the dat sg.

fótr

maðr

nagl

vetr

fingr

Sg nom

fótr

maðr

nagl

vetr

fingr

acc

fót

mann

nagl

vetr

fingr

dat

fœti

manni

nagli

vetri

fingri

gen

fótar

manns

nagls

vetrar

fingrar ~ fingrs

Pl nom

fœtr

menn

negl

vetr

fingr

i-umlaut

acc

fœtr

menn

negl

vetr

fingr

dat

fótum

mǫnnum

nǫglum

vetrum

fingrum

gen

fóta

manna

nagla

vetra

fingra

Transl.: fótr ‘foot,’ maðr ‘man,’ nagl ‘fingernail,’ vetr ‘winter,’ fingr ‘finger’

Feminine Type 4 Strong Nouns. There are fewer than 30 Type 4 feminine nouns.

• Some Type 4 nouns are irregular. For example: vík has gen sg víkr; and kýr has nom and gen sg kýr.

rót

mús

vík

tǫnn

kýr

Sg nom

rót

mús

vík

tǫnn

kýr

acc

rót

mús

vík

tǫnn

kú

dat

rót

mús

vík

tǫnn

kú

gen

rótar

músar

víkr

tannar

kýr

Pl nom

rœtr

mýss

víkr

tennr~teðr

kýr

i-umlaut

acc

rœtr

mýss

víkr

tennr~teðr

kýr

dat

rótum

músum

víkum

tǫnnum

kúm

gen

róta

músa

víka

tanna

kúa

Transl.: rót ‘root,’ mús ‘mouse,’ vík ‘bay,’ tǫnn ‘tooth,’ kýr ‘cow’

9.7 Demonstrative Pronouns Þessi and Sá

The pronouns þessi ‘this (one)’and sá ‘that (one)’

Þessi:

Gormr konungr gerði kumbl þessi.

King Gorm made these monuments (n pl).

Sigríðr gerði brú þessa fyr sálu Hólmgeirs.

Sigrid made this bridge (f) for Holmgeir’s soul.

Þá vil ek gefa þér skip þetta.

Then I wish to give you this ship (n).

Þessi var ekki konungsmaðr.

This one was not a king’s man(m) [retainer].

Haraldr er faðir manns þessa.

Harald is this man’s (m) father.

masculine

feminine

neuter

Sg nom

þessi~sjá

þessi~sjá

þetta

acc

þenna

þessa

þetta

dat

þessum~þeima

þessar(r)i~þessi

þessu~þvísa

gen

þessa

þessar(r)ar~þessar

þessa

Pl nom

þessir

þessar

þessi

acc

þessa

þessar

þessi

dat

þessum~þeima

þessum~þeima

þessum~þeima

gen

þessa~þessar(r)a

þessa~þessar(r)a

þessa~þessar(r)a

Sá: The neuter sg and pl of all genders of sá are identical to the 3rd person personal pronoun. Sá also often occurs with the definite article suffixed/attached to the noun that sá refers to. For example: sá konungrinn (‘that king’), sú drottningin (‘that queen’), þat skipit (‘that ship’).

masculine

feminine

neuter

Sg nom

sá

sú

þat

acc

þann

þá

þat

dat

þeim

þeir(r)i

því~þí

gen

þess

þeir(r)ar

þess

Pl nom

þeir

þær

þau

acc

þá

þær

þau

dat

þeim

þeim

þeim

gen

þeira

þeira

þeira

Af því var hann kallaðr Eiríkr blóðøx.

Because of this (n) he was called Eirik Bloodaxe.

Þeim manni gaf Ingólfr land.

Ingolf gave land to that man (m).

Sú kona var dóttir hennar.

That woman (f) was her daughter.

Þeir menn fóru til Englands.

Those men (m pl) went to England.

Í þá tíð var hallæri mikit.

At that time (f) there was a great famine.

9.8 Clauses – Independent and Dependent (including Relative)

Clauses are units of speech consisting of at least a subject and a verb. Being able to distinguish independent, dependent, and relative clauses sharpens precision in translating Old Norse.

Independent Clauses stand by themselves as grammatically complete sentences.

Þorsteinn hét maðr.

A man was called Thorstein.

Þá vil ek gefa þér skipit.

Then I wish to give you the ship.

Hann fór til Gr’nlands með Eiríki.

He went to Greenland with Eirik.

Many Old Norse sentences consist of two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, such as ok (‘and’) or en (‘and/but’).

Herjólfr nam land en Ingólfr var frændi hans.

Herjolf took land and Ingolf was his kinsman.

Ǫnundr var upplenzkr at móðurætt, en fǫðurkyn hans var mest um Rogaland ok um Hǫrðaland.

Onund was from Upland on his mother’s side, but his father’s family was mostly from Rogaland and Hordaland.

When two or more independent clauses share the same subject or verb, the subject or verb is not repeated after the first clause.

Eiríkr stóð þá ok horfði á skipit.

Eirik stood then and looked at the ship.

Þorgerðr hét kona hans, en Bjarni sonr þeira, ok var efniligr maðr.

His wife was called Thorgerd, and their son [was called] Bjarni, and [he] was a promising man.

Some sentences use a two-part conjunction (correlative conjunction) such as bæði ... ok (‘both … and’) or hvárki ... né (‘neither … nor’). Correlative clauses can be thought of as a subtype of independent clause.

Tóku þeir Ǫnundr bæði skip ok fé mikit ok sátu þar um vetrinn.

Onund and his men took both ships and much treasure and stayed there for the winter.

Hvárki Eiríkr né Bjǫrn gekk á skipit.

Neither Eirik nor Bjorn went onto the ship.

The first correlative sentence above has one subject, Onund, and two objects: ‘ship’ in one clause and ‘treasure/wealth’ in the other. The second correlative sentence has two independent subjects: ‘Eirik’ and ‘Bjorn,’ with the verb in the singular, hence, each subject is performing an individual act and has its own clause.

Dependent Clauses, unlike independent clauses, cannot stand alone as complete sentences. Instead, they are linked to a main clause by a subordinating conjunction such as er (‘when’), ef (‘if’), því at (‘because’), or at (‘that’). The dependent clauses are underlined in the following sentences and the subordinating conjunctions are in bold.

Þat var einn dag, er þeir Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn gengu ofan til skipsins.

That was one day, when Thorolf and Bjorn went down to the ship.

Þá vil ek gefa þér skipit, ef þú vill þiggja.

Then I wish to give to you the ship, if you wish to accept [it].

Herjólfr gaf Ingólfi land, því at hann var frændi hans.

Herjolf gave land to Ingolf, because he was his kinsman.

Hann segir, at hann sé konungr Nóregs.

He says that he is king of Norway.

Þá er ‘then when’ is frequently employed in place of er. Both are translated as ‘when.’

Þá er Hǫgni kom í Nóreg, spurði hann at Héðinn hafði siglt vestr um haf.

When Hogni arrived in Norway, he learned that Hedin had sailed west over the sea.

Relative Clauses are a type of dependent clause which refers back to a noun in the main clause. In Old Norse, the relative particles er or sem (‘who,’ ‘which,’ or ‘that’) introduce relative clauses. Er and sem are indeclinable and never change form. In the following sentences, the relative particle is in bold and the word it refers to is underlined.

Eigi er allt gull sem glóar.

Not all is gold that glows. (All that glows is not gold.)

Konungr sá er Hǫgni er nefndr átti dóttur, er Hildr hét.

That king who is named Hogni had a daughter who was called Hild.

Hann er maðrinn sem kom.

He is the man who came.

Þá mælti Eiríkr jarl við þann mann, er sumir nefna Finn.

Then Earl Eirik spoke to/with that man whom some call Finn.

Often a form of the demonstrative sá precedes the relative particle er or sem and agrees with the noun of the main clause in gender, number, and case.

Kringla heimsins, sú er mannfólkit byggvir, er mjǫk vágskorin. (sú = f nom sg)

The circle of the world, the one which mankind inhabits, is much cut by bay(s).

Hann sá konu, þá er hann fekk. (þá = f acc sg)

He saw a woman, the one whom he married.

9.9 Exercise – Main and Dependent Clauses. Identify the underlined clauses as either independent or dependent.

Ex:

Þat kom ásamt með þeim, at hallærit stóð at Dómaldi.  Independent/main clause

1.

Er þeir kómu í Barreyjar, var þar fyrir konungr sá, er Kjarvalr hét.

2.

Þeir lǫgðu til bardaga við hann, ok varð þar hǫrð hríð.

3.

Fell mart af hvárumtveggjum, en svá lauk, at konungr flýði einskipa; tóku þeir Ǫnundr þar bæði skip ok fé mikit ok sátu þar um vetrinn.

4.

Þrjú sumur herjuðu þeir um Írland ok Skotland.

9.10 Verbs – The Past Subjunctive

A). Weak verbs form their past subjunctive by adding the subjunctive endings to the past tense stem. For example: þeir kallaði; ek svaraða; þú talaðir. In the past subjunctive, 3rd and 4th conjugation weak verbs show i-umlaut, hence 3sg past indicatives spurði, taldi, krafði, vakti, hafði, sagði, þótti become subjunctives spyrði, teldi, krefði, vekti, hefði, segði, þœtti.

Infinitive →

svara

mæla

leggja

vaka

hafa

Past stem →

svarað-

mælt-

lagð-

vakt-

hafð-

Sg 1st

ek

svaraða

mælta

legða

vekta

hefða

2nd

þú

svaraðir

mæltir

legðir

vektir

hefðir

3rd

hann, hon, þat

svaraði

mælti

legði

vekti

hefði

Pl 1st

vér, vit

svaraðim

mæltim

legðim

vektim

hefðim

2nd

þér, þit

svaraðið

mæltið

legðið

vektið

hefðið

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

svaraði

mælti

legði

vekti

hefði

Past Subjunctive Endings

Singular

Plural

1st

-a

-im

2nd

-ir

-ið

3rd

-i

-i

B). Strong verbs add the subjunctive endings to the past subjunctive stem. This stem is found by dropping the ending -u from the past plural and applying i-umlaut.

• A shortcut to find the past plural of strong verbs. Look to the fourth principal part, for example: gefa, gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn. Take the past plural (gáfu), drop the ending -u (gáf-), then apply i-umlaut (gæf-).

• The past subjunctive of vera is regular (past pl váru, past subjunctive stem vær-): væra, værir, væri, værim, værið, væri. This pattern shows the regular i-umlaut in the stem of past subjunctives.

• Verbs with past subjunctive stems ending in -k- and -g-, along with the verb sá, insert -j- in the 1sg. For example: fengja (fá); tœkja (taka); drœgja (draga); sæja (sá);

• Class VII verbs such as hlaupa, auka, and ausa, with -au- in the infinitive and -jó- in the past, have alternate past subjunctive stems. For example: hlaupa sometimes forms its past subjunctive from the stem hlyp- and sometimes from the stem hlœp-.

Infinitive →

bjóða

verða

bera

fara

ráða

3 pl Past →

buðu

urðu

báru

fóru

réðu

Sg 1st

ek

byða

yrða

bæra

fœra

réða

2nd

þú

byðir

yrðir

bærir

fœrir

réðir

3rd

hann, hon, þat

byði

yrði

bæri

fœri

réði

Pl 1st

vér, vit

byðim

yrðim

bærim

fœrim

réðim

2nd

þér, þit

byðið

yrðið

bærið

f’rið

réðið

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

byði

yrði

bæri

fœri

réði

9.11 Exercise – The Past Subjunctive of Verbs. Conjugate the verbs tala, hafa, gjalda, and koma in the past subjunctive.

tala

hafa

gjalda

koma

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir

9.12 Reading – A Woman’s Resourcefulness (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar)

During the Viking Age, women of the property-holding, free-farmer class had significant legal rights. By custom, they ran the household and many of the farm industries. A woman was by law subordinate to her husband (húsbóndi) when he was home, but when her husband was away, the húsfreyja (‘mistress of the house’) often assumed full charge. In times of feud and conflict, many women acted independently, as in the following passage from Grettir’s Saga.

Ondott Crow (Ǫndótt kráka), a prominent Norwegian bóndi, quarreled with Grim, the king’s hersir (local military commander). The dispute over payments to the king resulted in Ondott’s death. Signy, Ondott’s widow, anticipates an attack by the king’s men on the family farm. Under cover of darkness, Signy gathers her husband’s lausafé (movable wealth/possessions/chattels) and escapes by boat with their two sons. She first goes to her father’s farm, and then she sends her sons into fosterage with another family. Forsterage, although usually not under such dire conditions, was a common custom that was intended to seal political ties between families.

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (Ch. 7)

Þetta haust drap Grímr hersir Ǫndótt kráku fyrir þat, er hann náði eigi fénu142 til handa konungi;143 en Signý, kona Ǫndótts, bar á skip allt lausafé þeira þegar ina sǫmu nótt144 ok fór með sonu sína, Ásmund ok Ásgrím, til Sighvats, fǫður síns. Litlu síðar145 sendi hon sonu sína í Sóknadal til Heðins, fóstra síns, ok unðu þeir þar litla hríð146 ok vildu fara aptr til móður sinnar. Fóru þeir síðan ok kómu til Ingjalds tryggva í Hvini at jólum; hann tók við þeim fyrir áeggjun Gyðu, konu sinnar; váru þeir þar um vetrinn.

Translate:

9.13 Culture – The Four Phases of the Viking Age in Western Europe and the British Isles

• 1st Phase. The raids begin on a small scale in the late eighth century. They are led by warrior chiefs, sometimes called sea kings, because these leaders ruled from ships. The leadership of the Viking raiders reflects the splintered social organizations in Scandinavia. At the time, Scandinavia was divided into small-scale, petty kingdoms and local chieftaincies.

• 2nd Phase. During the middle of the ninth century, Viking armies begin to spend the winter in foreign lands. They build camps and occupy fortified sites. These bases allow them to continue raiding throughout much of the year. They conquer the Danelaw and Normandy.

• 3rd Phase. The third phase, from roughly the late-ninth to mid-tenth century, is a period of response by the indigenous northern European and British peoples to the incursions and conquests of the Vikings. With varying degrees of success, the local populations re-conquer areas from the raiders, who had become colonists and had settled down in their midst.

• 4th Phase. By the late tenth century, the Scandinavian homelands are solidifying into larger kingdoms. Scandinavian princes become powerful enough to attempt royal conquests. England is the great prize, and two future kings of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason (995–1000) and Olaf Haraldsson (St. Olaf, 1015–1028), rise to prominence as Viking commanders in England. The Danish kings Svein Forkbeard and Canute the Great and the Norwegian Harald Hardradi lead invasions of England in the eleventh century. Finally in 1066, William of Normandy conquers England. He and many of his Normans are French-speaking descendants of Viking invaders, who settled in northern France a century and a half earlier during Phase 2.

9.14 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 9. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

sǫk

cause, reason

vinsæll

popular

slíkr

such

sjau

seven

bú

farm

skyldr

related; necessary, obliged

báðir

both

hǫfuð

head

várr

our

móðir

mother

miðr

middle

víg

slaying

fullr

full

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

gefa

to give

saman

together

nema

except

finna

to find

inn

inside

ráða

to advise; rule

undir

under

sitja

to sit

heldr

rather

standa

to stand

brott

away

Exercises

9.15 Definite Article. Decline masc dvergrinn ‘the dwarf,’ fem konan ‘the woman,’ and neuter landit ‘the land.’

dvergr + inn

kona + in

land + it

Sg nom

dvergrinn

konan

landit

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

9.16 Demonstrative Pronouns. Complete the charts of þessi ‘this’ and sá ‘that.’

masculine

feminine

neuter

masculine

feminine

neuter

Sg nom

þessi

sá

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

9.17 Demonstrative Pronouns. Demonstrative Pronouns. Fill in the correct demonstrative pronoun for the following sentences.

Ex:

Gormr konungr gerði                þessi                            (these) kumbl.

1.

Haraldr gaf mér                       (this) sverð.

5.

Sigríðr gerði                            (that) brú.

2.

Hann tók                                  (that) sverð.

6.

Hon nam                                (this) land.

3.

Vér fǫrum til                         (that) manns.

7.

Þær sá                            (that) konung.

4.

Óláfr tók við                              (this) konu.

8.

(that) kona hét Sigríðr.

9.18 Strong Verbs ❖.

For review, here is a list of very common strong verbs and their principal parts. All but two are in the 246 ❖most common list.

bera <berr, bar, báru, borinn> bear, carry

bjóða <býðr, bauð, buðu, boðinn> offer; invite

draga <dregr, dró, drógu, dreginn> pull, draw, drag

fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> go, travel

fá <fær, fekk, fengu, fenginn> fetch, get; give, deliver

ganga <gengr, gekk, gengu, genginn> go, walk

gefa <gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn> give

halda <heldr, helt~hélt, heldu~héldu, haldinn> hold, keep

hefja <hefr, hóf, hófu, hafinn> lift, raise; begin

heita <heitir, hét, hétu, heitinn> be called

koma <kemr~kømr, kom, kómu~kvómu~kvámu, kominn> come

nema <nemr, nam, námu, numinn> take, learn

ráða <ræðr, réð, réðu, ráðinn> advise, counsel; rule, govern

verða <verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn> become

vinna <vinnr, vann, unnu, unninn> gain, win; work

A. Conjugate bera in the present and past tense

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hon

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þær

B. Identify each of the verbs below.

Ex:

berr

3 sg pres of bera ‘carry’

1.

helduð

5.

bar

2.

gekk

6.

réðum

3.

verð

7.

hafinn

4.

heitið

8.

drǫgum

C. Provide the correct form for each of the verbs below.

Ex:

gefa (2sg pres)

gefr

1.

koma (2sg pres)

5.

nema (1pl past)

2.

vinna (2pl past)

6.

fá (1sg pres)

3.

hefja (2sg past)

7.

draga (3pl pres)

4.

ráða (3sg past)

8.

fara (1pl pres)

9.19 Verbs. Give the principal parts for the underlined strong verbs in the passage.

Þeir herjuðu um Suðreyjar, ok er þeir kómu í Barreyjar, var þar fyrir konungr sá, er Kjarvalr hét; hann hafði ok fimm skip. Þeir lǫgðu til bardaga við hann, ok varð þar hǫrð hríð; váru Ǫnundar menn ákafir. Fell mart af hvárumtveggjum, en svá lauk, at konungr flýði einskipa; tóku þeir Ǫnundr þar bæði skip ok fé mikit ok sátu þar um vetrinn. Þrjú sumur herjuðu þeir um Írland ok Skotland; síðan fóru þeir til Nóregs.

infinitive

present sg

past sg

past pl

past participle

kómu

hét

varð

fell

lauk

tóku

sátu

fóru

9.20 Strong Nouns – Type 3. Decline the nouns vǫllr, kǫttr, and fjǫrðr below.

vǫllr

kǫttr

fjǫrðr

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

9.21 Strong Nouns – Type 4. Decline the nouns fótr, vetr, and bók below.

fótr (m)

vetr (m)

bók (f)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

9.22 Er: Conjunction, Relative Particle, and Verb. Translate. Remember that er has several meanings: ‘when,’ ‘who,’ ‘which,’ ‘that,’ and ‘is.’

Ex:

Haraldr konungr bað gera kumbl þessi, sá Haraldr er sér vann Danmǫrk.

King Harald commanded these burial mounds to be made, that Harald who won for himself Denmark.

1.

Skútaðar-Skeggi hét maðr ágætr í Nóregi. Hans sonr var Bjǫrn; er kallaðr var Skinna-Bjǫrn.

2.

Þeir herjuðu um Suðreyjar, ok er þeir kómu í Barreyjar, var þar fyrir konungr sá, er Kjarvalr hét.

3.

Þat var einn dag, er þeir Þórólfr ok Bjǫrn gengu ofan til skipsins.

4.

En er Haraldr kom til Miklagarðs ok á fund dróttningar, þá gekk hann þar á mála.

5.

Haraldr var litla hríð í herinum, ok allir Væringjar fóru saman, þegar er bardagar váru.

9.23 Subjunctive Mood: Past Tense of Weak Verbs. Fill in the chart below.

meaning

conjugation

past stem

Ex:

kalla

‘call’

2nd conjugation

kallað-

1.

senda

2.

telja

3.

veita

4.

hafa

5.

tala

Weak verbs add the subjunctive endings to the past tense stem to form the past subjunctive. 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs also show i-umlaut of the root vowel. Give the past tense stems and past subjunctive stems for the following verbs.

past tense stem

past subjunctive stem

Ex:

kalla

kallað-

kallað-

6.

tala

7.

senda

8.

telja

9.

hafa

9.24 Subjunctive Mood: Past Tense of Strong Verbs. Fill in the chart below.

meaning

principal parts

past plural stem

Ex:

draga

‘pull’

dregr, dró, drógu, dreginn

dróg-

1.

brjóta

2.

verða

3.

líta

4.

koma

5.

taka

Strong verbs add subjunctive endings to the past plural stem with i-umlaut of the stem vowel. Give the past tense stems and past subjunctive stems for the following verbs.

past plural stem

past subjunctive stem

Ex:

draga

dróg-

drœg-

6.

brjóta

7.

verða

8.

líta

9.

koma

10.

taka

Conjugate the five strong verbs below in the past subjunctive.

brjóta

verða

líta

koma

taka

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hon

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þær

9.25 Reading Runes.

The Fläckebo (Hassmyra) Runestone commemorates a Swedish húsfreyja (lady of the house). The carver of this stone uses a variant for the /o/ rune , as well as two variants for the /s/ rune, and interchangeably.

Runes

Transliteration

Figure 9.2. Fläckebo Runestone, Västmanland, Sweden (known as the Fäckebo ‘A’ Stone).

buonti kuþr hulmkoetr lit resa ufter oþintisu kunu seno kumbr hifrya til hasuimura iki betr þon byi raþr roþbalir risti runi þisa sikmuntar uar oþintis sestr kuþ

Standardized Old Norse

Bóndi góðr Hólmgautr lét reisa eptir Óðindísu konu sína. Kømr hýsfreyja til Hasvimýra ekki betr, sú er býi ræðr. Rauð-Balli(r) risti rúnar þessar. Sigmundar var Óðindísa systir góð.

Vocabulary

bý (var of bú) <dat pl býum> n home, house, household; farm; estate

góðr <f góð, n gott> adj good

Hólmgautr <-s> m Holmgaut (personal name)

Hasvimýrar m pl Hasvimyrar (place name, see mýrr below)

hýsfreyja (var of húsfreyja) f housewife

kømr (var of kemr) 2/3sg pres of koma

láta <lætr, lét, létu, látinn> vb to allow, permit; have something done

mýrr <acc & dat mýri, gen mýrar, pl mýrar> f moor, bog, swamp

Óðindísa f Odindisa (personal name), dísa f ‘goddess’

Rauð-Balli m Red-Balli (personal name)

ráða <ræðr, réð, réðu, ráðinn> vb to advise, counsel; rule, govern

reisa <-ti, -tr> vb to raise; láta reisa [stein] have a stone raised

rista <-ti, -tr> vb to cut, carve, engrave

Sigmundr <-ar> m Sigmund (personal name)

Translate:

Lesson 10

Beached Whales in Iceland

Figure 10.1. The Strands in Iceland’s West Fjords (Grettir’s Saga). Trouble brews when a dispute over a beached whale at Rifsker escalates into a fight, involving people up and down the coast. The map traces the sailing routes of the different sides to the battle at Rifsker (‘Rib-bone Rocks’ or ‘Skerry’).

Betri er ein kráka í hendi en tvær í skógi

(Better one crow in hand than two in the forest)

10.1 Culture – Competition for Resources

Although descended from Norse peoples with sea-going traditions, Icelanders lacked the forest resources (including ships’ timbers and tar) of mainland Scandinavia to ensure a cost-effective supply of ocean-going ships. This factor restricted their fishing and limited the Icelanders’ subsistence strategies. They became a largely land-locked livestock farming society in the midst of a fertile ocean teeming with whales and other sea life.

Without seaworthy ships to circumvent the island, most travel was done on horseback with goods transported by packhorse. An extensive system of horse paths developed that led to almost every part of the country and formed a highly serviceable communications web. There were no roads for wheeled carts in the highlands, and few if any such roads in the valleys.

Icelanders relied on relatively small boats. These were mostly built from driftwood and were only suitable for close coastal fishing. Such fishing often yielded large quantities of catch. Lacking a good supply of salt, they wind-dried several types of fish, especially cod, for the winter. Given the limitations of their boats, Icelanders rarely hunted whales on the open sea. It is also unlikely that they herded whales into bays, forcing them aground, as did their Norwegian counterparts who had better ship-building timbers at their disposal. Especially after storms, Icelanders searched the coastlines for beached whale carcasses, which offered enormous quantities of meat, fat, and bone. These sea mammals died at sea and initially sank to the depths, but the forces of decay were soon at work. Bloated by gases expanding in their stomachs and bowels, these dead creatures floated to the surface, and, some by chance, were driven ashore by storms. To the land-locked Icelanders, they were huge treasures.

In the years following Iceland’s settlement, social and economic development was dictated by competition for the land’s limited resources. Common lands were called almenningar. Especially along the coast, these public lands offered opportunities for enterprising individuals to find driftage (wood, whales, etc.) to increase their store of provisions and saleable merchandise. However, leaving the protection of one’s farmstead and neighborhood to hunt and gather foodstuffs in the often desolate almenningar could be dangerous. Competition was fierce and disputes often arose over finds. Seal-hunting provided skins, meat, fat, and oil, but beached whales were the real prizes along the coast. Grettir’s Saga offers some of the most detailed information in the medieval sources about the value of beached whales, and what men were willing to do to take possession of these treasures.

10.2 Reading – A Whale Washes Ashore (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar)

The readings for this lesson concern a famine in the West Fjords recounted in Grettir’s Saga. Conflict over resources begins a feud which involves Onund Tree-Foot’s sons, Thorgrim Gray-Streak (hærukollr) and Thorgeir Flask-Back (flǫskubakr). The sons have taken over their father’s farm at Kaldbak (‘Cold-Back Mountain’) in the Strands (Strandir). Onund was given the farm by the original owner, the landnámsmaðr Eirik Snare, whosefarm was at Arness (Árnes, ‘River Headland’) on the coast of the bay Trekyllisvik (called Vík or Víkin, ‘bay’ in the reading). Hence Eirik and his family originally owned all rights to driftage on the Strands. Flosi, Eirik’s son and heir, resents that his father gave away these valuable driftage rights, particularly in this time of shortage.

After a storm, local inhabitants check the beaches for driftage. A man named Thorstein discovers a beached whale at Rifsker on Reykjanes, a skerry147 midway on the coast between Kaldbak and Arness. The whale is large. It is a reyðr (f, ‘rorqual whale’), and Thorstein sends a messenger to notify his leader Flosi of the need for assistance. Thorgrim Gray-Streak also learns of the whale. Thorgrim and Flosi are heads of households. They are local leaders among the second generation Icelanders, and each claims the whale. Flosi and his men reach the whale first. They immediately begin cutting and flensing (slicing the blubber from the bones). When Thorgrim and the men of Kaldbak arrive, the two groups dispute who has the proper claim to the whale.

As the news of the whale spreads, men in small boats row to the site from all corners of the Strands to share in the find. The arriving men support either Thorgrim and his Kaldbeklingar (‘Men of Kaldbak’) or Flosi’s Víkrmenn (‘Men of the Vík’). The dispute centers around whether Flosi’s father Eirik Snare, the first settler in the region, had legally given driftage rights to Thorgrim’s father, Onund Tree-Foot. Thorgrim asserts his ownership, and employing legal language, he forbids Flosi and his allies to take away any part of the whale.

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (Ch. 12)

Í þann tíma kom hallæri svá mikit á Ísland, at ekki hefir jafnmikit komit. Þá tók af náliga allan sjávarafla ok reka. Þat stóð yfir mǫrg ár.

Á einu hausti urðu þangat sæhafa kaupmenn á hafskipi ok brutu þar í Víkinni. Flosi tók við þeim fjórum eða fimm. Steinn hét sá er fyrir þeim var.148 ...Um várit kom veðr mikit af norðri; þat helzk nær viku. Eptir veðrit kǫnnuðu menn reka sína.149 Þorsteinn hét maðr, er bjó á Reykjanesi. Hann fann hval rekinn innan fram á nesinu,150 þar sem hét at Rifskerjum:151 þat var reyðr mikil. Hann sendi þegar mann til Flosa í Vík ok svá til næstu bœja....Flosi kom fyrst ok þeir Víkrmenn; þeir tóku þegar til skurðar ok var dreginn á land upp sá [hvalr], er skorinn var...

Í því kómu Kaldbeklingar152 með fjǫgur skip. Þorgrímr veitti tilkall til hvalsins ok fyrirbauð Víkrmǫnnum skurð ok skipti ok brautflutning153 á hvalnum.

Translate

The saga goes on to tell how Flosi, having the larger force, demands that Thorgrim prove his right to the driftage. Thorgrim initially decides not to attack, but at that moment a ship with reinforcements arrives from the south. The ship is captained by Svan, one of Thorgrim’s allies. Svan quickly offers his support to Thorgrim.

Þá reri skip innan yfir fjǫrðu, ok sóttu knáliga róðrinn; þeir kómu at brátt. Þat var Svanr af Hóli ór Bjarnarfirði ok húskarlar hans; ok þegar hann kom, bað hann Þorgrím eigi láta ræna sik;154 en þeir váru áðr vinir miklir, ok bauð Svanr honum lið sitt.

Translate

Thorgrim accepts Svan’s offer and the two prepare to fight. The story of the battle continues later in this lesson.

10.3 Exercise – From Grettir’s saga. Review Reading ‎10.2 and decide whether the following statements are true or false.

rétt eða rangt?

1. Hallæri stóð yfir mǫrg ár.

2. Kaupmenn urðu sæhafa.

3. Þorsteinn fann hval.

4. Þorsteinn bjó í Danmǫrk.

5. Kaldbeklingar kómu með fimm skip.

6. Þorgrímr veitti tilkall til hvalsins.

10.4 Strong Adjectives

As noted, adjectives modify nouns and agree in gender, case, and number. Most Old Norse adjectives have both strong and weak forms. In many instances, they decline like nouns. Adjectives take strong endings unless preceded by a definite article, demonstrative pronoun, or other determining word. Otherwise they take weak endings. This section presents the rules for strong adjectives. A section in the next lesson discusses weak adjectives. Below, the adjective spakr ‘wise’ is declined with strong endings.

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

spakr

spǫk

spakt

Pl

spakir

spakar

spǫk

acc

spakan

spaka

spakt

spaka

spakar

spǫk

dat

spǫkum

spakri

spǫku

spǫkum

spǫkum

spǫkum

gen

spaks

spakrar

spaks

spakra

spakra

spakra

• Adjectives containing -a- undergo u-umlaut (spakr, dat spǫkum)

• Some adjectives, such as ríkr (‘powerful/rich’) and døkkr (‘dark’), have stem-final -j- or -v-. Unless an ending that begins with -a- or -u- is added, the stem-final -j- is dropped. Below, the adjective ríkr is declined with strong endings.

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

ríkr

rík

ríkt

Pl

ríkir

ríkjar

rík

acc

ríkjan

ríkja

ríkt

ríkja

ríkjar

rík

dat

ríkjum

ríkri

ríkju

ríkjum

ríkjum

ríkjum

gen

ríkss

ríkrar

ríks

ríkra

ríkra

ríkra

• Adjectives with stem-final -v- will drop it unless the ending begins with -a- or -i-. Below, døkkr is declined with strong endings.

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

døkkr

døkk

døkkt

Pl

døkkvir

døkkvar

døkk

acc

døkkvan

døkkva

døkkt

døkkva

døkkvar

døkk

dat

dǫkkum

døkkvi

døkku

dǫkkum

dǫkkum

dǫkkum

gen

døkks

døkkrar

døkks

døkkra

døkkra

døkkra

• The neuter sg ending -t is doubled when added to an adjective whose stem ends in a long vowel (for example, fár, hár, and blár become fátt, hátt, and blátt);

• When neuter sg -t is added to an adjective whose stem ends in a dental (-ð-, -d-, or -t-), the final dental of the stem changes to -t-. For example, fríðr and óðr (masc nom adj) become frítt and ótt (neuter nom adj). When a consonant precedes the stem-final dental (harðr, kaldr), the dental assimilates to the ending -t (hart-t, kalt-t), and then the ending -t is dropped (hart, kalt).

As a rule, an adjective agrees with its noun. This rule holds even when the two are not next to each other in a sentence. For example in hann var auðigr the adjective auðigr (‘wealthy’) agrees with its masc sg nom subject. So also, the word order of vitr maðr ok hógværr (adjective-noun-conjunction-adjective) is a common pattern in Old Norse. Notice in the example below that gǫfugs manns ok ágæts is in the genitive case and matches Gríms, and that mikill maðr ok sterkr is in the nom case and matches Egill. The word order in English translation makes these relationships clearer.

Hann var auðigr at fé ok hǫfðingi mikill, vitr maðr ok hógværr.

He was wealthy and a great leader, a wise and gentle man.

Egill var sonr Gríms, gǫfugs manns ok ágæts, mikill maðr ok sterkr.

Egil, a big and strong man, was the son of Grim, a noble and excellent man.

10.5 Exercise – Nouns and Strong Adjectives. Decline ungr maðr ‘young man,’ ung kona ‘young woman,’ and ungt barn ‘young child.’

ungr maðr

ung kona

ungt barn

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

10.6 Strong Adjectives and the Two Special Stem Rules

This section explains the patterns resulting when the adjective ending -r (or any adjective ending with an -r, such as gen pl -ra) is added to an adjective whose stem ends in -l-, -n-, -r-, or -s-. For the Two Special Stem Rules (Alveolar) see Lesson 5.

Special Stem Rule 1, -r Assimilation. When a vowel precedes stem-final -l-, -n-, or -s-, the ending -r assimilates to -l-, -n-, or -s-, as with the adjectives sæll (stem sæl-), vænn (stem væn-), and lauss (stem laus-). This rule applies to all endings beginning with -r (-r, -ri, -rar, -ra), for example, vænn (væn- + -r), vænni (væn- + -ri), vænnar (væn- + -rar), vænna (væn- + -ra).

vænn ‘beautiful, fine’

lauss ‘loose, free’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

vænn

væn

vænt

lauss

laus

laust

acc

vænan

væna

vænt

lausan

lausa

laust

dat

vænum

vænni

vænu

lausum

laussi

lausu

gen

væns

vænnar

væns

lauss

laussar

lauss

Pl nom

vænir

vænar

væn

lausir

lausar

laus

acc

væna

vænar

væn

lausa

lausar

laus

dat

vænum

vænum

vænum

lausum

lausum

lausum

gen

vænna

vænna

vænna

laussa

laussa

laussa

Special Stem Rule 2, -r Drop (Apocope). When a consonant precedes stem-final -l-, -n-, -r-, or -s-, the ending -r drops, as with forn (stem forn-), fagr (stem fagr-), vitr (stem vitr-), and hvass (stem hvass-). This rule applies to all endings beginning with -r (-r, -ri, -rar, -ra); for example, fagr (fagr- + -r), fagri (fagr- + -ri), fagrar (fagr- + -rar), fagra (fagr- + -ra).

fagr ‘beautiful, fair’

hvass ‘sharp’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

fagr

fǫgr

fagrt

hvass

hvǫss

hvasst

acc

fagran

fagra

fagrt

hvassan

hvassa

hvasst

dat

fǫgrum

fagri

fǫgru

hvǫssum

hvassi

hvǫssu

gen

fagrs

fagrar

fagrs

hvass

hvassar

hvass

Pl nom

fagrir

fagrar

fǫgr

hvassir

hvassar

hvǫss

acc

fagra

fagrar

fǫgr

hvassa

hvassar

hvǫss

dat

fǫgrum

fǫgrum

fǫgrum

hvǫssum

hvǫssum

hvǫssum

gen

fagra

fagra

fagra

hvassa

hvassa

hvassa

• Gen sg -s is dropped before a stem ending in -ss, hence gen hvass (m/n sg).

10.7 Adjectives of Two Syllables ending with -inn and Indeclinable Adjectives

A few subsets of adjectives follow additional rules. In the discussion below, it helps to keep in mind the general rule that Old Norse words are composed of two primary parts: a stem and an ending (word = stem + ending) and that within the word, the stem can also have two parts: a root and a suffix (stem = root + suffix).

Adjectives of Two Syllables. Like two-syllable nouns, two-syllable adjectives whose second stem syllable consists of a short vowel and a single consonant lose the vowel of the second syllable if the added ending begins with a vowel. For example, the adjective auðigr (stem auðig-) looses the -i- of the second syllable with the masc acc (ending -an) to become auðgan (auðig- + -an). Other common adjectives that shorten their stem are mikill, lítill, gamall, gǫfugr, and heilagr. There are exceptions and a few adjectives such as verðugr (‘worthy’) and þurftugr (‘needy’) do not drop the second vowel and become verðugan or þurftugan in the accusative.155

auðigr ‘wealthy’

gamall ‘old’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

auðigr

auðig

auðigt

gamall

gǫmul

gamalt

acc

auðgan

auðga

auðigt

gamlan

gamla

gamalt

dat

auðgum

auðigri

auðgu

gǫmlum

gamalli

gǫmlu

gen

auðigs

auðigrar

auðigs

gamals

gamallar

gamals

Pl nom

auðgir

auðgar

auðig

gamlir

gamlar

gǫmul

acc

auðga

auðgar

auðig

gamla

gamlar

gǫmul

dat

auðgum

auðgum

auðgum

gǫmlum

gǫmlum

gǫmlum

gen

auðigra

auðigra

auðigra

gamalla

gamalla

gamalla

mikill ‘great’

lítill ‘little’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

mikill

mikil

mikit

lítill

lítil

lítit

acc

mikinn

mikla

mikit

lítinn

litla

lítit

dat

miklum

mikilli

miklu

litlum

lítilli

litlu

gen

mikils

mikillar

mikils

lítils

lítillar

lítils

Pl nom

miklir

miklar

mikil

litlir

litlar

lítil

acc

mikla

miklar

mikil

litla

litlar

lítil

dat

miklum

miklum

miklum

litlum

litlum

litlum

gen

mikilla

mikilla

mikilla

lítilla

lítilla

lítilla

• Adjectives with stems ending in in -l-, -n-, -r-, or -s- are subject to the Alveolar Special Stem Rules, for example, gamall, gamalli, gamallar, gamalla.

• The adjectives mikill and lítill have a few slightly irregular forms: mikinn (m acc sg), lítinn (m acc sg), mikit (n nom/acc sg), and lítit (n nom/acc sg).

• When the second syllable is dropped, long vowels in the first syllable tend to shorten before two consonants. For instance, the long -í- in lítill becomes short in dat litlum and the diphthong -ei- in heilagr shortens to -e-, giving dat helgum. In the fourteenth- or fifteenth-century, adjectives like these began to keep the second-syllable vowel in all cases (for example, auðigan rather than auðgan). The retention of this vowel in such adjectives is a distinction between Old and Modern Icelandic.

Adjectives Ending with -inn. A number of adjectives do not take separate strong and weak sets of endings. Instead they decline like the past participles of strong verbs (see section below). These adjectives are words with two-syllable stems ending in -in-, and they follow the stem-shortening rule for Adjectives of two syllables described above. Examples are feginn ‘joyful,’ aldinn ‘old,’ kristinn ‘Christian,’ heiðinn ‘heathen,’ soltinn ‘hungry,’ and ýrinn ‘sufficient.’

feginn ‘joyful’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

feginn

fegin

fegit

Pl

fegnir

fegnar

fegin

acc

feginn

fegna

fegit

fegna

fegnar

fegin

dat

fegnum

fegni

fegnu

fegnum

fegnum

fegnum

gen

fegins

fegnar

fegins

feginna

feginna

feginna

• Neuter sg drops stem-final -n before -t, hence fegit.

• Words in this group also sometimes assimilate endings beginning with -r to match the preceding stem-final -n- (Special Stem Rule 1, Lesson 5)

Indeclinable Adjectives. Some adjectives are indeclinable, meaning that they do not change their endings. These words end in either -a or -i (both common variants) and are mainly compounds such as afskipta ‘cut off from inheritance,’ aldauða ‘dead and gone,’ einskipa ‘with a single ship,’ féþurfi ‘in need of money,’ frumvaxta ‘early come into one’s prime,’ hraðfara ‘swift,’ reiðfara ‘have a good passage,’ and sjálfbjargi ‘self-sufficient.’ In a few instances, it is difficult to distinguish these words from nouns; for example, eiðrofi ‘perjurer’ and þinglogi ‘engagement breaker.’

10.8 Exercise – Strong Adjectives. Decline adjectives spakr and mikill below.

spakr maðr

mikill maðr

Sg nom

maðr

maðr

acc

mann

mann

dat

manni

manni

gen

manns

manns

Pl nom

menn

menn

acc

menn

menn

dat

mǫnnum

mǫnnum

gen

manna

manna

Transl.: spakr maðr ‘wise man,’ mikill maðr ‘large/great man’

10.9 Verbs – Past Participles

Past participles are adjectives derived from verbs, and their endings are almost the same as the strong adjective endings. Past participles, like adjectives, agree in gender, case, and number with the nouns they modify. For instance, in the sentence Skipit flaut tjaldat fyrir bœnum ‘The ship floated tented [with a sail cloth over the mast serving as a tent] in front of the farmstead,’ the participle tjaldat agrees with the subject skipit (both neuter). In the sentence, Hann var kallaðr Skinna-Bjǫrn, the participle kallaðr agrees with the subject hann. Weak and strong verbs form their past participle stems differently. There is a fixed set of endings shared by all weak verbs and another fixed set of endings shared by all strong verbs.

Weak Verbs. Weak verbs add endings to the past-tense stem (for example, kallað-), found by removing the past-tense ending -i of the 3rd sg (for example, past-tense stem kallað- from kallaði, and nefnd- from nefndi). The past participles of kalla and nefna are declined below.

kallaðr (kalla)

nefndr (nefna)

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

kallaðr

kǫlluð

kallat

nefndr

nefnd

nefnt

acc

kallaðan

kallaða

kallat

nefndan

nefnda

nefnt

dat

kǫlluðum

kallaðri

kǫlluðu

nefndum

nefndri

nefndu

gen

kallaðs

kallaðrar

kallaðs

nefnds

nefndrar

nefnds

Pl nom

kallaðir

kallaðar

kǫlluð

nefndir

nefndar

nefnd

acc

kallaða

kallaðar

kǫlluð

nefnda

nefndar

nefnd

dat

kǫlluðum

kǫlluðum

kǫlluðum

nefndum

nefndum

nefndum

gen

kallaðra

kallaðra

kallaðra

nefndra

nefndra

nefndra

Some weak verbs show peculiarities in forming their past participles:

• The verb gera (also gøra) has past participle gǫrr~gerr (m), gǫr~ger (f), gǫrt~gert (n);

• Some 3rd conjugation weak verbs insert -i- before the dental suffix in the past participle. For example, the past participles of berja and glymja are bariðr and glumiðr. The verbs that follow this pattern end in -ja in the infinitive. However, not all verbs ending in -ja belong to the 3rd conjugation. For example, the past participle of the 1st conjugation verb herja follows the same pattern as kallaðr;

• Most 4th conjugation weak verbs have past participles with -að- (-at) like the 1st conjugation. These usually only occur in the neuter, vakat, lifat, unat, and trúat;

• A few employ the suffix -in- rather than a dental when the past participle/adjective ending begins with a consonant. For example, the past participle of erja ‘plow’ is arinn (root arð-) and declines in the masc sg arinn (nom), arðan (acc), arðum (dat), arins (gen).

• Some verbs derive past participles from related but somewhat different stems. For example, leggja has the past participle lagðr, lagiðr, or laginn.

10.10 Past Participles of Strong Verbs

The past participle of a strong verb forms that verb’s fifth principal part, for example: taka, tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn (see the chart below), and past-participle endings look very much like the declension of the definite article. In keeping with this similarity, past participles are formed according to the Alveoar Special Stem Rules (for example, tekinn from tekin + r) and two-syllable stem shortening, for example: teknum, from tekin + inum. Also, the final -n- of the past participle stem drops before the neuter sg ending -t, for example: tekit, farit, numit. Note that the masc acc sg has the ending -n (strong verb tekinn versus weak verb kallaðan).

Past participle of taka ‘take’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

tekinn

tekin

tekit

Pl

teknir

teknar

tekin

acc

tekinn

tekna

tekit

tekna

teknar

tekin

dat

teknum

tekinni

teknu

teknum

teknum

teknum

gen

tekins

tekinnar

tekins

tekinna

tekinna

tekinna

Not that a few adjectives decline like the past participles of strong verbs, for example, feginn ‘glad, joyful,’ heiðinn ‘heathen,’ and kristinn ‘Christian.’

10.11 Verbs Hafa and Vera – The Perfect: Present and Past

‘Perfect’ is a grammatical term from the Latin perfectum ‘completed.’ The term is thus used in Old Norse (and other languages) to denote actions that are fully completed before a certain point of time. In Old Norse, two auxiliary verbs, hafa and vera, come into play, and these auxiliaries form either present or past-perfect constructions. Old Norse perfect constructions often have exact parallels in English (has seen, had seen = hefir séð, hafði séð). The distinction between transitive and intransitive is helpful when considering perfects (see Lesson 2, Grammar Toolbox, Verbs). Despite their imposing name, perfects in Old Norse are rather simple.

Transitive Verbs mostly employ hafa in the present or past to which is added the neuter sg past participle. Put another way, in Old Norse the perfect is formed by conjugating hafa in the present or past and adding the neuter past participle. Notice that, with hafa, the past participle is always n sg nom, and does not agree with the subject (in contrast to usage with vera, see below); this usage of past participle as if it were indeclinable is sometimes called supine, after similar usage in Latin.

Eiríkr hefir numit Eiríksfjǫrð ok býr í Brattahlíð. (present perfect)

Eirik has taken Eirik’s Fjord and lives at Brattahlíð.

Ingólfr hefir gefit Herjólfi land á milli Vágs ok Reykjaness. (present perfect)

Ingolf has given Herjolf land between Vag and Reykjanes.

Skip þat hǫfðu þeir fengit um sumarit í víking. (past perfect)

They had gotten that ship during the summer while raiding (í víking).

Intransitive verbs typically employ vera (instead of hafa) as their auxiliary in forming the perfect. These verbs often describe motion, such as fara, koma, ganga, or are verbs that do not take direct objects. Because vera is a linking verb, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender, case, and number.

Haraldr er farinn. (present perfect)

Harald is/has gone.

Þá var Hǫgni konungr farinn í konungastefnu. (past perfect)

At that time King Hogni had gone to a meeting of kings.

Occasionally the perfects of intransitive verbs are formed with hafa rather than vera. As a general rule, perfects of intransitive verbs formed with vera focus on the result of the action, while those with hafa focus on the action itself.

Aldri hefir dúfa komit ór hrafns eggi.

Never has a dove come out of a raven’s egg.

Vera and verða. Vera (‘be’) forms its perfect with hafa. Vera often acts in appostion and takes appropriate endings, for example, hann var orðinn. Verða (‘become’) forms its perfect with vera.

Þessi orrosta hefir einhver verit mest í Nóregi.

This battle has been the greatest ever in Norway.

Haraldr var orðinn konungr Nóregs.

Harald had become (verða) king of Norway.

10.12 Verbs – Passive Voice

The past participle is also employed in passive constructions, where the subject does not perform an action but rather undergoes one. As in English, the passive voice is formed with an auxiliary verb and a past participle; for example, þat er sagt ‘it is said.’ In Old Norse, the auxiliary verb is vera or verða, and the past participle agrees in gender, case, and number with the subject. For example: ‘Harald killed Sigurd’ (Haraldr drap Sigurð) is active, while ‘Sigurd was killed by Harald’ (Sigurðr var/varð drepinn af Haraldi) is passive.

Hann var kallaðr Klakk-Haraldr.

He was called Klakk-Harald.

Skipit var steint mjǫk fyrir ofan sjó.

The ship was fully painted above the waterline.

Konungr sá er Hǫgni er nefndr átti dóttur.

That king who is named Hogni had a daughter.

Dóttir hans var í braut tekin.

His daughter was taken away.

Héðinn var búinn at berjask.

Hedin was prepared to fight.

Passive sentences formed with verða introduce a sense of possibility.

Verða þeir ekki fundnir.

Should they not be found.

Blóð varð eigi stǫðvat.

The blood will/would not be stopped.

10.13 Reading – The Whale Dispute Turns Deadly (Grettis saga)

The story from Grettir’s Saga of the fight over the whale at Rifsker continues. Men throughout the area are drawn into the conflict, including a group of Norwegian merchants called Austmenn ‘Eastmen’ (as Norway is east of Iceland). The Norwegians’ vessel was earlier shipwrecked in Trekyllisvik near Flosi’s farm at Arness. Several of the shipwrecked foreigners accepted lodgings with Flosi, a decision that put them under obligation to their host.

Thorgrim cannot prove his right to the beached whale, and his brother Thorgeir now attacks Flosi’s men, who are flensing the whale. The shipwrecked Norwegians are up on the whale with Flosi’s men. The Norwegians are dangerous opponents because as Viking Age merchants they are well-armed. Their weapons are better than the Icelanders’, who are poorly equipped farmers.

The following passage also features a colorful meeting between two enemies: Thorfinn, one of Flosi’s men, and Thorgeir, Thorgrim’s brother. In an earlier incident Thorfinn had ambushed Thorgeir in the dark and sunk his axe into Thorgeir’s back. Hearing the squishy sound of the impact, Thorfinn assumed he had dealt Thorgeir a mortal wound. Thorfinn then fled, leaving behind his axe. In fact, Thorfinn’s axe had struck a water flask slung over Thorgeir’s back. Saved by the flask, Thorgeir gained the nickname Flask-Back (flǫskubakr). In the passage below, Thorgeir ‘returns’ the axe to Thorfinn, an example of Icelandic humor.

Following the battle, both sides bring lawsuits for the numerous killings. These suits ultimately end in a division of the disputed shoreline. Later, Onund’s son Thorgrim, the grandfather of Grettir the Strong, leaves the area. He moves south to Midfjord, where he buys land at Bjarg, the farm where Grettir is born.

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (Ch. 12)

Þorgeirr flǫskubakr réð fyrst upp á hvalinn at húskǫrlum Flosa.156 Þorfinnr var fram við hǫfuðit hvalsins157 ok stóð í spori, er hann hafði gǫrt sér.158 Þorgeirr mælti: ‘Þar fœri ek þér øxi þína.’ Síðan hjó hann á hálsinn, svá at af tók hǫfuðit.159 Flosi var uppi á mǫlinni, er hann sá þetta; hann eggjaði þá sína menn til móttǫku. Nú berjask þeir lengi,160 ok veitti Kaldbeklingum betr;161 fáir menn hǫfðu þar vápn, nema øxar þær, er þeir skáru með hvalinn, ok skálmir.162 Hrukku Víkrmenn af hvalnum í fjǫruna.163 Austmenn164 hǫfðu vápn ok urðu skeinuhættir; Steinn stýrimaðr hjó fót undan Ívari Kolbeinssyni, en Leifr, bróðir Ívars, laust félaga Steins í hel165 með hvalrifi. Fellu þar menn af hvárumtveggjum.

Translate

10.14 Exercise – From Grettir’s Saga. Complete the sentences from the Reading section above.

1. Þorfinnr var                                                                                                           , ok stóð í spori.

2. Þorgeirr mælti: ’                                                                                                               øxi þína.’

3. Síðan hjó hann                                                                                                                    hǫfuðit.

Are the following statements true or false?

rétt eða rangt?

4. Þorgeirr réð at húskǫrlum Flosa.

5. Austmenn hǫfðu eigi vápn.

6. Menn fellu af hvárumtveggjum.

10.15 Culture – Resources and Subsistence in Iceland

From the tenth century on, Iceland periodically suffered from famine and disease. This island society offers a classic example of ‘bad year economics,’ where matters go well only if nothing goes wrong. The country was relatively prosperous in the early centuries, but bad times hit hard.166 The sagas often speak of these periods, giving a glimpse of the ways in which Icelanders dealt with their difficulties. Most Icelanders who survived to old age experienced several rough periods. By the late tenth century the population had begun to strain the natural resources. In the thirteenth century, when the climate began to seriously cool, the pressure on resources became even greater.

The variability of the weather and the short, often cool growing seasons at Iceland’s northern latitude influenced the way Icelanders farmed and lived. The first settlers immediately saw that the Icelandic grasses and shrubs were suitable for the type of cattle and sheep farming that they practiced in their homelands. The original birch forests, which stretched in many places from the shoreline to the base of the mountains, did not hinder these Scandinavian herdsmen as the trees were easily burned down. Ownership of livestock was a measure of status and wealth, and many settlers cleared their lands of forest to increase pasturage.

The native birch, plentiful at the start, offered the settlers a supply of hardwood suitable for hearths and charcoal-making. The land clearings/burnings of the settlers, the staggering fuel requirements for making iron from bog ore, and the erosion from uncontrolled grazing of livestock soon reduced the original forests to small stands of trees. After the relatively few big trees had been cut down or burned, the remaining birch and willow was of limited use in building ocean-going ships and in supplying the larger timbers needed for house construction. From early on, good timber had to be imported or where possible salvaged from driftwood. This expense raised the cost of maintaining, repairing, and building ships, factors that limited Icelanders’ ability to compete with Norwegian merchants. It also tended to confine the Icelanders to constructing their houses mainly from driftwood and turf.

10.16 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 10. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

Numerals

vinr

friend

fagr

beautiful

hvárr

who, which of two

fim(m)tán

fifteen

vísa

verse, stanza

auðigr

wealthy

leið

path

fríðr

beautiful

sjálfr

self

sinn

time

réttr

right, correct

samr

same

kveld

evening

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

bjóða

to offer; invite

enn

yet, still

né

nor

hlaupa

to leap; run

niðr

down

kalla

to call

ofan

from above

halda

to hold

aptr

back

falla

to fall

móti

against

Exercises

10.17 Väsby Runestone from Uppland, Sweden: A Viking in England. Translate the runes.

Runes

Transliteration

alit raisa stain þin oftiR sik sialfan · hon tuknuts kialt anklanti · kuþ hialbi hons ant

Standardized Old Norse

Áli [lé]t reisa stein þenna [e]ptir sik sjálfan. Hann tók [K]núts gjald á [E]nglandi. Guð hjálpi hans ǫnd.

Vocabulary

Áli m Ali (personal name)

England n England

ǫnd <dat ǫnd ~ ǫndu, gen andar, pl andir > f breath; life; spirit, soul

Knútr m King Canute the Great (inn ríki)

gjald n payment; tribute; reward

Translate:

Figure 10.2. The Väsby Runestone from Uppland, Sweden.

10.18 Strong Verbs List and Review ❖.

What follows is a list of fifteen common strong verbs with their principal parts. Test yourself. These verbs are among the most frequent words in the sagas. All but one are in the 246 ❖most common list.

Vocabulary

biðja <biðr, bað, báðu, beðinn> to ask; command

binda <bindr, batt, bundu, bundinn> to bind

bíða <bíðr, beið, biðu, beðinn> to await

búa <býr, bjó, bjoggu~bjuggu, búinn> to live (at a place); prepare (for something/to do something)

drepa <drepr, drap, drápu, drepinn> to smite, kill

falla <fellr, fell~féll, fellu~féllu, fallinn> to fall

finna <finnr, fann, fundu, fundinn> to find

kveða <kveðr, kvað, kváðu, kveðinn> to speak; to recite (verse)

láta <lætr, lét, létu, látinn> let

liggja <liggr, lá, lágu, leginn> to lie

ríða <ríðr, reið, riðu, riðinn> ride

sitja <sitr, sat, sátu, setinn> sit

sjá <sér, sá, sá, sénn> see

standa <stendr, stóð, stóðu, staðinn> stand

taka <tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn> take

A. Conjugate taka in the present and past tense

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

þat

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þau

B. Identify each of the verbs below and translate the infinitive form.

Ex:

bindr

3 sg pres of binda ‘bind’

1.

lét

6.

finn

2.

láguð

7.

beið

3.

riðu

8.

sitjum

4.

sjáið

9.

drapt

C. Provide the requested form for each of the verbs below and translate the infinitive.

Ex:

gefa (2sg pres)

gefr      ‘give’

1.

falla (3sg pres)

5.

búa (3pl past)

2.

liggja (2pl past)

6.

binda (1sg past)

3.

bíða (2sg pres)

7.

standa (3sg past)

4.

kveða (1pl past)

8.

biðja (1pl pres)

10.19 Strong Adjectives. Decline the adjective langr ‘long.’

m

f

n

Sg nom

langr

lǫng

langt

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

10.20 Strong Adjectives. Decline the two-syllable adjective auðigr ‘wealthy.’

m

f

n

Sg nom

auðigr

auðig

auðigt

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

10.21 Past Participles. Give the infinitives for the underlined past participles.

infinitive(s)

1. Í þann tíma kom hallæri svá mikit á Ísland, at ekki hefir jafnmikit komit.

2. Hann fann hval rekinn innan fram á nesinu.

3. Hvalrinn var dreginn á land upp sá, er skorinn var.

4. Þorfinnr var fram við hǫfuðit hvalsins ok stóð í spori, er hann hafði gǫrt sér.

10.22 Verbs. Give the 3sg present tense and infinitive for the underlined verbs.

Þorgeirr flǫskubakr réð fyrst upp á hvalinn at húskǫrlum Flosa. Þorfinnr var fram við hǫfuðit hvalsins ok stóð í spori, er hann hafði gǫrt sér. Þorgeirr mælti: ‘Þar fœri ek þér øxi þína.’ Síðan hjó hann á hálsinn, svá at af tók hǫfuðit. Flosi var uppi á mǫlinni, er hann sá þetta; hann eggjaði þá sína menn til móttǫku.

3 sg present

infinitive

3 sg present

infinitive

Ex:

réð

ræðr

ráða

1.

stóð

4.

tók

2.

mælti

5.

sá

3.

hjó

6.

eggjaði

10.23 Verbs – Passive and Past Perfect Constructions. Translate the following sentences and identify the underlined constructions as present or past, passive or perfect.

1.

Konungr sá er Hǫgni er nefndr átti dóttur.

2.

Skipit var steint mjǫk fyrir ofan sjó.

3.

Héðinn var búinn at berjask.

10.24 Strong Forms of the Adjectives mikill and lítill. These adjectives appear everywhere in Old Norse texts. In declining, keep in mind:

• Special Stem Rules apply, and endings beginning in -r change to match the stem-final -l-, for example mikill (mikil + r), lítilli (lítil + ri);

• The loss of the vowel in two-syllable stems before endings beginning in a vowel. Compare strong mikill with weak mikli (mikil + i), hence mikill maðr and inn mikli maðr;

• Stem-final -l drops before the neuter sg ending -t, hence mikit, lítit;

• The ending of the strong masc acc sg is -n rather than -an, hence mikinn, lítinn;

• The long í in lítill becomes short when followed by two consonants, except in the nominative case (compare lítill barn with it litla barn).

mikill maðr

mikil kona

mikit barn

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

lítill maðr

lítil kona

lítit barn

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Figure 10.3. The Tingsflisan Runestone

from Öland, Sweden.

10.25 Runes. Translate the following runestone from Tingsflisan in Köpings Parish on the Swedish island of Öland.

Runes

Transliteration

þuriR : auk þurstain : auk : þurfastr : þaiR : bryþr : raistu : stain : at : kunfus : faþur : sin : kuþ : hialbi : siul : hans :

Standardized Old Norse

Þórir ok Þorsteinn ok Þorfastr þeir brœðr reistu stein at Gunnfús fǫður sinn. Guð hjálpi sál hans.

Vocabulary

Gunnfúss <-ar> m Gunnfus (personal name)

hjálpa <helpr, halp, hulpu, hólpinn> vb to save; help; Guð hjálpi sál hans may God save his soul

reisa <-ti, -tr> vb to raise

sál <-ar, -ar> f soul

Þorfastr <-s> m Thorfast (personal name)

Translate:

Lesson 11

The Endless Battle

Figure 11.1. A Gotland Picture Stone, currently in the museum in Visby, shows a woman standing between two armies ready for battle, one on land and the other arriving by sea. She appears to be welcoming or negotiating between the two sides, much as Hild does in the reading passages below.

Aldri hefir dúfa komit ór hrafns eggi

(Never has a dove come from a raven’s egg)

11.1 Reading – The Battle of the Hjadnings (Skáldskaparmál, The Prose Edda)

Skáldskaparmál in The Prose Edda tells the tale of an endless contest. Called The Battle of the Hjadnings (Hjaðningavíg), this battle (víg) was known throughout the northern lands. In addition to the Prose Edda, versions of the story are preserved in Saxo Grammaticus’s Deeds of the Danes and several Norse sagas. In The Prose Edda, the story begins in the world of men when King Hedin steals a woman named Hild. Her aged father, King Hogni, sets out to find her. Hogni follows Hedin’s ships along the coast of Norway. After sailing westwards, he catches Hedin in the Orkneys at High Island (Háey). Before the battle begins, it is clear that the father, Hogni, has little chance of victory, but he refuses all offers of reconciliation.

Skáldskaparmál (Ch. 50)

Konungr sá er Hǫgni er nefndr167 átti dóttur, er Hildr hét. Hana168 tók at herfangi konungr sá er Héðinn hét, Hjarrandason. Þá var Hǫgni konungr farinn169 í konungastefnu; en er hann spurði at herjat var í ríki hans,170 ok dóttir hans var í braut tekin, þá fór hann með sínu liði at leita Héðins, ok spurði til hans at Héðinn hafði siglt norðr með landi.171

Þá er Hǫgni konungr kom í Nóreg, spurði hann at Héðinn hafði siglt vestr um haf. Þá siglir172 Hǫgni eptir honum allt til Orkneyja; ok er hann kom þar sem heitir Háey,173 þá var þar fyrir Héðinn með lið sitt. Þá fór Hildr á fund fǫður síns, ok bauð honum men at sætt af hendi Héðins,174 en í ǫðru orði175 sagði hon at Héðinn væri búinn at berjask, ok ætti Hǫgni176 af honum engrar vægðar ván.177 Hǫgni svarar stirt dóttur sinni; en er hon hitti Héðin, sagði hon honum, at Hǫgni vildi enga sætt, ok bað hann búask til orrostu, ok svá gøra þeir hvárirtveggju, ganga upp á eyna,178 ok fylkja liðinu.

Translate:

11.2 Exercise – Close Reading of The Battle of the Hjadnings

Ex:

Konungr sá [er Hǫgni er nefndr] átti dóttur [er Hildr hét].

The main clause of this sentence is Konungr sá átti dóttur. A relative clause (er Hǫgni er nefndr) intervenes between the sentence’s subject konungr sá (m nom sg) and the verb átti (3sg past of eiga ‘have’). A second relative clause (er Hildr hét) describes the noun dóttur (acc sg). Each relative clause contains its own subject and verb.

The subject of the first relative clause (er) is understood to be konungr sá (‘who is named Hogni’), while the subject of the second relative clause (also er but referring to a different person) is understood to be dóttur. The verbs of the two relative clauses are er (nefndr) ‘is (named)’ and hét ‘was called.’ Hence,

Verb:     er (3sg pres of vera ‘be’)     Verb:   hét (3sg past of heita ‘be called’)

A.

Hana tók at herfangi konungr sá [er Héðinn hét, Hjarrandason].

1.

Identify hana:

(Hint: Hana is not the subject.)

Identify the verb and subject of the main clause.

2.

Verb:                                                              3. Subject:

There is one relative clause in this sentence. Identify its verb and subject.

4.

Verb:                                                              5. Subject:

B.

Þá var Hǫgni konungr farinn í konungastefnu,

1.

What part of speech is þá?

Identify the verb and subject.

2.

Verb:                                                               3. Subject:

The word farinn is a past participle meaning ‘gone’ or ‘traveled.’

Verbs of motion like fara and others which do not take direct objects (intransitive verbs) use vera rather than hafa in forming the perfect (var farinn ‘had gone’). The use of vera requires that the participle agree with the subject in case, number, and gender (here, m nom sg to agree with the subject).

4.

A prepositional phrase includes a preposition, its object, and, if present, any modifiers of the object. What is the prepositional phrase in this sentence?

C.

en er hann spurði

This sentence begins with the conjunction en ‘and, but’ that links it with the previous sentence. The next word, er, is the conjunction meaning ‘when.’ Identify the subject and verb of this clause.

1.

Verb:                                                            2. Subject:

The dependent clause er hann spurði sets up two more dependent clauses which tell the reader what Hogni learned.

D.

at herjat var í ríki hans ok dóttir hans var í braut tekin

In the clause at herjat var í ríki hans the subject is not expressed – it is an impersonal construction. The sentence var herjat has the meaning ‘there was raiding.’

1.

What kind of phrase is í ríki hans?

(Hint: Noun phrase, verb phrase, or prepositional phrase?)

Identify the subject and verb of the clause dóttir hans var í braut tekin.

2.

Verb:                                                            3. Subject:

Í braut ‘away’ is a two-part adverb modifying the verb. In this clause, the auxiliary verb (var) and past participle form a verb phrase. The auxiliary verb takes the endings for person, number, and tense, while the main verb (here in the form of a past participle) supplies the meaning.

4.

What is the meaning of the verb phrase var tekin?

E.

þá fór hann með sínu liði at leita Héðins

The main clause of the sentence begins with adverb þá. Identify the subject and verb.

1.

Verb:                                                             2. Subject:

The verb fór is used here in connection with the infinitive leita, indicating purpose. Together the verb fór and the infinitive leita form a verb phrase (fór at leita ‘went to seek’).

3.

What is the case of Héðins and why?

Hint: Check the vocabulary entries for the verbs if you are unsure.

F.

ok spurði til hans

1.

Verbs are often used in connection with a preposition to render other meanings. What is the meaning of spyrja til?

2.

Who or what is the subject of spurði til?

(You may have to go back to the Reading passage.)

G.

at Héðinn hafði siglt norðr með landi.

What is the subject and verb of this clause?

1.

Verb:                                                            2. Subject:

3.

What kind of construction is hafði siglt?

11.3 Weak Adjectives

Adjectives take weak endings when preceded by a definite article (inn, in, it) or certain other preceding words, such as a demonstrative pronoun (sá, þessi) or a possessive pronoun (minn, þinn).

In the singular, weak adjectives take the same endings as weak nouns.

In the plural the endings are the same for all genders: -u, -u, -um, -u.

Endings of Weak Adjectives

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

-i

-a

-a

Pl

-u

-u

-u

acc

-a

-u

-a

-u

-u

-u

dat

-a

-u

-a

-um

-um

-um

gen

-a

-u

-a

-u

-u

-u

Full Declension of the Weak Adjective spakr ‘wise’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

spaki

spaka

spaka

Pl

spǫku

spǫku

spǫku

acc

spaka

spǫku

spaka

spǫku

spǫku

spǫku

dat

spaka

spǫku

spaka

spǫkum

spǫkum

spǫkum

gen

spaka

spǫku

spaka

spǫku

spǫku

spǫku

• When demonstrative pronouns are used with adjectives, they are usually accompanied by the definite article. For example: sá inn góði konungr ‘that good king’ or sú in spaka kona ‘that wise woman.’

Reiview. Some adjectives (for discussion see Lessons 6 and later) have stem-final -j- or -v-. For example: ríkr declines in the masc sg as ríki, ríkja, ríkja, ríkja, and in the pl as ríkju, ríkju, ríkjum, ríkju, and døkkr follows a similar patter: masc sg døkkvi, døkkva, døkkva, døkkva, and pl døkku, døkku, døkkum, døkku.

Example of a Weak Adjective Declined with Definite Article and Noun

inn djarfi konungr

in djarfa dróttning

in djarfa barn

Sg nom

inn djarfi konungr

in djarfa dróttning

it djarfa barn

acc

inn djarfa konung

ina djǫrfu dróttning

it djarfa barn

dat

inum djarfa konungi

inni djǫrfu dróttningu

inu djarfa barni

gen

ins djarfa konungs

innar djǫrfu dróttningar

ins djarfa barns

Pl nom

inir djǫrfu konungar

inar djǫrfu dróttningar

in djǫrfu bǫrn

acc

ina djǫrfu konunga

inar djǫrfu dróttningar

in djǫrfu bǫrn

dat

inum djǫrfum konungum

inum djǫrfum dróttningum

inum djǫrfum bǫrnum

gen

inna djǫrfu konunga

inna djǫrfu dróttninga

inna djǫrfu barna

Examples of Adjectives in Strong and Weak Usage

strong

weak

ágætr konungr

an excellent king

inn ágæti konungr

the excellent king

góð kona

a good woman

in góða kona

the good woman

stórt skip

a large ship

it stóra skip

the large ship

fyrstr fugl

an earliest bird

inn fyrsti fugl

the earliest bird

11.4 Exercise – Nouns with the Definite Article and Weak Adjectives. Decline the following noun phrases.

inn ungi maðr (m)

in unga kona (f)

it unga barn (n)

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

11.5 Strong Verbs – Overview of the 7 Classes

Figure 11.2. Old Norse Strong Verbs Fall into 7 Classes. Each class is differentiated by a particular series of root vowels.

Chart for Distinguishing Strong Verb Classes

Guidelines. A distinctive root vowel series differentiates each of the 7 classes of Old Norse strong verbs, and one can often determine a strong verb’s class from the infinitive. The system of vowel change in ON strong verbs is a distinctive feature of the language,179 and it is well worth spending the time to learn. The chart below is designed to offer an overview of the 7 classes and it provides the type of information that you might want to refer back to as you learn the different classes.

In the chart: ‘C’ denotes any consonant(s) following the root vowel. ‘R’ indicates the four consonants r, l, m, n (known as ‘resonants’ and/or ‘sonorants’). These are sounds produced with continuous air flow in the vocal track. They provide deep, clear and continuing sound that often reverberates and is sonorous or musical without stops. ‘N’ refers to nasal consonants m or n.

Class

Root Vowels and Consonants in the Infinitive

Infinitives

I

í

líta, rísa

II

jú, jó, ú

krjúpa, brjóta, bjóða, lúka

III

eCC, jaCC, jáCC, iNC

(also øCCv, yNCv)

verða, gjalda, hjálpa, binda

søkkva, syngva

IV

eR

skera, stela, nema

V

eC, iCj

gefa, vega, biðja

VI

aC, eCj

fara, aka, draga, hefja

VII

aCC, au, á, ei (also ǫ, ó, á, ú)

halda, falla, hlaupa, gráta, heita

On occasion there are exceptions to these rules. For example: Class V fregna and Class VI standa have two consonants after the vowel.

This lesson considers Strong Verb Classes I and II. The coming lessons give the remaining 5 classes.

11.6 Strong Verbs – Class I (í)

Class I has the distinctive root vowel series of long -í- in the infinitive and present tense, -ei- in the past sg, and short -i- in the past plural and past participle. Verbs of this class (such as: 3sg lítr, ríðr, skínn, svíkr) do not show i-umlaut in the present sg since -í- is already a front vowel.

Bíða and Drífa, Sample Class I Conjugations in Present and Past

bíða

drífa

Present

Past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

bíð

beið

dríf

dreif

2nd

þú

bíðr

beitt

drífr

dreift

3rd

hann

bíðr

beið

drífr

dreif

Plg 1st

vér, vit

bíðum

biðum

drífum

drifum

2nd

þér, þit

bíðið

biðið

drífið

drifuð

3rd

þeir

bíða

biðu

drífa

drifu

Basic Pattern of Class I Strong Verbs

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

í

í

ei

i

i

bíða ‘wait’

bíðr

beið

biðu

beðinn

bíta ‘bite’

bítr

beit

bitu

bitinn

drífa ‘drive’

drífr

dreif

drifu

drifinn

líta ‘look’

lítr

leit

litu

litinn

ríða ‘ride’

ríðr

reið

riðu

riðinn

skína ‘shine’

skínn

skein

skinu

skininn

svíkja ‘betray’

svíkr

sveik

sviku

svikinn

• Class I strong verbs such as hníga, síga, and stíga have in the past sg either hné, sé, and sté, or hneig, seig, and steig.

11.7 Strong Verbs – Class II (jú, jó, ú)

Class II strong verbs have the vowel -jú-, -jó-, or -ú- in the infinitive, and -au- in past sg. Verbs of this second class show i-umlaut in the present sg: hann krýpr, lýkr, brýtr, etc.

Basic Patterns of Class II Strong Verbs

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

jú, jó, or ú

ý

au

u

o

krjúpa ‘creep’

krýpr

kraup

krupu

kropinn

lúka ‘close’

lýkr

lauk

luku

lokinn

Class II Have -jó- Rather Than -jú- or -ú- in the Infinitive when Followed by
m, n, t, ð, s, r, and l.

brjóta ‘break’

brýtr

braut

brutu

brotinn

ljósta ‘strike’

lýstr

laust

lustu

lostinn

skjóta ‘shoot’

skýtr

skaut

skutu

skotinn

bjóða ‘offer’

býðr

bauð

buðu

boðinn

Krjúpa and Bjóða Sample Class II Conjugations in present and past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

krýp

kraup

býð

bauð

2nd

þú

krýpr

kraupt

býðr

bautt

3rd

hann

krýpr

kraup

býðr

bauð

Pl 1st

vér, vit

krjúpum

krupum

bjóðum

buðum

2nd

þér, þit

krjúpið

krupuð

bjóðið

buðuð

3rd

þeir

krjúpa

krupu

bjóða

buðu

Class II with Stems Ending in -g-

Class II strong verbs with stems ending in -g-, such as fljúga, ljúga, and smjúga have -au- or -ó- in the past sg: flaug~fló, laug~ló, and smaug~smó.

11.8 Exercise – Strong Verbs, Classes I and II. Identify the class of the following strong verbs and translate.

Ex:

skjóta

Class II, ‘shoot’

1.

líða

4.

njóta

2.

skína

5.

stíga

3.

ljúga

6.

lúta

11.9 Verbs Taking Dative, Accusative, and Genitive Objects

Dative. Some verbs take their objects in the dative rather than the accusative case, such as þjóna, banna, spilla,and þakka. In the following examples, the verbs are underlined and their objects are bolded.

Hann bannar mǫnnum at fara.

He forbids men to go.

Hann þakkar þeim.

He thanks them.

Hann þjónaði ekki konungi.

He did not serve a king.

Hon vill eigi spilla meydómi sínum.

She does not want to part with her maidenhood.

Accusative and Dative. Some verbs take objects in either the acc or dat case depending on the intended meaning. For example, when the object appears in the dat, bjóða means ‘invite,’ but when the object appears in the acc, it means ‘offer.’

Hann býðr þeim at koma.

He invites them to come. (dat)

Hann býðr skjǫld sinn konunginum.

He offers his [own] shield to the king. (acc)

Hon bauð honum til Íslands

She invited him to Iceland. (dat)

Hon bauð hest konunginum.

She offered a horse to the king. (acc)

Instrumental Dative. The objects of a number of verbs can be understood as ‘instruments’ and are in the dative. This usage is called the instrumental dative. For instance, in the sentence hann leggr sverði ‘he thrusts [with] a sword,’ the sword is the instrument of the action.

Hann heldr sverði.

He grasps a sword.

Hann kastar steini.

He throws a stone.

Hann leggr spjóti.

He thrusts with a spear.

Hann skýtr ǫr.

He shoots an arrow.

Genitive. Verbs taking their objects in the genitive often involve need or lack. For example: biðja ‘ask (for a woman in marriage);’ sakna ‘miss someone or something;’ gjalda ‘pay for;’ þurfa ‘need;’ hefna ‘exact revenge’ (for what in gen, on whom in dat).

Egill biðr Ásgerðar

Egill asks for Ásgerðr [i.e. in marriage]

Hann saknar Englands

He misses England

Munu margir þess gjalda

Many will pay for [i.e. because of] this

Þeir þurfa hersis

They need a chieftain

Hann hefnir bróður síns banamanni hans.

He takes revenge for his [own] brother on his [brother’s] killer

11.10 Exercise – Verbs Taking Dative or Genitive Objects. Complete the following sentences and translate.

Ex:

Hann heldr     sverðinu    . (sverðit)

He holds the sword

1.

Óðinn leggr                                                                                                           . (spjótit)

2.

Haraldr bannar                                                                                           at fara. (menn)

3.

Þórólfr biðr                                                                                                                  . (hon)

4.

Hon býðr                                                                                                       at koma. (þeir)

5.

Hann saknar                                                                                                     .(kona sín)

6.

Hǫfðingi þakkar                                                                                               . (menn þeir)

7.

Loki kastar                                                                                                               . (steinn)

11.11 Reading – The Battle Continues (Skáldskaparmál, ch. 50, from The Prose Edda)

The earlier reading ended with the kings Hedin and Hogni ready for battle on Haey. In a last effort to avoid slaying his new father-in-law, Hedin offers Hogni reconciliation. Fate, however, is now running its course. Hogni has already drawn ‘Dain’s Inheritance’ (Dáinsleif), a sword forged by the dwarves that must kill each time it is unsheathed. The battle begins but takes an otherworldly turn – it never ends. Hild, who bears a valkyrie name meaning ‘battle,’ intercedes by raising the fallen warriors each night so that the fight begins anew and goes on until Ragnarok, the final battle at the end of the world.

Hjaðningavíg from Skáldskaparmál (Ch. 50)

Þá kallar Héðinn á Hǫgna, mág sinn, ok bauð honum sætt ok mikit gull at bótum. Þá svarar Hǫgni: ‘of síð bauztu þetta,180 ef þú vill sættask, því at nú hefi ek dregit Dáinsleif, er dvergarnir gørðu, er manns bani skal verða, hvert sinn er bert er,181 ok aldri bilar í hǫggvi, ok ekki sár grœr.’

Þá svarar Héðinn: ‘sverði hœlir þú þar, en eigi sigri.’ Þá hófu þeir orrostu þá er Hjaðningavíg er kallat, ok bǫrðusk þann dag allan, ok at kveldi fóru konungar til skipa. En Hildr gekk of nóttina til valsins, ok vakði upp með fjǫlkyngi alla þá er dauðir váru;182 ok annan dag gengu konungarnir á vígvǫllinn ok bǫrðusk, ok svá allir þeir er fellu hinn183 fyrra daginn. Fór svá sú orrosta hvern dag eptir annan, at allir þeir er fellu, ok ǫll vápn þau er lágu á vígvelli, ok svá hlífar, urðu at grjóti. En er dagaði, stóðu upp allir dauðir menn, ok bǫrðusk, ok ǫll vápn váru þá ný. Svá er sagt í kvæðum, at Hjaðningar skulu svá bíða ragnarøkrs.

Translate:

Figure 11.3. Another Gotland Picture Stone from village of Stora Hammars at Lärbrolocality (the so-called Stora Hammars 1 stone) depicts a scene similar to the one on Figure 11.1: a woman is intervening between two armies.

11.12 Possessive Pronouns other than mínn, þínn and sínn

Possessive pronouns function much like adjectives, agreeing with the nouns they modify in case, number, and gender. The 1st and 2nd person possessive pronouns are as follows:

Singular

Dual

Plural

1st

minn ‘my’

okkarr ‘our’

várr ‘our’

2nd

þinn ‘your’

ykkarr ‘your’

yð(v)arr ‘your’

We discussed the 1st and 2nd singular possessives, as well as 3rd person possessive sínn in sg and pl in sections 3.17, 3.18, and 3.19. Consult these sections for declension charts and important usage differences between possessives and genitives hans, hennar, þess, and þeira of 3rd person personal pronouns.

The Remaining Possessives are the dual okkarr, ykkarr and plural várr, yð(v)arr (dat yðrum). They obey the two-syllable shortening rule and decline as follows:

The Remaining Possessives:

Dual

1st

2nd

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

okkarr

okkur

okkart

ykkarr

ykkur

ykkart

acc

okkarn

okkra

okkart

ykkarn

ykkra

ykkart

dat

okkrum

okkarri

okkru

ykkrum

ykkarri

ykkru

gen

okkars

okkarrar

okkars

ykkars

ykkarrar

ykkars

Pl nom

okkrir

okkrar

okkur

ykkrir

ykkrar

ykkur

acc

okkra

okkrar

okkur

ykkra

ykkrar

ykkur

dat

okkrum

okkrum

okkrum

ykkrum

ykkrum

ykkrum

gen

okkarra

okkarra

okkarra

ykkarra

ykkarra

ykkarra

Plural

1st

2nd

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

várr

vár

várt

yð(v)arr

yður

yð(v)art

acc

várn

vára

várt

yð(v)arn

yðra

yð(v)art

dat

várum

várri

váru

yðrum

yð(v)arri

yðru

gen

várs

várrar

várs

yð(v)ars

yð(v)arrar

yð(v)ars

Pl nom

várir

várar

vár

yðrir

yðrar

yður

acc

vára

várar

vár

yðra

yðrar

yður

dat

várum

várum

várum

yðrum

yðrum

yðrum

gen

várra

várra

várra

yð(v)arra

yð(v)arra

yð(v)arra

• Variants of várr (ór- and óss-) occur when the ending begins in a vowel, for example, várum ~ órum ~ óssum. Forms with óss- are found only in poetry.

11.13 Verbs – Impersonal Constructions

Impersonal constructions are very common in Old Norse, and they often involve difficulties in translation. As mentioned in 6.14, an impersonal construction is one where a verb is used without a subject in the usual nom case. For example, ‘methinks’ (mér þykkir, which in modern English would be ‘it seems to me’). The Old Norse verbs that are often used in impersonal constructions roughly fall into four categories.

1. Verbs which refer to natural events such as the weather, the passage of time, the changing of seasons, the coming of dawn and dusk, and so forth. English speakers usually translate such sentences with a ‘grammatical’ (= formal) subject ‘it.’

En er dagaði, stóðu upp allir dauðir menn.

And when [it] dawned, all the dead men rose.

Nú líðr svá fram til jóla.

Now [it] leads on/wears on to Yule.

Líðr fram haustinu ok tekr at vetra.

The autumn passes and [it] begins to draw near winter.

• Other such verbs are nátta <-að-> ‘to become night, grow dark,’ lýsa <-að-> ‘to lighten up (of sky),’ rigna/regna <-di> ‘to rain,’ snjóva/snjófa/snjóa <-að-> ‘to snow,’ hausta <-að-> ‘to draw near autumn,’ sumra <-að-> ‘to draw near summer,’ and vára <-að-> ‘to draw near spring.’

2. Verbs which describe an emotional or physical state. The logical subject of these clauses, in dat or acc, is a person who experiences something. For example: dreyma ‘dream;’ minna ‘remember;’ skilja ‘differ;’ líka ‘like;’ and batna ‘recover.’ The main verb of such impersonal clauses is in 3sg.

Mik dreymdi draum. (acc logical subject)

I [Me] dreamed a dream.

Ávalt er ek sé fagrar konur, þá minnir mik þeirar konu. (acc logical subject)

Whenever I see beautiful women, I remember that woman.

Þetta líkaði Eiríki stórilla. (dat logical subject)

Eirik was outraged about this.

Herjólfi batnaði síns meins. (dat logical subject)

Herjólf recovered from his injury.

Þykkir mér ráð at þú farir at finna Gizur hvíta. (dat logical subject)

I think it is (me seems/It seems to me) a good plan that you go find Gizur the White.

3. Speech verbs that put the focus on the action or the object. The verbs in this category often denote speech actions and are used impersonally in order to showcase the action and how it takes place. Because no subject is mentioned, the idea of an ‘actor’ dissolves into the background. In certain stock phrases like svá er sagt, it is not even clear who or what the ‘actor’ might be. Such clauses can have their verbs in passive or active voice. In translating such sentences, one often has to supply the assumed/grammatical subject.

Hér hefr upp ok segir frá þeim manni, er Sigi er nefndr.

Here (it) begins [= the tale begins, or speaker begins to speak] and tells about that man, who is named Sigi.

Nú lýkr sǫgunni.

This is the end of the story [lit. it is closed with the story]

Þormóðr kvað hátt mjǫk, svá at heyrði um allan herinn.

Thormod spoke very loudly, so that it was possible to hear throughout the whole army.

Svá er sagt í kvæðum, at Hjaðningar skulu svá bíða ragnarøkrs.

So (it) is said in the poems that the Hjadnings shall remain [abide] in this way until Ragnarok.

4. Intransitive verbs in passive/middle voice that imply a generic/collective human agent as subject. Intransitive verbs either have no object or take their objects in dat or gen (not acc). The subject of such clauses is more or less clear. It is implied to be some human agent, individual or collective (see 6.14). However, the agent is not important in the context of the clause as the focus is on the action or its object (as in category 3 above). For such sentences, one often does not translate the verb directly:

En er Hǫgni spurði at herjat var í ríki hans, fór hann með sínu liði at leita Héðins.

And when Hogni learned that there had been raiding in his kingdom/that his kingdom was at war, he went with his troops to seek out Hedin.

11.14 The Indefinite Pronoun Engi (M, F) and Ekki (N)

Engi (or eingi) ‘no one, none, no’ is a compound of einn ‘one’ and the negative particle -gi: masc sg engi derives from einn+gi; fem engi from ein+gi; and neuter ekki from eitt+gi. Most case forms add endings to the stem eng-. Neuter sg ekki frequently serves as an adverb in place of eigi ‘not.’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

engi

engi

ekki

Pl

engir

engar

engi

acc

engi~engan

enga

ekki

enga

engar

engi

dat

engum

engri

engu~einugi

engum

engum

engum

gen

einskis~engis

engrar

einskis~engis

engra

engra

engra

Engi heilsaði Þorvarði.

No one greeted Þorvarðr.

Hǫgni átti af honum engrar vægðar ván.

Hogni had hope of no mercy from him.

Hǫgni vildi enga sætt.

Hogni wanted no settlement.

Aldri bilar Dáinsleif í hǫggvi, ok ekki sár grœr.

Dainsleif never misses when it strikes, and no wound [ever] heals.

11.15 The Indefinite Pronoun Annarr

Annarr (stem annar-) ‘one of two, other, another’ is a common word whose declension makes sense in light of three sound changes. Annarr also means ‘second,’ as in annan dag ‘on the second day.’

1.

U-umlaut applies, resulting in the change of -a- to -ǫ- or -u-. For example the masc dat of annar is ǫðrum.

2.

The two-syllable shortening rule applies. In accordance with the rule, the vowel of the second syllable drops when adding an ending beginning with a vowel. See Section 10.7.

3.

The loss of the vowel of the second syllable brings the stem-final -r- directly into contact with the preceding -nn-, triggering a change of -nn- to -ð-. (This is the same change seen in the word maðr, stem mann- plus nominative ending -r.) See Section 5.14

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

annarr

ǫnnur

annat

Pl

aðrir

aðrar

ǫnnur

acc

annan

aðra

annat

aðra

aðrar

ǫnnur

dat

ǫðrum

annarri

ǫðru

ǫðrum

ǫðrum

ǫðrum

gen

annars

annarrar

annars

annarra

annarra

annarra

11.16 Direct and Indirect Speech

The readings in this lesson about the endless battle offer several examples of direct and indirect speech. Direct speech reports a speaker’s exact words and is enclosed by quotation marks (Þá svarar Hǫgni: ‘Of síð bauztu þetta’). Indirect speech recounts what someone has said without necessarily using his or her exact words and is usually introduced by a verb of saying, knowing, or thinking. Old Norse renders indirect speech in several ways.

The indirect statement can be expressed in a dependent clause (introduced by the conjunction at), where the verb of the indirect statement is in the indicative mood. In the following sentences, the verbs of the indirect statement are bold.

Svá er sagt í kvæðum, at Hjaðningar skulu (3pl pres indic) svá bíða ragnarøkrs.

So/thus it is said in verse that the Hjadnings will in this way remain [abide] until Ragnarok.

The indirect statement can also be expressed in a dependent clause (introduced by the conjunction at), where the verb of the indirect statement is in the subjunctive mood.

Hon sagði, at Héðinn væri (3sg past subjunct) búinn at berjask.

She said that Hedin was prepared to fight.

The subject of the indirect statement is put into the acc case, and the verb appears as an infinitive. This usage is common in Old Norse and is also known in other languages, such as Latin, where it is called accusativus cum infinitivo, ‘an accusative with an infintive’. It is discussed in more detail in section 15.6 of Lesson 15.

Old Norse

English

Direct speech

Konungrinn sagði lǫgin.

The king said/recited the law.

Indirect speech

Hon heyrði konunginn segja lǫgin.

She heard [that] the king recited the law.

11.17 Grammar Toolbox. Adverbs

Adverbs are words which describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They answer the questions when? where? and how?

• Abverbs add information about time, manner, or place. Examples are nú ‘now,’ hér ‘here,’ vandliga ‘carefully’, and skjótliga ‘quickly.’

• Adverbs are indeclinable; they never change form to agree in gender, case, or number with other words.

• Adverbs typically derive from adjectives or nouns, for example in English by adding ‘-ly’ hence brave/bravely and man/manly. In ON, adverbs are usually formed by adding -a, -liga, -um, or -t to the stem of an adjective. The ending -liga corresponds to the English -ly.

• One adjective may engender multiple adverbs with different meanings. For example: adjective langr ‘long’ underlies the adverbs lengi ‘for a long time’ and lǫngum ‘for a long [continous] time, constantly.’

• Adverbs ending in -at denote motion towards a place; for example, hingat ‘to here’ and þangat ‘to there.’

• Adverbs in -an denote motion away from a place; for example, norðan ‘[away] from the north.’

• When fyrir precedes an adverb ending in -an, it forms a two-word adverb answering the question ‘place where.’ For example: fyrir útan ‘outside’ and fyrir ofan ‘above.’ This method is also used to express points of the compass (fyrir norðan). ‘Place where’ employs fyrir (fyrir norðan, ‘in the north’); ‘place to’ uses the suffix -r (norðr, ‘to the north’), and ‘place from’ employs -an (norðan, ‘from the north’). 184

adverb

adjective/noun

stem

illa ‘badly’

illr ‘bad’

ill-

víða ‘widely’

víðr ‘wide’

víð-

skjótliga ‘swiftly’

skjótligr ‘swift’

skjótlig-

vandliga ‘carefully’

vandr ‘difficult’

vand-

tómliga ‘slowly, lazily’

tómr ‘empty’

tóm-

bráðum ‘soon’

bráðr ‘sudden’

bráð-

tíðum ‘often’

tíðr ‘frequent’

tíð-

stundum ‘sometimes’

stund ‘a while’

stund-

skjótt ‘suddenly’

skjótr ‘quick’

skjót-

hátt ‘loudly’

hár ‘high’

há-

þykkt ‘thickly’

þykkr ‘thick’

þykk-

place from

place where

place to

heðan ‘from here’

hér ‘here’

hingat ‘to here’

þaðan ‘from there’

þar ‘there’

þangat ‘to there’

hvaðan ‘from where’

hvar ‘where’

hvert ‘to where’

Points of Compass

place from

place where

place to

norðan

fyrir norðan

norðr

sunnan

fyrir sunnan

suðr

austan

fyrir austan

austr

vestan

fyrir vestan

vestr

11.18 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 11. ❖Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

vápn

weapon

næstr

next

sumr

some

morginn

morning

kunnigr

known; cunning,
skilled in magic

hvárrtveggi

each of the two, both

hús

house

fótr

foot

líkligr

likely

spjót

spear

reiðr

angry

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

leita

to search

hjá

by, near

enda

and yet

drepa

to kill

illa

badly

setja

to set

lengi

for a long time

liggja

to lie

hversu

how

skilja

to part, separate; understand

þangat

to there

Exercises

11.19 Definite Article Review. Decline masculine sveinninn ‘the boy,’ feminine leiðin ‘the path,’ and neuter bakit ‘the back.’

sveinn + inn

leið + in

bak + it

Sg nom

bakit

acc

sveininn

dat

gen

Pl nom

leiðirnar

acc

dat

gen

11.20 Definite Article. Fill in the blanks below with the correct form of the nouns konungr and hersir with the definite article.

konungrinn

1.

(nom) gerði kumbl.

2.

Ek sá                                                                                                                                  (acc).

3.

Ek bjó hjá                                                                                                                          (dat).

4.

Ek vil gefa þér hest                                                                                                         (gen).

hersirinn

5.

Eiríkr hét                                                                                                                         (nom).

6.

Ek sá                                                                                                                                  (acc).

7.

Eiríkr fór til Gr’nlands með                                                                                         (dat).

8.

Hann horfði á skipit                                                                                                       (gen).

11.21 Weak Adjectives. Decline langr below as a weak adjective.

m

f

n

Sg nom

langi

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

11.22 Weak Adjectives. Fill in the correct forms of the adjectives below.

m

f

n

Sg nom

inn   hagi      dvergr

in   væna     kona

it   fagra     land

acc

inn               dverg

ina               konu

it                 land

dat

inum               dvergi

inni               konu

inu                 landi

gen

ins               dvergs

innar               konu

ins                 lands

Pl nom

inir               dvergar

inar               konur

in                 lǫnd

acc

ina               dverga

inar               konur

in                 lǫnd

dat

inum               dvergum

inum               konum

inum                 lǫndum

gen

inna               dverga

inna               kvenna

inna                 landa

11.23 Weak Adjectives. Fill in the correct form of the adjective and translate.

1.

Alrekr inn                                                                                                          (ríkr) var vænn.

2.

Þessi                                                                                   (góðr) dóttir Hólmgeirs gerði brú.

3.

Þorsteinn var it                                                                                                      (stórr) barn.

4.

Sá maðr er skrifaði Íslendingabók hét Ari inn                                        (fróðr) Þorgilsson.

5.

Helgi bjó í þeim                                                       (grœnn) dali, sem kallaðr er Helgadalr.

6.

Óláfr sendi menn eptir inni                                                                                 (ungr) konu.

11.24 Proper Nouns. Decline the names Eirik the Red and Helga the Fair below.

Eiríkr inn rauði

Helga in fagra

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

11.25 Adverbs. Fill in the correct adverb in the sentences below.

1.

Þeir vildu eigi vera                                                                            (here) við heiðna menn.

2.

Hann hleypr                                                                                                                (to there).

3.

(from where) kemr vindr? (From The Prose Edda)

4.

Gunnarr sagði þeim                                                        (to where) hann ætlaði [at ganga].

5.

Hús stendr                                                                                              (there) út við garðinn.

6.

Haraldr kom                                                                                        (to here) til Miklagarðs.

7.

Vándir menn fara til Heljar ok                                                              (from there) í Niflhel.
(From The Prose Edda)

8.

(where) er Grikklandshaf?

9.

Þórólfr kom                                                                                                              (from here).

11.26 Strong Verbs – Class I. Klífa ‘climb’ is a typical Class I strong verb with principal parts klífr, kleif, klifu, klifinn. Conjugate klífa in present and past.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hon

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þær

Other Class I strong verbs follow the pattern of klífa. Give the principal parts for each verb below.

Ex:

bíta

bítr, beit, bitu, bitinn

1.

drífa

2.

þrífa

3.

skríða

4.

líta

5.

grípa

6.

rísta

Give the infinitives for each of the verbs below.

Ex:

bitum

bíta

7.

gínum

10.

risinn

8.

bíðið

11.

skein

9.

leið

12.

sveið

Fill in the correct form of the Class I strong verbs below using klífa as a model.

Ex:

ríða (1sg pres)

ríð

13.

bíta (2pl past)

16.

þrífa (2sg past)

14.

rísa (1pl past)

17.

drífa (1pl pres)

15.

klífa (1sg past)

18.

grípa (3sg past)

11.27 Strong Verbs – Class II. Strjúka ‘stroke’ is a typical Class II strong verb with principal parts strýkr, strauk, struku, strokinn. Conjugate strjúka in present and past.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir

A small number of Class II strong verbs have -ú-, for example lúka, lúta. Verbs have -jó- rather than -jú- when followed by -m-, -n-, -t-, -ð-, -s-, -r-, or -l-, for example, fljóta, bjóða, kjósa, ljósta. Apart from the infinitive, most Class II strong verbs have principal parts following the pattern of strjúka. Give the principal parts for each of the verbs below.

Ex:

ljúga

lýgr, laug, lugu, loginn

1.

drjúpa

2.

skjóta

3.

krjúpa

4.

bjóða

5.

ljósta

6.

kljúfa

Give the infinitives for each of the verbs below.

Ex:

skutu

skjóta

7.

bauð

10.

lostinn

8.

krýpr

11.

njótið

9.

kaus

12.

brýtr

Fill in the correct form of the Class II strong verbs below following the model of strjúka.

Ex:

skjóta (1sg pres)

skýt

13.

krjúpa (2pl past)

16.

gjósa (1sg past)

14.

rjóða (3sg pres)

17.

drjúpa (1pl pres)

15.

kljúfa (2sg past)

18.

ljósta (3sg past)

11.28 Weak Forms of the Adjectives mikill and lítill. Decline, keep in mind the following:

• Loss of vowel in two syllable stems before endings beginning in a vowel. Compare strong mikill with weak mikli (mikil + i), hence mikill maðr and inn mikli maðr;

• The long í in lítill becomes short when followed by two consonants (compare lítill barn with it litla barn).

inn mikli maðr

in mikla kona

it mikla barn

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

inn litli maðr

in litla kona

it litla barn

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Lesson 12

Feud in Iceland’s East Fjords

Figure 12.1. Reconstruction of a Turf Hall (Skáli) Worthy of a Chieftain. This drawing of an Icelandic longhouse is based on an archaeological research of such buildings.

Engi er alheimskr, ef þegja má

(No one is a complete fool if he can keep his mouth shut)

12.1 Reading – Helgi Earns his Nickname (Vápnfirðinga saga)

Figure 12.2. The Sites of the 10th Century Feud in Vápnfirðinga saga. In addition to personal animosities, the feud was a contest over resources between two chieftains: Geitir, living on the coast at Krossavik, and Brodd-Helgi inland at Hof. Symbols: ● denotes thingmen farms; ◊ the site of the local assembly (þing); □▪ farms of chieftains.

Vápnfirðinga saga (The Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord) is a model of saga narration, and this and the next lesson take their readings from the opening chapters of the saga. A tale of feud and vengeance, Vápnfirðinga saga sweeps through two generations of closely related chieftain families in the Vápnafjǫrðr (Weapon’s Fjord) region of Iceland’s East Fjords (Austfirðir). The narrative is steeped in local politics, and the reader is taken deep into the lives of medieval Icelanders – some honorable, some less so.

The opening passage below presents the status of the saga’s contentious chieftains and farmers. In particular, the passage introduces one of the story’s main protagonists, Helgi, the son of Thorgils. The history of the family begins with Helgi’s grandfather, the landnámsmaðr Thorstein the White. In his old age, Thorstein raised Helgi after Helgi’s father Thorgils was killed. The passage also relates how Thorstein’s family came to possess the farmstead Hof, the best land in Weapon’s Fjord, after its first owner, the landnámsmaðr Steinbjorn, squandered his wealth.

Following a description of Helgi’s character and competitive nature, the saga tells a short story in which he uses trickery to ensure that his bull will win a fight. The episode, which exposes a feature of Helgi’s bullying nature, explains how he got his nickname Brodd-Helgi (Spike-Helgi).

Vápnfirðinga saga is a typical family saga. Its narrative is built around a series of quarrels, feuds, and resolutions. Almost nothing is superfluous in the dense information given at the beginning. The sagas delineate familial, marriage, and fosterage relationships, which brings with them obligations, as well as property rights and land ownership history. Often the narratives trace lineages back to landnámsmenn and to Norway. Genealogies take into account both major and seemingly minor figures who will later enter the tale.

Below are two columns. The column on the left contains the opening chapter of Vápnfirðinga saga. The one on the right identifies key elements in order of appearance in the text. Opening details in a saga often provide the background necessary to make sense of coming action, including long-simmering disputes and feuds. As with many sagas, Vápnfirðinga saga opens with Iceland’s colonization or landnám. In this instance, it is ‘land-taking’ in Weapon’s Fjord, and the first chapters explain kinship relations, land ownership, and hint at animosities.

Vápnfirðinga saga (Ch. 1)

Þar hefjum vér þenna þátt, er sá maðr bjó at Hofi í Vápnafirði, er Helgi hét. Hann var sonr Þorgils Þorsteinssonar, Ǫlvis sonar, Ásvalds sonar, Øxna-Þóris sonar. Ǫlvir var lendr maðr í Nóregi um daga Hákonar jarls Grjótgarðssonar.

Protagonist: Helgi.

Setting: Hof in Vapnafjord.

Helgi’s lineage: father (Thorgils), grandfather (Thorstein), great-grandfather (Olvir), etc.

Aristocratic lineage: Olvir, a landed man in Norway.

Dating: Earl Hakon (ca. 900), contemporary of King Harald Fairhair.

Þorsteinn hvíti kom fyrst út til Íslands þeira langfeðga185 ok bjó at Toptavelli fyrir útan Síreksstaði. En Steinbjǫrn bjó at Hofi, sonr Refs ins rauða186. Ok er honum eyddisk fé fyrir þegnskapar sakar 187, þá keypti Þorsteinn Hofsland ok bjó þar sex tigu vetra. Hann átti 188 Ingibjǫrgu Hróðgeirsdóttur ins hvíta.

The founder of Helgi’s family in Iceland: The landnámsmaðr Thorstein the White.

Thorstein’s first land-claim: the not-so-valuable farm at Toptavǫllr.

How Thorstein acquired the farmstead Hof: the landnámsmaðr Steinbjorn mismanages his valuable land-claim at Hof and sells it to Thorstein. Steinbjorn’s family never forgets the loss of Hof.

Þorgils var faðir Brodd-Helga. Hann tók við búi Þorsteins. Þorkell ok Heðinn vágu Þorgils, fǫður Brodd-Helga, en Þorsteinn hvíti tók þá enn við búi ok fœddi upp Helga, sonarson sinn.

Helgi grows up without a father: Old Thorstein raises his grandson Helgi.

Helgi var mikill maðr ok sterkr ok bráðgǫrr, vænn ok stórmannligr, ekki málugr í barnœsku, ódæll ok óvægr þegar á unga aldri 189. Hann var hugkvæmr ok margbreytinn.

Helgi described: big and strong, difficult and taciturn, fickle.

Frá því er sagt 190 einnhvern dag at Hofi, er naut váru á stǫðli, at graðungr var á stǫðlinum, er þeir frændr áttu 191, en annarr graðungr kom á stǫðulinn, ok stǫnguðusk graðungarnir. En sveinninn Helgi var úti ok sér, at þeira graðungr dugir verr ok ferr frá 192. Hann tekr mannbrodd einn ok bindr í enni graðunginum 193, ok gengr þaðan frá þeira graðungi betr. Af þessum atburði var hann kallaðr Brodd-Helgi.

Helgi’s character illustrated: a boy who likes to win.

Var hann afbragð þeira manna allra, er þar fœddusk upp í heraðinu, at atgørvi 194.

Helgi earns his nickname.

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12.2 Culture – Norse Farmsteads

The basic element of a Viking Age farmstead (húsabœr) was the longhouse. The reconstructed long house at Stöng in southern Iceland is an example of an eleventh-century farmstead in Iceland. While the Stöng longhouse has some specifically Icelandic characteristics, it shares much in common with farms throughout the Viking world.

The Stöng farmstead was abandoned in 1104 due to the eruption of the volcano Hekla. The foundations lay buried under thick layers of volcanic ash and pumice until excavated in 1939 by a Scandinavian archaeological team led by Aage Rousell. This excavation and more recent ones provide an unusually clear picture of farm life in late Viking Age Iceland. The large farmhouse faced southwest with turf walls between 1.3 and 2 meters thick (4.3 to 6.6 feet). Around the farmhouse was a cluster of outbuildings, including a smithy, a small church with a surrounding graveyard, and a cowshed with ten stalls.

Figure 12.3. The Long House (skáli) at Stöng, Iceland.

Stöng was a costly building, approximately 25 meters (82 feet) in length, and was average-sized for a prosperous Icelandic farm. The main parts of the building were a central hall called an eldskáli (‘fire hall’). This central structure had wood-lined walls and a longfire (langeldar, pl) in the center of the floor. A secondary large room called a stofa or ‘stove room’ was attached to the side of the fire hall and accessed by an interior passage way.

People slept in the fire hall on wide benches set against the long walls. A locking timber bed-closet (lokrekkjugólf, lok-rekkja or lokhvíla) provided the master and mistress of the farm with privacy and protection in case of intruders in the night. Unlike the longhouse at Hrísbrú in the Mosfell Valley, which had two outside doors along the front wall of the house, the Stöng longhouse had one outside door leading into a small entry room at the front end of the main hall. Two smaller rooms were attached to the back of the Stöng main hall. One was the pantry or food-storage room; the other was a large latrine.

The eldskáli had a dirt floor, the surface of which became compact and hard because of the oils, lipids, and trampings of everyday life. The Hrísbrú longhouse retained such a floor, and when exposed through excavation, it began, after 1000 years of being buried, to gleam like shiny black linoleum.The entrance to the Stöng longhouse was, as shown in the drawing, paved with flat stones.

The stofa, at the far left in the drawing, was a room with several uses. The word stofa is related to the English word ‘stove’ (Scandinavian stue/stuga, German Stube), and originally meant a heated room. At times the stofa may have been used for cooking and eating as well as a family sitting room in the evenings. The fireplace was a partly sunken stone hearth box in contrast to the long-fire in the eldskáli.

The wall benches in the stofa were much narrower than those in the main hall and were mainly for sitting. Such rooms were used as feasting halls. At the far end of the stofa was a raised wooden platform or dias, called a pallr. The sagas mention women working on such platforms. Loom weights, spindle whorls, and other evidence of wool-working were found in the excavation of the Stöng stofa. Loom weights were also found in the similar room in the Hrísbrú longhouse.

Of the two backrooms at Stöng, the one for food-storage was the larger. Impressions in its floor reveal the placement of three large wooden vats sunk into the earth to keep the contents cool. The vats were used to store protein-rich, curdled milk (skyr) and possibly meat pickled in sour whey. The second backroom, the latrine, had deep, stone-lined gutters along both sidewalls. Openings at floor level through the rear turf wall made for easy waste removal from each gutter.

Stöng is unusual in showing what seems to be the clear remains of a latrine. The size of the latrine and the length of the trenches indicate that a substantial number of people could be accommodated at a time. In the Viking Age and into modern times, visiting the latrine in Scandinavia was often a communal undertaking. Eyrbyggja saga recounts that the chieftian Snorri goði went to the latrine accompanied by young men at the farm, and ‘Tale of Thorstein the Shiver’, Þorsteins þáttr skelks from Flateyjarbók tells that a latrine in a Viking Age farmhouse in Norway had room for ‘eleven people to sit on either side.’ Because the wooden fixtures have not survived, it is unclear whether the people at Stöng sat over holes on long wooden benches, as in the example from Norway, or whether they rested on a horizontal wooden pole running just above and parallel to the trench. This latter arrangement was also a custom in Norway into modern times.

12.3 The Indefinite Pronoun Nǫkkurr

Indefinite pronouns, such as nǫkkurr ‘a certain,’ ‘any’ or ‘some,’ are pronouns which, even in context, have no specific identifiable referent. Nǫkkurr declines much like a strong adjective but does not follow the two-syllable shortening rule and drops the stem-final -r- before neuter sg -t, for example, nǫkkut.

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

nǫkkurr

nǫkkur

nǫkkut

Pl

nǫkkurir

nǫkkurar

nǫkkur

acc

nǫkkurn

nǫkkura

nǫkkut

nǫkkura

nǫkkurar

nǫkkur

dat

nǫkkurum

nǫkkurri

nǫkkuru

nǫkkurum

nǫkkurum

nǫkkurum

gen

nǫkkurs

nǫkkurrar

nǫkkurs

nǫkkurra

nǫkkurra

nǫkkurra

Hann spyrr, ef nǫkkur er fróðr maðr inni.

He asks if anybody within is a wise man.

Þeir fengu nǫkkura njósn af ferð Ásgerðar.

They received some news about Asgerd’s journey.

Þeir kómu at á nǫkkuri ok gengu með ánni til fors nǫkkurs.

They came to a certain river and followed the river to a certain waterfall.

• Nǫkkurr has several variants, including nakkvarr, nakkverr, nøkkvarr, and nekkvarr.

12.4 Pronouns – Hverr, Hvárr, and Hvárrtveggi

The pronouns hverr and hvárr function as both interrogative pronouns (used to introduce questions) and indefinite pronouns.

Hverr is the more common of the two. As an interrogative, it means ‘who? what? which (one)?’ As an indefinite pronoun, hverr means ‘each, every (one).’ In the neuter sg, hverr employs hvat as an interrogative and hvert as an indefinite pronoun.

Hvárr has the same basic meaning as hverr, but is used when referring to two persons (hvárr maðr, ‘each’ or ‘one [man] of two’) or groups (hvárir þeira ‘both’).

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

hverr

hver

hvat~hvert

Pl

hverir

hverjar

hver

acc

hvern

hverja

hvat~hvert

hverja

hverjar

hver

dat

hverjum

hverri

hverju

hverjum

hverjum

hverjum

gen

hvers

hverrar

hvers

hverra

hverra

hverra

Hverr sagði þetta?

Who said that?

Hvat er at segja frá þeim stað?

What is there to say about that place?

Sá baugr er hverjum hǫfuðsbani, er á.

That ring is death to everyone, who owns it.

Hvern dag ríða Æsir upp um Bifrǫst.

Every day the Æsir ride up across Bifrost.

Hvárr við annan.

Each to (or with) the other.

Hvárrtveggi is also a pronoun. It means ‘each of the two, either’ in the sg, and ‘both’ in the pl. Hvárrtveggi is a compound word (hvárr + tveggi) in which both elements decline.

m

f

n

Sg nom

hvárr-tveggi

hvár-tveggja

hvárt-tveggja

acc

hvárn-tveggja

hvára-tveggju

hvárt-tveggja

dat

hvárum-tveggja

hvárri-tveggju

hváru-tveggja

gen

hvárs-tveggja

hvárrartveggju

hvárs-tveggja

Pl nom

hvárir-tveggju

hvárar-tveggju

hvár-tveggju

acc

hvára-tveggju

hvárar-tveggju

hvár-tveggju

dat

hvárum-tveggjum

hvárum-tveggjum

hvárum-tveggjum

gen

hvárratveggju

hvárratveggju

hvárratveggju

Fellu þar menn af hvárumtveggjum.

Men fell [died] there on both sides.

Hǫfðu þeir hvárirtveggju mikit lið.

Both sides had a large force.

12.5 The Indefinite Pronoun Einnhverr

Einnhverr ‘some, somebody, a certain one’ is a compound of einn ‘one’ and the pronoun hverr, in which both elements decline. Endings are added to the stem einhver(j)-, except in the nom and acc of masculine and neuter sg.

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

einnhverr

einhver

eitthvert

Pl

einhverir

einhverjar

einhver

acc

einnhvern

einhverja

eitthvert

einhverja

einhverjar

einhver

dat

einhverjum

einhverri

einhverju

einhverjum

einhverjum

einhverjum

gen

einhvers

einhverrar

einhvers

einhverra

einhverra

einhverra

12.6 Strong Verbs – Class III (e, ja, já)

Class III is characterized by two, sometimes three consonants following the root vowel. For example: verð-a, dett-a, bjarg-a, vinn-a, finn-a and søkkv-a. The chart on the next page gives the basic vowel pattern for this class, followed by a common variant.

Basic Patterns of Strong Verb Class III

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

e (ja, já)

e

a

u

o

bresta ‘break’

brestr

brast

brustu

brostinn

sleppa ‘slip’

sleppr

slapp

sluppu

sloppinn

verða ‘become’

verðr

varð

urðu

orðinn

gjalla ‘yell’

gellr

gall

gullu

gollinn

gjalda ‘pay’

geldr

galt*

guldu

goldinn

skjálfa ‘shake’

skelfr

skalf

skulfu

skolfinn

hjálpa ‘help’

helpr

halp

hulpu

holpinn

Strong verbs whose stems end in -nd-, -ng-, and -ld- have -tt, -kk, and -lt in the past sg.

Discussion of Class III. Class III falls into the shorthand eCC, jaCC, jáCC, iNC (also øCCv, yNCv).

• A few verbs of this class, such as gjalla ‘to yell,’ gjalda ‘to pay,’ and bjarga ‘to save’ have -ja- in the infinitive. Others such as hjálpa~hjalpa ‘to help’ and skjálfa~skjalfa ‘to shake’ have both -já- and -ja-. These verbs all have -e- in the present sg: hann gellr, geldr, bergr, helpr, skelfr.

• As shown below, a number of Class III verbs have -i- in the infinitive when followed by -n- or -m- (spinna, vinna, binda, finna, and svimma) and follow a slightly different pattern. In these verbs, the vowels -e- and -o- in the infinitive and past participle are raised to -i- and -u-.

Common Variants of Class III

Figure 12.4. Short Vowel Placement in the Mouth.

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

i

i

a

u

u

finna ‘find’

finnr

fann

fundu

fundinn

binda ‘bind’

bindr

batt†

bundu

bundinn

springa ‘jump’

springr

sprakk†

sprungu

sprunginn

vinna ‘win’

vinnr

vann

unnu

unninn

brenna* ‘burn’

brennr*

brann

brunnu

brunninn

renna* ‘run’

rennr*

rann

runnu

runninn

† Strong verbs whose stems end in -nd-, -ng-, and -ld- have -tt, -kk, and -lt in the past sg.

 A -v- drops before -o- or -u-.

* brenna and renna have older infinitive forms brinna and rinna with 3sg pres forms brinnr and rinnr.

A few Class III verbs have stem-final -v-, resulting in two other vowel patterns, illustrated by søkkva ‘to sink’ and syngva ‘to sing.’

søkkva <søkkr, sǫkk, sukku, sokkinn> to sink

syngva <syngr, sǫng, sungu, sunginn> to sing

These verbs sometimes appear with -j- rather than -v-, as for instance syngja.

Two common Class III verbs show minor irregularities: bregða <bregðr, brá, brugðu, brugðinn> and drekka <drekkr, drakk, drukku, drukkinn>.

12.7 Verbs – Present Participles

Present participles describe ongoing actions. They function as adjectives, agreeing in gender, case, and number with the nouns they modify. They take a special set of weak endings: masc sg, -i and -a; fem sg, -i; - neuter sg -a; and -i in all genders of the plural. The full words are formed by adding the suffix -and- to the present root plus the ending. For example: sitjandi ‘sitting’ and gefandi ‘giving’.

The Present Participle gefandi ‘giving’

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

gefandi

gefandi

gefanda

Pl

gefandi

gefandi

gefandi

acc

gefanda

gefandi

gefanda

gefandi

gefandi

gefandi

dat

gefanda

gefandi

gefanda

gefǫndum

gefǫndum

gefǫndum

gen

gefanda

gefandi

gefanda

gefandi

gefandi

gefandi

Verbs such as sjá and fá, which end in a long vowel, have contracted forms sjándi and fándi.

The following examples are from The Saga of the Volsungs (Vǫlsunga saga):

Þeir finna eitt hús ok tvá menn sofandi í húsinu með digrum gullhringum.

They found a house and two men sleeping in the house with thick gold rings.

Á skildi váru [rúnar] ristnar, þeim er stendr fyr skínanda guði.

On the shield, runes were cut, that one/those which stand(s) in front of [protects] the shining god.

Guðrún gekk hlæjandi ok gaf þeim at drekka af stórum kerum.

Gudrun walked laughing and gave them [something] to drink from large vessels.

When used with vera, the present participle adds a sense of possibility or necessity, acting much like a subjunctive.

Hjǫrdís gekk í valinn eptir orrostuna um nóttina ok kom at þar, sem Sigmundr konungr lá, ok spyrr, ef hann væri græðandi.

Hjordis went among the slain during the night after the battle and came to where King Sigmund lay, and asked if he would be healed. (væri subjunctive)

12.8 Reading – The Outlaw Svart Steals Thorstein’s Sheep (Vápnfirðinga saga)

In the second chapter of Vápnfirðinga saga the precocious twelve-year-old Spike-Helgi successfully prosecutes a man called Svart for killing his neighbor Skidi. Declared an outlaw, Svart lives in the mountains and steals livestock from the local people. When he takes sheep from Helgi’s grandfather, Thorstein, their shepherd tells Thorstein the news. The old man tells the shepherd to keep the news from Helgi.

Vápnfirðinga saga (Ch. 2)

Maðr hét Svartr, er kom út hingat195 ok gerði bú í Vápnafirði. It næsta honum bjó sá maðr, er Skíði hét. Hann var félítill. Svartr var mikill maðr ok rammr at afli ok vel vígr ok óeirðarmaðr inn mesti. Þá Svart ok Skíða skilði á um beitingar,196 ok lauk því svá, at Svartr vá Skíða. En Brodd-Helgi mælti eptir vígit ok gerði Svart sekan. Þá var Brodd-Helgi tólf vetra gamall.

Eptir þat lagðisk Svartr út á heiði þá, er vér kǫllum Smjǫrvatnsheiði, skammt frá Sunnudal, ok leggsk á fé Hofsverja197 ok gerði miklu meira at en honum var nauðsyn til.198

Sauðamaðr at Hofi kom inn einn aptan ok gekk inn í lokrekkjugólf Þorsteins karls, þar sem199 hann lá sjónlauss. Ok mælti Þorsteinn: ‚Hversu hefir at farit í dag, félagi?‘200 segir hann.

‘Sem verst,’ segir hinn;201 ‚horfinn er geldingrinn þinn inn bezti,‘ segir sauðamaðr, ‚ok þrír aðrir.‘

‚Komnir munu til sauða annarra manna,‘202 segir hann, ‘ok munu aptr koma.’

‚Nei, nei,‘ segir sauðamaðr, ‚þeir munu aldri aptr koma.‘

‚Mæl við mik slíkt, er þér líkar,‘203 segir Þorsteinn, ‚en tala ekki slíkt við Brodd-Helga.’

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12.9 Culture – Icelandic Chieftains, Goðar

Vápnfirðinga saga is set in a distinct social environment. The unknown medieval saga teller/writer who committed to parchment this story of feud between the families at Hof and Krossavik understood the operation of power and politics in Icelandic society. The narrative concentrates on conflict between goðar, prominent local big men, who were more political leaders of farmers than warrior chiefs more typical of contemporary Scandinavian cultures. Icelandic chiefs possessed only slight formal authority to enforce their will, and, until into the thirteenth century, they had little means to control the surrounding population. The goðar, unlike chieftains in more complex Viking Age societies, did not oversee community works such as irrigation systems, waterways or fortifications, whose upkeep and defense offered a lucrative leadership niche. They were unable to deny local farmers access to natural resources, and they exercised only limited privileged control over a region’s surplus production.

Not a commanding nobility, the goðar in Vápnfirðinga saga functioned as leaders of interest groups composed of free land-holding farmers (bændr, sg bóndi). Bændr had the right to choose their chieftains, and their right to enter into alliances with leaders/goðar of their choice was not limited by the territorial location of their farms. Free farmers were called thingmen (þingmenn, sg þingmaðr) and were a chieftain’s legally recognized followers. Goðar did not have to support their thingmen, and this gave them some power over their followers. Goðar could, if they wished (and determined that it was in their interest), represent the interests of specific þingmenn at assemblies and act as the advocates of thingmen in disputes. Thingmen also had certain persuasions. If a thingman did not think that his/her interest was properly protected, he could threaten the goði, if he dared, with switching allegiance to another local leader.204

Icelandic chieftains were legal specialists. They offered their service to farmers in need, often for payment, although they were not formally obligated as chieftains to help. A bóndi who had become a þingmaðr of a goði was referred to as being í þingi (‘in thing’) with the chieftain. Chieftains, like other prominent farmers, were wealthy enough to weather bad times, but as individuals and as a group, they had only limited ability to compel farmers to do their bidding. As described in Vápnfirðinga saga, a chieftain’s thingmen possessed the leeway both to resist their chieftain’s demands and to make demands on their chieftain.

The office of a goði was called a goðorð, a term that means the ‘word’ (orð) of a goði. A chieftaincy or goðorð was treated as a private possession that normally passed to a family member, though not necessarily to a first son. In addition to being inherited, a goðorð could be purchased, shared, or received as a gift. The actual number of goðar at any particular time in early Iceland was more than the number of chieftaincies, because each of those who shared part of a goðorð could call himself a goði.

Whether in pagan or Christian times, the goðar were a small-scale elite. The term goði is sometimes translated as priest-chieftain because it is derived from the Old Norse word goð, meaning ‘god.’ Probably the term stems from the responsibilities of early Icelandic chieftains as priests of the old religion. When Iceland peacefully converted to Christianity in the year 999–1000, many goðar exchanged their previous pagan functions for that of Christian priests. Frequently, chieftains themselves became priests. In other instances, they made priests of their sons, relatives, or one of their slaves.

The conversion did not undermine the prominence of the older goðar families, and many chieftains were able to profit by embracing the new religion. In particular, older goðar families in the century immediately following the conversion took over the management of church property. This proved a valuable asset, and the chieftains’ accumulation of wealth and authority from church sources continued into the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

12.10 Word Frequency Vocabulary – List 12. ❖The Most Frequent Words

Nouns

Adjectives

Pronouns

sveinn

boy, lad

ríkr

powerful

yðr

you (pl)

vár

spring

fjǫlmennr

well attended; numerous

okkarr

us (dual)

kostr

choice

skammr

short; brief

einhverr

someone

skjǫldr

shield

gǫfugr

noble

bak

back

Verbs

Prepositions and Adverbs

Conjunctions

veita

to grant

aldri

never

hvárgi

neither

sœkja

to seek

nær

nearly

hǫggva

to strike

mikit

greatly

senda

to send

milli

between

geta

to get

útan

from out

Exercises

12.11 Reading. For each of the underlined words in this passage from Vápnfirðinga saga, provide the relevant grammatical information, dictionary form (infinitive), and translation.

Helgi var mikill maðr ok sterkr ok bráðgǫrr, vænn ok stórmannligr, ekki málugr í barnœsku, ódæll ok óvægr þegar á unga aldri. Hann var hugkvæmr ok margbreytinn.

Frá því er sagt einnhvern dag at Hofi, er naut váru á stǫðli, at graðungr var á stǫðlinum, er þeir frændr áttu, en annarr graðungr kom á stǫðulinn,  ok stǫnguðusk graðungarnir. En sveinninn Helgi var úti ok sér, at þeira graðungr dugir verr ok ferr frá. Hann tekr mannbrodd einn ok bindr í enni graðunginum, ok gengr þaðan frá þeira graðungi betr. Af þessum atburði var hann kallaðr Brodd-Helgi.

Ex:

sterkr

adjective, m nom sg of sterkr ‘strong’

1.

þegar

2.

því

3.

Hofi

4.

naut

5.

stǫðli

6.

stǫðlinum

7.

á

8.

þeira

9.

dugir

10.

ferr

11.

betr

12.12 Strong Verbs Review: Present and Past Tense. Fill in the correct form of each verb in the present or past tense as directed.

1.

Hann                                honum gripi (bjóða, pres).

Hann                                honum gripi (bjóða, past).

2.

Gunnarr                                hundinum (strjúka, pres).

Gunnarr                                hundinum (strjúka, past).

3.

Konungrinn                                um haustit (koma, pres).

Konungrinn                                um haustit (koma, past).

4.

Maðr                                í skóg (ganga, pres).

Maðr                                í skóg (ganga, past).

5.

Hundr                                eigi (bíta, pres).

Hundr                                eigi (bíta, past).

6.

Vér                                í hús (ganga, pres).

Vér                                í hús (ganga, past).

7.

Þér                                á eldaskálana (líta, pres).

Þér                                á eldaskálana (líta, past).

12.13 Strong Verbs – Classes I-III. Class I strong verbs have í in the infinitive while Class II have jú, jó, or ú. Class III infinitives contain -e-, -ja-, -já- or -i- followed by two consonants (not counting a stem-final -j- or -v-). Here is a review of the ‘shorthand.’

class

infinitive

examples

I

í

líta, rísa

II

jú, jó, ú

strjúka, bjóða, lúka

III

eCC, jaCC, jáCC, iNC

verða, bjarga, skjálfa, vinna

C = any consonant N (nasal) = n or m

Identify the classes of the following strong verbs.

Ex:

skjóta

Class II

1.

snerta

7.

bjarga

2.

drjúpa

8.

bíta

3.

klífa

9.

hverfa

4.

lúka

10.

vinna

5.

skína

11.

brjóta

6.

finna

12.

grípa

12.14 Strong Verbs – Classes I–III. Give the strong verb classes for each of the following infinitives and then provide the requested grammatical form.

strong verb class

requested form

Ex:

bíða (1sg pres)

Class I

bíð

1.

finna (2pl past)

2.

verða (1pl pres)

3.

líta (3pl pres)

4.

lúta (2sg past)

5.

svíkja (1sg past)

6.

ljósta (1pl past)

7.

gjalla (3sg past)

8.

ríða (3sg pres)

9.

springa (2pl pres)

10.

fljúga (3pl past)

11.

søkkva (2pl pres)

12.

syngva (1pl past)

12.15 Pronouns Hverr and Einnhverr. Decline the noun phrases below.

hverr penningr

eitthvert skip

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

12.16 Strong and Weak Verbs. Give the correct form of each verb below.

Ex:

gefa <gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn>

(3sg pres)

gefr

1.

fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn>

(3pl past)

2.

gera <-ði, -ðr~gerr>

(2sg pres)

3.

koma <kemr, kom, kómu, kominn>

(1sg past)

4.

herja <-að->

(2pl past)

5.

ganga <gengr, gekk, gengu, genginn>

(3sg past)

6.

verða <verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn>

(2pl pres)

12.17 Strong Verbs – Class III. Sleppa ‘slip, slide, escape,’ a typical Class III strong verb with principal parts sleppr, slapp, sluppu, sloppinn. Conjugate sleppa in the present and past.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

A number of Class III strong verbs have infinitives with -ja- or -já- rather than -e- (bjarga, hjálpa). Apart from the infinitive, these verbs have the same principal parts as sleppa. Infinitives with -i- have -u- (rather than -o-) in the past participle. Remember that brenna comes from an older form brinna, which governs the vowel (-u-) in the past participle. Give the principal parts for each of the verbs below.

Ex:

spretta

sprettr, spratt, spruttu, sprottinn

1.

snerta

2.

bjarga

3.

spinna

4.

hjálpa

5.

bresta

6.

brenna

Keeping in mind that -v- drops before -o- or -u-, give the principal parts for the verbs below.

Ex:

hverfa

hverfr, hvarf, hurfu, horfinn

7.

verða

8.

vinna

9.

verpa

10.

þverra

Strong verbs change -nd- to -tt-, -ng- to -kk-, and -ld- to -lt- in the third principal part. Give the 3sg past for the verbs below.

Ex:

binda

batt

11.

springa

12.

gjalda

13.

vinda

Give the infinitive for each of the verbs below.

Ex:

vinnr

vinna

14.

varð

17.

fann

15.

spunnu

18.

drukku

16.

dottinn

19.

urðu

Fill in the correct forms of the Class III strong verbs below.

Ex:

finna (1sg past)

fann

20.

bjarga (2pl past)

24.

bresta (1sg past)

21.

spinna (1pl pres)

25.

snerta (1pl past)

22.

svimma (3pl pres)

26.

verða (3sg past)

23.

gjalla (2sg past)

27

hjálpa (3sg pres)

12.18 The Bro Church Runestone from Uppland, Sweden

This stone tells of Ginnlaug, the daughter of Holmgeir and sister of Sigrod (Sigrǫðr). These people are from the same extended family as those mentioned on the Ramsund Runestone. Like the Ramsund Stone, the Bro Stone commemorates a wife’s (Ginnlaug’s) construction of a causeway over swampy ground and the raising of a memorial stone in memory of her husband Assur (Ǫzur).

The Bro Stone is also about Ginnlaug. It announces Ginnlaug’s status to travelers who accept her gift of dry passage over the swamp. About her husband, Assur, the runestone tells that he held the military rank ‘Viking-guard,’ a warden (vǫrðr) or leader of the regional coastal defense force keeping watch against Viking raids from the sea. This information reveals the threat of Vikings to the Swedish coast.

Assur’s father, Earl Hakon, was possibly the Norwegian Hákon hlaða-jarl (‘Earl of Lade’) Sigurðarson from Trondelag. Hákon, mentioned earlier, was the de facto ruler of most of Norway from ca. 970–995. The title jarl identifies him as a nobleman second only to a king.

Both this inscription and the one at Ramsund record Christian sentiments at a time when Sweden was still nominally pagan. These stones witness that elements of the two religions were current at the time of the conversion and perhaps afterward. Note that in this inscription, the /u/ rune is written both and .

Runes

Transliteration

Figure 12.5. The Bro Church Runestone, Uppland, Sweden.

kinluk × hulmkis × tutiR × systiR × sukruþaR × auk × þaiRa × kaus × aun × lit × keara × bru × þesi × auk × raisa × stain × þina × eftiR × asur × bunta × sin × sun × hakunaR × iarls × saR × uaR × uikika × uaurþr × miþ × kaeti × kuþ × ialbi × ans × nu × aut × uk × salu ×

Standardized Old Norse

Ginnlaug, Hólmgeirs dóttir, systir Sigrøðar ok þeira Gauts,205 hon lét gera brú þessi206 ok reisa stein þenna eptir Assur, búanda sinn, son Hákonar jarls. Sá var víkingavǫrðr með gæti.207 Guð hjálpi hans nú ǫnd ok sálu.

Translate:

Vocabulary

Assurr (also Ǫzurr) <-s> m Assur (personal name)

Gautr <-s> m Gaut (personal name)

Ginnlaug <-ar> f Ginnlaug (personal name)

gæta <gætti, gætt> vb [w gen] to watch, tend, take care of

gætir <-is, -ar> m keeper, guard

Gætir <-is> m Gætir (personal name)

vǫrðr <dat verði, gen varðar, pl verðir, acc vǫrðu, gen varða> m warden; guard, watch

Lesson 13

Brodd(‘Spike’)-Helgi Kills a Thief in Weapon’s Fjord

Figure 13.1. Archaeological Site Plan in the Mosfell Valley, Iceland. The excavation at the farm of Hrísbrú, close to Reykjavík, brings to light a large, high-status Viking Age longhouse, church, and graveyard. The plan shows the remarkably well-preserved foundations of the turf longhouse/hall (skáli) and stave church (stavkirkja) at Hrísbrú. This longhouse (28 meters long) was built early in the settlement period around the year 900. The stave church (bottom left) was built from driftwood timbers around the year 1000, when Iceland converted to Christianity. The site is described in Egil’s Saga, Gunnlaug’s Saga, and the Saga of Hallfred the Troublesome Skald. It was home to the Mosfell chieftains, including Grímr Svertingsson, Iceland's law-speaker from 1002-1004. The concluding chapters of Egil’s Saga take place at the Hrísbrú farmstead, where Egil Skalla-Grimsson died and was buried. (Excavated by Jesse Byock, Mosfell Archaeological Project)

Þá er hart þegar einn hrafninn kroppar augun ór ǫðrum

(Times are bad when one raven picks out the eyes of another)

13.1 Spike-Helgi Hunts Down Svart (Vápnfirðinga saga)

(This lesson continues reading Vápnfirðinga saga begun in the previous lesson.)

On the farmstead of Hof, Thorstein instructs the shepherd not to inform the young Brodd-Helgi about the theft of sheep. The shepherd disobeys Thorstein and tells Helgi about the theft. Helgi arms himself for a fight. He shrewdly wedges the lower end of a thin, flat stone into his pants to shield his belly and chest from blows. After sneaking out of the longhouse at night, Helgi follows the thief’s tracks through the snow up onto Smjǫrvatnsheiðr (Butter Lake Heath). When they meet, Svart lays a curse on Brodd-Helgi and his family, but Brodd-Helgi kills him. In the sagas, curses serve as a literary device of anticipation. They indicate that tragedy will follow. In this case, Helgi’s family suffers two generations of blood feud.208 In the passage below, Brodd-Helgi, who is to be a man of importance, comes of age.

Vápnfirðinga saga (Ch. 2)

Brodd-Helgi spurði sauðamanninn, hversu flakkat hefði,209 um daginn eptir. En hann hafði ǫll in sǫmu svǫr210 við hann sem við Þorstein. Brodd-Helgi lét sem hann heyrði eigi ok fór í rekkju um kveldit. Ok er aðrir menn váru sofnaðir, reis hann upp ok tók skjǫld sinn, ok gekk hann síðan út.

Þess er getit, at hann tók upp einn hellustein, mikinn ok þunnan, ok lét annan enda í brœkr sínar, en annan fyrir brjóst. Hann hafði í hendi boløxi mikla á hávu skapti. Hann ferr, unz hann kemr í sauðahús, ok rekr þaðan spor, því at snjór var á jǫrðu.

Hann kemr á Smjǫrvatnsheiði upp frá Sunnudal. Svartr gekk út ok sá mann knáligan kominn ok spurði, hverr þar væri.211 Brodd-Helgi sagði til sín. ‘Þú munt ætla at fara á fund minn212 ok eigi ørendislaust,’ segir hann. Svartr hljóp at honum ok leggr til hans með hǫggspjóti miklu, en Brodd-Helgi brá við skildinum, ok kom á útanverðan skjǫldinn ok kemr í helluna,213 ok sneiddi af hellunni svá hart, at hann fell eptir laginu.214 En Brodd-Helgi høggr á fótinn, svá at af tók.215

Þá mælti Svartr: ‘Nú gerði gæfumun okkar,’216 segir hann, ‘ok muntu verða banamaðr minn, en sá ættangr mun verða í kyni yðru heðan af,217 at alla ævi mun uppi vera,218 meðan landit er byggt.’ Eptir þetta hjó Helgi hann banahǫgg.

Nú vaknar Þorsteinn karl heima á Hofi ok gengr af rekkju sinni ok tekr í rúm Brodd-Helga.219 Var þat kalt orðit. Hann vekr upp húskarla sína ok biðr þá fara at leita Brodd-Helga. Ok er þeir kómu út, rǫkðu þeir spor hans alla leið ok fundu hann þar sem Svartr lá dauðr. Síðan hulðu þeir hræ Svarts ok hǫfðu með sér allt þat, sem fémætt var.220 Varð Brodd-Helgi víðfrægr ok lofaðr mjǫk af alþýðu fyrir þetta þrekvirki, er hann hafði unnit, jafnungr sem hann var enn at aldri.221

Translate:

13.2 Culture – Assemblies and Courts in Iceland, Background to the Sagas

Með lǫgum skal land várt byggja en með ólǫgum eyða

(With law must our land be built or with lawlessness laid waste) – Njal’s Saga

Viking Age Iceland governed itself through a system of freeman’s assemblies and legal courts. The core of the Icelandic legislative and judicial arrangement was the Althing (Alþingi), the yearly national assembly.222 This thing (þing) or assembly was founded around the year 930 to provide a basis for country-wide governance, hence the name Althing.The Althing met for two weeks in June at Þingvǫllr (The Thing Plain) in the southwest of the island. This was the time when travel was easiest, the days longest, and the weather mildest. Hundreds of people from all over Iceland, including — peddlars, ale-brewers, tradesmen, and young adults seeking spouses — converged at Þingvǫllr. With its large lake and mountains in the distance, the site is still one of great natural beauty.

For these two weeks at the time of the mildest weather, the Althing became a national capital. Friendships and political alliances were initiated, continued, or broken. Marriages and divorces were arranged, information passed, men outlawed, promises given, business transacted, and sagas recounted. Vápnfirðinga saga, like many sagas, includes scenes of legal actions and negotiations at the Althing, as well as at the local assembly in the home region. Such smaller regional assemblies were called várþing (‘spring time assemblies’).

Figure 13.2. The Icelandic Althing.

The goðar managed the proceedings of the assemblies. Farmers attended these meetings of freemen at the national and regional levels as thingmen (followers) of specific chieftains or as individuals. Farmers were propertied freemen who participated in the assemblies in different capacities. They could be litigants, advisers, supporters of their goðar, independant agents, advocates for others, or judges. At the lǫgrétta, the legislative council of the Althing, old laws were amended and new laws made. There is little information about the operation of the earliest Althing, but sagas, histories, and lawbooks give detailed accounts of the assembly’s composition after it underwent constitutional reforms in the mid-960s and became the center of an organized system of government and law.

The reform of ca. 965 formally divided the island into quarters and established four quarter courts at the Althing for resolving serious conflicts at the national level. Now, as long as the matter was of consequence, individuals could begin an action at the Althing rather than at a local spring assembly. The quarter courts at the Althing also served as appellate courts for decisions made or deadlocked at the springtime assemblies. A Fifth Court of Appeals (Fimtardómr) was added ca. 1005.

The only significant national office in the Icelandic governmental system was that of law-speaker (lǫgsǫgumaðr). He was elected chairman of the lǫgrétta for a three-year term. Annually at the Althing’s Law Rock (lǫgberg), the law-speaker recited a third of the law from memory. Attendance at this ceremony was required of each goði, accompanied by two advisers. They and other interested people sat on the surrounding grassy slope, probably offering emendations or corrections and taking part in discussions of legal issues. Among other duties, the law-speaker had to announce publicly any laws passed by the lǫgrétta. The lǫgrétta could also call on the law-speaker to furnish parts of the law its members asked for when considering legislation. If faced with a difficult point of law or a memory lapse, the law-speaker had to consult five or more legal experts (lǫgmenn).

13.3 Strong Verbs – Classes IV (e)

Class IV have in their basic pattern -e- in the infinitive (bera, skera), -a- in the past sg (bar, skar), and -á- in the past pl (báru, skáru). Class IV typically has -o- in the past participle (borinn, skorinn).

Class IV verbs generally have a single -l-, -r-, -m-, or -n- following the root vowel of the infinitive, for example: bera, stela, nema (exceptions: vefa, sofa, troða).

Basic Pattern of Class IV Strong Verbs

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

e

e

a

á

o

bera ‘carry’

berr

bar

báru

borinn

stela ‘steal’

stelr

stal

stálu

stolinn

skera ‘cut’

skerr

skar

skáru

skorinn

nema ‘take’

nemr

nam

námu

numinn

fela ‘hide’

felr

fal

fálu

fólginn

koma ‘come’

kemr

kom

kómu ~ kvámu

kominn

Nema and fela have slightly irregular past participles (numinn and fólginn). Koma is irregular.

Bera and Nema, Sample Class IV Conjugations in present and past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

ber

bar

nem

nam

2nd

þú

berr

bart

nemr

namt

3rd

hann

berr

bar

nemr

nam

Pl 1st

vér, vit

berum

bárum

nemum

námum

2nd

þér, þit

berið

báruð

nemið

námuð

3rd

þeir

bera

báru

nema

námu

Class IV Strong Verbs with exceptions

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

troða ‘tread’

treðr~trøðr

trað

tráðu

troðinn

sofa ‘sleep’

sefr~søfr

svaf

sváfu ~ sófu

sofinn

vefa ‘weave’

vefr

óf ~ vaf

ófu ~ váfu

ofinn

13.4 Strong Verbs – Class V (e,i)

Class V strong verbs share a number of features with Class IV. Class V also have -e- in the infinitive (kveða, gefa), -a- in the past sg (kvað, gaf), and -á- in the past pl (kváðu, gáfu). Class V verbs typically have -e- in the past participle (kveðinn, gefinn).

Class V verbs generally have a single consonant other than -l-, -r-, -m-, or -n- following the root vowel, for example: drepa, gefa, geta (exceptions: vera, fregna, and verbs with stem-final -j-).

Basic Pattern of Class V Strong Verbs

infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

e

e

a

á

e

drepa ‘slay’

drepr

drap

drápu

drepinn

gefa ‘give’

gefr

gaf

gáfu

gefinn

geta ‘get’

getr

gat

gátu

getinn

kveða ‘speak’

kveðr

kvað

kváðu

kveðinn

vera ‘be’

er

var

váru

verit (n sg only)

biðja ‘ask’

biðr

bað

báðu

beðinn

sitja ‘sit’

sitr

sat

sátu

setinn

liggja ‘lie’

liggr

lá

lágu

leginn

vega ‘kill’

vegr

vá

vágu

veginn

fregna ‘hear of’

fregn

frá

frágu

freginn

Drepa and Gefa:
Sample Class V Conjugations in present and past

Present

Past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

drep

drap

gef

gaf

2nd

þú

drepr

drapt

gefr

gaft

3rd

þat

drepr

drap

gefr

gaf

Pl 1st

vér, vit

drepum

drápum

gefum

gáfum

2nd

þér, þit

drepið

drápuð

gefið

gáfið

3rd

þau

drepa

drápu

gefa

gáfa

Class V verbs:

• have -i- in the infinitive if they also have stem-final -j- (biðja, sitja).

• double the -g- if a -g- precedes the stem-final -j- (liggja, þiggja).

• drop the -g(g)- and lengthen -a- to -á- in the past sg when their roots end in -g(g): (vega, liggja) (vá ‘he killed,’ lá ‘he lay’).

• retain the -g- in the past pl (vágu, lágu).

Remember: The verb fregna ‘to find out, get news’ follows this pattern but is unusual in having an -n- in the infinitive and present tense. The verb sjá is irregular:

infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

sjá ‘see’

sér

sá

sá, sáu

sénn

13.5 Preterite-Present Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries

‘Preterite’ is an grammatical term referring to the past tense, and ‘preterite-present’ means ‘past-present.’ Old Norse preterite-presents are a group of ten important verbs whose present tense looks like the past tense of strong verbs. For example, the present sg of the preterite-present verb þurfa ‘need, require’ is ek þarf, þú þarft, hann þarf. This corresponds to the past sg of a strong verb like finna ‘find’: ek fann, þú fannt, hann fann. This peculiar feature of the group, with the present looking like the past, gives rise to its name.

• Preterite-presents are often used as modal auxiliaries, helping verbs which modify the meaning of main verbs, and which often correspond in meaning and form to English verbs: kann (‘can’), má (‘may’), skal (‘shall’).

• Modals inject a sense of obligation, intention, need, or probability to main verbs. For example, a sense of obligation can be added to the sentence, ‘I sail to Iceland’ (Ek sigli til Íslands) by adding a modal auxiliary: ‘I ought to/should sail to Iceland’ (Ek skal sigla til Íslands) or ‘I have to sail to Iceland’ (Ek á at sigla til Íslands).

The Ten Preterite-Presents

eiga ‘own, possess; be married or related to;’ (with at) ‘have to’

munu ‘will (probability), would’

skulu ‘will (obligation), should’

kná ‘be able to’

unna ‘love’

kunna ‘know, understand;’ [with at] ‘be able, can; know how to; happen, chance’

vita ‘know’

þurfa ‘need, want;’ (with at) ‘need (to do something)’

mega ‘may, be permitted to, can’

muna ‘remember’

Two General Observations on Preterite-Present Verbs

In the present tense, preterite-presents behave like the past tense of strong verbs. All preterite-presents apart from munu show a change of root vowel between sg and pl; for example, (þarf~þurfum);

In the past tense, preterite-presents behave like weak verbs. They add the past tense endings of weak verbs to an invariant past tense stem containing a dental suffix (þurf-t-).

Þurfa, A Preterite-Present Conjugated in Present and Past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

þarf

þurfta

2nd

þú

þarft

þurftir

3rd

hann

þarf

þurfti

Pl 1st

vér, vit

þurfum

þurftum

2nd

þér, þit

þurfuð

þurftuð

3rd

þeir

þurfu

þurftu

The Preterite-Presents: Conjugations

Present

eiga

mega

kunna

muna

munu

skulu

vita

Sg 1st

ek

á

má

kann

man

mun

skal

veit

2nd

þú

átt

mátt

kan(n)t

mant

munt

skalt

veizt

3rd

hon

á

má

kann

man

mun

skal

veit

Pl 1st

vér, vit

eigum

megum

kunnum

munum

munum

skulum

vitum

2nd

þér, þit

eiguð

meguð

kunnuð

munuð

munuð

skuluð

vituð

3rd

þær

eigu

megu

kunnu

munu

munu

skulu

vitu

Past

Sg 1st

ek

átta

mátta

kunna

munda

munda

skylda

vissa

Like weak verbs: (þú áttir, hann átti, vér áttum, þér áttuð, þeir áttu, etc).

• Two preterite-presents, unna (‘love,’ ‘grant,’ ‘allow’) and kná (‘be able to,’ ‘can,’ ‘could’) are not conjugated in the chart above. Unna conjugates like kunna, and kná like mega. Kná is rare and the manuscripts do not show a full set of forms. It has no infinitive and the dictionary form, kná, is the 1/3 sg present: kná, 1pl knegum, knátti, past inf knáttu.

Munu and Skulu

Two preterite-presents, munu and skulu, have infinitives ending in -u. Although both are often translated as ‘will,’ munu expresses probability and skulu expresses obligation or intention. Munu and skulu have special forms mundu and skyldu (called past-tense infinitives) used in indirect speech; for example, Hann kvazk mundu fara til Nóregs, ‘He said he will travel to Norway.’

• Munu and skulu frequently occur as subjunctive myndi and skyldi. The subjunctive adds a sense of doubt or uncertainty and can be translated as ‘would’ and ‘should.’

• Variants of munu and skulu sometimes occur in the present subjunctive with i-umlaut; for instance, hann myni and hann skyli rather than hann muni and hann skuli.

13.6 Preterite-Present Verbs – Modals with and without Infinitive Marker at

When employed as modal auxiliaries, three of the preterite-presents (eiga, kunna, and þurfa) require the infinitive marker at along with the infinitive of the main verb.

Hann á at gera brú. (eiga)

He has to/must make a bridge.

Hann kann at gera brú. (kunna)

He knows how to make a bridge.

Hann þarf at gera brú. (þurfa)

He needs to make a bridge.

Four others (mega, kná, munu, and skulu) generally omit at.

Hann má gera brú. (mega)

He may [is permitted to] make a bridge.

Hann kná gera brú. (kná)

He can [is able to] make a bridge.

Hann mun gera brú. (munu)

He will [is likely to] make a bridge.

Hann skal gera brú. (skulu)

He shall make a bridge.

The remaining three preterite-presents (vita, muna, unna) are chiefly used as main verbs.

13.7 Exercise – Preterite-Present Verbs. Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the verb in the present tense.

1.

Eiríkr                                                                                                     (eiga) at gera kumbl.

2.

Ek                                                                                                         (mega) gefa þér land.

3.

Þú                                                                                                                  (þurfa) at koma.

4.

Otrinn                                                                                                        (munu) eta laxinn.

5.

Þú                                                                                                (skulu) fara til Danmarkar.

6.

Ormr                                                                                                      (kunna) at sigla skip.

7.

Sigríðr                                                                                                 (skulu) spyrja konuna.

13.8 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

In addition to their positive/simple forms, adjectives have comparative and superlative degrees. An example is English ‘wise,’ whose comparative is ‘wiser’ and superlative ‘wisest.’ Old Norse comparative and superlative adjectives are similar to those in English, with most adjective stems adding the suffix
-ar- in the comparative and -ast- in the superlative. Then follows a case ending. For example: the adjective spak-r ‘wise’ has the stem spak-. Its comparative is spak-ar-i and superlative is spak-ast-r, with the case endings -i and -r.

positive/simple

comparative

superlative

spakr ‘wise’

spakari ‘wiser’

spakastr ‘wisest’

sterkr

sterkari

sterkastr

hvítr

hvítari

hvítastr

A few adjectives add the comparative suffix -r- and superlative suffix -st- and show i-umlaut. For example: lang-r becomes leng-r-i and leng-st-r.

positive

comparative

superlative

langr

lengri

lengstr

ungr

yngri

yngstr

hár

hæri~hærri

hæstr

Sample Comparative Adjective Declensions (Endings). Comparatives take the same set of weak endings as found in the present participle, as bolded in the chart below.

-ar- + ending

-r- + ending

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

spakari

spakari

spakara

lengri

lengri

lengra

acc

spakara

spakari

spakara

lengra

lengri

lengra

dat

spakara

spakari

spakara

lengra

lengri

lengra

gen

spakara

spakari

spakara

lengra

lengri

lengra

Pl nom

spakari

spakari

spakari

lengri

lengri

lengri

acc

spakari

spakari

spakari

lengri

lengri

lengri

dat

spǫkurum

spǫkurum

spǫkurum

lengrum

lengrum

lengrum

gen

spakari

spakari

spakari

lengri

lengri

lengri

Comparatives with -r- follow the Alveolar Special Stem Rules. For example: sæll ‘blessed’ has comparative sælli ‘more blessed’ (from sæl- + -ri).

positive

comparative

superlative

sæll

sælli (sæl + ri)

sælstr

vænn

vænni (væn + ri)

vænstr

fagr

fegri (fagr + ri)

Fegrstr

Sample Declension of Sæll in the comparative

m

f

n

Sg nom

sælli

sælli

sælla

acc

sælla

sælli

sælla

dat

sælla

sælli

sælla

gen

sælla

sælli

sælla

Pl nom

sælli

sælli

sælli

acc

sælli

sælli

sælli

dat

sællum

sællum

sællum

gen

sælli

sælli

sælli

Two-syllable adjectives with a short 2nd syllable drop the vowel preceding the suffixes -ari and -astr.

Positive

comparative

superlative

auðigr

auðgari

auðgastr

gǫfugr

gǫfgari

gǫfgastr

More on Superlative Adjectives. Superlatives decline as regular adjectives. They take weak endings when preceded by a definite article, demonstrative pronoun, or other determining word. Otherwise they generally take strong adjective endings.

-ast- plus ending

-st- plus ending

strong

weak

strong

weak

masculine

spakastr maðr

inn spakasti maðr

hæstr maðr

inn hæsti maðr

feminine

spǫkust kona

in spakasta kona

hæst kona

in hæsta kona

neuter

spakast barn

it spakasta barn

hæst barn

it hæsta barn

Adjectives whose stems end in a dental consonant (-t-, -d-, -ð-) drop the dental when adding the superlative suffix -st-, which becomes -zt-, for example, beztr from bet- + -st-.

Comparatives and Superlative Adjectives with Different Roots. Like English ‘good, better, best,’ a few common Old Norse adjectives have different roots for the comparative and superlative.

positive

comparative

superlative

gamall ‘old’

ellri ‘older, elder’

ellztr ‘oldest, eldest’

góðr

betri

beztr

illr

verri

verstr

vándr

verri

verstr

lítill

minni

minnstr

margr

fleiri

flestr

mikill

meiri

mestr

13.9 Exercise – Comparative of Two-Syllable Adjectives. Decline nauðugr in the comparative. Remember vowel drop from the stem, and the weak endings of the comparative.

Sg nom

nauðgari

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

13.10 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives, Usage

Comparison is often expressed with the conjunction en, corresponding to English ‘than.’ The noun (persons, places, or things) which are compared are in the same case.

Þetta skip er lengra en þat.

This ship is longer than that one.

Sól er bjartari en máni.

The sun is brighter than the moon.

Hann á fleiri óvini en vini.

He has more enemies than friends.

Skipit var skjótara en fugl.

The ship was swifter than a bird.

Comparison can also be expressed without en when the subject is nominative and the compared noun is dative.

Skipit var fugli skjótara.

The ship was swifter than a bird.

Haki ok Hekja váru dýrum skjótari.

Haki and Hekja were swifter than animals.

Sól er mána bjartari.

The sun is brighter than the moon.

Adjectives use the dative case when answering questions such as ‘by how much’ or ‘by how little.’

Hafði Sigmundr lið miklu minna.

Sigmund had a much smaller (‘smaller by much’) force.

En litlu síðar kom Óðinn heim.

And a little later (‘later by a little’) Odin came home.

More examples of the comparative from the readings.

En annat haust hófu þeir mannblót, en árferð var sǫm eða verri.

And the second autumn they sacrificed humans, but the harvest was the same or worse.

Hvat er fleira at segja?

What more is there to say/to be said?

Bjarni hét son þeira inn yngri, en Lýtingr inn ellri.

Bjarni was the name of their younger son and Lyting, the elder.

Examples of the superlative from The Prose Edda and sagas.

Þat er allra grasa hvítast.

It is the whitest of all herbs.

Hann er vitrastr ásanna.

He is the wisest of all the Æsir.

‘Skipit er it fegrsta,’ segir hann.

‘The ship is the fairest,’ says he.

Sigurðr var inn ágætasti allra herkonunga.

Sigurd was the most excellent of all warlords.

13.11 Exercise – Comparative and Superlative Adjectives. Fill in the spaces.

positive

meaning

comparative

meaning

superlative

meaning

Ex:

spakr

wise

spakari

wiser

spakastr

wisest

1.

svartr

2.

bjartr

3.

langr

4.

ungr

5.

hár

6.

góðr

7.

illr

8.

lítill

9.

margr

10.

mikill

13.12 Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

Comparative and superlative adverbs are indeclinable. They are formed with the suffixes -ar or -r in the comparative and -ast or -st in the superlative. Those taking -r and -st show i-umlaut.

positive

comparative

superlative

opt ‘often’

optar ‘more often’

optast ‘most often’

síð ‘late’

síðar ‘later’

síðast ‘latest’

víða ‘widely’

víðar ‘more widely’

víðast ‘most widely’

skjótt ‘speedily’

skjótar ‘more speedily’

skjótast ‘most speedily’

fagrt ‘fairly, finely’

fegr ‘more fairly’

fegrst ‘most fairly’

lengi ‘for a long time’

lengr ‘for a longer time’

lengst ‘for the longest time’

tómliga ‘slowly’

tómligar ‘more slowly’

tómligast ‘most slowly’

• Adverbs formed with suffix -a, -t, or -i drop this suffix before adding comparative -ar/-r or superlative -ast/-st;

• The comparative suffixes -ar and -r often appear in early texts as -arr and –rr: optarr and síðarr;

• Some adverbs form their comparatives with the suffix -ara or -ra; for example, tíðara ‘more frequently,’ breiðara ‘more broadly,’ spakligara ‘more wisely.’ Those taking -ra, such as lengra ‘longer (of space or distance),’ show i-umlaut.

Comparatives and Superlative Adverbs with Different Roots. Some common adverbs form their positive and comparative/superlative degrees from different roots:

positive

comparative

superlative

vel ‘well’

betr

bezt ~ bazt

illa ‘badly’

verr

verst

mikit ‘much’

meir(a)

mest

mjǫk ‘much’

meir(a)

mest

lítit ‘little’

minnr~miðr

minnst

snemma ‘early’

fyrr

fyrst

gjarna ‘willingly’

heldr

helzt

Examples of Comparative and Superlative Adverbs from the Readings

Bǫðvarr mælti: ‘Ekki muntu fá skjaldborgina gerða lengr.’

Bodvar said, ‘You will not be able to make your shield wall any longer.’

Herjólfr bjó fyrst á Drepstokki.

Herjolf lived first at Drepstokkr.

13.13 Reading – Brodd-Helgi’s Relationship with Geitir (Vápnfirðinga saga)

Family connections over several generations play a critical role in Vápnfirðinga saga as it focuses on a feud between two families: the Hofsverjar (people of Hof) and the Krossvíkingar (people of Krossavík). An early passage in the saga describes the friendship between the youths, Brodd-Helgi of Hof and Geitir of Krossavik. This friendship is not destined to last after they become brothers-in-law and prominent local chieftains. The passage below defines the kinship and political relationships between the groups.

Vápnfirðinga saga (Ch. 3)

Figure 13.3. Reconstruction of the Law-Speaker’s Longhouse at Hrísbrú with possible wooden roof. Pollen samples from around the year 860 taken 100 m in front of the Hrísbrú longhouse give a strong signal for the sudden appearance of agricultural barley. This and unusually large quantities of charcoal (probably from the burning of the original forests to make way for livestock pasturage) indicate that settlement in the Mosfell Valley began in the mid-9th century, a decade or so before Ari Fróði dates the beginning of the landnám in his 12th century Book of the Icelanders. So Ari seems largely on target, off by just a few decades.

This working sketch is one of a series of studies combining archaeology and architecture for reconstructing the different phases of the Hrísbrú longhouse. This large Icelandic longhouse was 28 m long inside and 10m wide with the usual bowed outside walls of a high-status Viking Age hall. Volcanic ash (tephra) samples found in the turfs of the outer walls date the first phase of construction to the decades immediately following an eruption in the year 871±2.

Ash samples in the excavated turf walls tell us that the building was repaired and partially rebuilt after an eruption in the 920s. As part of the rebuilding, several large support stones were dug into the ground around the outside of the building’s western half (to the left in the drawing). Each stone was positioned with a 45% angle facing the building in order to anchor wooden braces. These external support timbers strengthened the walls of the building, probably for the addition of a second-story loft over the western end where the drawing shows a higher roof. The result was a costly and spacious hall with large quantities of small stones piled up against the outer wooden walls.

This particular study shows the second-story loft and a possible wooden roof. The sagas describe such buildings. Njal’s Saga, Ch. 77, recounts that the eldskáli or longhouse of Gunnar of Hliðarendi was constructed of wood and roofed over with overlapping boards, with windows running under/along the roof’s ridgebeam’ (skáli Gunnars var gǫrr af viði einum ok súðþakiðr utan ok gluggar hjá brúnásunum). Gunnar, the saga tells us, slept in a second story ‘loft’ of his longhouse (Gunnar svaf í lopti einu í skálanum). Gunnarm, a skilled archer, kept his enemies at bay when he was attacked in his home, by shooting arrows from his loft. His fate was sealed when an attacker climbed onto the roof and cut Gunnar’s bow string.

The roof in this drawing is shown with wooden planks and a sampling of shingles on the western gable end. The roof may have been part timber and part turf or all turf. (Jesse Byock and Grétar Markússon, Mosfell Archaeological Project).

Í þann tíma, er Þorsteinn [hvíti] bjó at Hofi ok Brodd-Helgi óx upp með honum, þá bjó sá maðr í Krossavík inni ýtri,223 er Lýtingr hét ok var Ásbjarnarson, Óláfs sonar langháls. Hann var vitr maðr ok vel auðugr at fé. Hann átti konu, er Þórdís hét, dóttur Herlu-Bjarna Arnfinnssonar. Þau áttu tvá sonu,224 þá er við þessa sǫgu koma.225 Hét annarr Geitir, en annarr Blængr. Halla hét dóttir Lýtings, en ǫnnur Rannveig, ok var hon gipt í Klifshaga í Øxarfjǫrð þeim manni, er Óláfr hét.

Þeir váru mjǫk jafngamlir, brœðr ok Brodd-Helgi, ok var með þeim vinfengi mikit. Brodd-Helgi fekk Hǫllu Lýtingsdóttur, systur þeira brœðra. Þeira dóttir var Þórdís todda, er átti Helgi Ásbjarnarson. Bjarni hét son þeira inn yngri, en Lýtingr inn ellri. Bjarni var at fóstri í Krossavík með Geiti. Blængr var rammr at afli ok hallr nǫkkut í gǫngu. Geitir átti Hallkǫtlu Þiðrandadóttur, fǫðursystur Droplaugarsona.226

Svá var vingott með þeim Brodd-Helga ok Geiti, at þeir áttu hvern leik saman ok ǫll ráð ok hittusk nær hvern dag, ok fannsk mǫnnum orð um, hversu227 mikil vinátta með þeim var.

Í þann tíma bjó sá maðr í Sunnudal, er Þormóðr hét ok var kallaðr stikublígr. Hann var sonr Steinbjarnar kǫrts ok bróðir Refs ins rauða á Refsstǫðum ok Egils á Egilsstǫðum. Bǫrn Egils váru Þórarinn, Hallbjǫrn, Þrǫstr ok Hallfríðr, er átti Þorkell Geitisson. Synir Þormóðar váru þeir Þorsteinn ok Eyvindr, en þeir synir Refs, Steinn ok Hreiðarr. Allir váru þeir þingmenn Geitis. Hann var spekingr mikill.

Samfarar þeira Hǫllu ok Brodd-Helga váru góðar. Lýtingr var at fóstri í Øxarfirði með Þorgilsi skinna. Brodd-Helgi var vel auðigr at fé.

Translate from Vápnfirðinga saga (Ch. 3):

Exercises

13.14 Strong Verbs. Classes IV and V are very similar. They differ principally in the root vowel of the past participle (IV -o-, V -e-). For example, bera (IV) has principal parts berr, bar, báru, borinn, while gefa (V) has gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn. Conjugate gefa in present and past below.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

þat

gefr

gaf

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þau

gáfu

When the vowel of the infinitive (-e-) is followed by a single -l-, -m-, -n-, or -r, the verb is Class IV. When followed by any other consonant, the verb is Class V. A few Class V verbs have stem-final -j- and have -i- in the infinitive and present tense, but otherwise follow the pattern of gefa.

Give the principal parts of the verbs below and their class.

Ex:

bera

berr, bar, báru, borinn

Class IV

reka

rekr, rak, ráku, rekinn

Class V

biðja

biðr, bað, báðu, beðinn

ClassV

1.

skera

2.

leka

3.

geta

4.

meta

5.

drepa

6.

stela

7.

sitja

8.

kveða

Class V strong verbs having -g(g)- in the infinitive (vega) drop -g(g)- in the third principal part and lengthen -a- to -á- (vá). The -g- doubles in the infinitive and present tense for verbs with stem-final -j- (liggja, þiggja). Give the principal parts for the following verbs.

Ex:

vega

vegr, vá, vágu, veginn

9.

liggja

10.

þiggja

Fill in the correct forms of the verbs below.

Ex:

reka (1sg pres)

rekr

11.

kveða (2pl past)

14.

nema (1pl past)

12.

leka (3sg past)

15.

skera (2sg past)

13.

geta (1pl pres)

16.

liggja (1sg past)

13.15 Strong Verbs, Review. The class of most strong verbs can be identified from the infinitive alone. Here is a review of the rules that help distinguish among the five classes introduced so far. (The remaining 2 classes are given in the following lessons).

Class

Infinitive

I

contains -í-

II

contains -jú-, -jó-, or -ú-

III

contains -e-, -ja-, -já- or -i- (also -ø- or -y-) followed by two consonants (not counting stem-final -j- or -v-)

IV

contains -e- followed by a resonant (either -l-, -m-, -n-, or -r-)

V

contains -e- or -i- followed by a single consonant other than -l-, -m-, -n-, or -r- (not counting stem-final -j-)

There are a few exceptions to these rules; for example, búa is a Class VII strong verb (not Class II) and fregna is Class V (not Class III).

Class

Infinitive

Examples

I

í

líta, rísa

II

jú, jó, ú

strjúka, bjóða, lúka

III

eCC, jaCC, jáCC, iNC

(also øCCv, yNCv)

verða, bjarga, skjálfa, vinna

hrøkkva, syngva

IV

eR

skera, stela

V

eC, iCj

gefa, eta, sitja

C = any consonant R (resonant) = r, l, n, or m N (nasal) = n or m

Identify the class of the following strong verbs.

Ex:

binda

Class III

1.

leka

7.

súpa

2.

bera

8.

hverfa

3.

njóta

9.

reka

4.

spinna

10.

bjóða

5.

lesa

11.

nema

6.

hjálpa

12.

líða

13.16 Preterite-Present Verbs. Translate the sentences and give the infinitive for each of the underlined preterite-present verbs.

Meanings

eiga ‘own, possess; have to’

munu ‘will (probability), would’

kná ‘be able to’

skulu ‘will (obligation), should’

kunna ‘know, understand;’ [with at] ‘happen, chance’

unna ‘love’

mega ‘may, be permitted to, can’

vita ‘know’

muna ‘remember’

þurfa ‘need’

Ex:

Hon mun koma hingat it sama haust.

She will come here the same autumn

munu

1.

Þú átt at fara til Nóregs.

2.

Vér skulum gera ǫl.

3.

Þér kunnuð at ríða hesta.

4.

Þær þurftu at spyrja goðann.

5.

Ek má mæla við konunginn.

6.

Þú munt verða frændi.

The following sentences come from Hrólfs saga kráka. Translate and give the infinitive for the underlined preterite presents.

Vocabulary

ey f island

hátt adv loudly

haukr m hawk

lundr m grove

nærri comp adv very near

❖sjálfr adj pron self, oneself, himself, etc.

❖þegar adv at once, immediately; þegar á morgin first thing in the morning

7.

Lundr einn stóð nærri hǫllinni, er konungr átti.

8.

Skal ek fara sjálfr til eyjarinnar þegar á morgin.

9.

Svipdagr mælti svá hátt, at allir máttu heyra.

10.

En Hrólfr konungr átti þann hauk, er Hábrók hét.

13.17 Preterite-Present Verbs. Give the infinitives and meanings of the following verbs.

infinitive

form

translation

Ex:

skalt

skulu

2 sg pres

you will

1.

þurfum

2.

munt

3.

mátt

4.

skal

5.

meguð

6.

kann

7.

skuluð

8.

veizt

13.18 Comparative Adjectives. Comparative adjectives always take the special set of weak endings given in this lesson. Decline sterkari below.

masculine

feminine

neuter

Sg nom

sterkari

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

13.19 Superlative Adjectives. Superlative adjectives take the same set of strong and weak endings as regular adjectives. Decline strong and weak ríkastr.

strong

masculine

feminine

neuter

Sg nom

ríkastr

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

weak

masculine

feminine

neuter

Sg nom

ríkasti

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

13.20 Reading Exercise. Translate the following stanza from the Eddic poem Hávamál (The Sayings of the High One). The High One refers to Odin, and the stanza is in ljóðaháttr, meaning ‘chant-meter.’ For ON poetry, see Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader.

Deyr fé,

deyja frændr,

deyr sjálfr it sama;

Ek veit einn,

at aldri deyr:

dómr um dauðan hvern.

Vocabulary

❖aldri adv never

❖dauðr <f dauð, n dautt> adj dead

deyja <deyr, dó, dó, dáinn> vb to die

dómr <-s, -ar> m court; judgement

❖einn <f ein, n eitt, ord fyrstr ‘first’> num one; indef pron a, an, a certain one

❖fé <gen fjár, gen pl fjá> n cattle, sheep; wealth, money

❖frændi <pl frændr> m kinsman

❖hverr <f hver, n hvert> indef pron each, every, all

❖samr <f sǫm, n samt> adj pron same

❖sjálfr adj pron self, oneself, himself, herself, etc

❖vita <veit, vissi, vitaðr> pret-pres vb to know

Lesson 14

Norse Mythology and the World Tree Yggdrasil

Fróðr er hverr fregnvíss

(Wise is he who is curious)

14.1 Culture – The World Tree

Figure 14.1. Mounted Warrior, Vendel, Sweden. Helmet ornamentation plate with snake and birds (6th–8th centuries). This bronze helmet plate (about the size of a square on the rider’s helmet) is one of several found in graves from the Proto-Norse period hinting of lost legends and myths.

Like the Norse concept of the World Tree, many of the accounts found in the Eddas and sagas derive from older tales, involving creatures and nature. This plate from Vendel was still attached to the helmet when unearthed by archaeologists. (See the illustrations of the Torslunda matrices in Lesson 15.)

In Old Norse mythology, the World Tree, the Ash Yggdrasil (Askr Yggdrasils) was the axis mundi or cosmic pillar at the center of the universe. The tree united nine mythological worlds, binding them into a dynamic cosmos. Rising into the highest reaches of the sky, Yggdrasil was a giant tree, a sacred living entity whose branches spread over all realms.

The concept of a world tree exists in many mythologies. In Old Scandinavia, the world tree may have had an Indo-European origin. A world tree is also a feature of myths of circumpolar peoples as far back as the Stone Age. Although Viking Age Scandinavians likely interpreted the tree in different ways, the name ‘Yggdrasill’ offers some clues. A possible interpretation is that Ygg- comes from one of Odin’s many names, Yggr. It means the ‘terrible one’ and the name is perhaps connected to Odin’s role as god of the hanged.

Drasill is an ancient term for ‘horse,’ and Yggdrasill may mean ‘Ygg’s horse.’ Perhaps it is a metaphor for ‘gallows.’ This view assumes that ancient Scandinavians saw a similarity between how people ride horses and how a hanged person bobs as he ‘rides’ the gallows.228 The gallows tree is a fitting symbol for the causeway connecting the heavens and the underworld, a passageway between life and death.

The Prose Edda and Eddic poems, such as Grímnismál (The Lay of Grimnir) and Vafþrúðnismál (The Lay of Vafthrudnir), describe the different worlds and their dwellers. Heaven (himinn) rises above the tree’s foliage. It was formed early in the world by the gods and is contained within the vault of the skull (see the shape the figure 14.2) of the primordial giant Ymir (‘Roarer’).

Four dwarves, each standing at one of the four geographical directions and called, accordingly, Norðri, Austri, Suðri and Vestri, hold the skull in place. Daily the sun and the moon ride across the heavens in their chariots chased by two cosmic wolves. At Ragnarok,229 the great battle at the end of the world, the wolves will finally catch the two celestial bodies and swallow them.

Below the branches of the World Tree lies Asgard (Ásgarðr), the home of the gods. Odin lives there in his hall Valhalla (Valhǫll), which he shares with his army of slain warriors, the Einherjar. In Asgard, one of the roots of the Tree takes sustenance from Urd’s Well (Urðarbrunnr, ‘the Well of Fate’) the home of three prophetic women, the Norns (Nornir).

The Rainbow Bridge (Bifrǫst) leads down from Asgard to the home of men in Midgard (Miðgarðr, ‘Middle Enclosure’ or ‘Middle Earth’). A wall encloses Midgard, separating it from the outer region called Utgard (Útgarðr, ‘Outer Enclosure’). In this outer region lies Jotunheim (Jǫtunheimr, ‘home of the giants’ jǫtnar, sg jǫtunn).

Beyond Utgard is the outer sea. At its far edge lies the fearsome Miðgarðsormr (‘Midgard ‘serpent. This malevolent creature, an ormr (English ‘worm’) bites its tail as it encircles Middle Earth.

The Underworld, called Niflheim (Niflheimr), lies below. Monsters and serpents live in this dark region of ice rivers. They gnaw on the roots of the tree. Hel, the realm of the dead, lies in this underworld. Hel is also the name of the goddess who oversees the dead. Her unlucky charges enter the underworld by passing through the Gates of Hel before crossing the bridge Gjallarbrú. Old Scandinavian Hel is a pre-Christian concept that was understood to be a shadowy region much like the Greek Hades or Sheol of the Hebrew Bible. As the bleak realm, Hel stands in contrast to Valhalla high up on the trunk of the tree. Valkyries, Odin’s shieldmaidens, choose for this god the slain warriors from the battlefield. In Valhalla, Odin’s previously fallen warriors rise each day to fight and feast in preparation for Ragnarok.230

The Prose Edda often provides mythological information through an exchange of questions and responses. For example, the Skáldskaparmál section of The Prose Edda lists several kennings (poetic descriptions), revealing a vision of the Norse cosmos.

The following passage is in reply to the question: ‘How shall we name the sky?’

Hvernig skal kenna himin? Svá at kalla hann Ymis haus ok þar af jǫtuns haus ok erfiði eða byrði dverganna eða hjálm Vestra ok Austra, Suðra, Norðra, land sólar ok tungls ok himintungla, vagna ok veðra, hjálma eða hús lofts ok jarðar ok sólar. Svá kvað Arnórr jarlaskáld.…

Figure 14.2. The World Tree Yggdrasil as described in The Prose Edda (the reading sections of this lesson). The tree was a living axis around which the world turned. Rising from the depths of the underworld to the furthest ends of the heavens, it passed through diverse worlds with different dwellers: divine, human, supernatural, monstrous, and celestial. The heavens in this drawing are shaped to represent the slain giant Ymir’s skull out from which the heavens and the universe were created. (Jesse Byock and Robert Guillemette)

By calling it Ymir’s head and hence the giant’s skull, the burden or heavy load on the dwarves, and the helmet of the dwarves Vestri and Austri, Suðri, Norðri, the land of the sun, moon and heavenly bodies, constellations and winds, or the helmet or house of the air, of the earth and of the sun. So said Arnórr the Jarls’ Poet. 231

14.2 Reading – Gangleri Asks About Yggdrasil (Gylfaginning, The Prose Edda)

Gylfaginning, the main narrative section of The Prose Edda, tells the story of the creation, the struggles, and the doom of the gods. Gylfaginning means the ‘deluding (ginning) of Gylfi.’ Gylfi, we are told, is a Swedish king who purposefully wanders into the hall of the Æsir in order to learn about them. Gylfi’s deluding refers to his being a victim of an elaborate optical illusion (sjónhverfing) practiced by three formidable god-like figures whom he meets in the hall.

Gylfaginning is written as a dialogue between Gylfi and the three figures, all manifestations of Odin. Before meeting the Æsir, Gylfi disguises himself as a traveler named Gangleri, a name meaning ‘strider,’ ‘walker,’ or ‘wanderer.’ In the Æsir’s majestic but illusory hall, the three figures sit on three thrones, one above the other. They name themselves Hár, Jafnhár, and Þriði (‘High,’ ‘Just-As-High,’ and ‘Third’).

Gangleri’s dialogue with Hár, Jafnhár, and Þriði quickly becomes a contest of wisdom. Gangleri learns at the start of the contest that he will not escape unharmed unless he grows wiser, a threat which raises the stakes of the mythological exchange. In the following passages, Gangleri learns about the three roots of the World Tree and more.

Gylfaginning (Ch. 15)

Þá mælti Gangleri: ‘Hvar er hǫfuðstaðrinn eða helgistaðrinn goðanna?’

Hár svarar: ‘Þat er at aski Yggdrasils; þar skulu goðin eiga dóma sína hvern dag.’

Þá mælti Gangleri: ‘Hvat er at segja frá þeim stað?’232

Þá segir Jafnhár: ‘Askrinn er allra trjá mestr ok beztr; limar hans233 dreifask yfir heim allan, ok standa yfir himni. Þrjár rœtr trésins halda því [tré] upp, ok standa afar breitt.

Ein er með Ásum, enn ǫnnur234 með Hrímþursum, þar sem forðum var Ginnungagap; hin þriðja [rót] stendr yfir Niflheimi, ok undir þeirri rót er Hvergelmir, en Níðhǫggr gnagar neðan rótina. En undir þeirri rót, er til Hrímþursa horfir, þar er Mímisbrunnr, er spekt ok mannvit er í fólgit;235 ok heitir sá Mímir, er á brunninn.236 Hann er fullr af vísindum, fyrir því at hann drekkr ór brunninum af horninu Gjallarhorni. Þar kom Alfǫðr, ok beiddisk eins drykkjar af brunninum, en hann fekk eigi fyrr en hann lagði auga sitt at veði.237 Þriðja rót asksins stendr á himni; ok undir þeirri rót er brunnr sá, er mjǫk er heilagr, er heitir Urðarbrunnr; þar eigu goðin dómstað sinn. Hvern dag ríða Æsir þangat upp um Bifrǫst; hon238 heitir ok Ásbrú.

Translate:

14.3 Reading – Norns, Well of Fate, and Baldr (Gylfaginning, The Prose Edda)

Gangleri learns that the World Tree is home to many creatures and gods. In the top branches sits a wise eagle with a hawk on its beak. Below, among the roots of the tree, lives the monstrous serpent Níðhǫggr (‘Hateful Striker’). The squirrel Ratatoskr runs up and down the tree’s trunk carrying insults between the eagle and Níðhǫggr.239

The tree suffers greatly, and the Norns who live beside Urðarbrunnr nourish and soothe it. They decide people’s fate at birth. Their names are Urðr (‘Fate’ or ‘That Which Has Become’), Verðandi (‘What Is Happening, Becoming,’) and Skuld (‘Debt’ or ‘That Which Should Become’).

Gylfaginning (Ch. 16)

Þá mælti Gangleri: ’Hvat er fleira at segja stórmerkja frá askinum?’240

Hár segir: ’Mart er þar af at segja.241 Ǫrn einn sitr í limum asksins, ok er hann margs vitandi;242 en í milli augna honum sitr haukr sá, er heitir Veðrfǫlnir. Íkorni sá, er heitir Ratatoskr, rennr upp ok niðr eptir askinum, ok berr ǫfundarorð milli arnarins ok Níðhǫggs. En fjórir hirtir renna í limum asksins ok bíta barr. Enn svá margir ormar eru í Hvergelmi með Níðhǫgg, at engi tunga má telja.’

‘Enn er þat sagt, at nornir þær, er byggja Urðarbrunn, taka hvern dag vatn í brunninum, ok með aurinn þann er liggr um brunninn, ok ausa upp yfir askinn,243 til þess at eigi skyli limar hans tréna eða fúna.244 En þat vatn er svá heilagt, at allir hlutir, þeir sem þar koma í brunninn, verða svá hvítir sem245 hinna sú, er skjall heitir, er innan liggr við eggskurn.246 Sú dǫgg, er þaðan af fellr á jǫrðina, þat kalla menn hunangsfall, ok þar af fœðask býflugur.247 Fuglar tveir fœðask í Urðarbrunni; þeir heita svanir, ok af þeim fuglum hefir komit þat fuglakyn, er svá heitir.’

Translate:

Gangleri also asks about the gods. In the passage below, Gangleri learns about Baldr, Odin’s enigmatic son, who has died. (Note the five superlatives.)

Snorra Edda (Ch. 22)

Þá mælir Gangleri: ‘Spyrja vil ek tíðinda af fleiri Ásunum.’

Hár segir: ‚Annarr sonr Óðins er Baldr, ok er frá honum gott at segja. Hann er beztr, ok hann lofa allir. Hann er svá fagr álitum ok bjartr, svá at lýsir af honum,248 ok eitt gras er svá hvítt, at jafnat er til Baldrs brár.249 Þat er allra grasa hvítast, ok þar eptir mátt þú marka fegrð hans,250 bæði á hár ok á líki.251 Hann er vitrastr ásanna ok fegrst talaðr ok líknsamastr. En sú náttúra fylgir honum at engi má haldask dómr hans. Hann býr þar, sem heitir Breiðablik. Þat er á himni.

Translate:

14.4 Strong Verbs – Class VI

The distinguishing feature of Class VI strong verbs is long -ó- in the past tense. The basic pattern is -a- in the infinitive, -ó- in past sg and pl, and -a- in the past participle (fara, fór, fóru, farinn). In the present sg, Class VI strong verbs show i-umlaut (infinitive/3sg pres: aka/ekr, draga/dregr, taka/tekr, fara/ferr, standa/stendr). Similarly flá and slá with long -á-, show i-umlaut and have present sg flær and slær.

Basic Patterns of Class VI Strong Verbs

Infinitive

3 sg present

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

a (e, á, æ, ey)

e

ó

ó

a

fara ‘go, travel’

ferr

fór

fóru

farinn

standa ‘stand’

stendr

stóð

stóðu

staðinn

aka ‘drive’

ekr

ók

óku

ekinn

draga ‘drag’

dregr

dró

drógu

dreginn

taka ‘take’

tekr

tók

tóku

tekinn

flá ‘flay’

flær

fló

flógu

fleginn

slá ‘strike’

slær

sló

slógu

sleginn

hefja ‘begin’

hefr

hóf

hófu

hafinn

sverja ‘swear’

sverr

sór

sóru

svarinn

hlæja ‘laugh’

hlær

hló

hlógu

hleginn

deyja ‘die’

deyr

dó

dó

dáinn

fara in present and past

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

fer

fór

2nd

þú

ferr

fórt

3rd

hann, hon, þat

ferr

fór

Pl 1st

vér, vit

fǫrum

fórum

2nd

þér, þit

farið

fóruð

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

fara

fóru

• When the stem ends in -g- or -k- (draga, aka), the past participle has -e- instead of -a- (dreginn, ekinn; see section 4.7 in Lesson 7, page 107);

• The few with -á- in the infinitive (flá, slá) have -g- in the past pl (flógu, slógu);

• Those whose stems end in -j- show i-umlaut in the infinitive (hefja, hlæja, deyja).

14.5 Verb Middle Voice – Formation

The middle voice in Old Norse primarily describes reflexive/reciprocal actions, actions which the subject performs on him-, her-, or itself.252 The endings derive from the reflexive pronouns mik and sik. The sentences below illustrate the difference in meaning between the active and middle voices.

Hon klæddi barnit. (3sg past active)

She dressed the child.

Hon klæddisk. (3sg past middle)

She dressed (herself).

The middle voice also has reciprocal, passive, and other specialized meanings explained below.

Formation of the Middle Voice

Middle voice in verbs is formed according to the following rules:

• The 1sg ending is -umk (gerumk ‘I become,’ gerðumk ‘I became’). In strong verbs, the root vowel of the 1sg matches the root vowel of the 1pl.

• Apart from 1sg -umk, the middle ending is -sk, added directly to the active endings (nefndi + sk > nefndisk ‘he named himself,’ bǫrðu + sk > bǫrðusk ‘they fought [among themselves]’). Two important sub-rules apply here:

1.

-r- drops before -sk (gerir+ sk > gerisk, eignar+ sk > eignask)

2.

Dental (-ð-, -d-, -t) plus -sk changes to -zk, for example, eignizk (eignið + sk) and kvazk (kvað + sk). This change also applies when a loss of -r before -sk exposes a dental (kveðr + sk > kveð + sk > kvezk)

• The 1pl sometimes has the ending -umk rather than -umsk (brjótumk or brjótumsk).

Middle Voice. Examples of Weak and Strong Verbs

weak verbs: gerask ‘become,’ eignask ‘claim for oneself, get to own,’ berjask ‘fight’

strong verb: gefask ‘show oneself, prove; for ex, vel (‘good’) or illa (‘bad’)’

Present

gerask

eignask

berjask

gefask

Sg 1st

ek

gerumk

eignumk

berjumk

gefumk

2nd

þú

gerisk

eignask

bersk

gefsk

3rd

hann

gerisk

eignask

bersk

gefsk

Pl 1st

vér, vit

gerum(s)k

eignum(s)k

berjum(s)k

gefum(s)k

2nd

þér, þit

gerizk

eignizk

berizk

gefizk

3rd

þeir

gerask

eignask

berjask

gefask

Past

Sg 1st

ek

gerðumk

eignuðumk

bǫrðumk

gǫfumk

2nd

þú

gerðisk

eignaðisk

barðisk

gafzk

3rd

þat

gerðisk

eignaðisk

barðisk

gafsk

Pl 1st

vér, vit

gerðum(s)k

eignuðum(s)k

bǫrðum(s)k

gáfum(s)k

2nd

þér, þit

gerðuzk

eignuðuzk

bǫrðuzk

gáfuzk

3rd

þau

gerðusk

eignuðusk

bǫrðusk

gáfusk

Other Forms of the Middle Voice

• Participles add -sk to their corresponding active forms.

• Middle past participles are confined to perfect constructions in neuter sg only. For instance, eignazk derives from eignat + sk, and similarly farizk (farit + sk) and litizk (litit + sk). An example from Heimskringla about King Harald Fairhair of Norway: Hafði hann þá eignazk land allt ‘He had then taken for himself the entire country.’

• Middle present participles are rare. Examples are brjótandisk (broken) and farandisk (traveled).

• Middle imperatives are also rare. They add -sk to their corresponding active forms; for example, the 2sg command bersk ‘fight!’ < berj + sk, 2pl berizk ‘fight among yourselves!,’ and 1pl berjumsk ‘let’s fight! (‘among ourselves/together with them!’).

14.6 Verbs in Middle Voice – Meaning and Use

Middle verbs have reflexive, reciprocal, passive, and idiomatic meanings. They also feature in impersonal constructions.

Reflexive and Reciprocal Meanings

Middle verbs can have both reflexive or reciprocal meaning. For example: þeir sjásk means either ‘they see themselves’ (reflexive) or ‘they see one another’ (reciprocal)

Reflexive Meanings. Verja ‘defend’ becomes verjask ‘defend oneself.’ In the sentence below from Vǫlsunga saga, the verbs bregðask and leggjask have reflexive meanings.

Fáfnir brásk í ormslíki

Fáfnir changed himself into the shape of a dragon

ok lagðisk á gullit.

and laid himself on the gold.

Reciprocal Meanings. These convey actions that two or more parties do to one another. Note the reciprocal meanings in the verbs skilja ‘part’ and berja ‘strike’ in the following sentences.

Nú skiljask þeir.

Now they part (from each other).

Br’ðr bǫrðusk.

The brothers fought (struck at each other).

Nú berjask þeir lengi, ok veitti Kaldbeklingum betr.

Now they fight (among themselves/with each other) for a long time, and the Kaldbak men had the better of it.

Passive Meanings

Seen in the following sentences where the verbs byggva ‘settle’ and draga ‘pull, drag’ express actions performed on their subjects.

Ísland byggðisk.

Iceland was settled. (Íslendingabók)

Stafirnir drógusk með grunni, allt til þess er þeir váru lausir undir bryggjunum.

The pilings were dragged along the bottom, until finally they were loose under the bridge. (Heimskringla; see section RC 1.1 of Reading Chapter 1, page 141)

Idiomatic Meanings

These occur frequently, particularly when used in combination with a preposition, for example, lagðisk út. Idiomatic meanings can usually be traced back to one of the functions above, although in some instances the connection is obscure. For example:

Eptir þat lagðisk Svartr út* á heiði þá, er vér kǫllum Smjǫrvatnsheiði.

After that Svartr set out (literally, ‘lay or set himself out’) onto that heath, which we call Smjorvatnsheidi. (Vápnfirðinga saga, Ch. 2)

[Þorleifr] talði veðrit ótrúligt gerask†.

[Thorleifr] said the weather was becoming unpredictable. (Vápnfirðinga saga, Ch. 2)

Á hans dǫgum gerðisk† í Svíþjóð sultr ok seyra.

In his days there was a famine and starvation in Sweden. (Ynglingasaga)

* leggja ‘lay, set,’ leggjask ‘set oneself (reflexive),’ leggjask út ‘set out (into the wilderness to live as an outlaw)’ † gera ‘make, do,’ gerask ‘to make itself,’ that is, ‘to become, occur, happen’

Impersonal Constructions

Some middle verbs are used in impersonal constructions; that is, they are used without an expressed or overt subject in the nominative case. These are often verbs of sense and perception (seeing, hearing, seeming, etc) where the logical subject (the person who experiences this or that sensation) is put in the dative case.

Hversu lízk þér á* mey þessa?

How do you (yourself) like this maiden?

Undarliga sýnisk mér nú.

I have a strange feeling [lit. strangely/weirdly it seems/appears to me now] (Njáls saga, ch. 127)

* líta ‘look,’ lítask ‘appear, seem,’ lítask [e-m] á ‘to seem (good) [to somebody], be pleasing [to somebody]’ † sýna ‘show,’ sýnask ‘seem,’ mér sýnisk ‘it seems to me’

14.7 Cardinal Numbers 1 to 20

Cardinal Numbers. Cardinals answer the question ‘how many?’ They tell the amount and are used for counting: einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir, fimm …

Ordinal Numbers. Ordinals give position or placement in a list: fyrstr, annarr, þriði, fjórði, fim(m)ti …

Figure 14.3. Cardinals and Ordinals.

The first four cardinal numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 decline in a manner similar to the definite article. Like strong adjectives, they agree in case, number, and gender with the nouns they modify. When used in the plural, einn (einir, einar, ein) means ‘some.’ For cardinal numbers above 20 and ordinal numbers, see Lesson 15.

Cardinal Numbers 1 – 4 Decline as follows:

m

f

n

m

f

n

Sg nom

einn

ein

eitt

Pl

einir

einar

ein

acc

einn

eina

eitt

eina

einar

ein

dat

einum

einni

einu

einum

einum

einum

gen

eins

einnar

eins

einna

einna

einna

Pl nom

tveir

tvær

tvau

Pl

þrír

þrjár

þrjú

acc

tvá

tvær

tvau

þrjá

þrjár

þrjú

dat

tveim(r)

tveim(r)

tveim(r)

þrim(r)

þrim(r)

þrim(r)

gen

tveggja

tveggja

tveggja

þriggja

þriggja

þriggja

Pl nom

fjórir

fjórar

fjǫgur

acc

fjóra

fjórar

fjǫgur

dat

fjórum

fjórum

fjórum

gen

fjǫgurra

fjǫgurra

fjǫgurra

Cardinal Numbers Fimm through Tuttugu (5 − 20) Do Not Decline

1.

̶

6.

sex

11.

ellifu

16.

sextán

2.

̶

7.

sjau

12.

tólf

17.

sjautján

3.

̶

8.

átta

13.

þrettán

18.

átján

4.

̶-

9.

níu

14.

fjórtán

19.

nítján

5.

fimm

10.

tíu

15.

fimmtán

20.

tuttugu

14.8 The Past Subjunctive of Preterite-Present Verbs

Preterite-present verbs form their past subjunctive stems by applying i-umlaut to the past tense stem. Below are five of the most common of this type of verb: eiga, skulu, þurfa, munu, and mega.

Past Subjunctive of Preterite-Present Verbs

Infinitive →

eiga

þurfa

skulu

munu

mega

Past stem →

átt-

þurft-

skyld-

mund-

mátt-

Sg 1st

ek

ætta

þyrfta

skylda

mynda

mætta

2nd

þú

ættir

þyrftir

skyldir

myndir

mættir

3rd

þat

ætti

þyrfti

skyldi

myndi

mætti

Pl 1st

vér, vit

ættim

þyrftim

skyldim

myndim

mættim

2nd

þér, þit

ættið

þyrftið

skyldið

myndið

mættið

3rd

þau

ætti

þyrfti

skyldi

myndi

mætti

• Variants of past subjunctive preterite-presents without i-umlaut sometimes occur in Old Norse texts: mynda ~ munda, þyrfta~þurfta, skylda~skulda, kynna~kunna.

14.9 Two-Syllable Nouns – Syncopated Stems

‘Syncope’ refers to the loss of a vowel or consonant in a word. In Old Norse, syncopated nouns lose the vowel of their second syllable before endings that begin with a vowel. For example: syncope occurs in dat hamri (hamar + -i) but not in gen hamars (hamar + -s). In nouns where this occurs, the second syllable is part of the stem and consists of a short vowel and a single consonant. Some examples are the strong masculine nouns hamarr (stem hamar-), jǫkull (stem jǫkul-), himinn (stem himin-), jǫtunn (stem jǫtun-) as well as the strong neuter noun sumar (stem sumar-). Note: names often do not follow this rule, for example: Gunnarr (dat Gunnari), Einarr, and Reginn.

hamarr (m)

jǫkull (m)

sumar (n)

Sg nom

hamarr

jǫkull

sumar

acc

hamar

jǫkul

sumar

dat

hamri

jǫkli

sumri

gen

hamars

jǫkuls

sumars

Pl nom

hamrar

jǫklar

sumur

acc

hamra

jǫkla

sumur

dat

hǫmrum

jǫklum

sumrum

gen

hamra

jǫkla

sumra

Transl.: hamarr ‘hammer; crag,’ jǫkull ‘glacier,’ sumar ‘summer’

14.10 Exercise – Vowel Loss in Two-Syllable Nouns. Masculines aptann and þumall follow the pattern of hamarr, and neuter hǫfuð follows the pattern of sumar. Decline these below.

aptann

þumall

hǫfuð

Sg nom

acc

dat

gen

Pl nom

acc

dat

gen

Transl.: aptann ‘evening,’ þumall ‘thumb,’ hǫfuð ‘head’

Exercises

14.11 Reading Passage Review, Askr Yggdrasils253. Referring to the reading passage, use the words below to fill in the blanks.

rót hvern dag þar goðin himni drykkjar heilagr

brunninn auga þriðja forðum gnagar horninu vísindum

svarar himni afar breitt dóma beztr heim helgistaðrinn

Þá mælti Gangleri: ‘Hvar er hǫfuðstaðrinn eða _______________ (holy place) goðanna?’ Hár _______________ (answers): ‘Þat er at aski Yggdrasils; þar skulu goðin eiga _______________ (judgments / court) sína hvern dag.’ Þá mælti Gangleri: ‘Hvat er at segja frá þeim stað?‘ Þá segir Jafnhár: ‘Askrinn er allra trjá mestr ok _______________ (best); limar hans dreifask yfir _______________ (earth) allan, ok standa yfir _______________ (heaven). Þrjár r’tr trésins halda því upp, ok standa ____________ _____________ (extremely broad).

Ein er með Ásum, enn ǫnnur með hrímþursum, þar sem _______________ (once; of old) var Ginnunga-gap; hin _______________ (third) stendr yfir Niflheimi, ok undir þeirri _______________ (root) er Hvergelmir, en Niðhǫggr _______________ (gnaws) neðan rótina.

En undir þeirri rót, er til hrímþursa horfir, _______________ (there) er Mímisbrunnr, er spekt ok mannvit er í fólgit; ok heitir sá Mímir, er á _______________ (the well). Hann er fullr af _______________ (wisdom), fyrir því at hann drekkr ór brunninum af _______________ (horn) Gjallarhorni. Þar kom Alfǫðr, ok beiddisk eins _______________ (drink) af brunninum, en hann fekk eigi fyrr en hann lagði _______________ (eye) sitt at veði.

Þriðja rót asksins stendr á _______________ (heaven); ok undir þeirri rót er brunnr sá, er mjǫk er _______________ (holy), er heitir Urðarbrunnr; þar eigu _______________ (the gods) dómstað sinn. ___________ __________ (each day) ríða Æsir þangat upp um Bifrǫst; hon heitir ok Ásbrú.’

14.12 Reading Passage and Demonstrative Pronoun Review. Fill in the correct form of the demonstrative sá in the spaces below.

1.

En í milli augna honum sitr haukr ________________________, er heitir Veðrfǫlnir.

2.

Íkorni ___________________, er heitir Ratatoskr, rennr upp ok niðr eptir askinum.

3.

Enn er þat sagt, at nornir ____________________, er byggja Urðarbrunn, taka hvern dag vatn í brunninum, ok með aurinn __________________________ er liggr um brunninn, ok ausa upp yfir askinn.

4.

En ________________________________ vatn er svá heilagt, at allir hlutir, _________________________ sem þar koma í brunninn, verða svá hvítir sem hinna _________________________, er skjall heitir, er innan liggr við eggskurn.

5.

___________________________ dǫgg, er þaðan af fellr á jǫrðina, þat kalla menn hunangsfall, ok þar af fœðask býflugur.

6.

Þeir heita svanir, ok af ____________ fuglum hefir komit þat fuglakyn, er svá heitir.

14.13 Strong Verbs Class VI. Fara is a typical Class VI strong verb with principal parts ferr, fór, fóru, farinn. Conjugate fara in present and past.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

2nd

3rd

Pl 1st

2nd

3rd

Give the principal parts of the verbs below. Keep in mind that a few Class VI verbs deviate slightly from the pattern of fara. Check Vocabulary if needed.

Ex:

ala

elr, ól, ólu, alinn

taka

tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn

1.

skapa

2.

aka

3.

mala

4.

grafa

5.

hefja

6.

skaka

Give the principal parts for the following verbs. Remember -v- drops before past tense -ó-.

Ex:

vaxa

vex, óx, óxu, vaxinn

7.

vaða

8.

sverja

Give the pronouns and the verbs in the proper case and number.

Ex:

aka (1sg pres)

ek ek

9.

ala (2pl past)

12.

hefja (3sg past)

10.

standa (1pl pres)

13.

grafa (1pl past)

11.

skapa (2sg past)

14.

sverja (1sg pres)

14.14 Verbs: Active and Middle Voice. Conjugate the weak verb gera and the strong verb gefa in the present and past tense.

gera

gefa

Present

active

middle

active

middle

Sg 1st

2nd

3rd

Pl 1st

2nd

3rd

Past

active

middle

active

middle

Sg 1st

2nd

3rd

Pl 1st

2nd

3rd

14.15 Review: I-Umlaut. Most verbs show i-umlaut in the past subjunctive.

A. Give the shifted outcomes for each of the following vowels and diphthongs.

vowel

with i-umlaut

vowel

with i-umlaut

1.

u

>

6.

á

>

2.

ú

>

7.

jú

>

3.

o

>

8.

jó

>

4.

ó

>

9

au

>

5.

a

>

10.

ǫ

>

B. Using the answers from part A, fill in the Old Norse vowels in the vowel space charts (on the next page) as well as the arrows that indicate i-umlaut of long and short vowels. Do not include the diphthongs au or ey in the chart and remember the j- is lost in the umlauted jó and jú.

C. Give the 3sg present indicative for each of the following strong verbs.

Ex:

láta

lætr

1.

gróa

5.

ljósta

2.

standa

6.

sitja

3.

nema

7.

hǫggva

4.

auka

8.

lúka

14.16 The Altuna Church Runestone, Sweden.

Depicting the god Thor (Þórr) and his adventures was popular in Viking Age Scandinavia, particularly the tale of Thor’s battle with the Miðgarðsormr (the Midgard serpent). The lower part of the third panel (to the right in the figure of the Altuna Runestone) shows a man (almost surely Thor) with a hammer standing in a boat. In his other hand, he holds a thick line running down into the water with a large object hanging at its end. A serpentine sea monster lurks, coiled below.

These elements, from an East Norse source, fit well with the tale of Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent found in The Prose Edda, The Poetic Edda, and several other West Norse literary sources. Thor then would be the man standing in the boat with a hammer in his hand. According to the tale, the giant Hymir invites Thor to go fishing, and the two row far out to sea. Thor baits a strong hook with the head of Hymir’s ox and casts this bait at the end of his line.

The serpent bites the bait, but hooking the catch is easier than landing it. In raising the serpent up from the depths, Thor pushes his feet through the bottom of the boat (note what looks like a foot underneath the boat). Thor, using the sea floor to brace himself, hauls the serpent up and raises his hammer Mjollnir in readiness. Before Thor can strike the serpent, the terrified giant Hymir cuts the line, and the serpent sinks back into the sea. This will not be Thor’s last meeting with the serpent. Thor and the Miðgarðsormr will meet again at Ragnarok, where they kill each other.

The Altuna Runestone is a good example of Viking Age rune writing and Old Norse language preservation, because the runes show mistakes and alternate spellings. Rune carvers and rune writers (not necessarily the same person) had varying skills in sounding out and spelling their words. In some instances, it seems that a person knowledgeable in runes gave a drawing of a runic inscription to a runic-illiterate carver who changed, re-arranged, or dropped letters while the runemaster was busy elsewhere.

In the Altuna incscription, three mistakes occur in the seventh word, , eptir. The first one is when the sound /e/ is written as rune (i.e. R in transcription) when it should have been the rune . The other is when the rune (i.e. r in transcription), which should have appeared at the end, is missing. The third mistake is when the sound /f/ is written as rune (i.e. þ in transcription). The stone also presents examples of alternate spellings, showing the lack of spelling standards in runic inscriptions in the Younger Futhark. Compare rune (i.e. þ in transcription) in the 10th word and the rune (i.e. t in transcription) in the 11th word. Both runes represent the same sound, /t/, at the end of the second element -fast in the names Hólmfast and Arnfast. A further variant of spelling the sound /t/ is found in words no. 1 and no. 6, Véfastr and stein, where both and
are combined, resulting in ‘þt’.

Runes

Transliteration

uifasþtr fulkahþr kuþar litu resa sþten Rþti sen faþur ulfasþ arfast beþi feþrkak burnu en þir bali fresþen liþ lifsþens risþu

Standardized Old Norse

Véfastr, Fólkaðr, [ok] Guðmarr létu reisa stein eptir sinn fǫður Hólmfast [ok] Arnfast. Bæði feðgar brunnu. En þeir Balli [ok] Frøysteinn lið Hlífsteins254 ristu.

Vocabulary

Arnfastr <-s> m Arnfast (personal name)

Balli (also Baldi) m Balli (personal name)

❖báðir <f báðar, n bæði, gen beggja > adj pron dual both

brenna <brann, brunnu, brunninn> vb intrans burn, be consumed by flame

feðgar m pl father (feðr) and son(s)

Fólkaðr (also Fólkvarðr) <-ar> m Folkad (personal name)

Frøysteinn (also Freysteinn) <-s> m Froystein (personal name)

Guðmarr <-s> m Gudmar (personal name)

Hlífsteinn <-s> m Hlifstein (personal name)

Hólmfastr <-s> m Holmfast (personal name)

❖láta <lætr, lét, létu, látinn> vb to let, allow, permit; have something done

❖lið n band of men, following, troops

reisa <-ti, -tr> vb to raise; láta reisa [stein] have a stone raised

rísta <rístr, reist, ristu, ristinn> vb to cut; carve, engrave

Véfastr <-s> m Vefast (personal name)

Translate:

Figure 14.4. The Altuna Church Runestone, Sweden.

Lesson 15

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

Figure 15.1. Reconstruction of the 9th Century Great Hall at Lejre, Denmark

(48.3 meters/52.8 yards in length). A massive wooden building, this princely Viking Age dwelling covered approximately 500 sq. meters (598 sq. yards). Its size can be judged by the man entering the door toward the middle right. The vertical gable tops at either end of the curved roof ridge (see the side view in the figure below) are shown as ported to let smoke escape.

Hálfsǫgð er saga, ef einn segir

(A story is half said, if only one person tells it)

15.1 Reading – Bodvar Rescues Hott from the Bone Pile (Hrólfs saga kraka)

Figure 15.2. End-View of the Great Hall at Lejre. The longhouse was 11.5 meters wide (12.6 yards). The roof is supported by massive internal timbers and externally (shown above) angled support posts, which formed a covered walkway under the roof eaves.

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Hrólfs saga kraka) is one of the major fornaldarsögur (‘legendary sagas’). It recounts the fortunes of King Hrolf, a warrior chieftain who ruled in Denmark in the sixth century, long before the Viking Age. Hrolf was widely remembered in the medieval North during the Viking period and afterwards as one of the most magnificent kings of ‘ancient times.’ His saga, which draws on a long oral tradition, narrates the history of Hrolf’s treacherous family and the exploits of his twelve champions. Hrolf is mentioned in numerous Icelandic texts, including The Prose Edda, Ynglinga saga, and Landnámabók, and Hrolf’s Saga shares many affinities with the Old English verse epic Beowulf.

Figure 15.3. Bronze Helmet Matrix, Torslunda, Öland, Sweden. A matrix is a die with an upraised surface used to impress an illustration on a metal sheet. This is one of four matrices for making small helmet plates found in a stone cairn in the 1870s at Torslunda on the Baltic Island of Öland. The matrix shows two warriors with "boar's head" helmets of the type mentioned in Old English literature. Stories reaching back to the Migration Period such as those about King Hrolf Kraki were well-known in the Viking Age.

Hrolf’s greatest champion was Bodvar Bjarki (Bǫðvarr Bjarki). Bodvar’s father, Bjorn, was turned into a bear by his scheming stepmother, and Bodvar himself possesses the power of shape-shifting (shape-changing). On his way to King Hrolf’s hall at Lejre (ON Hleiðargarðr), Bodvar meets an old woman. She tells him the tale of her cowardly son Hott (Hǫttr), who lives in a pile of bones that he has made for his own protection in the king’s stronghold. The king’s men make sport of throwing their gnawed meat bones at Hott who hides in the bone pile. The old woman implores Bodvar that, when he reaches the king’s court, he throw only small bones at her son. The passage below relates how Bodvar rescues Hott, who eventually becomes one of King Hrolf’s champions.

Hrólfs saga kraka (Ch. 23)

Síðan fór Bǫðvarr leið sína til Hleiðargarðs. Hann kømr til konungs atsetu. Bǫðvarr leiðir síðan hest sinn á stall hjá konungs hestum hinum beztu[m] ok spyrr engan at;255 gekk síðan inn í hǫllina, ok var þar fátt manna.

Hann sezk útarliga,256 ok sem hann hefir verit þar litla hríð, heyrir hann þrausk nǫkkut útar í hornit í einhverjum stað. Bǫðvarr lítr þangat ok sér at mannshǫnd kømr upp ór mikilli beinahrúgu, er þar lá; hǫndin var svǫrt mjǫk. Bǫðvarr gengr þangat til ok spyrr hverr þar væri í beinahrúgunni. Þá var honum svarat257 ok heldr óframliga: ‘Hǫttr heiti ek, bokki sæll.’

‘Hví ertu hér,’ segir Bǫðvarr, ‘eða hvat gørir þú?’

Hǫttr segir, ‘Ek gøri mér skjaldborg, bokki sæll.’

Bǫðvarr sagði, ‘Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar!’258 Bǫðvarr þrífr til hans ok hnykkir honum upp ór beinahrúgunni.

Hǫttr kvað þá hátt við ok mælti, ‘Nú viltu mér bana! Gør eigi þetta, svá sem ek hefi nú vel um búizk áðr, en þú hefir nú rótat í sundr skjaldborg minni, ok hafða ek nú svá gǫrt hana háva útan at mér,259 at hon hefir hlíft mér við ǫllum hǫggum ykkar,260 svá at ekkert261 hǫgg hafa komit á mik lengi, en ekki var hon enn svá búin sem ek ætlaða hon skyldi verða.’262

Bǫðvarr mælti: ‘Ekki muntu fá skjaldborgina gerða lengr.’263

Hǫttr mælti ok grét: ‘Skaltu nú bana mér, bokki sæll?’

Bǫðvarr bað hann ekki hafa hátt, tók hann upp síðan ok bar hann út ór hǫllinni ok til vatns nǫkkurs sem þar var í nánd, ok gáfu fáir at þessu gaum,264 ok þó265 hann upp allan. Síðan gekk Bǫðvarr til þess rúms sem hann hafði áðr tekit,266 ok leiddi eptir sér Hǫtt ok þar setr hann Hǫtt hjá sér. En hann er svá hræddr at skelfr á honum leggr ok liðr,267 en þó þykkisk hann skilja, at268 þessi maðr vill hjálpa sér.

Figure 15.4. Bears Fighting An Armed Man, Torslunda, Öland. Fighting, acting like, and assuming the strength of bears are frequent motifs in Old Scandinavian tales. This small helmet ornamentation plate found at Torslunda shows an armed man in a deadly fight.

Eptir þat kveldar ok drífa menn í hǫllina ok sjá Hrólfs kappar at Hǫttr er settr á bekk upp, ok þykkir þeim sá maðr hafa gǫrt sik œrit djarfan, er þetta hefir til tekit.269 Illt tillit hefir Hǫttr, þá er hann sér kunningja sína, því at hann hefir illt eitt af þeim reynt;270 hann vill lifa gjarnan ok fara aptr í beinahrúgu sína, en Bǫðvarr heldr honum, svá at hann náir ekki í brottu at fara,271 því at hann þóttisk ekki jafnberr fyrir hǫggum þeira, ef hann næði þangat at komask,272 sem hann er nú.

Hirðmenn hafa nú sama vanda, ok kasta fyrst beinum smám um þvert gólfit til Bǫðvars ok Hattar. Bǫðvarr lætr sem hann sjái eigi þetta.273 Hǫttr er svá hræddr at hann tekr eigi mat né drykk, ok þykkir honum þá ok þá274 sem hann muni vera lostinn.275

Ok nú mælti Hǫttr til Bǫðvars: ‘Bokki sæll, nú ferr at þér stór knúta, ok mun þetta ætlat okkr til nauða.’276 Bǫðvarr bað hann þegja. Hann setr við holan lófann277 ok tekr svá við knútunni; þar fylgir leggrinn með.278 Bǫðvarr sendi aptr knútuna ok setr á þann sem kastaði, ok rétt framan í hann279 með svá harðri svipan at hann fekk bana. Sló þá miklum ótta yfir hirðmennina.280

15.2 Culture – The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki and Beowulf

The story of Hrolf’s Saga was well known in the northern lands long before the saga was written down as a comprehensive prose rendering in thirteenth- or fourteenth-century Iceland. Much in the saga of king Hrolf has close similarities with Beowulf, a verse epic written from the eighth to the early eleventh centuries. Both compositions draw on a common legendary tradition. They share characters (for example, ON Hrólfr is the Old English Hrōðulf). They also share events, especially those concerning the actions of the fifth- and/or sixth-century Danish kingdom of the Skjoldung family (ON Skjǫldungar, OE Scyldingas).

Although separated by time and place, the Old Norse and Old English narratives, are based on shared oral traditions and agree on many things. In addition, there is are many similarities with the Latin account of ancient Danish events in Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes) and the Latin paraphrase of the Old Norse Skjǫldunga Saga.

Hrolf’s Saga and Beowulf tell of a powerful champion whose bear-like characteristics may echo distant cultic practices. The similarities are striking. Both heroes, Beowulf and Bodvar Bjarki, begin their journeys to Denmark from the land of the Goths (ON Gautar, OE Gēatas, Modern Swedish Götar). Each is related to the Danish king and both have names that connect to the word ‘bear.’ Bjarki means ‘little bear,’ and Beowulf (OE Bēowulf) is a compound noun meaning ‘bee-wolf,’ a metaphoric description for a bear. In each instance, a monster is threatening the Danish king’s hall and attacks the hapless retainers of the king at night. The creatures are described differently in the two texts. In Hrolf’s Saga the attacking monster is called a ‘great troll’ but is then described as a fire-breathing, winged dragon. Beowulf’s monsters, Grendel and his ‘dam’ or mother, are more chthonic than even trolls. They are human-haters who live in a watery underground in the dangerous outlands. Yet many years after his victory over Grendel, when Beowulf is an old king, he meets his death fighting a fiery dragon.

Hrolf’s Saga and Beowulf share other similarities. In Hrolf’s Saga, King Hroar is a notable figure ruling over the northern English kingdom of Northumberland, while his counterpart in Beowulf, King Hrothgar (OE Hrōðgār), is king of the Danes. Hrothgar is the builder of the magnificent hall Heorot, the object of Grendel’s depredations. Although somewhat different, a theme of a treacherous uncle-nephew relationship exists in both the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian stories. Halga (OE Hālga) , the Old English counterpart to Helgi in Hrolf’s Saga, appears in Beowulf as a son of Healfdene and a brother of Hrothgar. These relationships agree with the saga, where King Halfdan (=Healfdene, ‘Half-Dane’) is Helgi’s father, and Hroar is his brother. Below is a table giving the comparable names and characters in different versions of the story.281

Equivalent Characters in Old Norse, Old English
and Latin Accounts of King Hrolf Kraki

Hrólfs saga kraka

Skjǫldunga saga

Gesta Danorum

Bēowulf

Aðils

Adillus

Athislus

Ēadgils

Bǫðvarr Bjarki

Bodvarus

Biarco

Bēowulf

Fróði

Frodo

Frotho

Frōda

Hálfdan

Halfdanus

Haldanus

Healfdene

Helgi

Helgo

Helgo

Hālga

Hróarr

Roas

Roe

Hrōðgār

Hrólfr Kraki

Rolfo Krake

Roluo Krake

Hrōðulf

Skjǫldr

Skioldus

Skioldus

Scyld Scēfing

Yrsa

Yrsa

Vrsa

Yrse

15.3 Enclitic Pronouns

Pronouns tacked onto the ends of verbs are known as enclitic pronouns (a Greek term meaning ‘leaning on’). Some examples in Old Norse are ertu, muntu, veiztu for ert þú, munt þú, and veizt þú, with þú becoming (t)u. In heyrðu (heyr þú) and segðu (seg þú), the intial þ- of þú changes to -ð-. With the pronoun ek, the initial vowel is usually lost, hence mættak from mætta ek, and heyrðak from heyrða ek. The vowel loss is sometimes indicated in texts by an apostrophe (mætta’k and heyrða’k). The readings in this lesson from Hrolf’s Saga contain several examples of enclitic pronouns.

‘Hví ertu hér,’ segir Bǫðvarr, ‘eða hvat gørir þú?’

‘Why are you here,’ said Bodvar, ‘and what are you doing?’

Hǫttr kvað þá hátt við ok mælti, ‘Nú viltu mér bana!’

Hott then replied loudly and said, ‘Now you want to kill me!’

Bǫðvarr mælti: ‘Ekki muntu fá skjaldborgina gerða lengr.’

Bodvar said, ‘You will not get a change to build the shield wall longer.’

Hǫttr mælti ok grét: ‘Skaltu nú bana mér, bokki sæll?’

Hott spoke and cried, ‘Are you going to kill me now, good sir?’

15.4 Strong Verbs – Class VII

Class VII strong verbs fall into five subgroups. In most instances, the vowels of the infinitive and past participle are the same (heita, heitinn ‘to be called, to have a name‘282). The vowels of the past sg and pl are also the same (hét, hétu). Like all strong verbs, Class VII verbs show i-umlaut in the present sg (eykr, býr, fær, gengr, lætr, blœtr).

The Five Subgroups of Class VII Strong Verbs

Infinitive

3 sg pres

3 sg past

3 pl past

past participle

(i)

heita ‘to be named’

heitir

hét

hétu

heitinn

leika ‘to play’

leikr

lék

léku

leikinn

(ii)

auka ‘to increase’

eykr

jók

jóku~juku

aukinn

búa ‘to live, dwell’

býr

bjó

bjoggu~bjuggu

búinn

hlaupa ‘to leap’

hleypr

hljóp

hljópu~hlupu

hlaupinn

hǫggva ‘to strike’

høggr

hjó

hjoggu~hjuggu

hǫggvinn

(iii)

fá ‘to get’

fær

fekk

fengu

fenginn

falla ‘to fall’

fellr

fell~féll

fellu~féllu

fallinn

ganga ‘to walk, go’

gengr

gekk

gengu

genginn

halda ‘to hold’

heldr

helt~hélt

heldu~héldu

haldinn

(iv)

blása ‘to blow’

blæss

blés

blésu

blásinn

gráta ‘to weep’

grætr

grét

grétu

grátinn

láta ‘to let’

lætr

lét

létu

látinn

ráða ‘to rule’

ræðr

réð

réðu

ráðinn

blóta ‘to worship, sacrifice’

blœtr

blét

blétu

blótinn

(v)

snúa ‘to turn’

snýr

sneri~snøri

sneru~snøru

snúinn

sá ‘to sow’

sær

seri~søri

seru~søru

sáinn

róa ‘to row’

rœr

reri~røri

reru~røru

róinn

Class VII is traditionally referred to as the ‘reduplicating class.’ This because at a far earlier stage of the language, probably as far back as Indo-European, many verbs of this class formed their past tense stems by ‘reduplicating,’ that is, by adding as a prefix a ‘partial copy’ of the verb stem. In Old Norse, the evidence of reduplication in this class has been mostly lost, but is retained and most readily seen in the past tense of róa, snúa, and sá. For example ek reri (‘I rowed’), ek sneri (‘I turned’), and ek seri (‘I sowed’). The past tense of gnúa ‘rub’ and gróa ‘grow’ can be added to this group. The stems of these verbs end with-er- or -ør- in the past tense. For example: sá (past tense stem ser-~sør-) and róa (past tense stem rer-~rør-). In addition, these strong verbs use the past tense endings of weak verbs. For example, the past tense of sá conjugates as follows: ek sera/i, þú serir, hon seri, vér serum, þér seruð, þær seru. There are also variants with stems ending in -ør- (3sg past seri~søri).

15.5 Verbs – Subjunctive Middle (Reflexive)

Subjunctive Middle Endings

Singular

Plural

1st

-umk

-im(s)k

2nd

-isk

-izk

3rd

-isk

-isk

The middle voice uses the same set of subjunctive endings for both present and past tense. Apart from 1sg -umk, these are formed by adding -sk to the active subjunctive endings. For example: hann gerisk (gerir + sk > gerisk); þér gerizk (gerið + sk > gerizk); and þeir gerisk (geri + sk > gerisk). Gerask and brjótask are conjugated below in the middle subjunctive.

Present Subjunctive

Past Subjunctive

gerask

brjótask

gerask

brjótask

Sg 1st

gerumk

brjótumk

gerðumk

brytumk

2nd

gerisk

brjótisk

gerðisk

brytisk

3rd

gerisk

brjótisk

gerðisk

brytisk

Pl 1st

gerim(s)k

brjótim(s)k

gerðim(s)k

brytim(s)k

2nd

gerizk

brjótizk

gerðizk

brytizk

3rd

gerisk

brjótisk

gerðisk

brytisk

1pl present and past subjunctives sometimes have the ending -imk (brjótimk) instead of -imsk (brjótimsk).

15.6 Verbs – Subjunctive and Indirect Speech in Main and Dependent Clauses

In main clauses, the subjunctive expresses a wish, sometimes with the force of a command or a description of events which are hypothetical, unlikely, or otherwise unreal.

Friðr sé með yðr.

Peace be with you.

En er H’nir var staddr á þingum eða stefnum svá at Mímir var eigi nær

And when Hoenir was present at the assemblies or meetings such that Mimir was not nearby

ok kœmi nǫkkur vandamál fyrir hann, þá svaraði hann æ inu sama. ‘Ráði aðrir,’ sagði hann.

and a difficult matter would come before him, then he answered always the same. Let others decide,’ he said. (Prose Edda)

In dependent clauses, the subjunctive is most frequently encountered in conditional sentences expressing

• Possibility: If I were to go to Iceland, I would have to eat hákarl [cured shark]). An example from Laxdæla saga, Ch. 62:

Þorgils spyrr þá, hversu góðr Helgi væri viðtakna, ef ókunnir menn koma til hans. (possibility)

Thorgils asks how likely Helgi would be to offer lodgings if unknown people were to come knocking on his door.

• Speculation: about a contrary-to-fact state of affairs (If I had lived in medieval Norway, I would have gone raiding in England). An example from Njal’s Saga, Ch. 142:

Ok skal ek þetta allskjótt rengja fyryr þeim ok svá þótt Eyjólfr hefði hér alldigr orð um, at rétt væri. (speculation)

And I will ruin this [legal case] for them in a blink of an eye, regardless of how puffed up Eyjolf might have been about claiming that [the case] were as good as won.

The subjunctive is also frequently used in indirect speech (speech reported rather than quoted) and indirect questions. The word at (‘that’) is sometimes present and sometimes implied. Below are some examples from Hrólfs saga kraka:

Hǫttr er svá hræddr at hann tekr eigi mat né drykk, ok þykkir honum þá ok þá sem hann muni vera lostinn. (possibility)

Hott was so afraid that he took neither food nor drink, and it seemed to him again and again that he would be struck.

Konungr sagði, at henni væri þat makligt fyrir dramblæti sitt ok stórlæti. (indirect speech)

The king said that it was fitting, because of her pride and arrogance.

Indirect speech recounts what someone has said without using his or her exact words. As mentioned in section 11.16 of Lesson 11, Old Norse often renders indirect speech in a construction called the accusative plus infinitive, a translation of Latin term accusativus cum infinitivo. In this construction, common in Latin and Old Norse, the subject of the indirect statement stands in the accusative and the verb appears as an infinitive. In the examples below the indirect statements are in bold.

Old Norse

English

Direct speech

Hann hœldi Úlfari mjǫk ok kvað, ‘Þú ert gǫfugr maðr.’

He praised Ulfar greatly and said, ‘You are a noble man.’

Indirect speech

Hann hœldi Úlfari mjǫk ok kvað hann vera gǫfgan mann.

He praised Ulfar greatly and said him to be/he be a noble man.

When the subject of the main clause refers to the same person as the subject of the indirect statement (Harald said he [Harald] was the rightful heir), the reflexive pronoun sik is used. However, in these cases sik (the subject in accusative) does not stand as an independent word but is attached in the reduced form -sk (i.e. as an enclitic) to the end of the verb of the main clause:

Old Norse

English

Direct speech

Úlfarr kvað, ’Ek á arf eptir bróður minn at taka.’

Ulfar said, ‘I ought to take the inheritance after my brother.’

Indirect speech

Úlfarr kvazk arf eiga eptir bróður sinn at taka. (kvazk = kvað + sk)

Ulfar said [that] he ought to take the inheritance after his brother.

When the logical subject of an impersonal construction is in the dat, acc, or gen, it stays in that case when moving into indirect speech.

Old Norse

English

Direct speech

Geitir kvað, ‘Henni tóksk óvitrliga til.’

Geitir said, ‘She behaved foolishly.’

Indirect speech

Geitir kvað henni hafa óvitrliga til tekisk.

Geitir said [that] she had behaved foolishly.

15.7 Mundu, Skyldu, Vildu: Past Infinitives of the Verbs Munu, Skulu, Vilja etc.

The verbs munu, skulu and vilja have special forms mundu, skyldu, and vildu. These are known as past infinitives and are only used in indirect speech with an accusative plus infinitive construction. They typically occur when the verb of the main clause is in the past tense.

In Prose only mundu and skyldu are used with any frequency. They are usually translated into English as ‘would’ or ‘should.’

Ok því næst œpir Hǫttr slíkt sem hann má ok kvað dýrit mundu gleypa hann.

(Hrólfs saga kraka)

And then Hott cried out as loud as he could and said [that] the beast would swallow him.

Þorbrandssynir kváðu hann eigi mundu meira stjórna, ef hann hirði eigi um slíkt.

(Eyrbyggja saga)

The sons of Thorbrand said [that] he would lead no more if he did not care for such [matters].

Hrafn kvazk enga gripi vildu á frest selja.

(Vápnfirðinga saga)

Hrafn said [that] he didn’t want to sell any [of his] goods on credit.

In Poetry such past infinitives as mæltu ‘have spoken’ and fóru ‘have gone’ are used more often.

Þær hykk [=hygg ek] mæltu þvígit fleira.

(Oddrúnargrátr 7)

I believe them to have spoken not much more. (I do not believe they said much more.)

Nú frák [=frá ek] Þórólf und lok fóru.

(Egil’s saga, verse 1)

Now I heard Thorolf to have passed away [that Thorolf had passed away].

15.8 Cardinal Numbers Above 20

Cardinal numbers up to 20 were covered in the preceding lesson. Numbers above 20 are counted as follows: tuttugu ok einn (or, einn ok tuttugu), tuttugu ok tveir, etc.

Multiples of ten from 30 to 110 are expressed with the plural of the masculine noun tigr ‘a ten, a group of ten objects.’ Tigr declines as a Type 3 strong noun: tigr, tig, tigi, tigar; tigir, tigu, tigum, tiga (variants include tegr, togr, tugr, and tøgr). In the numbers 30 (þrír tigir) and 40 (fjórir tigir), þrír and fjórir decline.

30

þrír tigir

60

sex tigir

90

níu tigir

40

fjórir tigir

70

sjau tigir

100

tíu tigir

50

fimm tigir

80

átta tigir

110

ellifu tigir

When one is counting in multiples of ten with tigr, the noun is in the genitive case.

Hann sá þrjá tigu manna.

He saw thirty men.

Fjórir tigir skipa sigldu til Íslands.

Forty ships sailed to Iceland.

Hann átti fimm tigu yxna.

He owned fifty oxen.

All numbers above 20 which end in 1, 2 ,3, or 4 decline like 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Hann drap tuttugu ok tvá (m acc) menn.

He killed twenty-two men.

Fjórir tigir ok þrjú (n nom) skip sigldu til Íslands.

Forty-three ships sailed to Iceland.

Hann átti sex tigu ok átta (indecl) sauði.

He owned sixty-eight sheep.

When the number modifying the subject ends in 1 (for example 1, 21, 51, 101), the verb is in the singular. For all other numbers, the verb is conjugated in the plural.

Einn maðr ok tuttugu bjó í Vápnafirði.

Twenty-one men lived in Weapon’s Fjord.

Tveir menn ok tuttugu bjuggu í Vápnafirði.

Twenty-two men lived in Weapon’s Fjord.

The neuter noun hundrað and feminine þúsund were based on the number 12. In most cases in Old Norse texts, hundrað refers to the ‘long hundred’ (120) and þúsund to the ‘long thousand’ (1200).

hundrað (neuter)

þúsund (feminine)

singular

plural

singular

plural

nom

hundrað

hundruð

þúsund

þúsundir

acc

hundrað

hundruð

þúsund

þúsundir

dat

hundraði

hundruðum

þúsund

þúsundum

gen

hundraðs

hundraða

þúsundar

þúsanda

• Hundrað is a neuter noun and has u-umlaut in the nom, acc, and dat pl.

• Large numbers were generally counted by tens and ‘long hundreds,’ hence tíu hundruð meant 10 long hundreds, i.e. 1200, ellefu hundruð meant 11 long hundreds, i.e. 1320, tólf hundruð mean 12 long hundreds, i.e. 1440, etc.

• As with tigr, nouns counted with hundrað and þúsund are in the genitive case. For example when counting with long hundreds and thousands: tíu hundruð manna = ‘1200 men;’ þúsund hesta = ‘1200 horses.’

15.9 Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers denote ordering or ranking, that is, ‘first, second, third.’

• With the exception of fyrstr and annarr, ordinal numbers always take weak adjective endings.

• Þriði has a stem-final -j- (it þriðja haust).

• Fyrstr is a superlative adjective and takes both strong and weak endings, for example fyrstr maðr, inn fyrsti fugl.

• Annarr is a pronoun and hence has no weak declension.

1st

fyrstr

6th

sétti

11th

ellifti

16th

sextándi

2nd

annarr

7th

sjaundi

12th

tólfti

17th

sjautjándi

3rd

þriði <-j->

8th

átti, áttundi

13th

þrettándi

18th

átjándi

4th

fjórði

9th

níundi

14th

fjórtándi

19th

nítjándi

5th

fim(m)ti

10th

tíundi

15th

fimmtándi

20th

tuttugandi

Ordinal numbers above twenty are counted tuttugandi ok fyrsti (or fyrsti ok tuttugandi), tuttugandi ok annarr, tuttugandi ok þriði, etc. Counting by tens the ordinals from thirty to ninety are as follows.

30th

þrítugandi

60th

sextugandi

90th

nítugandi

40th

fertugandi

70th

sjautugandi

50th

fim(m)tugandi

80th

áttugandi

There are no corresponding ordinals for hundrað and þúsund. Ordinal numbers are sometimes used in the expression of cardinal numbers. For instance, the number 25, a cardinal number, can be expressed in several ways: tuttugu ok fimm, fimm ins þriðja tigar (‘five [less] of the third tens’), or hálfr þriði tigr (‘half the third ten’ 30 minus 5. Five is half of the third ten).

15.10 Exercise – Ordinal Numbers. The names of the horses of the gods are given in Gylfaginning. Fill in the correct form of the ordinal numbers in the spaces below.

Hestar ásanna heita svá: Sleipnir er beztr, hann á Óðinn, hann hefr átta f‘tr.

(2nd) ________________ er Glaðr, (3rd) ________________ Gyllir,

(4th) ________________ Glenr, (5th) ________________ Skeiðbrimir,

(6th) ________________ Silfrintoppr, (7th) ________________ Sinir,

(8th) ________________ Gils, (9th) ________________ Falhófnir,

(10th) ________________ Gulltoppr, (11th) ________________ Léttfeti.

15.11 Reading – Bodvar Kills the Monster (Hrólfs saga kraka)

In the passage below from Hrolf’s Saga, Bodvar sets out against the monster terrorizing Denmark. Having been forbidden by the king to engage the beast, Bodvar steals away in the night with Hott in tow.

Hrólfs saga kraka (Ch. 23)

Ok sem leið at jólum, gerðusk menn ókátir. Bǫðvarr spyrr Hǫtt hverju þat sætti.283 Hann segir honum, at dýr eitt hafi þar komit tvá vetr í samt,284 mikit ok ógurligt, ‘ok hefir vængi á bakinu, ok flýgr þat jafnan. Tvau haust hefir þat nú hingat vitjat ok gert mikinn skaða. Á þat bíta ekki vápn, en kappar konungs koma ekki heim, þeir sem at eru einna mestir.’285 Bǫðvarr mælti: ‘Ekki er hǫllin svá vel skipuð sem ek ætlaða ef eitt dýr skal hér eyða ríki ok fé konungsins.’ Hǫttr segir, ‘Þat er ekki dýr, heldr er þat mesta trǫll.’...

Bǫðvarr leyndisk í burt um nóttina. Hann lætr Hǫtt fara með sér, ok gerir hann þat nauðugr, ok kallaði hann sér stýrt í bana. Bǫðvarr segir, at betr mundi takask.286 Þeir ganga í burt frá hǫllinni, ok verðr Bǫðvarr at bera hann, svá er hann hræddr. Nú sjá þeir dýrit. Ok því næst œpir Hǫttr slíkt sem hann má ok kvað dýrit mundu gleypa hann.287 Bǫðvarr bað bikkjuna hans þegja ok kastar honum niðr í mosann, ok þar liggr hann ok eigi með ǫllu óhræddr. Eigi þorir hann heim at fara heldr. Nú gengr Bǫðvarr móti dýrinu...Sverðit gengr ór slíðrum, ok leggr þegar undir bœgi dýrsins ok svá fast, at stóð í hjartanu, ok datt þá dýrit til jarðar dautt niðr.

Following the above passage, Bodvar then reaches out and pulls Hott up from the moss. He carries Hott to the dead beast and forces him to drink two mouthfuls of its blood and to eat some of the heart (Sigurd the Dragon Slayer also drinks the blood after killing his dragon). Hott grows strong and courageous. He no longer fears Hrolf’s retainers, and he is given the name Hjalti (‘sword hilt’). King Hrolf later mentions that Bodvar’s greatest achievement was making Hott one of the king’s champions.

15.12 Culture – Legendary Lejre (Hleiðargarðr)

According to Hrolf’s Saga, the seat of the Skjoldung dynasty was Lejre (Hleiðargarðr). There is little doubt that in the early Middle Ages Lejre was a center of power, and several medieval texts preserve the memory of Lejre’s social and political prominence. The German chronicler and prince-bishop, Thietmar of Merseburg, knew Lejre as a governmental center and pagan cult site. In 1015 he wrote the following description of Lejre based on information learned earlier in 934, when the King of East Francia, Henry I the Fowler,288 invaded Denmark:

Because I have heard marvellous things about their ancient sacrifices, I will not allow these to pass by unmentioned. In those parts, the centre of the kingdom is a place called Leire in the region of Seeland [German for English ‘Zealand’ and Danish ‘Sjælland’]. Every nine years, in the month of January, after the day on which we celebrate the appearance of the Lord [6 January], they all convene here and offer their gods a burnt offering of ninety-nine human beings and as many horses, along with dogs and cocks – the latter being used in place of hawks. (Trans. David A. Warner The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg)

15.13 Reading – Hrolf is Nicknamed Kraki (Skáldskaparmál)

Skáldskaparmál in The Prose Edda recounts how a servant named Vogg (Vǫggr) gives Hrolf his nickname kraki ‘pole ladder.’ Vogg, who is only a boy, swears an oath to avenge the king if he should be killed. After Hrolf’s death, the servant proves his faithfulness when he leads an army and defeats Hrolf’s enemies.

Figure 15.5. Interior of the Reconstructed 9th Century Great Hall at Lejre, excavated by the Danish archaeologist Tom Christensen. Tiered side benches on both sides of the great hall are against the walls. Here people sat and slept. Stones for the longfire lie in the center of the floor. The steeply pitched roof was supported by two interior rows of massive timber or posts, whose size may be judged by comparison with the man at center right and the door at the far end.

Skáldskaparmál (Ch. 53)

Konungr einn í Danmǫrk er nefndr Hrólfr kraki. Lítill sveinn ok fátœkr er nefndr Vǫggr; hann kom í hǫll Hrólfs konungs. Þá var konungrinn ungr at aldri ok grannligr á vǫxt. Þá gekk Vǫggr fyrir hann, ok sá upp á hann. Þá mælti konungrinn: ‘Hvat viltu mæla, sveinn, er þú sér á mik?’ Vǫggr segir: ‘Þá er ek var heima, heyrða’k289 sagt, at Hrólfr konungr at Hleiðru var mestr maðr á Norðrlǫndum, en nú sitr hér í hásæti kraki einn lítill, ok kallið þér hann konung.’ Þá svarar konungr: ‘Þú, sveinn, hefir gefit mér nafn, at ek skal heita Hrólfr kraki.’

15.14 Culture – Berserkers

Figure 15.6. Warriors, Torslunda, Öland, Sweden . One dressed as a bear or wolf, the other perhaps dancing. Both are heavily armed with spears and swords. One wears a helmet with bird-like ornamentation.

Berserkers are especially prominent in Hrolf’s Saga. In the medieval perceptions of pre-Christian Scandinavia, berserkers (berserkir, sg berserkr) may have been members of cults connected with Odin in his capacity as god of war. Ynglinga Saga describes Odin’s warriors:

En hans men fóru brynjulausir ok váru galnir sem hundir eða vargar, bitu í skjǫldu sína, váru sterkir sem birnir eða graðungar. Þeir drápu mannfólkið en hvártki eldr né járn orti á þá. Þat er kallaðr berserksgangr.

Berserkers in the sagas often appear as the king’s elite warriors, though sometimes they are dangerous outlaws preying on the farmers. At times, they are reminiscent of Odin’s own warriors and may be connected to ancient bear cults. The term berserker could mean ‘bare shirt,’ that is, naked. Berserkers, as a mark of their ferocity and invincibility, are said to have fought without armor. ‘Berserker’ (berserkr) may also mean ‘bear-shirt,’ suggesting they fought in bear skins. When the ‘berserker-fury’ (berserksgangr) was upon him, a berserker was thought of as a sort of ‘were-bear’ (compare ‘werewolf’) – part man, part beast – who was neither fully human nor fully animal. Although never called a berserker, Bodvar Bjarki shares an affinity with this tradition. During Hrolf’s final battle, Bodvar sits quietly in a room and projects his spirit in the form of a huge bear that fights for King Hrolf and is invulnerable to weapons290. In his ability to project himself in spirit form, Bodvar displays a supernatural characteristic attributed to Odin.

Berserkers, who may once have been the coercive arm of kings and Viking chieftains, appear as stock characters in a number of family sagas. They are mostly presented as troublemakers and sources of menace, demystified and reduced to common bullies and public nuisances.

Exercises

15.15 Grammar Review. For the underlined words in this passage from Hrolf’s Saga, give the relevant grammatical information. For verbs include the infinitive and translate.

Síðan fór Bǫðvarr leið sína til Hleiðargarðs. Hann kømr til konungs atsetu. Bǫðvarr leiðir síðan hest sinn á stall hjá konungs hestum hinum beztu[m] ok spyrr engan at; gekk síðan inn í hǫllina, ok var þar fátt manna.

Hann sezk útarliga, ok sem hann hefir verit þar litla hríð, heyrir hann þrausk nǫkkut útar í hornit í einhverjum stað. Bǫðvarr lítr þangat ok sér at mannshǫnd kømr upp ór mikilli beinahrúgu, er þar lá; hǫndin var svǫrt mjǫk. Bǫðvarr gengr þangat til ok spyrr hverr þar væri í beinahrúgunni. Þá var honum svarat ok heldr óframliga: ‘Hǫttr heiti ek, bokki sæll.’

‘Hví ertu hér,’ segir Bǫðvarr, ‘eða hvat gørir þú?’ Hǫttr segir, ‘Ek gøri mér skjaldborg, bokki sæll.’ Bǫðvarr sagði, ‘Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar!’ Bǫðvarr þrífr til hans ok hnykkir honum upp ór beinahrúgunni.

Hǫttr kvað þá hátt við ok mælti, ‘Nú viltu mér bana! Gør eigi þetta, svá sem ek hefi nú vel um búizk áðr, en þú hefir nú rótat í sundr skjaldborg minni, ok hafða ek nú svá gǫrt hana háva útan at mér, at hon hefir hlíft mér við ǫllum hǫggum ykkar, svá at engi hǫgg hafa komit á mik lengi, en ekki var hon enn svá búin sem ek ætlaða hon skyldi verða.’

Bǫðvarr mælti: ‘Ekki muntu fá skjaldborgina gerða lengr.’

Ex:

leið

noun f acc sg        ‘leið’     way

1.

hestum

2.

sezk

3.

sér

4.

mikilli

5.

heldr

6.

ertu

7.

gør

8.

búizk

9.

skyldi

10.

skjaldborgina

15.16 Enclitic Pronouns. Rewrite the underlined verbs with full pronouns.

Ex:

‘Hví ertu hér,’ segir Bǫðvarr, ‘eða hvat gørir þú?’

ert þú

1.

Bǫðvarr sagði, ‘Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar!’

2.

Hǫttr kvað þá hátt við ok mælti, ‘Nú viltu mér bana!’

3.

Bǫðvarr mælti: ‘Ekki muntu fá skjaldborgina gerða lengr.’

4.

Hǫttr mælti ok grét: ‘Skaltu nú bana mér, bokki sæll?’

5.

‘Hvat viltu mæla, sveinn, er þú sér á mik?’

6.

Vǫggr segir: ‘Þá er ek var heima, heyrða’k sagt...’

15.17 Strong Verbs Class VII. Ráða is an example of a Class VII strong verb with principal parts ræðr, réð, réðu, ráðinn. Conjugate ráða in present and past.

Present

Past

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann, hon, þat

Pl 1st

vér, vit

2nd

þér, þit

3rd

þeir, þær, þau

Class VII verbs usually have the same vowel in the infinitive and past participle, for example, halda, ppart haldinn, and láta, ppart látinn. Give the past participles for the Class VII verbs below.

Ex:

halda

haldinn

láta

látinn

1.

auka

4.

blóta

2.

gráta

5.

falla

3.

leika

6.

hlaupa

Most Class VII strong verbs have the same vowel in the past sg and pl. Give the past pl based on the past sg. Then find the infinitive for these Class VII verbs.

past plural

infinitive

sg

past participle

infinitive

Ex:

lét

létu

láta

7.

jók

10.

blét

8.

grét

11.

fell

9.

lék

12.

hljóp

-ng and -ld at the end of a word change to -kk and -lt. Give the 3sg past for the verbs below.

13.

ganga

14.

halda

This change also occurs in a few Class III strong verbs such as springa (past sg sprakk) and gjalda (past sg galt).

15.18 Strong Verb Review – Classes I–VII. Give the strong verb class for each of the following infinitives and provide the requested grammatical form. For help, review the Guideline Chart for Distinguishing Strong Verb Classes in Lesson 11.

Ex:

halda

Class VII

1sg pres

held

1.

gefa

3pl pres

2.

heita

3pl past

3.

verða

1pl pres

4.

líta

3pl pres

5.

draga

1sg past

6.

bjóða

2sg past

7.

halda

2pl pres

8.

svíkja

1sg past

15.19 Subjunctive Mood – Active and Middle Voice. Conjugate the following verbs in the present and past subjunctive.

gera

brjóta

Present

active

middle

active

middle

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann

Pl 1st

vér

2nd

þér

3rd

þeir

Past

active

middle

active

middle

Sg 1st

ek

2nd

þú

3rd

hann

Pl 1st

vér

2nd

þér

3rd

þeir

15.20 Subjunctive of Weak Verbs. Identify each of the following subjunctives.

Ex:

leiddim

pl past subjunct

1.

talaðið

4.

þegir

2.

skipa

5.

gerðizk

3.

legði

6.

hefða

15.21 Subjunctive of Strong Verbs. Identify each of the following subjunctives.

Ex:

næma

1 sg past subjunct

1.

komim

4.

fengi

2.

st’ðið

5.

gefumk

3.

yrða

6.

væri

15.22 Review: Prepositions, Pronouns, and Case Endings. Fill in the blanks with the missing prepositions, pronouns, or case endings.

Konungr einn __________ Danmǫrk er nefndr Hrólf_____ krak_____. Lítill sveinn ok fátæk_____ er nefndr Vǫgg______; hann kom __________ hǫll Hrólfs konung_____. Þá var konungrin______ ung______ at aldri ok grannlig______ á vǫxt. Þá gekk Vǫgg______ fyrir ________, ok sá upp á ________. Þá mælti konungrin_____: ‘Hvat viltu mæla, svein_____, er þú sér ________ mik?’ Vǫggr segir: ‘Þá er ek var heima, heyrða’k sagt, at Hrólfr konung_____ _____ Hleiðru var mest_____ maðr _____ Norðrlǫndum, en nú sitr hér ________ hásæti kraki einn lítil_____, ok kallið þér hann konung.’ Þá svarar konung_____: ‘Þú, sveinn, hefir gefit mér nafn, at ek skal heita Hrólf_____ krak_____.’

Appendix 1

The Most Frequent Words in the Sagas❖
An Old Norse – Icelandic Learning Strategy

The Viking Language Series employs a word frequency learning strategy concentrating on the ❖246 most common words in the sagas. In the vocabularies and lessons, these frequent words are marked with the symbol ❖.This strategy is especially effective because the total vocabulary of the sagas is small. Excluding names, there are only 12,400 different words in the corpus of the family sagas out of a total word count of almost 750,000. Of these 12,400 separate words, the 70 most frequent (List 1 below) compose 60% of the total word count. Increasing the number to the 246 most frequent (lists 2 and 3 below), we reach approximately 80% of the total word count in the family sagas. Here then are the words to concentrate on learning.

List 1❖ gives the 70 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas

List 2❖ gives the 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas (by part of speech)

List 3❖ gives The 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas (in alphabetical order)

We suggest concentrating on List 2. It is divided by ‘parts of speech’ into seven groups: nouns (50), adjectives (45), pronouns (27), numerals (10), verbs (50), prepositions and adverbs (50), and conjunctions (10). These ❖246 words are the core of the language, whether in sagas or runic inscriptions. For example, maðr (‘man’ or ‘person’) is the most common noun in the sagas, and konungr (‘king’) is the second most common. The 50 most frequent verbs contain virtually all the essential irregular and helping verbs.

A. The 70 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas❖

1.

ok

and

2.

sá

that (one)

3.

hann

he, it

4.

at

that

5.

vera

to be

6.

ek

I

7.

til

to

8.

í

in; into

9.

en

but

10.

er

who, which, that; when; where

11.

á

on; onto

12.

þá

then

13.

þú

you

14.

hafa

to have

15.

maðr

man, person

16.

þar

there

17.

segja

to say

18.

um

about

19.

koma

to come

20.

fara

to go, travel

21.

nú

now

22.

við

with; against

23.

munu

will

24.

með

with

25.

svá

so; such

26.

eigi

not

27.

sinn

his/her/their (own)

28.

fyrir

before; for

29.

sjá

this

30.

sem

who, which, that; as

31.

af

of; from

32.

mæla

to speak

33.

vilja

to want

34.

mikill

great

35.

hon

she; it

36.

allr

all

37.

taka

to take

38.

skulu

shall

39.

ganga

to walk

40.

gera

to do; make

41.

verða

to become

42.

kveða

to speak

43.

sik

him, her, themselves

44.

þykkja

to seem

45.

ekki

not

46.

eptir

after

47.

annarr

other; second

48.

hinn

the other

49.

vel

well

50.

hverr

each, every; who

51.

upp

up

52.

síðan

then

53.

eiga

to own

54.

láta

to let

55.

heita

to call; be named

56.

búa

to live, dwell; prepare

57.

sjá

to see

58.

einn

one

59.

ef

if

60.

ríða

to ride

61.

konungr

king

62.

svara

to answer

63.

þó

nevertheless

64.

margr

many

65.

skip

ship

66.

spyrja

to ask; learn

67.

minn

my

68.

góðr

good

69.

biðja

to ask; tell

70.

heim

(to) home

B. The 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas ❖(by part of speech)

Nouns❖

1.

maðr

man, person

2.

konungr

king

3.

skip

ship

4.

mál

speech; case, matter

5.

sonr

son

6.

hǫnd

hand

7.

fé

wealth; livestock

8.

bróðir

brother

9.

vetr

winter

10.

land

land

11.

kona

woman

12.

ráð

advice; plan

13.

dagr

day

14.

frændi

kinsman

15.

jarl

earl

16.

faðir

father

17.

ferð

journey

18.

sumar

summer

19.

dóttir

daughter

20.

þing

assembly

21.

orð

word

22.

hestr

horse

23.

nótt

night

24.

tíðindi

news, tidings

25.

fundr

meeting

26.

lið

following, troops

27.

bœr

farm

28.

bóndi

farmer

29.

sverð

sword

30.

hlutr

thing; part

31.

sǫk

cause, reason

32.

bú

farm

33.

hǫfuð

head

34.

móðir

mother

35.

víg

slaying

36.

vinr

friend

37.

vísa

verse

38.

leið

path

39.

sinn

time

40.

kveld

evening

41.

vápn

weapon

42.

morginn

morning

43.

hús

house

44.

fótr

foot

45.

spjót

spear

46.

sveinn

boy, lad

47.

vár

spring

48.

kostr

choice

49.

skjǫldr

shield

50.

bak

back

Adjectives❖

1.

mikill

great

2.

margr

many

3.

góðr

good

4.

lítill

little

5.

illr

bad, ill

6.

sannr

true

7.

fár

few

8.

dauðr

dead

9.

stórr

big

10.

gamall

old

11.

kyrr

quiet

12.

fyrri

former

13.

varr

aware

14.

sterkr

strong

15.

ungr

young

16.

víss

certain; wise

17.

vándr

bad

18.

langr

long

19.

sárr

wounded

20.

hálfr

half

21.

vænn

beautiful

22.

verðr

worthy

23.

líkr

alike

24.

vitr

wise

25.

harðr

hard

26.

vanr

accustomed

27.

heill

whole

28.

lauss

loose, free

29.

sekr

guilty

30.

vinsæll

popular

31.

skyldr

related; necessary, obliged

32.

miðr

middle

33.

fullr

full

34.

fagr

beautiful

35.

auðigr

wealthy

36.

fríðr

beautiful

37.

réttr

right, correct

38.

næstr

next

39.

kunnigr

known; cunning, skilled in magic

40.

líkligr

likely

41.

reiðr

angry

42.

ríkr

powerful

43.

fjǫlmennr

well attended; numerous

44.

skammr

short; brief

45.

gǫfugr

noble

Pronouns❖

1.

sá

that (one)

2.

hann

he, it

3.

ek

I

4.

þú

you

5.

sinn

his/her/their (own)

6.

sjá

this

7.

hon

she, it

8.

allr

all

9.

sik

him/her/themselves

10.

annarr

other; second

11.

hinn

the other

12.

hverr

each, every; who?

13.

minn

my

14.

engi

no (one)

15.

nǫkkurr

some, a certain

16.

þinn

your

17.

slíkr

such

18.

báðir

both

19.

várr

our

20.

hvárr

who, which (of two)

21.

sjálfr

self

22.

samr

same

23.

sumr

some

24.

hvárrtveggi

each of the two

25.

yðr

you (pl)

26.

okkarr

us (dual)

27.

einhverr

someone

Numerals❖

1.

einn

one

2.

tveir

two

3.

þrír

three

4.

tólf

twelve

5.

fjórir

four

6.

sex

six

7.

fimm

five

8.

tíu

ten

9.

sjau

seven

10.

fimmtán

fifteen

Verbs❖

1.

vera

to be

2.

hafa

to have

3.

segja

to say

4.

koma

to come

5.

fara

to go, travel

6.

munu

will

7.

mæla

to speak

8.

vilja

to want

9.

taka

to take

10.

skulu

shall

11.

ganga

to walk

12.

gera

to do; make

13.

verða

to become

14.

kveða

to speak

15.

þykkja

to seem

16.

eiga

to own

17.

láta

to let

18.

heita

to call; be named

19.

búa

to live, dwell; prepare

20.

sjá

to see

21.

ríða

to ride

22.

svara

to answer

23.

spyrja

to ask; learn

24.

biðja

to ask; tell

25.

mega

may

26.

fá

to get, obtain

27.

ætla

to intend

28.

vita

to know

29.

leggja

to lay, place

30.

bera

to carry, bear

31.

gefa

to give

32.

finna

to find

33.

ráða

to advise; rule

34.

sitja

to sit

35.

standa

to stand

36.

bjóða

to offer; invite

37.

hlaupa

to leap; run

38.

kalla

to call

39.

halda

to hold

40.

falla

to fall

41.

skilja

to part, separate; understand

42.

drepa

to kill

43.

setja

to set

44.

liggja

to lie

45.

leita

to search

46.

veita

to grant

47.

sœkja

to seek

48.

hǫggva

to strike

49.

senda

to send

50.

geta

to get, beget

Prepositions and Adverbs❖

1.

til

to

2.

í

in; into

3.

á

on; onto

4.

þá

then

5.

þar

there

6.

um

about

7.

nú

now

8.

við

with; against

9.

með

with

10.

svá

so; such

11.

eigi

not

12.

fyrir

before; for

13.

af

of; from

14.

ekki

not

15.

eptir

after

16.

vel

well

17.

upp

up

18.

síðan

then

19.

þó

nevertheless

20.

heim

(to) home

21.

út

out

22.

frá

from

23.

hér

here

24.

mjǫk

very

25.

þegar

at once

26.

ór

out of, from

27.

fram

forward

28.

yfir

over

29.

fyrr

before

30.

áðr

before

31.

saman

together

32.

inn

inside

33.

undir

under

34.

heldr

rather

35.

brott

away

36.

enn

yet, still, moreover

37.

niðr

down

38.

ofan

from above

39.

aptr

back

40.

móti

against

41.

hjá

by, near

42.

illa

badly

43.

lengi

for a long time

44.

hversu

how

45.

þangat

to there

46.

aldri

never

47.

nær

nearly

48.

mikit

greatly

49.

milli

between

50.

útan

from out

Conjunctions❖

1.

ok

and

2.

at

that

3.

en

but

4.

er

who, which, that; when; where

5.

sem

who, which, that; as

6.

ef

if

7.

eða

or

8.

hvárt

whether

9.

bæði

both

10.

þótt

although

11.

nema

except

12.

né

nor

13.

enda

and yet

14.

hvárgi

neither

C. The 246 Most Frequent Words in the Sagas ❖ (in alphabetical order)

af

of; from

aldri

never

allr

all

annarr

other; second

aptr

back

at

that

auðigr

wealthy

á

on; onto

áðr

before

bak

back

báðir

both

bera

to carry, bear

biðja

to ask; tell

bjóða

to offer; invite

bóndi

farmer

brott

away

bróðir

brother

bú

farm

búa

to live, dwell;
prepare

bæði

both

bœr

farm

dagr

day

dauðr

dead

dóttir

daughter

drepa

to kill

eða

or

ef

if

eiga

to own

eigi

not

einhverr

someone

einn

one

ek

I

ekki

not

en

but

enda

and yet

engi

no (one)

enn

yet, still, moreover

eptir

after

er

who, which, that; when; where

fá

to get, obtain

faðir

father

fagr

beautiful

falla

to fall

fara

to go, travel

fá

to get, obtain

fár

few

ferð

journey

fé

wealth; livestock

fimm

five

fimmtán

fifteen

finna

to find

fjórir

four

fjǫlmennr

well attended; numerous

fótr

foot

fram

forward

frá

from

fríðr

beautiful

frændi

kinsman

fullr

full

fundr

meeting

fyrir

before; for

fyrr

before

fyrri

former

gamall

old

ganga

to walk

gefa

to give

gera

to do; make

geta

to get, beget

góðr

good

gǫfugr

noble

hafa

to have

halda

to hold

hann

he, it

harðr

hard

hálfr

half

heill

whole

heim

(to) home

heita

to call; be named

heldr

rather

hestr

horse

hér

here

hinn

the other

hjá

by, near

hlaupa

to leap; run

hlutr

thing; part

hon

she, it

hús

house

hvárgi

neither

hvárr

who, which (of two)?

hvárrtveggi

each of the two

hvárt

whether

hverr

each, every; who?

hversu

how

hǫfuð

head

hǫggva

to strike

hǫnd

hand

illa

badly

illr

bad, ill

inn

inside

í

in; into

jarl

earl

kalla

to call

koma

to come

kona

woman

konungr

king

kostr

choice

kunnigr

known; cunning, skilled in magic

kveða

to speak

kveld

evening

kyrr

quiet

land

land

langr

long

lauss

loose, free

láta

to let

leggja

to lay, place

leið

path

leita

to search

lengi

for a long time

lið

following, troops

liggja

to lie

líkligr

likely

líkr

alike

lítill

little

maðr

man, person

margr

many

mál

speech; case, matter

með

with

mega

may

miðr

middle

mikill

great

mikit

greatly

milli

between

minn

my

mjǫk

very

morginn

morning

móðir

mother

móti

against

munu

will

mæla

to speak

nema

except

né

nor

niðr

down

nótt

night

nú

now

nær

nearly

næstr

next

nǫkkurr

some, a certain

ofan

from above

ok

and

okkarr

us (dual)

orð

word

ór

out of, from

ráð

advice; plan

ráða

to advise; rule

reiðr

angry

réttr

right, correct

ríða

to ride

ríkr

powerful

saman

together

samr

same

sannr

true

sá

that (one)

sárr

wounded

segja

to say

sekr

guilty

sem

who, which, that; as

senda

to send

setja

to set

sex

six

sik

him, herself, themselves

sinn

his/her/their (own)

sinn

time

sitja

to sit

síðan

then

sjau

seven

sjá

this

sjá

to see

sjálfr

self

skammr

short; brief

skilja

to part, separate; understand

skip

ship

skjǫldr

shield

skulu

shall

skyldr

related; necessary, obliged

slíkr

such

sonr

son

spjót

spear

spyrja

to ask; learn

standa

to stand

sterkr

strong

stórr

big

sumar

summer

sumr

some

svara

to answer

svá

so; such

sveinn

boy, lad

sverð

sword

sœkja

to seek

sǫk

cause, reason

taka

to take

til

to

tíðindi

news, tidings

tíu

ten

tólf

twelve

tveir

two

um

about

undir

under

ungr

young

upp

up

út

out

útan

from out

vanr

accustomed

varr

aware

vándr

bad

vápn

weapon

vár

spring

várr

our

veita

to grant

vel

well

vera

to be

verða

to become

verðr

worthy

vetr

winter

við

with; against

vilja

to want

vinr

friend

vinsæll

popular

vita

to know

vitr

wise

víg

slaying

vísa

verse

víss

certain; wise

vænn

beautiful

yðr

you (pl)

yfir

over

þangat

to there

þar

there

þá

then

þegar

at once

þing

assembly

þinn

your

þó

nevertheless

þótt

although

þrír

three

þú

you

þykkja

to seem

ætla

to intend

Appendix 2

Quick Guide to Old Norse Grammar

Viking Language 1

• Nouns •

Strong Masculine Nouns

Strong Neuter Nouns

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Type 4

Type 1

Sg

nom

hestr (-inn)

staðr

fjǫrðr

maðr

Sg

nom

land (-it)

acc

hest (-inn)

stað

fjǫrð

mann

acc

land (-it)

dat

hesti (-num)

stað

firði

manni

dat

landi (-nu)

gen

hests (-ins)

staðar

fjarðar

manns

gen

lands (-ins)

Pl

nom

hestar (-nir)

staðir

firðir

menn

Pl

nom

lǫnd (-in)

acc

hesta (-na)

staði

fjǫrðu

menn

acc

lǫnd (-in)

dat

hestum (hestunum)

stǫðum

fjǫrðum

mǫnnum

dat

lǫndum (lǫndunum)

gen

hesta (-nna)

staða

fjarða

manna

gen

landa (-nna)

Strong Feminine Nouns

Weak Nouns

Type 1

Type 2

Type 4

M

F

N

Sg

nom

fǫr (-in)

hǫfn

mús

Sg

nom

goði

saga

hjarta

acc

fǫr (-ina)

hǫfn

mús

acc

goða

sǫgu

hjarta

dat

fǫr (-inni)

hǫfn

mús

dat

goða

sǫgu

hjarta

gen

farar (-innar)

hafnar

músar

gen

goða

sǫgu

hjarta

Pl

nom

farar (-nar)

hafnir

mýs

Pl

nom

goðar

sǫgur

hjǫrtu

acc

farar (-nar)

hafnir

mýs

acc

goða

sǫgur

hjǫrtu

dat

fǫrum (fǫrunum)

hǫfnum

músum

dat

goðum

sǫgum

hjǫrtum

gen

fara (-nna)

hafna

músa

gen

goða

sagna

hjartna

• Adjectives •

Strong Adjective Declension

Weak Adjective Declension

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg

nom

margr

mǫrg

mar(g)t

Sg

nom

margi

marga

marga

acc

margan

marga

mar(g)t

acc

marga

mǫrgu

marga

dat

mǫrgum

margri

mǫrgu

dat

marga

mǫrgu

marga

gen

margs

margrar

margs

gen

marga

mǫrgu

marga

Pl

nom

margir

margar

mǫrg

Pl

nom

mǫrgu

mǫrgu

mǫrgu

acc

marga

margar

mǫrg

acc

mǫrgu

mǫrgu

mǫrgu

dat

mǫrgum

mǫrgum

mǫrgum

dat

mǫrgum

mǫrgum

mǫrgum

gen

margra

margra

margra

gen

mǫrgu

mǫrgu

mǫrgu

lauss ‘loose, free’

vænn ‘beautiful, fine’

fagr ‘beautiful, fair’

M

F

N

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg

nom

lauss

laus

laust

vænn

væn

vænt

fagr

fǫgr

fagrt

acc

lausan

lausa

laust

vænan

væna

vænt

fagran

fagra

fagrt

dat

lausum

laussi

lausu

vænum

vænni

vænu

fǫgrum

fagri

fagru

gen

lauss

laussar

lauss

væns

vænnar

væns

fagrs

fagrar

fagrs

Pl

nom

lausir

lausar

laus

vænir

vænar

væn

fagrir

fagrar

fǫgr

acc

lausa

lausar

laus

væna

vænar

væn

fagra

fagrar

fǫgr

dat

lausum

lausum

lausum

vænum

vænum

vænum

fǫgrum

fǫgrum

fǫgrum

gen

laussa

laussa

laussa

vænna

vænna

vænna

fagra

fagra

fagra

gamall ‘old’

mikill ‘great’

auðigr ‘wealthy’

M

F

N

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg

nom

gamall

gǫmul

gamalt

mikill

mikil

mikit

auðigr

auðig

auðigt

acc

gamlan

gamla

gamalt

mikinn

mikla

mikit

auðig

auðiga

auðigt

dat

gǫmlum

gamalli

gǫmlu

miklum

mikilli

miklu

auðgum

auðigri

auðgu

gen

gamals

gamallar

gamals

mikils

mikillar

mikils

auðigs

auðigrar

auðigs

Pl

nom

gamlir

gamlar

gǫmul

miklir

miklar

mikil

auðgir

auðgar

auðig

acc

gamla

gamlar

gǫmul

mikla

miklar

mikil

auðga

auðgar

auðig

dat

gǫmlum

gǫmlum

gǫmlum

miklum

miklum

miklum

auðgum

auðgum

auðgum

gen

gamla

gamla

gamla

mikilla

mikilla

mikilla

auðigra

auðigra

auðigra

• Pronouns •

Personal Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

1st

2nd

3rd

reflexive

nǫkkurr

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg

nom

ek

þú

hann

hon

þat

—

nǫkkurr

nǫkkur

nǫkku(r)t

acc

mik

þik

hann

hana

þat

sik

nǫkkurn

nǫkkura

nǫkku(r)t

dat

mér

þér

honum

henni

því

sér

nǫkkurum

nǫkkurri

nǫkkuru

gen

mín

þín

hans

hennar

þess

sín

nǫkkurs

nǫkkurrar

nǫkkurs

Dual

nom

vit

(þ)it

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

acc

okkr

ykkr

—

—

—

sik

—

—

—

dat

okkr

ykkr

—

—

—

sér

—

—

—

gen

okkar

ykkar

—

—

—

sín

—

—

—

Pl

nom

vér

(þ)ér

þeir

þær

þau

—

nǫkkurir

nǫkkurar

nǫkkur

acc

oss

yðr

þá

þær

þau

sik

nǫkkura

nǫkkurar

nǫkkur

dat

oss

yðr

þeim

þeim

þeim

sér

nǫkkurum

nǫkkurum

nǫkkurum

gen

vár

yð(v)ar

þeir(r)a

þeir(r)a

þeir(r)a

sín

nǫkkurra

nǫkkurra

nǫkkurra

Demonstrative Pronouns

Definite Article

sá ‘that’

þessi ‘this’

inn ‘the’

M

F

N

M

F

N

M

F

N

Sg

nom

sá

sú

þat

þessi /sjá

þessi /sjá

þetta

inn

in

it

acc

þann

þá

þat

þenna

þessa

þetta

inn

ina

it

dat

þeim

þei(r)ri

því

þessum / þeima

þessi / þessa(r)ri

þessu / þvísa

inum

inni

inu

gen

þess

þei(r)rar

þess

þessa

þessar / þessa(r)rar

þessa

ins

innar

ins

Pl

nom

þeir

þær

þau

þessir

þessar

þessi

inir

inar

in

acc

þá

þær

þau

þessa

þessar

þessi

ina

inar

in

dat

þeim

þeim

þeim

þessum

þessum

þessum

inum

inum

inum

gen

þei(r)ra

þei(r)ra

þei(r)ra

þessa / þessar(r)a

þessa / þessar(r)a

þessa / þessar(r)a

inna

inna

inna

• Verbs •

Distinguishing Strong Verb Classes

Infinitive

Examples

Class I

í

líta, rísa

Class II

jú, jó, ú

krjúpa, bjóða, lúka

Class III

eCC, jaCC, jáCC, iNC

verða, gjalda, hjálpa, binda

(also øCCv, yNCv)

søkkva, syngva

Class IV

eR

skera, stela, nema

Class V

eC, iCj

gefa, vega, biðja

Class VI

aC, eCj

fara, aka, draga, hefja

Class VII

aCC, au, á, ei (also ǫ, ó, á, ú)

halda, falla, hlaupa, gráta, heita

C = any consonant R (resonant) = r, l, n, or m N (nasal) = n or m

Principal Parts of Strong Verbs

Infinitive

3sg Present

3sg Past

3pl Past

Past Participle

Class I

ríða

ríðr

reið

riðu

riðinn

Class II

bjóða

býðr

bauð

buðu

boðinn

Class III

bresta

brestr

brast

brustu

brostinn

Class IV

bera

berr

bar

báru

borinn

Class V

gefa

gefr

gaf

gáfu

gefinn

Class VI

fara

ferr

fór

fóru

farinn

Class VII i)

heita

heitr

hét

hétu

heitinn

ii)

búa

býr

bjó

bjoggu~bjuggu

búinn

iii)

ganga

gengr

gekk

gengu

genginn

iv)

ráða

ræðr

réð

réðu

ráðinn

v)

snúa

snýr

sneri~snøri

sneru~snøru

snúinn

Verb Conjugation

Strong

Weak I

Weak II

Weak III

Weak IV

fara

kalla

mæla

telja

vaka

vera

Present Indicative

Sg

1st

fer

kalla

mæli

tel

vaki

em

2nd

ferr

kallar

mælir

telr

vakir

ert

3rd

ferr

kallar

mælir

telr

vakir

er

Pl

1st

fǫrum

kǫllum

mælum

teljum

vǫkum

erum

2nd

farið

kallið

mælið

telið

vakið

eruð

3rd

fara

kalla

mæla

telja

vaka

eru

Past Indicative

Sg

1st

fór

kallaða

mælti

talða

vakta

var

2nd

fórt

kallaðir

mæltir

talðir

vaktir

vart

3rd

fór

kallaði

mælti

talði

vakti

var

Pl

1st

fórum

kǫlluðum

mæltum

tǫlðum

vǫktum

várum

2nd

fóruð

kǫlluðuð

mæltuð

tǫlðuð

vǫktuð

váruð

3rd

fóru

kǫlluðu

mæltu

tǫlðu

vǫktu

váru

Present Subjunctive

Sg

1st

fara

kalla

mæla

telja

vaka

sjá, sé

2nd

farir

kallir

mælir

telir

vakir

sér

3rd

fari

kalli

mæli

teli

vaki

sé

Pl

1st

farim

kallim

mælim

telim

vakim

sém

2nd

farið

kallið

mælið

telið

vakið

séð

3rd

fari

kalli

mæli

teli

vaki

sé

Past Subjunctive

Sg

1st

fœra

kallaða

mælta

telða

vekta

væra

2nd

fœrir

kallaðir

mæltir

telðir

vektir

værir

3rd

fœri

kallaði

mælti

telði

vekti

væri

Pl

1st

fœrim

kallaðim

mæltim

telðim

vektim

værim

2nd

fœrið

kallaðið

mæltið

telðið

vektið

værið

3rd

fœri

kallaði

mælti

telði

vekti

væri

Present Indicative Middle

Sg

1st

fǫrumk

kǫllumk

mælumk

teljumk

vǫkumk

Emsk*

2nd

fersk

kallask

mælisk

telsk

vakisk

erzk

3rd

fersk

kallask

mælisk

telsk

vakisk

ersk

Pl

1st

fǫrumsk

kǫllumsk

mælumsk

teljumsk

vǫkumsk

erumst

2nd

ferizk

kallizk

mælizk

telizk

vakizk

eruzt

3rd

ferask

kallask

mælask

teljask

vakask

erust

Past Indicative Middle

Sg

1st

fórumk

kǫlluðumk

mæltumsk

tǫlðumk

vǫktumk

vǫrumk

2nd

fórsk

kallaðisk

mæltisk

talðisk

vaktisk

vǫrzk

3rd

fórsk

kallaðisk

mæltisk

talðisk

vaktisk

vǫrsk

Pl

1st

fórumsk

kǫlluðumsk

mæltumsk

tǫlðumsk

vǫktumsk

várumst

2nd

fóruzk

kǫlluðuzk

mæltuzk

tǫlðuzk

vǫktuzk

váruzt

3rd

fórusk

kǫlluðusk

mæltusk

tǫlðusk

vǫktusk

váruzt

Present Participle

farandi

kallandi

mælandi

teljandi

vakandi

verandi

Past Participle

farinn

kallaðr

mæltr

taliðr

vakit

verit

Imperative (Sg)

far

kalla

mæl

tel

vaki

ver

*lacks a full set of forms in the extant sources

Appendix 3

Pronunciation of Old Icelandic

Reconstruction of Old Icelandic sounds is by nature approximate. In most instances, we estimate the pronunciation from spellings in manuscripts and rhymes in poetry. There was no standard spelling. Writers and poets often employed their personal or regional pronunciation, and sounds sometimes changed over decades and centuries.

Stress in Old Norse and Old and Modern Icelandic typically falls on the first syllable of the word. For example: kona, gerði, and konungr are pronounced ko-na, ger-ði, and kon-ungr, with stress on the first syllable. Compounds have secondary stress on the second element. For example: the syllable -móð- in konungamóðir, (‘mother of kings’) has secondary stress.

Vowels are sounds made by the free passage of air through the mouth, that is, without closing the mouth or narrowing it to the point where the sound is obstructed. Vowels in Old Icelandic had no immediately following glide as is often the case in Modern Icelandic and English.

Old Norse vowels are classified as long or short. For most vowels, length is indicated by an acute accent, á, é, í, ó, ú, ý. The vowels æ and œ (also spelled ǿ) are always long.

Long vowels in Old Icelandic were longer versions of the corresponding short vowels. For example, a and á were pronounced the same, but á seems to have been longer in duration until the thirteenth century, when it merged with a long, low, round back vowel to become rounded, like the au in caught. This vowel and other long vowels began to mutate into diphthongs (a sequence of two vowel sounds pronounced together) in the fourteenth century. The result is that in Modern Icelandic, many of the long vowels differ from the corresponding short vowels in quality as well as length. For example, the short vowel a is pronounced as in English ‘father,’ while most instances of the long á shifted again to a pronunciation more like the diphthong in ‘house.’

The vowels au, ei, and ey are also diphthongs, with the tongue gliding from the first vowel to the position of the second. For example, ei begins with e and glides towards i. As noted below, these diphthongs are pronounced somewhat differently in Old and Modern Icelandic. Soon after the beginning of the thirteenth century, ø merged with ǫ, represented by ö. It was likely pronounced as a front, half-low, round vowel, similar to the modern ö. Below is a pronunciation chart for Old Icelandic vowels around the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Vowel

Old Icelandic Pronunciation

Old Icelandic

a

as a in father, but shorter

faðir

á

as au in caught but with rounded lips and longer than /ǫ/

láta

e

as e in bet

bekkr

é

as e in bet, but longer

þér

i

i in sin

sinn

í

as ee in seen

líta

o

as o in sole, but shorter

kona

ó

as o in boat

bjóða

u

as oo in took

sumar

ú

as oo in moon

búa

y

as ee in seen, but pronounced with rounded lips; as in German für

systir

ý

as ee in seen, but pronounced with rounded lips; as in German für, but longer

býðr

æ

as a in nap, but longer

lætr

œ

as e in bet, but longer and pronounced with rounded lips; as in German können

fátœkr

ø

as e in bet, but pronounced with rounded lips; as in German können. By early thirteenth century ø merges with ǫ.

søkkva

ǫ

as au in caught, but pronounced with rounded lips and shorter than á

fǫr

au

as ow in cow

nauð

ei

as ay in may

beita

ey

Old Icelandic e + y

heyra

Consonants are sounds made by a narrowing or closure of the vocal tract, which results in obstruction of the free flow of air. Most Icelandic consonants are similar to corresponding sounds in modern English.

Both Old and Modern Icelandic distinguish the pronunciation of single and double consonants. Double letters form long consonants, for instance, the -mm- in stemma is pronounced twice as long as the -m- in heima. In words that employ stop consonants (p, t, k, b, d, g) like staddr and liggja, there is a pause before the release of air forming the consonant.

The consonants b, d, h, k, l, m, n, s, and t were probably pronounced much as in Modern English. In Old Icelandic f and v were likely pronounced using both the lower and upper lips. Below is a pronunciation chart for the other Old Icelandic consonants.

Consonant

Old Icelandic Pronunciation

Old Icelandic

f

1) at the beginning of a word: as f in father

faðir

2) in the middle or at the end of a word: as v in have

hafa

g

1) at the beginning of word or after n: as g in good

góðr, langr

2) before an s or t: as ch in Scots English loch

lagt

j

as y in yes

játa, Herjólfr

p

as p in pin

penningr

when preceding s or t: as f in after

skipta

r

trilled as Scots English r

rauðr

v

as w in west or v in vest

vestr

þ

as th in thing

þing, Þórr

ð

as th in this, rather

bróðir, Óðinn

x

as chs in Scots English lochs

øx

z

as ts in prints

brauzk

A trend in the teaching of Old Norse–Icelandic is to read the texts with Modern Icelandic pronunciation. For those interested in reading the texts with Modern Icelandic pronunciation, the following two charts provide guidance. Much of the grammar and basic vocabulary of Old Icelandic come into Modern Icelandic with few changes, and employing modern pronunciation is a good start to learning Modern Icelandic.

Vowel

Modern Icelandic Pronunciation

Old Icelandic

a

as a in father

faðir

before ng and nk as ow in cow

langr

á

as ow in cow

láta

e

as e in bed

bekkr

é

as ye in yes

þér

i

as i in tin

sinn

í

as ee in seen

líta

o

as o in more

kona

ó

as o in go

bjóða

ö,ǫ

as u in cut, but with rounded lips

kǫttr

u

as ou in should

sumar

ú

as oo in moon

búa

y

as i in tin

systir

ý

as ee in seen

býðr

æ, œ

as i in mile

lætr, fátœkr

au

as ay in hay, but with rounded lips

nauð

ei, ey

as ay in say

leiða, leysa

Consonants in Modern Icelandic

• h, k, l, m, n are pronounced much as in Modern English.

• The consonants p, t, k are pronounced voiceless (with no vibration of the vocal cords), as in English.

• Unlike English, the consonants b, d, g are also pronounced voiceless.

• The two consonant series p, t, k and b, d, g are distinguished from each other by the presence of aspiration (a following puff of air); p, t, k are generally aspirated, while b, d and g are not.

• In Modern Icelandic (and English), the letters f and v are pronounced with the lower lip in contact with the upper teeth.

Consonant

Modern Icelandic Pronunciation

Old Icelandic

ð

as th in that, brother

bróðir, Óðinn

f

1) at the beginning of a word: as f in father

faðir

2) before n or l: as Modern Icelandic p

nafn, kafli

3) elsewhere: as v in have

hafa

g

1) at the beginning of a word and after n: as g in good, but voiceless

góðr, langr

2) before an s or t: as ch in Scots English loch

lagt

3) after vowels and before a, u, ð, r: as ch in Scots English loch, but voiced

fluga

4) between a vowel and a following i or j as y in yet

eigi, segja

5) between ó, á, ú, and a following a, u: silent

fljúga

6) in sequences angt and angs: silent

langt, langs

j

as y in yes

játa, Herjólfr

p

when preceding s or t: as f in after

eptir

r

trilled as Scotch English r

rauðr

s

as s in sink, not as English z

sitja

þ

as th in thing

þing, Þórr

A few double consonants in Modern Icelandic have special pronunciations.

• pp, tt, and kk are pronounced with a preceding h. For example, upp, dóttir, and ekki are pronounced uhpp, dóhttir, and ehkki. pp is pronounced as f in father when it precedes t, for example, keppti.

• nn is pronounced much like tn when it follows a vowel with an accent mark or diphthong at the end of a word, for example, einn [eitn].

• ll is pronounced much like tl when preceding a vowel, r, or n, for example, kalla [katla], allr [atlr]. ll is also pronounced tl at the end of words, for example, mikill [mikitl]. Before t, d, and s, double ll is pronounced like a single l, for example, alls [als], allt [alt]. In loan words and nicknames ll is pronounced as long l, for example, mylla ‘mill’ [milla] and Kalli [kalli].

• The sequences rn and rl usually are pronounced [rtn] and [rtl], for example Bjarni [bjartni], or karlar [kartlar].

Sequences of three consonants are often simplified at the end of a syllable. For example, b in the word kumbl is dropped, and pronounced kuml similar to the English ‘subtle’ pronounced sutl. When the sequence occurs over a syllable break, all three consonants are pronounced, for example landnám (the syllable breaks between land- and -nám).

Vocabulary

Viking Language 1

Order of the Alphabet

The alphabetical order is: a, á, b, d, ð, e, é, f, g, h, i, í, j, k, l, m, n, o, ó, p, r, s, t, u, ú, v, y, ý, x, z, þ, æ, œ, ǫ/ø. Long vowels with accent are listed after the corresponding short vowels without accent (a, á). At the end of the alphabet, æ and œ are listed separately, while ǫ and ø are listed together.

Word Frequency

The symbol v marks the 246 most common words in the sagas.

Notes on the Vocabulary

Verbs and prepositions take their objects in various cases, depending on sometimes unpredictable usage. This vocabulary adopts the Icelandic convention of using the pronoun einnhverr meaning ‘somebody’ [sb] and eitthvat meaning ‘something’ [sth] to indicate which case is used with particular verbs.

[e-n] (einhvern) = somebody [sb] acc

[e-t] (eitthvat) = something [sth] acc

[e-m] (einhverjum) = (for) [sb] dat

[e-u] (einhverju) = (for) [sth] dat

[e-s] (einhvers) = (of) [sb] or [sth] gen

Examples:

fala [e-t] af [e-m] offer to buy [sth] from [sb]

firra [e-n] [e-u] deprive [sb] of [sth]

mæla [e-t] við [e-n] say [sth] to [sb]

segja [e-m] frá [e-m] tell, inform [sb] about [sb]

segja [e-m] til [e-s] tell, inform [sb] where [sth/sb] is to be found

The following conventions are employed in this vocabulary.

1. Strong Masculine Nouns: the genitive singular and nominative plural endings are given after the nominative singular. For example, heimr <-s, -ar> m world; vinr <-ar, -ir> m friend.

2. Adjectives: the strong masculine accusative singular is given to indicate a stem-final -j- or -v- or syncope (loss of vowel). For example, ríkr <acc ríkjan> adj powerful; døkkr <acc døkkvan> adj dark; gǫfugr <acc gǫfgan> adj noble, distinguished.

3. Strong Verbs: the principal parts (3sg pres, 3sg past, 3pl past, and past participle) are given for each verb followed by the strong verb class in Roman numerals within parentheses. For example, fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb (VI) to go, travel.

4. Weak Verbs: The weak verb class is given in Arabic numerals within parentheses. Additionally, the dental suffix -að- indicates when a weak verb is 1st conjugation. For example, kalla <-að-> vb to call. For all other verbs the dental (-t-, -d-, or -ð-) is given with the ending for 3sg past and ppart, for example mæla <-ti, -tr> vb to speak. When there is a change in the stem from present to past, the Vocabulary provides the forms in full: spyrja <spurði, spurðr> vb to ask. When a past tense dental is added to a verb whose stem already ends in a dental (leiða, setja and senda), the two dentals often undergo change. In such instances, the Vocabulary indicates the outcome, hence leiða <-ddi, -ddr>, setja <-tti, -ttr>, and senda <-di, -dr> (that is, past tense leiddi ‘he led,’ setti ‘he set,’ sendi ‘he sent’).

5. Preterite-Present Verbs: are named so because their present tense looks like the past tense of strong verbs.

Compound Words. When looking up a compound word, go to the initial element of the compound. Hence for landnámsmaðr look under land-; and for fyrirbjóða look under fyrir-.

Defective Words. Some entries are labeled defective, meaning they lack a full set of forms in the extant sources. For example, the verb kná, has no infinitive form in any of the manuscripts. The dictionary form, kná, is the 1/3 sg (first and third person) present: kná <kná, 1pl knegum, knátti, past inf knáttu> defective pret-pres vb to be able to, can; could.

Abbreviations

1dual, 2dual

1st person dual, etc.

1pl, 2pl, 3pl

1st person plural, etc.

1sg, 2sg, 3sg

1st person singular, etc.

acc

accusative

adj

adjective

adv

adverb

art

article (def)

aux

auxiliary (verb)

comp

comparative (adj or adv)

conj

conjunction

conjug

conjugation

dat

dative

def

definite (art)

defect

defective

dem

demonstrative (pron)

e-m, e-u

einhverjum, einhverju ‘for somebody, something,’ dative

e-n, e-t

einhvern, eitthvat ‘somebody, something’ accusative

e-s

einhvers ‘of somebody or something,’ genetive

Eng

English

esp

especially

etc

et cetera

ex

example

f

feminine

fig

figurative

gen

genitive

imp

imperative

impers

impersonal (verb)

indecl

indeclinable

indef

indefinite (pron)

indic

indicative

inf

infinitive

interrog

interrogative (adv or pron)

intrans

intransitive (verb)

leg

legal usage

lit

literally

m

masculine

MI

Modern Icelandic

mid

middle voice

n

neuter

neg

negative

neg suff

negative suffix

nom

nominative

num

number

obj

object

OE

Old English

OI

Old Icelandic

ON

Old Norse

ord

ordinal (num)

part

particle

pers

personal

pl

plural

poet

poetical usage

poss

possessive (pron)

ppart

past participle

pref

prefix

prep

preposition

pres

present

pres part

present participle

pret-pres

preterite-present (verb)

pron

pronoun

refl

reflexive (verb or pron)

rel

relative (pron or particle)

sb

somebody

sg

singular

sth

something

str

strong (adj or verb)

subj

subject

subjunct

subjunctive

suff

suffix

superl

superlative (adj or adv)

trans

transitive (verb)

transl

translation

usu

usually

var

variant

vb

verb

w

with

wk

weak (adjective or verb)

=

equals

~

alternative spelling

❖

246 most common words in sagas

A

Aðalráðr konungr m King Æthelred II (the unready) of England

Aðils m Adils (personal name)

aðra f acc sg & m acc pl of annarr

aðrar f nom & acc pl of annarr

aðrir m nom pl of annarr

❖ af prep [w dat] from; out of, of, by; off (of); with; adv off, away

afar adv extremely

afarmenni n big or strong man

afbragð n outstanding example; afbragð þeira manna allra the most outstanding of all those men

afbrigði n deviation, transgression, offense

afl n physical strength, might, power; rammr at afli extremely strong

afreksmaðr m outstanding or exceptional man

afskipta adj indecl cheated; cut off (as from inheritance)

aft see eptir

aka <ekr, ók, óku, ekinn> vb (VI) to drive

akkeri n anchor

akr <akrs, akrar> m field, crop

ala <elr, ól, ólu, alinn> vb (VI) to give birth to; bring up, raise (children)

alda gen pl of ǫld

aldauða adj indecl extinct

aldinn adj aged, old

aldr <-rs, -rar> m age; lifetime; old age; long period of time; vera við aldr be on in years, old

aldregi (also aldri) adv never

❖ aldri adv never

Alfǫðr <-s> m All-Father, i.e., Odin

alheimskr adj completely foolish

alin <alnar~álnar> f Old Icelandic ell (about half a yard); unit of value, typically of woolen cloth

alla f acc sg & m acc pl of allr

allan m acc sg of allr

allfríðr adj very beautiful

allir m nom pl of allr

allmikill adj very great

❖ allr <f ǫll, n allt> adj pron all, entire, whole, all over

allra gen pl of allr

allri f dat sg of allr

allt adv completely, entirely; everywhere; allt til Orkneyja all the way to the Orkney Islands; allt til þess right up to that point; allt upp undir right up under

almenning (also almenningr, m) f common land, pasture; general public; conscription

Alrekr <-s> m Alrek (personal name)

alsnotr adj sagacious, wise (of a woman)

alsvartr adj pure black

Alþingi n Icelandic assembly, parliament

alþýða f all the people, the majority of the people, the public, the common people

ambátt (also ambótt) <pl -ir> f handmaid, maidservant

ambótt var of ambátt

andi m breath, spirit

Andvari m Andvari (personal name)

angr <gen angrs> m grief, sorrow

annan m acc sg of annarr

❖ annarr <f ǫnnur, n annat> adj/pron one of two, other, another; ord second; annarr ... annarr conj one ... the other; different

aptann <dat aptni, gen aptans, pl aptnar> m evening

❖ aptr <comp aptar(r), superl apta(r)st> adv back, again

arfi m heir

arfr <-s> m inheritance

argr adj cowardly, effeminate, (passively) homosexual

Ari <-a> m Ari (personal name) Ari fróði Ari the Learned

arinn ppart of erja (m nom sg)

armr m arm

armr adj poor, unfortunate, unhappy; vile, wretched, wicked

arnar gen of ǫrn

Arnfastr <-s> m Arnfast (personal name)

Arnórr <-s> m Arnor (personal name)

askr <-s, -ar> m ash, ash tree; ash spear; small ship; the great ash tree, Yggdrasill

Assurr (also Ǫzurr) <-s> m Assur (personal name)

at prep [w dat] at, in; as to, as, with respect to; on account of, by reason of; close up to, around, by

❖ at conj that

at inf marker to

atall <f ǫtul, n atalt> adj fierce, aggressive

Atall <-s> m Atal, name of a Viking (personal name)

atburðr <-ar, -ir> m occurrence, event; af þessum atburði because of this incident

atganga f attack

atgervimaðr var of atgørvimaðr

atgǫngu acc/dat/gen of atganga

atgørvi f and n ability, talent, accomplishment; at atgørvi in ability (esp physical)

atgørvimaðr (also atgervimaðr) m man of accomplishments

atkváma f arrival

atlaga f attack; laying ships alongside for attack

atróðr <gen atróðrs> m rowing towards, rowing against

atseta f a royal residence

auðgari comp adj of auðigr richer, wealthier

auðgastr superl of auðigr richest, wealthiest

auðgi weak m nom sg of auðigr

❖ auðigr (also auðugr) <acc auðgan> adj rich, wealthy; auðigr at fé very wealthy

auðugr var of auðigr

auga <pl gen augna> n eye

augun = auga + in

auk prep [w gen] aside from

auka <eykr, jók, jóku~juku, aukinn> vb (VII) to increase, augment; [w dat] add; exceed, surpass

aurr <-s> m mud

ausa <eyss, jós, jósu, ausinn> vb (VII) to pour, sprinkle; ausa [e-n]/[e-t] [e-m] sprinkle [sb/sth] with [sth]; ausa bát bail a boat

austan adv from the east

Austfirðir m pl East Fjords (place name)

Austmaðr (pl Austmenn) m person from the east, Norwegian

austr <-rs, superl austastr> n east; adv eastward

austrfǫr <pl austfarar> f (usu in pl) travels to the east

Austri m Austri (personal name) ‘East’, one of the dwarves holding the sky

Austrlǫnd n pl the eastern lands; eastern Europe; Russia and the Orient

austrvegr <-s, -ir> m the east, i.e., the Baltic, lit the eastern way; fara í austrveg trading or raiding in the Baltic or journeying east and south down the rivers of Russia

austrœnn adj eastern

auvirðismaðr m worthless wretch, wretched man

Á

á <gen ár, pl ár, dat ám, gen á> f river

á 1/3sg pres of eiga

❖ á prep [w acc] onto, on, towards (motion); with respect to; [w dat] on; upon; at; in (position); á morgun tomorrow

á brott adv away

á milli var of milli

❖ áðr adv before; already; earlier

áeggjun <-ar> f egging on, urging

❖ ágætr <comp ágætari, superl ágætastr> adj excellent

ágrip n collection, compendium; lítill ágripum small of size

ái <á, ár> m great-grandfather

ákafamaðr m aggressive man

ákafliga adv exceedingly, very; vehemently, impetuosly

ákafr <f ákǫf> adj fierce

ál <pl -ar> f leather strap

Álfheimr m Alfheim, World of the Elves

álfr <-s, -ar> m elf

Áli m Ali (personal name); old shortening for Áleifr~Óláfr

álit n appearance

Álof f Alof (personal name)

álpt <pl álptir~elptr> f swan

Álptanes n Alptanes (place name), Swans’ Headland

álǫg n pl dues or taxes

án prep [w acc, dat, gen] without

ánni = á + inni

ár n year

árferð <pl -ir> f season, harvest

Árnes n Arness (place name)

Árni m Arni (personal name)

ársæll adj fortunate as to the seasonal harvest; allra konunga ársælstr of all kings the most harvest-fortunate

ársælstr superl adj of ársæll most fortunate in the harvest

árvænn adj promising a good seasonal harvest

ásamt adv together

Ásbjǫrn <gen Ásbjarnar> m Asbjorn (personal name)

Ásbrú f Asbru, another name for Bifrǫst

Ásdís f Asdis (personal name)

Ásgarðr m Asgard, residence or fortress of the gods

Ásgerðr <acc/dat Ásgerði, gen Ásgerðar> f Asgerd (personal name)

Ásgrímr <-s> m Asgrim (personal name)

ásjá f help, aid, protection; inspection; appearance, shape

Ásmundr <-s> m Asmund (personal name)

áss <dat æsi~ás, gen áss~ásar, pl æsir, acc ásu~æsi> m god; Æsir pl one of the two major groups of gods

ást f love, affection (frequently used in plural with same meaning)

Ásta f Asta (personal name)

Ástríðr <-ar> f Astrid (personal name) Estrid

Ásvaldr <-s> m Asvald (personal name)

ásynja f goddess

át 1/3sg past of eta

átt 2sg pres of eiga; ppart of eiga (n nom/acc sg)

átta 1sg past of eiga

❖ átta <ord áttandi~áttundi, átti, eighth> num eight

átti 3sg past of eiga

át(t)ján <ord át(t)jándi, eighteenth> num eighteen

áttu 3pl past of eiga

áttugandi ord num eighty

ávalt (also of allt) adv always

ávanr <f ávǫn, n ávant> adj only in n and the phrase [e-s] er ávant [sth] is wanted, needed

B

bað 1/3sg past of biðja

baðmr <-s> m tree

❖ bak n back

Baldr <-rs> m Baldr (personal name)

Balli (also Baldi) m Balli (personal name)

bana <-að-> vb (1) [w dat] to kill

banahǫgg n death-blow

banamaðr m killer, executioner, slayer

banasár n fatal wound, death

band <pl bǫnd> band, cord; the act of binding; pl bands, fetters; poet gods

bani m death, bane, slayer

bann n prohibition, ban

banna <-að-> vb to ban, forbid, prohibit

bar 1/3sg past of bera

bardagi m fight, battle; beating, thrashing

barð n brim of a helmet or hat; verge or edge of a hill; prow of a ship

barðisk 2/3sg past of berjask

barn <pl bǫrn> n child

barnœska f childhood

barr n foliage, often needles (of pine, etc.)

Barreyjar f pl Barra Isle in the Outer Hebrides

bart 2sg past of bera

batna <-að-> vb (1) to improve; impers [e-m] batnar one recovers

batnaði 3sg past of batna

batt 1/3sg past of binda

bauð 1/3sg past of bjóða

baugr <-s, -ar> m ring, bracelet, armlet

bauzt 2sg past mid of bjóða; bauztu = bauzt + þú

bazt superl adv var of bezt best

baztr superl adj var of beztr best

❖ báðir <f báðar, n bæði, gen beggja > adj pron dual both

Bálki Blæingsson m Balki Blæingsson (personal name)

Bárðr <-ar> m Bard (personal name); Bárðr svarti Bard the Black; Bárðarson Bard’s son

bátr <-s, -ar> m boat

báðu 3pl past of biðja

báru 3pl past of bera

beðin(n), beðit ppart of biðja or bíða (nom sg)

beggja all gen pl of báðir

beið 3sg past of bíða

beiða <beiddi, beiddr> vb (2) [w gen] to ask, beg; beiða [e-n] [e-s] ask [sb] for [sth]; beiðask mid ask for, request on one’s own behalf

beiddisk 3sg past of beiðask

beiddusk 3pl past of beiðask

bein n bone

beinahrúga f bone-pile

beiskr adj bitter, acrid; angry, exasperated; painful, sore

beiting <pl -ar> f grazing, pasturage

bekkr <dat bekk, gen -s~-jar, pl -ir> m bench

belgr <dat belg, gen -s~-jar, pl -ir> m pelt, skin of an animal (taken off whole); skin-bag; bellows

belja <-að-> vb (1) to bellow

bella <bellr, ball, –, –> defective vb [w dat] to hit, hurt

bella <-di, -tr> vb (2) [w dat] to venture (into)

belti n belt

ben <gen -jar> f (mortal) wound

❖ bera <berr, bar, báru, borinn/borin/borit> vb (IV) to bear, carry; give birth; bera saman collect; compare; bera um carry about; bera ørendi sín (upp) fyrir [e-n] plead one’s case before [sb]; tell one’s errand [sb]

berg n boulder; cliff; mountain

bergr 2/3sg pres of bjarga

berja <barði, barðr~bariðr> vb (3) to strike, beat; berjask mid fight

berr adj naked, bare; unsheathed (of a sword)

berserkr <-s, -ir> m berserker

berserksgangr <-s> m fury of a berserker, going berserk

betr comp adv of vel, better

betri comp adj of góðr, better

beysta <beysti, beystr> vb (2) to bruise, beat

beytill <-s> m horse-prick, horse penis; horse or male sexual member; Equisetum hyemale, rough horsetail, a common fescue grass in Iceland, also called in English scouring rush and scouring rush horsetail, resembles a horse penis; góibeytill appears in Landnámabók.

bezt (also bazt) superl adv of vel best

beztr (also baztr) superl adj of góðr best

❖ biðja <biðr, bað, báðu, beðinn> vb (V) to ask, request; beg; command, tell; wish; biðja [e-n] [e-s] ask [sb] for [sth]; biðja gera command to be made

bifask <-ði, -ðr also -að-> vb mid (1) to shake, tremble, quake; be moved

Bifrǫst f Bifrost, rainbow bridge that connects Miðgarðr and Ásgarðr

bikkja f female dog, bitch

bila <-að-> vb (1) to fail

binda <bindr, batt, bundu, bundinn> vb (III) to bind, tie, fasten; bind up (a wound); pledge; binda í [e-u] bind to [sth], bind on [sth]

birnir nom pl of bjǫrn

bíða <bíðr, beið, biðu, beðinn> vb (I) [w gen] to wait for, remain, abide; [w acc] suffer, undergo

bíta <bítr, beit, bitu, bitinn> vb (I) to bite, bite through; rip apart

bjalla <gen bjǫllu, pl bjǫllur> f bell

bjarg <pl bjǫrg> n rock, boulder; cliff

bjarga <bergr, barg, burgu, borginn> vb (III) [w dat] to save, help

Bjarnardóttir f Bjorn’s daughter (personal name)

Bjarnarfjǫrðr m Bjorn’s Fjord (place name)

Bjarni m Bjarni (personal name)

bjartr <f bjǫrt, n bjart; comp bjartari, superl bjartastr> adj bright

bjó 1/3sg past of búa

❖ bjóða <býðr, bauð, buðu, boðinn> vb (II) [w acc] to offer; [w dat] invite; order, command; bjóða [e-m] sætt offer [sb] reconciliation; bjóða [e-n] [e-m] at sætt offer [sth] to [sb] for reconciliation

bjuggu (also bjoggu) 3pl past of búa

bjǫrn <dat birni, gen bjarnar, pl birnir, acc bjǫrnu> m bear

Bjǫrn <dat Birni, gen Bjarnar> m Bjorn (personal name); Bjǫrn buna Bjorn buna

blautr adj soft; soaked, wet

blár <f blá, n blátt> adj blue; dark, black; blátǫnn (nickname) ‘Bluetooth’

blása <blæss, blés, blésu, blásinn> vb (VII) to blow

Bleking f Blekinge, Denmark (place name), now part of Sweden

blét(u) 3sg past(pl) of blóta

blindr adj blind

blíðr adj happy

blóð n blood; blóðøx (nickname) ‘Bloodaxe’

blót n sacrifice

blóta <blœtr, blét, blétu, blótinn> vb (VII) [w acc] to worship; worship with sacrifice; [w dat] sacrifice, sacrifice in worship

blóta <-að> vb (1) [w acc] to worship; worship with sacrifice; [w dat] sacrifice, sacrifice in worship; curse

blótuðu 3pl past of blóta (vb)

blunda <-að> vb (1) to shut the eyes, doze

Blængr <-s> m Blaeng (personal name)

blœtr 2/3sg pres of blóta

boða <-að-> vb (1) to proclaim, preach at boða kristni to preach Christianity; [w dat] order, summon

boðinn ppart of bjóða

bogi m bow

bokki (also bǫkki) m buck, fellow (used as a manner of address); bokki sæll my good fellow, good sir, boss

Bolli m Bolli (personal name)

boløx f broad-axe

borð f board, plank; side of a ship ship (larboard and starboard); board, table; board, food, upkeep; á borð on one side (of a ship)

borg <pl -ir> f stronghold, fortification; town

Borg f Borg (place name)

Borgarfjǫrðr m (place name)

borgarmaðr m garrisoned soldier; townsman

borgit ppart of bjarga (n nom/acc sg)

borinn/borin/borit ppart of bera

bóandi <pl bóendr> m var of bóndi

bógr <dat bœgi, gen bógar, pl bœgir, acc bógu> m shoulder of an animal

bók <gen bókar~bœkr, pl bœkr> f book

ból n lair

❖ bóndi (also bóandi & búandi) <gen bónda, pl bœndr> m husband; farmer; head of a household

bót <pl bœtr> f bettering, cure, remedy; adornment; pl compensation, atonement; at bótum as atonement

brann 1/3sg past of brenna

Brattahlíð f Brattahlid (place name), Steep-Slope

brauð n bread

braut var of brott

braut 1/3sg past of brjóta

brautflutning <pl -ar> f carrying off

brauzk 1,2,3sg past of brjótask

brauzt 2sg past of brjóta

brá <gen brár, pl brár> f eyelash

brá 1/3sg past of bregða

bráðgǫrr adj matured early in life, precocious

bráðr <n brátt> adj sudden; hot-tempered, hasty

bráðum adv soon, shortly

brásk 1/3sg past mid of bregða

brátt adv soon, suddenly; brátt er as soon as

bregða <bregðr, brá, brugðu, brugðinn> vb (III) [w dat] to move quickly; draw, brandish (a weapon); break (faith or an oath); turn, alter, change; break off, leave off, give up; bregða við [e-u] ward off with, parry with [sth]; bregðask mid fail, come to nothing; bregðask [e-m] deceive, disappoint [sb]; bregðask í [e-t] shapechange, turn into [sth]

breiða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to spread; stretch; display

Breiðablik n Breidablik, hall of the god Baldr (place name)

Breiðafjarðardalir m pl Dales of Breidafjord (place name)

Breiðafjǫrðr m Breidafjord, Broad Fjord (place name)

breiðara comp adv of breitt, more broadly

breiðr <f breið, n breitt> adj broad

breitt adv broadly

brekka f slope

brenna <brennr, brann, brunnu, brunninn> vb intrans (III) to burn

brenna <-di, -dr> vb trans (2) to burn

bresta <brestr; brast, brustu, brostinn> vb (III) to burst, break, crash; bresta niðr crash down

Brísingamen n necklace of Freyja

brjóst n chest, breast

brjóta <brýtr, braut, brutu, brotinn> vb (II) to break, break up, break open; brjótask mid of brjóta; brjótask til ríkis fight for the kingdom; see brauzt; brauzk

Brodd-Helgi <-s> m Spike-Helgi (personal name)

broddr <-s, -ar> m spike, see mannbroddr

brotna <-að-> vb (1) to break

❖ brott (also (á/í) brottu, burt & (í) braut) adv away, off

❖ bróðir <acc/dat/gen bróður, pl brœðr, dat brœðrum, gen brœðra> m brother

bróðurdóttir f brother’s-daughter, niece

bróðurgjǫld n pl wergeld, ransom, or compensation for a dead brother

brunnr <-s, -ar> m well; spring

brutu 3pl past of brjóta

brú <gen brúar, pl brúar~brúr~brýr, dat brúm> f bridge; causeway built over swampy ground

brúðfé n bride’s fee or gift

brúðkaup n wedding feast

brúðlaup n wedding feast

brúðr <acc/dat brúði, gen brúðar, pl brúðir> f bride; poet woman

brúnn adj brown

bryggja f pier; dock; quay, gangway [sometimes carried on ships]; in some instances, a bridge in the pl as a series of piers with pilings forming a long gangway

bryggurnar f pl nom and acc, see bryggja

Brynhildr f Brynhild (personal name)

brynja f chain-mail shirt

brynjulauss adj without armor

bryti m bailiff

brœðr pl nom of bróðir

brœkr f pl breeches

buna f buna (nickname of uncertain meaning, perhaps ‘one with ungartered stockings,´ i.e., hanging down his leg)

burlufótr m clumsy-foot (meaning uncertain)

burr <-ar, -ir> m poet son

burt var of brott

❖ bú (also bý) <dat pl búm> n home, house, household; farm; estate

❖ búa <býr, bjó, bjoggu~bjuggu, búinn> vb (VII) to live (in a place), dwell, inhabit, live; prepare, make ready; arrange; búask mid prepare, get oneself ready; búask til [e-s] prepare oneself for [sth]; búask um make oneself secure, prepare

búandi <pl búendr> var of bóndi

buð f booth; cabin; dwelling

búfé n cattle

búi m dweller, inhabitant

búinn ppart of búa ready, prepared

búizk ppart of búask (búit + sk)

Búseyra f Buseyra, a giantess killed by Thor

búss m type of wood

bygð f abode

byggðisk 2/3sg past mid of byggva~byggja

byggja var of byggva

byggt ppart of byggva (n nom/acc sg)

byggva (also byggja) <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to settle; occupy, inhabit

byrðr f burden

byrja <-að-> vb (1) to begin

byrr <-jar, -ir> m fair wind

bý (var of bú) <dat pl býum> n home, house, household; farm; estate

býðr 2/3sg pres of bjóða

býfluga f bee

❖ bæði adv both; bæði ... ok conj both ... and

bæði n of báðir

bær var of bœr

bœgi dat sg of bógr

bœn f prayer, request

❖ bœr (also bær) <gen bœjar~býjar, pl bœir, dat bœjum, gen bœja> m farm, farmhouse, farmstead; landed estate; town

bœta <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to better, make compensation

Bǫðvarr <-s> m Bodvar (personal name); Bǫðvarr Bjarki one of King Hrolf’s champions

bǫkki var of bokki

bǫl <gen pl bǫlva> n misfortune

bǫlvasmiðr m contriver of mischief, misfortune

bǫrðusk 3pl past mid of berja

bǫrn pl of barn

D

daga <-að-> vb (1) to dawn

dagmál n nine in the morning

❖ dagr <dat degi, gen dags, pl dagar> m day; í dag today; um daginn eptir (on) the day after, the next day; lifetime

dagsmark n day-mark, time of day

Dala-Kollson m son of Dala-Koll (Kollr personal name), Koll of the Dales from Dalir)

Dalir m pl (Dalir, place name) Dales; dala gen pl of dalir; Dalar pl nom an old form of the word

dalr <dat dal, gen dals, pl dalir/dalar~dalir> m valley, dale

dalr <gen dalar> m poet bow

Danavirki n Danevirke (place name) ‘Wall of the Danes’, fortification across southern Jutland

Danir m pl Danes

Danmarkar gen of Danmǫrk; Danmarkarbót (nickname) ‘Denmark’s Adornment’, Betterment, Enhancement

Danmǫrk <gen Danmarkar> f Denmark

danskr adj Danish

datt 1/3sg past of detta

❖ dauðr <f dauð, n dautt> adj dead

daufr adj deaf

dautt n nom/acc sg of dauðr

dáð f deed

Dáinsleif f Dainsleif, name of Hogni’s sword, ‘Dain’s Inheritance’

detta <dettr, datt, duttu, dottinn> vb (III) to drop, fall

deyja <deyr, dó, dó, dáinn> vb (VI) to die

djarfr <f djǫf, n djarft> adj bold, daring

djúpauðigr/djúpauðga adj deep-minded

djúpvitr adj deep-witted, resourceful

dó 1/3sg & 3pl past of deyja

Dómaldi m Domaldi (personal name)

dómr <-s, -ar> m court; judgement (whether favorable or unfavorable); renown

dómstaðr m place where court is held

❖ dóttir <acc/dat/gen dóttur, pl dœtr, dat dœtrum, gen dœtra> f daughter

draga <dregr, dró, drógu, dreginn> vb (VI) to pull, draw, drag; dragask mid move, draw oneself, be drawn

drakk 1/3sg past of drekka

dramblæti n pride, haughtiness

drap 1/3sg past of drepa

drapt 2sg past of drepa

drasill m poet horse

draumr <-s, -ar> m dream; henda mikit gaman at draumum take great interest in dreams

dráp n killing, murder

drápu 3pl past of drepa

dreginn ppart of draga

dregit ppart of draga

dreifa <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to spread, scatter; dreifask mid be spread out

dreki m dragon-ship

drekka <drekkr, drakk, drukku, drukkinn> vb (III) to drink

drekkja <-ti, -tr> vb (2) [w dat] to submerge; fig suppress; impers [e-m] drekkir [sb] is drowned

drengiligr adj brave, valiant

drengr m bold man

❖ drepa <drepr, drap, drápu, drepinn> vb (V) to slay, kill, smite; strike, beat, knock; drepa [e-u] í [e-t] stick [sth] into [sth]

Drepstokkr <-s> m Drepstokk (place name)

dreyma <-ði~di, -t> vb (2) [w acc subj and obj] to dream; [e-n] dreymr [e-t] impers [sb] dreams [sth]

dreyra <-ði, -t> vb (2) to bleed, ooze (of blood from a slight wound)

drífa <drífr, dreif, drifu, drifinn> vb trans (I) to drive; intrans crowd, throng, drift, hurry

drjúpa <drýpr, draup, drupu, dropinn> vb (II) to drip

Droplaugarsynir m pl sons of Droplaug

drógusk 3pl past of dragask

dróttinn <dat dróttni~drottni, gen dróttins, pl dróttnar~drottnar> m lord

dróttning <dat dróttningu, pl dróttningar> f queen

drykkr <-jar, -ir> m drink

dræpi 3sg/pl past subjunct of drepa

duga <-ði, dugat> vb (4) to do; show prowess; suffice, fare duga verr fare worse (in a contest); be useful

dunði 3sg past of dynja

dúfa f dove, pigeon

dvelja <dvaldi, dvaldr~dvalinn> vb (3) to slow, stop

dvergr <-s, -ar> m dwarf

dynja <dundi~dunði, dunit> vb (3) to din, thunder, resound, whir, whizz; pour, shower

dyrr <pl dat durum, gen dura> f pl door, doorway

dys <-jar> f cairn

dýja <dúði, dúit> vb (3) to shake

dýr n wild beast; animal; deer

dœma <-di~ði, -dr~ðr> vb (2) to judge

dœmðir m nom pl ppart of dœma

dǫgg <dat dǫgg~dǫggu, gen dǫggvar, pl dǫggvar> f dew

dǫgum dat pl of dagr

Døkkálfar (also Dǫkkálfar; sg -alfr) m pl Dark Elves

døkkr <m acc sg døkkvan, m nom pl døkkvir, m acc pl døkkva, f acc sg døkkva, f pl døkkvar> adj dark

E

ñv eða (also eðr) conj or; (introducing a question) but

eðr var of eða

❖ ef conj if

efniligr adj promising

efri (also øfri) comp adj upper, inner; latter

efstr (also øfstr) superl adj uppermost, innermost; last

egg <gen pl eggja> n egg

egg <pl eggjar> f edge, blade´s edge

eggja <-að-> vb (1) to incite, goad, egg on, urge

eggskurn f egg shell

Egill <dat Agli, gen Egils> m Egil (personal name)

Egilsstaðir m pl Egilsstadir (place name) Egil’s Farmstead

eiðrofi adj indecl perjurer

❖ eiga <á, átti, áttr> pret-pres vb to own, have, possess; marry, be married or related to; aux must, owe, be obligated, have to, need to; eiga ráðagørð take council

❖ eigi adv not; no

eigna <-að-> vb (1) to attribute, dedicate; mid eignask get, claim, take, become the owner of

eignaðisk 3sg past mid of eigna

eignazk ppart mid of eigna

eik <-ar, -r> f oak, tree

Einarr m Einar (personal name)

eingi var of engi

einheri <-ja, -jar> m great champion (addressing Thor); einherjar pl slain warriors who dwell in Valhǫll

❖ einn <f ein, n eitt, ord fyrstr, first > num one; indef pro a, an; a certain one; adj alone (when placed after the noun it modifies, einn can take on the meaning ‘only’); some; merely

❖ einnhverr adj pron some, someone, a certain one; (usu as two words, einn hverr) each, each one; einnhvern dag one day

einskipa adv with one ship

einu n dat sg of einn

einvaldi m sole ruler, monarch, sovereign

einvaldskonungr m sole ruler

Eiríkr <-s> m Eirik (personal name)

Eiríksfjǫrðr m Eiriksfjord (place name), Eirik’s Fjord

eista n testicle

eitthvat adj pron some, something, a certain one

eitthvart see einnhverr

❖ ek <acc mik, dat mér, gen mín> pron I

ek 1sg pres of aka

ekkert late var of engi/enginn (n nom/acc sg)

ekki n nom/acc sg of engi

❖ ekki adv not

ekr 2/3sg pres of aka

eld(a)skáli m fire hall, main hall of a long house, where benches used for sitting and sleeping were warmed by a long fire that ran the length of the hall and was used for cooking

elding f last part of the night before dawn

eldr <-s~ellds~ellz, -ar> m fire

elfr <acc/dat elfi, gen elfar, pl elfar> f great river

Elfráðr inn ríki m Alfred the Great (personal name)

elgr <gen elgs~elgjar, elgir> m elk

elli f age

❖ ellifu (also ellefu) <ord ellifti, eleventh> num eleven

ellri comp of gamall older, elder

ellstr var of el(l)ztr

elr 2/3sg pres of ala

elska <-að> vb (1) to love; elskask love one another, elskask at [e-m] grow fond of [sb]

el(l)ztr (also ellstr) superl adj of gamall oldest, eldest

em 1sg pres of vera

❖ en conj but; and (in a contrastive sense); [w comp] than

en er conj but, when

en þó adv nevertheless

❖ enda conj and; and if; even; even if; and also, and so; and yet; by the way

endi (also endir) <-is, -ar> m end

endir var of endi

endlangr adj whole length of

endr adv again, once more

❖ engi <f engi, n ekki> indef pron no one, none, no; engir menn no one

engill <-s, -ar> m angel

engis var of enskis

Englakonungr m king of England

England n England

Englar m pl the English

engir m pl nom of engi

engrar f gen sg of engi

enkis var of enskis

❖ enn adv yet, still; moreover

enni n forehead

enskis (also engis~enkis) m/n gen sg of engi

enskr adj English

ept var of eptir

❖ eptir (also ept) prep [w acc] after (in time); in memory of; [w dat] after, along; according to; eptir landinu along the coast; adv after, afterwards, behind; standa eptir or vera eptir stay back, remain behind; eptir þetta after that, afterward

eptri (also aptari) comp adj farther back; latter

epztr (also aptastr) superl adj farthest back; last

❖ er (older es) rel particle who, which, that; conj and adv when; where; þar er there where; while; as, at

er 3sg pres of vera

ér/þér pl pron of þú you; ér = þér; see þér

erendi (also ørendi, erindi) n errand, mission, its result

erfa <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to throw a funeral feast; inherit

erfiði n trouble, effort

erindi var of erendi

erja <er, arði, arinn> vb (3) to plough; scratch, scrape

Erlingr <-s> m Erling (personal name)

ert 2sg pres of vera; ertu = ert + þú

eru 3pl pres of vera

es older form of er

eta <etr, át, átu, etinn> vb (V) to eat

ey <dat ey~eyju, gen eyjar, pl eyjar> f island

eyða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to waste; spend; do away with, destroy; make empty; eyðask mid be squandered, come to naught

eygr adj ‘-eyed’, having eyes of a certain kind

eyna acc sg of ey+in, the island

eykr 2/3sg pres of auka

eykt f three in the afternoon

eyra <pl eyru> n ear

eyri var of eyrr

eyrir <acc/dat eyri, gen eyris, pl aurar, acc aura, dat aurum, gen aura> m ounce of silver or gold

eyrr (also eyri) <acc/dat eyri, gen eyrar, pl eyrar> f gravelly riverbank; small spit of land running into the sea

eyrun = eyru + in, see eyra

Eyrbyggjar m pl Settlers of Eyri (place name, see eyrr)

Eystrasalt n Baltic Sea

eystri comp adj of austr more eastern

Eystribyggð f Eastern Settlement (place name), part of Norse Greenland

Eyvindr <-ar> m Eyvind (personal name)

F

ñv faðir <acc fǫður, dat fǫður~feðr, gen fǫður, pl feðr, dat feðrum, gen feðra> m father

❖ fagr <f fǫgr, n fagrt, comp fegri, superl fegrstr> adj beautiful, fair, attractive

fagrt adv fairly

fala <-að-> vb to demand for purchase; fala [e-t] af [e-m] to offer to buy [sth] from [sb]

Falhófnir m Falhofnir (personal name) ‘Hidden-hoof’ (hidden by hair), or ‘Pale-hoof’, horse of the Æsir

❖ falla <fellr, fell~féll, fellu~féllu, fallinn> vb (VII) to fall; be killed; fallask mid fail

fann 1/3sg past of finna

fannsk 3sg past of finnask

❖ fara <ferr, fór, fóru, farinn> vb (VI) to go, travel; move; fara at go, proceed; put an end to; fara frá leave, back off, back away

farmaðr m seaman, seafarer, merchant

farmr m cargo

farþegi m passenger on a voyage

fast adv firmly

❖ fá <fær, fekk, fengu, fenginn> vb (VII) to get, obtain, take, procure; grasp; give; deliver; get a chance to, be allowed to, be able to; marry fekk konu got married, lit got a wife; fá góðar viðtǫkur receive a good welcome

Fáfnir m Fafnir, a son of Hreidmar who turns himself into a dragon, brother of Regin

fáir m nom pl of fár

fála f witch, hag; ‘frightener’ (nickname)

fáláðr adj silent, reserved, taciturn

❖ fár <f fá, n fátt, comp fær(r)i, superl fæstr> adj pron few; cold, reserved; fátt manna few men, lit few of men

fásénn adj rare

fátt see fár

fátœkr (also fátækr) adj poor, wretched

feðgar m pl father and son(s)

❖ feginn adj glad, joyful

fegr comp adv of fagrt more beautifully, more fairly

fegrð f beauty

fegrstr <f fegrst, n fegrst> superl adj of fagr most beautiful, most fair, most attractive

feigr adj fated to die

feitr adj fat

fekk 1/3sg past of fá

fela <felr, fal, fálu, fólginn> vb (IV) to hide, conceal

fell n hill, mountain

fell 1/3sg past of falla

fella <-di, -dr> vb (2) to fell

fellu 3pl past of falla

fengit ppart of fá (n nom/acc sg)

fengu 3pl past of fá

❖ ferð <pl -ir> f journey; conduct, behavior

ferma <-da, -dr> vb (2) to load, ferma [e-t] með [e-u] load [sth] with [sth]

ferr 2/3sg pres of fara

fertugandi ord num fortieth

feti m strider, stepper, pacer (name for a horse)

❖ fé <gen fjár, gen pl fjá> n cattle, sheep; livestock; wealth, money; can include property

félagi m partner, comrade, companion, friend

félítill adj short of money, poor

fémætr adj valuable

fénu = fé + inu

féþurfi adj indecl ‘in need of money’

❖ fimm <ord fimmti, fifth > num five

fim(m)tán <ord fim(m)tándi, fifteenth> num fifteen

fim(m)ti ord num fifth

fim(m)tíu <ord fim(m)tugandi> num fifty

fingr <gen fingrar~fingrs, pl fingr> m finger

❖ finna <finnr, fann, fundu, fundinn> vb (III) to find; discover; come across; finnask mid be found, be perceived, noticed; impers [w dat subj] be found, perceived, noticed by [sb]; fannsk mǫnnum orð um, and people commented on/about

Finnr m Finn (personal name)

firði dat sg of fjǫrðr

firr comp adv of fjarri further

first superl adv of fjarri farthest

fiskr m fish

fjaðralauss adj without feathers, featherless

fjaðrhamr m feather skin, coat, shape

fjall <pl fjǫll> n mountain

fjara <pl fjǫrur> f ebb-tide, ebb; shore, beach

fjarri <comp firr, superl first> adv far off

fjándi <gen fjánda; pl fjándr> m enemy

Fjón f Fyn, Denmark (place name)

fjórði ord num fourth

❖ fjórir <f fjórar, n fjǫgur, m acc fjóra, dat fjórum, gen fjǫgurra, ord fjórði, fourth > num four

fjórtán <ord fjórtándi, fourteenth> num fourteen

fjórum dat pl of fjórir

fjǫðr f feather

fjǫgur n nom/acc pl of fjórir

fjǫlð f multitude; poet [w gen] plenty of

fjǫlði m abundance

fjǫlkunnigr adj skilled in magic

fjǫlkyngi f magic, the black art, witchcraft, sorcery

❖ fjǫlmennr adj in a large group, numerous; with many people, well-attended

fjǫlmennt adv in crowds, in large numbers

fjǫr <dat fjǫrvi> n life

fjǫrðr <dat firði, gen fjarðar, pl firðir, acc fjǫrðu> m fjord

fjǫrlausn f ransom for one’s life; release from life

fjǫrsegi m life-morsel, heart

fjǫru acc/dat/gen of fjara

flagð <pl flǫgð> n ogress, giantess

flaki m wicker-work shield, barrier, or covering

flakka <-að-> vb (1) to roam, wander about (as a shepherd with his sheep)

flaska f flask; flǫsku-skegg bottle-beard (nickname); flǫsku-bakr bottle-back (nickname)

flatnefr adj flat-nosed (nickname)

flaut 1/3sg past of fljóta

flá <flær; fló, flógu; fleginn> vb (VI) to flay; strip (of clothes and of money)

fleginn ppart of flá

fleinn m pike, spear; dart, shaft; fluke of an anchor

fleiri comp adj of margr more

flestr superl adj of margr most

fljóta <flýtr, flaut, flutu, flotinn> vb (II) to float; skipit flaut the ship floated (at anchor)

fljúga <flýgr, fló~flaug, flugu, floginn> vb (II) to fly

Flosi m Flosi (personal name)

fló 1/3 sg past of fljúga

flǫskubakr m (nickname) Flask-Back

flutt ppart of flytja

fluttu 3pl past of flytja

flutu 3pl past of fljóta

fylgja <-di~ði, -dr, ðr> vb [w dat] to follow, accompany; help, side/go with

flygir see flygja

flytja <flutti, fluttr> vb (3) to convey, move, carry; bring, deliver; tell, recite

flýgr 2/3sg pres of fljúga

flýja <-ði, flýðr~flýiðr> vb (2) to flee

fnasa <-að-> vb (1) to snort

forðum adv formerly, of old

foringi m captain, commander, leader

formaðr (pl formenn) m captain, leader, chieftain, lit fore-man

formáli m stipulation, condition; preamble, foreword, preface

forráð n administration, management; til forráða for rulership

fors <pl -ar> m waterfall

forstjóri m overseer, leader

forstreymis adv downstream

fólginn ppart of fela

fólgit ppart of fela

fólk n folk, people; poet battle

Fólkaðr (also Fólkvarðr) <-ar> m Folkad (personal name)

fór 1/3sg past of fara

fóru 3pl past of fara

fóstr <gen fóstrs> n fostering of a child; taka til fóstrs take as a foster child; vera at fóstri be a foster-child, be in a fostering relationship

fóstri m foster-son, foster-father

❖ fótr <dat fœti, gen fótar, pl fœtr, acc fœtr> m foot, foot and leg

❖ fram <comp fremr~framar, superl fremst~framast> adv forward; further on

framan adv from the front; framan í hann in his face

framar (also fremr) comp adv of fram farthest forward

framast (also fremst) superl adv of fram farthest forward

frami m fame

frauð n froth; juice

❖ frá prep [w dat] from; about; adv away, away from; í frá away; þaðan frá from that point onward

frák = frá ek from fregna

fránn adj gleaming

fregna <fregn, frá, frágu, freginn> vb (V) to hear of, be informed; ask; frák (frá ek) I heard

fregnvíss adj curious

freista <-að-> vb (1) [w gen] to try, make trial of

fremr var of framar

fremst var of framast

frest n delay, respite; ljá [e-m] fresta give [sb]; respite

Freydís <acc/dat Freydísi, gen Freydísar> f Freydis (personal name)

freyða <-ddi, -tt> vb (2) to foam, froth

Freyja f fertility goddess

frétt <pl -ir> f news

friðr <dat friði, gen friðar> m peace

Frigg f Frigg, a goddess, wife of Odin

frilla f mistress, concubine

fríðastr superl of fríðr

❖ fríðr <f fríð, n frítt> adj beautiful, handsome, fine

frost n frost

Fróði m Frodi (personal name)

fróðr <n frótt> adj wise

frumvaxta adj indecl ‘in one’s prime’, early come into one´s prime’, full-grown

frú <frú~frúar, frúr> f mistress, lady

frægr adj well-known

❖ frændi <pl frændr> m kinsman, relative, friend

frœði (also fræði) f knowledge

Frøysteinn (also Freysteinn) <-s> m Froystein (personal name)

fugl <-s, -ar> m bird

fuglakyn f family or species of bird

fuglarǫdd (fuglsrǫdd) )f speech of birds (speech of a bird)

❖ fullr adj full

fullsteikinn ppart fully roasted

fundinn ppart of finna (m nom sg)

fundnir ppart of finna (m nom pl)

❖ fundr <-ar, -ir> m meeting; gathering; finding, discovery; koma á fund [e-s] come to a meeting with [sb]

fundu 3pl past of finna

funi m flame

fúna <-að-> vb (1) to rot, decay

fúss adj eager fúss [e-s] eager for [sth]

fylgð f help, support; guidance; party, followers

fylgja <fylgði, fylgt> vb (2) [w dat] to accompany; follow; help, side with

fylki n province

fylkja <-ti, -t> vb (2) [w dat] to draw up (in battle array)

fylla <-di, -dr> vb (2) to fill; complete; fulfill

fyr var of fyrir prep for, in memory of

❖ fyrir (also fyr) prep [w acc/dat] before, in front of; along; against; before, preceding, ago; above, superior to; for, on behalf of; because of; instead of; by, by means of; [w acc only] in spite of, against; [w dat only] at the head of (leading); fyrir borð overboard; fyrir fram [w acc] forward; fyrir innan [w acc] inside; fyrir neðan [w acc] below; fyrir ofan [w acc] above; fyrir útan [w acc] outside; out beyond; fyrir adv ahead, in front, before; first, before; at hand, present; vera þar fyrir be there present; fyrir því at conj because; [of place] fyrir austan in the east; east of; fyrir vestan in the west; [of time] í fyrra vetr last winter; lítill fyrir sér insignificant

fyrirbjóða <-býðr, -bauð, -buðu, -boðinn> vb (II) to forbid

fyr(ir)nema <-nemr, -nam, -námu, -numinn> vb (IV) to deprive one of speech, make silent

❖ fyrr comp adv before, previously, sooner; at first; fyrr en conj before, sooner than, until

❖ fyrri comp adj former, previous; comp adv (= fyrr) before, previously, sooner; rather than

fyrrum adv formerly, before

fyrst superl adv of fyrr first

❖ fyrstr superl adj of fyrri first

fyrstr ord first

fýsa <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to urge

fær 3sg pres of fá

fær(r)i comp adj of fár fewer

fœddisk 2/3sg past of fœðask was born; grew up

fœða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to feed; rear, bring up; fœða upp bring up; fœðask mid grow up, be brought up; be born; feed oneself, be fed; fœðask upp grow up, be brought up

fœra <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to bring, present, convey, send, give

fœtr nom/acc pl of fót

fǫður acc/dat/gen sg of faðir

fǫðurkyn n father’s kin

fǫðurmóðir m father’s mother, grandmother

fǫðursystir f father’s sister, aunt

fǫgr f nom sg of fagr

fǫr f fare, journey; expedition

fǫrum 1pl pres of fara

G

gaf 1/3sg past of gefa

gakk imp of ganga go!, walk!

gala <gelr, gól, gólu, galinn> vb (VI) to scream; howl; crow; chant

galeið <pl galeiðr~galeiðir> f galley

galnir ppart of gala (m nom pl)

❖ gamall <acc gamlan, f gǫmul, n gamalt, comp ellri~eldri, superl ellztr~elztr~ellstr~eldstr> adj old

gaman <dat gamni> n game, sport; pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy

Gamli m Gamli, the Old One (personal name)

❖ ganga <gengr, gekk, gengu, genginn> vb (VII) to walk; go; ganga af leave, go from; ganga á [e-t] encroach upon [sth]; ganga til go up to, go toward

ganga <gen gǫngu> f walk, go, move, course, procession

Gangleri m Gangleri (mythological name) Wanderer, false name adopted by the Swedish king Gylfi

garðr <-s, -ar> m enclosed space, yard; fence; court; stronghold, castle

garpr <-s, -ar> m bold, daring, courageous, or warlike man or woman

gata <gen gǫtu, pl gǫtur> f way, path, road

gaumr m attention, heed; gefa at [e-u] gaum pay attention to [sth]

Gautar m pl the Goths

Gautr <-s> m Gaut (personal name)

gáfu 3pl past of gefa

gás <gásar, gæss> f goose

❖ gefa <gefr, gaf, gáfu, gefinn> vb (V) to give, grant

gefandi <gefanda, gefendr> m giver

gefit ppart of gefa (n nom/acc sg)

gegn (also í gegn) prep [w dat] against

gegnum (also í gegnum, í gǫgnum) prep [w acc] through

geirr m spear

Geitir <-is> m Geitir (personal name)

gekk 1/3sg past of ganga

geldingr <-s, -ar> m wether, gelded sheep

gengr 2/3sg pres of ganga

gengu 3pl past of ganga

❖ gera (also gøra) <-ði, -ðr > vb (2) to make; do, act; gera sér mikit um [e-n] make much of or admire [sb]; gerask mid become, come to pass, occur, happen

gerða <-ð> vb to fence in

gerði 3sg past of gera

gerðisk 3sg past mid of gera

gerðu 3pl past of gera

gert ppart of gera (n nom/acc sg)

gestr <-s, -ir> m guest

❖ geta <getr, gat, gátu, getinn> vb (V) to get; beget [w gen] speak of, mention; [hon] man láta getit [she] will have it told; þess er getit impers it is told; [w ppart of another verb] be able to; geta veiddan fisk be able to catch fish; impers [w dat subj] getask at [e-m/e-u] like, love [sb/sth]

geyja <3pl past gó> defective vb to bark; geyja á [e-n] abuse [sb]

gildr adj worthy, great; of full value; [w dat] valued at

Gimlé m Gimle, hall inhabited by Light Elves

ginning f deception, tricking

Ginnlaug <-ar> f Ginnlaug (personal name)

Ginnungagap n Ginnungagap, yawning or gaping void, primeval void from which the world is created

gipta <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to give away in marriage

Gizurr m Gizur (personal name) Gizurr inn hvíti Gizur the White

gígja f fiddle (nickname)

gína <gínr, gein, ginu, ginit> vb (I)to gape, yawn

gísl m bailiff; warder; hostage

gjald n tribute; payment; reward; compensation; wergeld

gjalda <geldr, galt, guldu, goldinn> vb (III)to pay, repay; give; [w gen] pay for, suffer on account of

gjalla <gellr, gall, gullu, gollinn> vb (III) to yell, scream

Gjallarbrú f Gjallarbru (place name) Gjǫll Bridge, bridge on the way to Hel

Gjallarhorn n Gjallarhorn, Yelling Horn, horn blown by the god Heimdall to announce the beginning of Ragnarok

gjarn adj eager, willing

gjarna (also gjarnan) adv eagerly, willingly, very much

gjósa <gýsr, gaus, gusu, gosinn> vb (II) to gush, burst out; erupt

glaðmæltr adj cheerful in speech

glaðr adj glad, cheerful

Glenr m Glen (personal name) horse of the Æsir or the husband of Sól (Sun)

gleypa <-ti, -tr> vb (2)to swallow

Glitnir m Glitnir, silver hall belonging to the god Forseti

glóa <-að-> vb (1) to glow, shine, glitter

glymja <glymr, glumdi, glumiðr> vb (3) to dash noisily, clatter, rattle, clash

gnaga <-að-> vb (1)to gnaw

gnesta <gnestr, gnast, gnustu, gnostinn> vb (III) to crack, clash

Gnitaheiðr f Gnitaheath, the health where Fafnir, as a dragon, lies upon great wealth

gnúa <gnýr, gneri, gneru, gnúinn> vb (VII) to rub

goð n god

goði m chieftain; priest

goðorð n chieftaincy

Gormr <-s> m Gorm, first king of the Jelling dynasty in Denmark (personal name)

gott see góðr

góðan m acc sg of góðr

❖ góðr <f góð, n gott; comp betri, superl beztr> adj good

gólf n floor

graðungr (also griðungr) <-s, -ar> m bull

grafa <grefr, gróf, grófu, grafinn> vb (VI) to dig

Gramr m name of a sword

granahár n whisker

Grani m Grani, name of Sigurd’s horse

grannligr adj slender, slim

graptar see grǫptr

gras n grass; herb

Grágás f ‘Grey-Goose’, laws of early Iceland

grár adj gray; spiteful, malicious

gráta <grætr, grét, grétu, grátinn> vb (VII) to weep, cry

grátr <-s> m weeping

greiða <-ddi, ddr> vb (2) to comb, unravel; prepare; speed, hasten; pay

Grettir m Grettir (personal name)

grey <gen pl greyja> n dog, greyhound; bitch

grét 1/3sg past of gráta

grið n pl terms of peace

griðungr var of graðungr

Grikland n Greece, Byzantine Empire

Griklandseyjar f pl Greek Islands

Griklandshaf n Aegean Sea

grimmastr superl of grimmr most cruel, mose severe

grimmr adj cruel, savage; severe, stern

gripr <-ar, -ir> m (costly) thing, treasure

Grímr <-s> m Grim (personal name)

Grímnir <-s> m Grimnir (personal name) ‘Masked One’, one of Odin’s names

grípa <grípr, greip, gripu, gripinn> vb (I)to grasp, seize

grjót n stone; hail of stones

gróa <grœr, greri~grøri, greru~grøru, gróinn> vb (VII) to grow; heal

grund f green field; ground; poet the earth, green earth; Atals grund land of Atal (kenning for ‘sea’)

grunnr <-s, -ar> m bottom (of the sea or other body of water)

græða (also grœða) <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to make grow; heal; increase

Grœnland n Greenland

Grœnlendingr <-s, -ar> m Greenlander

grœnn adj green

grœr 2/3sg pres of gróa

grǫf <gen grafar; pl grafir~grafar> f pit; grave

grǫftr var of grǫptr

grǫptr (also grǫftr) <dat grepti, gen graptar> m digging, burial

guð m God (also goð)

Guðbjǫrg <acc/dat -bjǫrgu, gen -bjargar> f Gudbjorg (personal name)

Guðbrandr <-s> m Gudbrand (personal name)

Guðmarr <-s> m Gudmar (personal name)

Guðormr <-s> m Gudorm (personal name)

Guðrún <-ar> f Gudrun (personal name)

Guðrøðr <-s> m Gudrod (personal name)

gufa f steam, vapor

gull n gold

gullband n golden collar

gullbaugr m gold ring

gullhring n gold ring

gullhyrndr adj golden-horned, with horns of gold

gullrekinn ppart inlaid with gold

Gulltoppr m Gulltopp (personal name) ‘Gold Tuft’ or ‘Gold Mane’, horse of the Æsir

Gunnarr <-s> m Gunnar (personal name)

Gunnfúss <-ar> m Gunnfus (personal name)

Gunnhildr <acc/dat Gunnhildi, gen Gunnhildar> f Gunnhild (personal name)

Gunnlaugr <-s> m Gunnlaug (personal name)

Guthormr <-s> m Guthorm (personal name)

Gyða f Gyda (personal name)

gyðja f priestess

gyldr adj gilded; hafði gyldan hjálm had a gilded/golden helmet

gyldr ppart of gylla

Gylfi m Gylfi, king in Sweden, name of a Viking (personal name)

gylla <-di~ti, -dr~tr > vb (2) to gild

Gyllir m Golden or Yeller (mythological name) horse of the Æsir and a jǫtunn name

gyrða <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to gird, put on

Gyrgir m Gyrgir, Greek general Georgios Maniakes

gýgr f giantess

Gýríðr <acc/dat Gýríði, gen Gýríðar> f Gyrid (personal name)

gæfumunr m difference in fortune, turn or shift of luck

gæta <gætti, gætt> vb (4) [w gen] to watch, tend, take care of

gætir <-is, -ar> m keeper, guard

Gætir <-ir> m Gaetir (personal name)

❖ gǫfugr <m acc gǫfgan, comp gǫfgari, superl gǫfgastr> adj noble

gǫgnum var of gegnum

gǫngu see ganga

Gǫngu-Hrólfr m Hrolf the Walker (personal name)

gøra (also gǫra) <-ði, -ðr~gørr> vb (2) (var of gera)

gǫrr adj and ppart of gera/gøra/gǫra (acc görvan); accomplished,skilled; done

H

haf n sea, the high sea; vestr um haf westwards over the sea

❖ hafa <hef(i)r, hafði, haft> vb (2) to have; hold, keep; take; hafa [e-t] í hendi hold [sth] in one’s hand; hafa [e-t] með sér take, bring [sth] with one

hafði 3sg past of hafa

hafr <gen hafrs, pl hafrar> m goat

Hafrsfjǫrðr m Hafrsfjord (place name); í Hafrsfirði in Hafrsfjord

hafskip n ocean-going ship

hagi m field, meadow

hagliga adv neatly, adeptly, skillfully

hagr adj skilled, handy

hagr m state, condition, affairs; means

Haki m Haki (personal name)

haklangr adj long-chinned

❖ halda <heldr, helt~hélt, heldu~héldu, haldinn> vb (VII) [w dat] to hold; keep, retain; halda undan fly, flee; halda sveit hold command over a troop; halda upp hold up; halda við [e-m] stand or hold against [sth]; haldask mid hold out, last, remain in force [such as a judgement]

Halla <acc/dat/gen Hǫllu> f Halla (personal name)

Halland n Halland, Denmark (place name), now part of Sweden

Hallbjǫrn m Hallbjorn (personal name)

Hallfríðr f Hallfrid (personal name)

Hallgerðr <acc/dat Hallgerði, gen Hallgerðar> f Hallgerd (personal name)

Hallkatla <acc/dat/gen Hallkǫtlu> f Hallkatla (personal name)

hallr <f hǫll, n hallt> adj leaning, sloping; hallr í gǫngu stooped, walking with a stoop

Hallvarðr <-s> m Hallvard (personal name)

hallæri n famine

hamarr <dat hamri, gen hamars, pl hamrar, acc hamra, dat hǫmrum, gen hamra> m hammer

hamr <dat hami~ham, gen hams, pl hamir> m skin, shape

hana acc sg of hon

handa gen pl of hǫnd, see also til handa

handan prep on the other side of

❖ hann <acc hann, dat honum, gen hans> pron he

hans poss pron his

hans gen of hann

hanzki m glove

Haraldr <-s> m Harald (personal name); Haraldr blátǫnn Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark (958–987); Haraldr harðráði Harald the Ruthless, Norwegian King (1045–1066); Haraldr hárfagri Harald Fairhair (also Haraldr lúfa Harald Shaggyhair) Norwegian king who reigned from ca. 860–930; Klakk-Haraldr Klakk-Harald

harðhugaðr adj ruthless, resolute

❖ harðr <f hǫrð, n hart> adj hard, difficult, severe

harðráðr adj hard in council; ruthless; tyrannical,

harðskeytr adj hard shooting, of an archer

Hasvimýrar m pl Hasvimyrar (place name)

Hati m Hati, wolf that pursues the moon

Hattar see Hǫttr

haugr <-s, -ar> m burial mound

haukr <-s, -ar> m hawk

hauss m skull

haust n autumn, harvest season

hausta <-að> vb (1) to draw near to autumn

Hábrók f Habrok (personal name)

hádegi n midday, noon

Háey f the Island of Hoy (place name)

Hákon <-ar> m Hakon (personal name); Hákon jarl Grjótgarðsson m Earl Hakon, son of Grjotgard, Stone-Fence; Hákon Hlaðajarl Hakon, Earl of Lade

Hálfdanarhaugar m pl Halfdan’s mounds

Hálfdanr <-ar> m Halfdan (personal name); Hálfdanr svarti Halfdan the Black, 9th century Norwegian king and father of Harald Shaggyhair/Fairhair

Hálfdanarhaugar m pl Halfdan’s mounds

❖ hálfr adj half

hálfsagðr <f hálfsǫgð> adj half-told

háls <gen háls, pl hálsar> m neck

hánum var of honum

hár <f há, n hátt, dat pl há(vu~fu)m, comp hæri, superl hæstr> adj high, tall, long; loud

Hár m High, one of the three interrogators of King Gylfi

hár n hair

hárfagr adj fair-haired (nickname)

hásæti n high-seat, throne, seat of honor

hátt adv loudly; hafa hátt make an outcry

háttatal n list of meters or verse forms

háva f acc sg strong of hár

hávu n dat sg of hár

heðan (also héðan) adv from here, hence; heðan af from now on, henceforth

Heðinn (also Héðinn) <acc Heðin, dat Heðni, gen Heðins> m Hedin (personal name); Héðinn Hjarrandason m Hedin Hjarrandi’s son

hefir 2/3sg hafa [also hefr]

hefði 3sg/pl past subjunct of hafa

hefja <hefr, hóf, hófu, hafinn> vb (VI) to lift up, raise, heave; hence to begin, esp hefja upp + acc [hefja upp kvæði to begin to recite a poem]; to hold, open an event [hefja blót hold sacrifices, begin the season of sacrifices]

hefna <-di, -dr> vb (2) [w gen] to avenge, take revenge

hegat var of hingat

Heiðarbær (also Heiða(r)býr) m Hedeby (place name) trade center in Denmark

heiðinn <m acc heiðinn> adj heathen, pagan

Heiðmǫrk f Heidmork (place name)

heiðr <acc/dat heiði, gen heiðar, pl heiðar> f heath, moor

Heiðrún m Heidrun, goat that gives mead in Valhǫll

heilagr <f heilǫg, n heilagt; m acc helgan> adj holy; protected

❖ heill adj hale, sound, healthy, unscathed; healed; blessed, happy; whole, complete

heilsa <-að-> vb (1) [w dat] to greet

❖ heim adv home, homeward (motion toward)

heima adv home, at home (position)

heiman adv from home

Heimdallr <-s> m watchman god, who guards the rainbow-bridge; one of the Æsir

heimr <-s, -ar> m world; earth

Heimskringla f ‘Orb of the World’, work by Snorri Sturluson

heimta <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to recover; claim

heit n promise

❖ heita <heitr, hét, hétu, heitinn> vb (VII) to call, give a name to; call, call on; (intrans w pres heitir) be called, be named; [w dat] promise

heiti n name; synonym

heitr adj hot

Hekja f Hekja (personal name)

hel <dat helju, gen heljar> f Hel, realm of the dead, separate from Valhalla, and ruled over by a goddess of the same name; death; ljósta í hel to strike into hel

❖ heldr comp adv rather; [after neg] on the contrary; heldr við aldr rather old, on in years

Helga f Helga (personal name)

Helgadalr <-s> m Helgadal (place name) Helgi’s Valley

Helgi m Helgi (personal name)

helgistaðr m holy place

hella <gen pl hellna> f flat stone, slate

hellusteinn m flat slab of rock, flagstone

helmingr m half; í helminga in halves; equally

helzk 1/3sg past of haldask

helzt superl adv most rather, most of all

henda <hendi, -dr> vb (2) to catch, pick up, reach; henda [e-t] augum catch [sth]; henda mikit gaman at [e-u] take great interest in [sth]

hendi dat of hǫnd

Hengjankjapta f Hengjankjapta, giantess killed by Thor

hennar gen sg of hon her, hers

henni dat sg of hon

heppinn adj lucky, fortunate; Leifr inn heppni Leif the Lucky

hepta <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to bind, fetter; hold back, restrain

herað (also hérað) <pl heruð~herǫð> n district, country

herðar f pl shoulders, upper part of back

herfang n booty; at herfangi as booty

herja <-að-> vb (1) to raid, harry; make war

Herjólfr <-s> m Herjolf (personal name)

Herjólfsfjǫrðr m Herjolfsfjord (place name), Herjólf’s Fjord

Herjólfsnes n Herjolfsnes (place name), Herjolf’s Headland

Herjólfssonar m gen ‘of the son of Herjolf’

herkonungr m warrior-king

Herlu-Bjarni Arnfinnsson m Herlu-Bjarni, son of Arnfinn (personal name)

hermaðr m warrior

hernaðr <-ar> m plundering, raid

herr <-jar, -jar> m army, troops

hersir <-is, -ar> m regional military leader in Norway; chieftain; hersins m sing gen of the leader

herskapr m harrying, warfare

hertogi m commander; duke

hervápn n pl weapons

❖ hestr <-s, -ar> m horse; stallion

heygja <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to bury in a mound

heyra <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to hear

héðan var of heðan

Héðinn var of Heðinn

❖ hér adv here (position)

hérað var of herað

hét 1/3sg past of heita

Hildr f Hild (personal name) battle

Himinbjǫrg n pl Himinbjorg, place where Bifrǫst enters Ásgarðr

himinn <dat himni, gen himins, pl himnar> m sky; heaven

himintungl n heavenly body

hingat (also hegat) adv to here, hither; hingat til hitherto, up to this time, until now

❖ hinn <f hin, n hitt> dem pron the other one; á hinn fótinn on the other foot

hinn, hin, hit art = inn, in, it

hinna f membrane

hirð f king’s or earl’s bodyguard; the king’s men, retainers

hirða <-rði, -rðr> vb (2) to mind, care for, hide, conceal; keep in a box or chest

hirðir <-is, -ar> m herdsman

hirðmaðr (pl hirðmenn) m king’s man, retainer

hirtir n pl of hjǫrtr

hitta <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to meet with, hit upon; hit; hittask mid meet one another

Hjaðningavíg n Fight of the Hjadnings

Hjaðningr <pl Hjaðningar> m a Hjadning

hjalt n hilt; sword guard; pommel

Hjalti m Hjalti (personal name)

Hjarðarholt n Hjardarholt, Herd’s Hill (place name)

hjarta <pl hjǫrtu> n heart

hjartablóð n heart’s blood

❖ hjá prep [w dat] by, near, beside; with, at one’s place; in comparison with

hjálmr <-s, -ar> m helm, helmet

hjálp f help

hjálpa <helpr, halp~hjalp, hulpu, hólpinn> vb (III) [w dat] to help, save

Hjálprekr m legendary king

hjó 1/3sg past of hǫggva

Hjǫrdís <-ar> f Hjordis (personal name)

hjǫrtr <dat hirti, gen hjartar; pl hirtir, acc hjǫrtu> m hart, stag

❖ hlaupa <hleypr, hljóp, hljópu~hlupu, hlaupinn> vb (VII) to leap, spring; run; hlaupa at [e-m] leap at, assault [sb]

hlaut 1/3sg past of hljóta

Hleiðargarðr m Hleiðargard, the court of Hrolf kraki

Hleiðra (Hleiðr) m modern Lejre in Denmark; royal seat of king Hrolf Kraki

Hliðskjálf f Hlidskjalf, the seat on which Odin sits in his hall Valaskjálf

hlíð <pl -ir> f mountain-side, slope

Hlíðarendi m Hlidarendi, Slope’s End (place name)

hlíf <pl hlífar> f shield, cover, protection

hlífa <-ði, -t> vb (2) [w dat] to protect, shelter; show mercy

hlífðit = hlífði + t (negative suffix)

Hlífsteinn <-s> m Hlifstein (personal name)

hljóta <hlýtr, hlaut, hlutu, hlotinn> vb (II) to be allocated, receive

hljóp 1/3sg past of hlaupa

hljópu (also hlupu) 3pl past of hlaupa

hló 1/3sg past of hlæja

Hlórriði m poet Thor

hluti m part

❖ hlutr <-ar, -ir> m lot; thing

hlæja <hlær, hló, hlógu, hleginn> vb (VII) to laugh

hníga <hnígr, hné~hneig, hnigu, hniginn> vb (I)to sink, fall gently

hnúka <-ði~ti, -ðr~tr> vb (2) to sit cowering

hnykkja <-ti, -tr> vb (2) [w dat] to pull violently, yank

hof n temple (frequently a name for a farm)

Hof n Hof (place name)

Hofsland n Hof estate

Hofsverjar m pl people of Hof

holr <m acc holan> adj hollow

holt n wood, forest; rough stony hill or ridge

❖ hon <acc hana, dat henni, gen hennar> pron she

honum (also hánum) dat sg of hann

horfa <-ði, horft> vb (2) to turn, look (in a particular direction); horfa á [e-t] look at [sth]

horfinn ppart of hverfa

horn n horn, drinking horn; corner

horskr adj wise

hóf m moderation; judgement

hófsmaðr m man of moderation

hófu 3pl past of hefja

hógværr adj gentle

hóll (var of hváll) <-s, -ar> m hill, hillock, knoll

Hóll <-s> m Hol, hill (place name)

Hólmfastr <-s> m Holmfast (personal name)

Hólmgarðr <-s> m Holmgard (place name, modern Novgorod)

Hólmgarðsfari m voyager to Hólmgarðr

Hólmgautr <-s> m Holmgaut (personal name)

Hólmgeirr <-s> m Holmgeir (personal name)

hraðfara adj indecl swift

hrafn <-s, -ar> m raven

hregg n storm, storm and rain

hreða (also hrœða) f menace; disturbance

Hreiðarr <-s> m Hreidar (personal name)

Hreiðmarr <-s> m Hreidmar (personal name); the father of Otr, Fafnir and Regin

hreinn adj fresh; pure; clean; bright

hreinn <-s, -ar> m reindeer

hreystimaðr m valiant man, champion

Hringaríki n Hringariki (place name) Ringerike

hrista <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to shake

hríð <pl -ir> f time, while; storm or tempest; attack, battle; litla hríð for a little while

hrím n rime

Hrímþursar m pl Frost Giants

hrís n shrubbery, brushwood

Hrotti m name of a sword

Hróðgeirr <-s> m Hrodgeir (personal name)

Hrólfr <-s> m Hrolf (personal name); Hrólfr kraki Hrolf Kraki, legendary Danish king

hrósa <-að-> vb (1) [w dat] to praise; boast (of)

hrukku 3pl past of hrøkkva

Hrungnir <-s> m Hrungnir, giant killed by Thor with his hammer

hrútr m ram

Hrútr <-s> m Hrut (personal name) Ram

Hrútsstaðir m Hrutsstadir (place name) Hrut’s Farmstead

hrynja <hrundi, hruninn> vb (III) to fall, collapse; flow, stream; fall loosely (of clothing); látum und honum hrynja lukla let keys jingle about him; hrynja á hæla [e-m] shut the door on [sb]

hræ <pl gen hræva> n dead body, corpse, carrion

hræddr adj afraid, frightened

hræða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) [w acc] to frighten; hræðask mid be frightened; hræðask [e-t] be afraid of [sth]

Hrœrekr <-s> m Hroerek (personal name)

hrøkkva <hrøkkr~hrekkr, hrǫkk, hrukku, hrokkinn> vb (VII) to fall back, recoil

hugkvæmr adj clever, crafty

hugr <dat hug~hugi, gen hugar, pl hugir> m mind; mood, heart, temper

hugsjúkr adj distressed, anxious, worried

hulðu 3pl past of hylja

hunangsfall f honey-dew

hundr <-s, -ar> m hound, dog

hundrað <pl hundruð> n hundred (usu followed by noun in gen) (tólfrætt hundrað = 120, tírætt hundrað = 100)

hungr <-rs> m (n in younger texts) hunger; svelta hungri starve, die of hunger

❖ hús n house

húsabœr m farmstead

húsbóndi m husband; master of the house (from hús + bóndi)

húsfreyja (also hýsfreyja) f housewife, lit house-lady

❖ húskarl m servant, farmhand, houseman [house-carle]; king’s man, retainer, follower

hvaðan adv from where, whence

hvalkváma f stranding of a whale

hvalnum dat sg w art hvalr + inum, the whale

hvalr <gen hvals, pl hvalar~hvalir> m whale

hvalrif n whale-rib

❖ hvar interrog adv where; hvar sem wherever

hvargi adv everywhere; hvargi sem wherever, wheresoever

hvass <f hvǫss, n hvasst> adj sharp, keen

hvat interrog pron what

hváll (also hóll) <-s, -ar> m hill, hillock, knoll

❖ hvárgi <n hvárki~hvártki> adj pron neither (of two); conj hvárki...né neither...nor

hvárki n of hvárgi

❖ hvárr interrog pron who, which (of two); indef pron each (of two)

❖ hvárrtveggi indef pron each of the two

❖ hvárt interrog adv whether; hvárt sem~hvárt er conj whether

hvártki see hvárgi

hvárumtveggjum dat pl of hvárrtveggi

hveim dat of a defective pron to whom, for whom

hverfa <hverfr, hvarf, hurfu, horfinn> vb (III)to be lost, be missing; disappear

Hvergelmir m Hvergelmir Seething Well, home of Niðhǫggr and source of the rivers in Niflheimr

hvergi (also hverrgi) pron each, every one

hvergi (also hverrgi) adv nowhere; [w gen] nowhere on; hverrgi var nowhere was

hverir m nom pl of hverr

hvern m acc sg of hverr

hvernig (also hvernug) adv how

❖ hverr <f hver, n hvert> interrog pron who, which; indef pron each, every, all; geyja at hverjum manni, bark at each man

hverju n dat sg of hverr

hhverjum m dat sg & pl dat of hverr

hverrgi see hvergi;

❖ hversu interrog adv how, just how

hvert adv to where, whither; hvert er whithersoever

hvetja <hvet, hvatta, hvǫttu, hvattr> vb (3) to whet, sharpen; encourage

hvé adv how

Hvinir m Hvinir (place name)

hví interrog adv why

hvítr <f hvít, n hvítt, comp hvítari, superl hvítastr> adj white

hyggja <hugði, hugðr~hugaðr> vb (3) to think, believe; hyggja at [e-u] look at, consider [sth]

hygði 3sg/pl past subjunct of hyggja

hykk = hygg ek

hylja <hulði~huldi, huliðr~huldr> vb (3) to bury, cover over, conceal, hide

hylli f loyalty, allegiance, favor

Hyrrokkin f Hyrrokkin, a giantess killed by Thor

hýsfreyja (var of húsfreyja) f housewife

Hærukollr m Grey-Streak (nickname)

hæstr superl adj of hár highest

hætta <-tti, -tt> vb [w dat] (2) to risk, stake

hœgr adj easy, convenient

hœgri comp adj of hœgr right; on the right; the right hand

hœla <-di, hœlt> vb (4) [w dat] to praise, flatter, boast of

Hœnir m Hoenir, god

hœta <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to threaten

hǫfðingi <gen -ja, pl -jar> m leader; chieftain; captain

hǫfn <gen hafnar, pl hafnir> f holding, possession; harbor

❖ hǫfuð <dat hǫfði, pl dat hǫfðum, gen hǫfða> n head

hǫfuðsbani m death

hǫfuðstaðr m chief place; capital

hǫgg <dat hǫggvi> n blow, stroke, chop; beheading, execution

hǫgg 2sg imper of hǫggva

hǫggspjót n broad-bladed spear

❖ hǫggva <høggr, hjó, hjoggu~hjuggu, hǫgg(v)inn> vb (VII) to strike (a blow), chop, hack, hew

hǫggvi 3sg/pl subjunct of hǫggva; dat sg of hǫgg

Hǫgni m Hogni (personal name)

hǫll <dat hǫllu, gen hallar, pl hallir> f hall

Hǫllu see Halla

❖ hǫnd <acc hǫnd, dat hendi, gen handar, pl hendr, dat hǫndum, gen handa> f hand; af hendi [e-s] on behalf of [sb]

hǫrð f nom & n nom/acc pl of harðr

Hǫrða-Knútr <-s> m Horda-Knut (personal name)

Hǫrðaland n Hordaland (place name)

hǫrr <dat hǫrvi~hǫrr> m flax, linen

Hǫskuldr <-s> m Hoskuld (personal name)

Hǫskuldsstaðir m pl Hoskuldsstadir Hoskuld’s Farmstead (place name)

Hǫttr <dat Hetti, gen Hattar> m Hott (personal name) Hood (the Masked One)

I

iðjumaðr m hard-working man

igða f nuthatch

❖ illa <comp verr, superl verst> adv badly, ill

❖ illr <comp verri, superl verstr> adj bad, evil

illska f badness

illt f evil (treatment)

Ingibjǫrg <gen Ingibjargar> f Ingibjorg (personal name); Ingibjǫrg Hróðgeirsdóttir ins hvíta Ingibjorg, daughter of Hrodgeir the White

Ingjaldr <-s> m Ingjald (personal name); Ingjaldr tryggvi Ingjald the True

Ingólfr <-s> m Ingolf (personal name)

❖ inn <comp innarr, superl innst> adv in, into (motion toward)

inn, in, it art the

inna <-ti, -tr> relate, tell; inna til [e-s] make mention of [sb]

innan prep [w gen] within; inside, indoors; innan adv from within, outward

innanlands adv within the land, at home (as opposed to abroad)

inni adv within, inside; in-doors

it n of inn

Í

ñ❖ í prep [w acc] into (motion); during (time); [w dat] in, within, at (position)

í braut (also í brott) adv away

í gǫgnum var of gegnum

í móti var of móti

í nánd adv nearby

í samt adv in a row

í sundr adv asunder

í því adv at that time

íkorni m squirrel

Írakonungr m King of the Irish

Írland n Ireland

írskr adj Irish

Ísland n Iceland

Íslendingabók f Book of the Icelanders

íslenzkr adj Icelandic

íss <gen íss, pl ísar> m ice

Ívarr <-s> m Ivar (personal name)

J

jafn <f jǫfn, n jafnt> adj even, equal

jafna <-að-> vb (1) to smooth, even out, tidy, trim; make equal (in comparisons), equate; jafna [e-u] til [e-s] liken [sth] to [sth]

jafnan adv always; constantly, equally

jafnberr adj equally exposed, naked, or unprotected

jafndjúpvitr adj as deep-witted, as deep-scheming, as resourceful

jafngamall adj as old, of the same age

Jafnhár m Just-as-High, one of three interrogators of King Gylfi

jafnmikill adj equally great

jafnungr adj as young

jarðar see jǫrð

❖ jarl <-s, -ar> m earl

jarlsríki n earldom

jartegn n token, evidence, proof (of a thing)

járn n iron

Jófríðr <acc/dat Jófríði, gen Jófríðar> f Jofrid (personal name)

jól n pl Yule, Yuletide, great midwinter feast in heathen times, later applied to Christmas

Jórvík f York (place name)

Jótland n Jutland (place name); Jótlandshaf ‘Jutland Sea’, Kattegat

jǫkull <dat jǫkli, gen jǫkuls, pl jǫklar> m glacier; ice; icicle

jǫrð <dat jǫrðu, gen jarðar; pl jarðir> f earth; land, ground

Jǫrð f Earth, as goddess and mother of Thor

Jǫrmungandr m Jormungand, name of the Midgard Serpent, the world serpent

jǫtunheimar m pl land of giants

jǫtunn <dat jǫtni, gen jǫtuns, pl jǫtnar> m giant

K

kaðall <dat kaðli, gen kaðals, pl kaðlar> m cable, twisted rope

kala <kell, kól, kólu, kalinn> vb (VI) impers [w acc] to freeze

Kaldbak n Cold-Back Mountain

Kaldbeklingar m pl men of Kaldbak

kaldr <f kǫld, n kalt> adj cold

❖ kalla <-að-> vb (1) to call

kallaðir ppart of kalla (m nom pl)

kallaðr ppart of kalla (m nom sg)

kambr <-s, -ar> m comb

kann 1/3sg pres of kunna

kanna <-að-> vb (1) to search, explore, find out about; to know, recollect; kannask við [e-t] recognize [sth]

kappi m champion

karfi m fast coastal rowing ship

karl <-s, -ar> m man; old man; Þorsteinn karl old Thorstein, old man Thorstein

Karlstefni m Karlstefni (personal name)

kasta <-að-> vb (1) to throw, cast

kaupa <keypti, keyptr> (3) vb to buy

kaupmaðr (pl kaupmenn) m merchant

kaupstefna f market

Kári Sǫlmundarson m Kari Solmundarson (personal name)

kátalaktús see Michael kátalaktús

kátr adj cheerful

Keila f Keila, a giantess killed by Thor

kemr 3sg pres of koma

kenna <-di, -dr> vb (2) to know, recognize; feel; attribute; teach

kennimaðr <-manns, -menn> m priest, cleric; lit teacher

kenning f poetic periphrasis or metaphor

kenningarnafn n nickname

kent ppart of kenna

ker n vat, tub, vessel

kerling f old woman

Ketill <-s> m Ketil (personal name)

keypti 3sg past of kaupa

kirkja f church

Kjallandi f Kjallandi, a giant killed by Thor

Kjartan <-s> m Kjartan (personal name)

Kjarvalr <-s> m Kjarval (personal name)

kjóll m ship (poet)

kjósa <kýss, kaus~køri, kusu~kuru~køru, kørinn~kosinn> vb (VII) to choose

Kjǫtvi m Kjotvi (personal name); Kjǫtvi inn auðgi Kjotvi the wealthy

klaka <-að-> vb (1) to titter, chatter (as birds)

Klakk-Haraldr <-s> m Klakk-Harald (personal name)

klettr <-s, -ar> m rock, crag

Klifshagi m Klifshagi (place name), Cliff Meadow

klífa <klífr, kleif, klifu, klifinn> vb (I)to climb

kljúfa <klýfr, klauf, klufu, klofinn> vb (II) to cleave, split

klyf <pl -jar> f pack (for a horse)

klæða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to clothe

klæði n cloth; pl clothes

klǫkuðu 3pl past of klaka

knarrarbringa f Boat-breast (nickname)

kná <kná, 1pl pres knegum, knátti, past inf knáttu> defective pret-pres vb to be able to, can; could

knáliga adv hardily, vigorously

knáligr adj hardy, vigorous

knerrir nom pl of knǫrr

kneyfa <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to drink in large gulps

kné <dat pl knjám, gen knjá> n knee

knúta f knuckle-bone

knútr <-s, -ar> m knot

Knútr <-s> m Knut (personal name); Knútr inn ríki, King Canute the Great

knýja <knýr, knýði~knúði, knúinn> vb (3) to knock (at the door); press, urge on, compel, force; knýjask mid struggle on

knǫrr <dat knerri, gen knarrar, pl knerrir, acc knǫrru> m ship; merchant vessel

Kolbeinn <-s> m Kolbein (personal name)

kollr <-s, -ar> m top, summit; head

kom 1/3sg past of koma

❖ koma <kemr~kømr, kom, kómu~kvámu, kominn> vb (IV) to come; koma at come to, arrive; koma at [e-u] come across, arrive at [sth]; koma ásamt með þeim they agreed; koma endr at regain; komask mid make one’s way

kominn ppart of koma

komnir m nom pl of kominn

❖ kona <gen pl kvenna> f wife; woman

konu acc/dat/gen of kona

konungastefna f meeting of kings

konungdómr m kingdom

❖ konungr <-s, -ar> m king

konungsson m prince

korn n grain, seed

kostnaðr <-ar> m cost, expense

❖ kostr <gen kostar, pl kostir, acc kosti~kostu> m choice; opportunity; match; state, condition; cost, expense; at ǫðrum kosti else, otherwise

kómu 3pl past of koma

kraki m pole ladder; stake

kraptr m strength

kráka f crow

krás <pl -ir> f delicacy, dainty (of food)

krefja <krafði, krafðr~krefinn> vb (3) to crave, claim, demand; krefja [e-t] [e-s] demand [sth] of [sb]

kringla f circle, disk, orb

kristinn adj Christian

kristni f Christianity; Christendom

Kristr <-s> m Christ

krjúpa <krýpr, kraup, krupu, kropinn> vb (II) to creep; crouch

kroppa <-að-> vb (1) to pluck, pick

Krossavík f Krossavik, Cross Bay or Inlet, presumably an inlet where a cross was erected, a farmstead

kumbl <pl kumbl> n burial monument, mound or cairn (frequently used on Danish and Swedish rune stones in the plural)

kunna <kann, kunni, kunnat> pret-pres vb to be able or can do sth, know how to; feel (an emotion)

❖ kunnigr adj known; wise; versed in magic

kunningi <pl -jar> m acquaintance

kurteiss adj courteous, well-bred

kuru 3pl past of kjósa

kussari m corsair (corsairs were pirates who operated along the Barbary Coast of North Africa)

kúla f hump, hunchback

kvað 1/3sg past of kveða

kváðu 3pl past of kveða

kván (also kvæn) <pl -ir> f wife

❖ kveða <kveðr, kvað, kváðu, kveðinn> vb (V) to speak, say; recite verse; kveða á fix, determine; kveða við reply; kveðask mid say of oneself; declare

❖ kveld n evening; at kveldi at nightfall

kvelda <-að-> vb (1) [impers] to become evening

Kveld-Úlfr <-s> m Kveld-Ulf, Night Wolf (personal name); Kveld-Úlfsson Son of Kveld-Ulf

kvenna see kona

kvennváðir f pl women’s clothing

kverk <pl kverkr> f angle below the chin

kvikr adj alive

kvikvendi n living creature

kvæði <gen pl kvæða> n poem

kvæn var of kván

kyn <dat pl kynjum, gen kynja> n kin; kindred, family descent group

❖ kyrr adj still, quiet

kyssa <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to kiss

kýr <acc/dat kú, gen kýr, pl kýr, dat kúm, gen kúa> f cow

kærleikr m affection, friendship

kœmi 3sg/pl pret subj of koma

kǫlluðu 3pl past of kalla call

kømr (var of kemr) 2/3sg pres of koma

kǫnnuðu 3pl past of kanna

kǫrtr <gen kǫrts~kartar> m short, stocky man (nickname)

kǫttr <dat ketti, gen kattar, pl kettir, acc kǫttu, gen katta> m cat

L

lag <pl lǫg> n thrust, stab

lagit ppart of leggja placed

lagt ppart of leggja placed

lamði 3sg past of lemja

❖ land <pl lǫnd> n land; country; estate

landnám n settlement, lit land-taking

Landnámabók f Book of Settlements

landnámsmaðr m settler, lit land-take-man (the term refers to both women and men)

landráð n the government of the land

landskyld f land tax, property tax

landsmaðr m countryman, inhabitant or native of a country

landsréttr m the law of the land, customary rights

langeldar m pl long fires (down the middle of a hall)

langfeðgar m pl forefathers, ancestors (through the father’s line)

langháls m long-necked (nickname)

❖ langr <f lǫng, n langt, comp lengri, superl lengstr> adj long (of distance and time)

langt adv for a long time

Laufey f goddess, known only as mother of Loki

laug <dat laugu, pl laugar> f bath; hot spring

lauk 1/3sg past of lúka

lausafé n movable property, chattels, possessions, as opposed to lands or even to land and cattle

❖ lauss adj loose; free, unimpeded

laust 1/3sg past of ljósta

lausung <dat lausungu, pl lausungar> f lying, falsehood

laut 1/3sg past of lúta

lax <gen lax, pl laxar> m salmon

Laxárdalr m Laxardal, Salmon River Valley

lá 1/3sg pret of liggja

lágu 3pl past of liggja

❖ láta <lætr, lét, létu, látinn> vb (VII) to let, allow, permit; put, place, set; behave; láta fram let go, yield, hand over; láta sem pretend, make or behave as if, lit let on as if; [w infin] have something done; ppart dead, deceased

látinn ppart of láta dead, deceased

❖ leggja <lagði, lagiðr~lagðr~laginn> vb (3) to lay, place, put; stab, thrust; leggja á impose; leggja frá withdraw; leggja í spánu smash into pieces; leggja til attack (by stabbing); leggja til barðaga attack; leggja til [e-s] með [e-u] attack [sb] with [sth]; leggja undir sik conquer; lífit á leggja lay down one’s life; leggjask mid lay, set oneself; leggjask á [e-t] prey upon (of robbers, beasts of prey, etc), fall upon, attack [sth]; leggjask niðr lay oneself down; leggjask út set out (into the wilderness to live as an outlaw)

leggr <-jar, -ir> m leg; leggr ok liðr every limb

❖ leið <pl -ir> f road, path; way

leið 1/3sg past of líða

leiða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to lead

Leiði m Leid, a giant killed by Thor

leifa <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to leave, leave as heritage; to leave behind, abandon, relinquish

Leifr <-s> m Leif (personal name)

leika <leikr, lék, léku, leikit> vb (VII) to play; leika sér play

leikr <-s, -ar> m game, play, sport

❖ leita <-að-> vb (1) [w gen] to seek, search for; proceed on a journey

leka <lekr, lak, lákum, lekit> vb (IV) to drip, dribble, leak

lemja <lamði, lamiðr~lamdr~laminn> vb (3) to maim

lendr adj describes one who has received a grant of land from a king, landed; lendr maðr landholder

❖ lengi <comp lengr (time), lengra (distance), superl lengst> adv long, for a long time

lengr comp adv of lengi longer (time), for a longer time

lengra comp adv of lengi longer (distance), farther

lengst superl adv longest, for the longest time

lesa <less, las, lásu, lesinn> vb (V) to gather; read

leyfa <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) [w dat] to permit, allow

leyfi n permission, leave

leyna <-di, -dr> vb (2) to hide, conceal; leynask mid hide oneself, be concealed; leynask í burt steal away, leave

lék 1/3sg past of leika

lét 1/3sg past of láta

Léttfeti m Light-Foot (mythological name) horse of the Æsir and jǫtunn name

létu 3pl past of láta

lézt 2sg past of láta

❖ lið n band of men, following, troops

liðr <gen liðar, pl liðir, acc liðu> m joint

lifa <-ði, lifaðr> vb (2) to live

❖ liggja <liggr, lá, lágu, leginn> vb (V) to lie; be situated

limar f pl limbs, branches

litla f acc sg of lítill

litlu n dat sg of lítill

litr <-ar, -ir> m color

Livsteinn <-s> m Livstein (personal name)

líða <líðr, leið, liðu, liðinn> vb (I) to pass (usu of time); líða at draw toward (of time); sem leið at jólum as time passed toward Yule

líf (also lífi) n life; lífit á leggja lay down one’s life

lífi var of líf

líflát n loss of life, death

lík n body; corpse

líka <-að-> vb (1) impers [w dat subj] to like, be pleasing (to one)

líki n body; form, shape

❖ líkligr adj likely, probable

líknsamastr superl adj of líknsamr most merciful

líknsamr adj merciful

❖ líkr adj like, resembling; probable; promising

lín n flax; linen, linen garment

lína f bowline, rope; line; bridal veil, (see also lín)

Línakradalr <-s> m Linakradale (place name), Valley of Linen Fields

líta <lítr, leit, litu, litinn> vb (I) to look; líta á [e-t] look at [sth]; mid lítask [e-m] appear (seem) to [sb]

❖ lítill <f lítil, n lítit> adj little; litla hríð for a little while; litlu síðar(r) a little later

lítt adv little

lízk 2/3sg pres mid of líta

ljá <lér, léði, léðr> vb (3) [w gen] to lend; ljá [e-m] [e-s] lend [sb] [sth]

ljóðaháttr <dat -hætti, gen -hattar> m ‘Chant-meter’, type of verse

Ljósálfar m pl the Light Elves

ljóss adj light, bright

ljósta <lýstr, laust, lustu, lostinn> vb (II) to strike; ljósta í hel to strike into hel [the realm of the dead]

ljúga <lýgr, laug~ló, lugu, loginn> vb (II) to lie, tell a lie; fail

loðbrók also loðbrókkr f shaggy/hairy-breech(es) (nickname); Ragnar Loðbrókkr/Loðbrók Ragnar Hairy Breeches [nickname from wearing pants made of hide] legendary hero of Ragnars saga loðbrókkar/loðbrókar

lofa <-að-> vb (1) to praise

logi m flame, fire

lok n lock, bolt; pl end; liða und(ir) lok die; til loks completely

lokhvíla f locking bed-closet

Loki m Loki, the trickster god

lokrekkja f locking bed-closet

lokrekkjugólf n locking bed-closet

lopt n sky, heavens, air

lostinn ppart of ljósta

lófi m palm of the hand; holr lófi open palm

lund <pl -ir> f manner; mind, temper; á þessa lund in this manner

lundr <-ar, -ir> m grove

lunga n lung

lúfa f rough, thick, matted hair; original nickname for Haraldr hárfagri [Fairhair]; see Haraldr

lúka <lýkr, lauk, luku, lokinn> vb (II) [w dat] to close; end, conclude; shut

lúta <lýtr, laut, lutu, lotinn> vb (II) to bend down, bow; lean

Lútr m Lut, a giant killed by Thor

lygi f lie, falsehood

lykill <dat lykli, pl luklar, acc lukla> m key

lysta <-ti, -tr> vb impers (2) [w acc subj] to desire, intend, wish to

lýsa <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to light up, illuminate; proclaim, announce; impers shine, beam; lýsa [e-u] proclaim [sth]; lýsir af honum light shines from him

Lýtingr <-s> m Lyting (personal name)

læknir <-is, -ar> m physician

lætr 2/3sg pres of láta

lǫg n pl law, laws

lǫgberg n law-rock (where the law was recited)

lǫgðu 3pl past of leggja

lǫgligr adj legal, lawful

lǫgmaðr (pl lǫgmenn) m lawman

lǫgrétta f legislature at the Althing

lǫgsǫgumaðr m law-speaker

lǫngu adv long, far off; long since

lǫngum adv long time, constantly

M

ñv maðr <acc mann, dat manni, gen manns, nom/acc pl menn, dat mǫnnum, gen manna> m man; person, human being

Magnús m Magnus (personal name)

makligr adj fitting, proper, becoming; deserving

mala <melr, mól, mólu, malinn> vb (VI)to grind

mangi var of manngi

manna gen pl of maðr

mannblót n human sacrifice

mannbroddr m a crampon with iron attached to shoe for traction on ice; spike

manndráp n murder

mannfólk n mankind

manngi (also mangi) <gen mannskis> pron no man, nobody

mannshǫnd f man’s hand

mannvit n intelligence

mannvænn adj promising

margbreytinn adj fickle, capricious, unpredictable

margkunnigr adj learned (in magic)

margmenni n multitude, many

❖ margr <f mǫrg, n margt~mart, comp fleiri, superl flestr> adj [w sg] many a; [w pl] many

marka <-að-> vb (1) to mark, draw; fix; mark as one’s property; mark with an emblem; heed, mind; signify, mean; infer, observe; þar eptir mátt þú marka fegrð hans accordingly, you can judge his beauty

marr <-s, -ar> m horse, steed

mart var of margt, n nom/acc sg of margr

matr <-ar, -ir> m food

m

mágr <-s, -ar> m brother-, father-, or son-in-law; kinsman

❖ mál n speech, narrative, talk; language; saying; deliberation, discussion; case, matter, affair; [leg] suit, action, case

málafylgjumaðr m lawyer

máli m contract, agreement; ganga á mála take service

málfeti var of málmfeti

máligr var of málugr

málmfeti (also málfeti) m name for a horse; málmfeti varrar horse pulled by an oar (kenning for ‘ship’)

málmr m metal, ore

málstefna f meeting, conference

málugr (also máligr) <m pl málgir> adj talkative

mánaðr var of mánuðr

máni m moon

mánuðr (also mánaðr) <gen mánuðar, pl mánuðr> m month

már <dat mávi~máfi, gen más, pl mávar> m gull, sea-gull

mástallr m stall of the sea-gull (kenning for ‘sea’)

mátt 2sg past of mega

mátti 3sg past of mega

máttu 3pl past of mega

❖ með prep [w acc] with (in the sense of bringing, carrying, or forcing); [w dat] with (in the sense of accompanying or togetherness); sigla með landi sail along the coast; adv as well, with it

meðal (also á meðal, í meðal) prep [w gen] among, between

meðan conj while, meanwhile, as long

❖ mega <má, mátti, mátt> pret-pres vb can, may; be able

megin n strength

meiða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to injure, hurt, damage; meiðask mid become injured, hurt, damaged

meiðmar f pl treasures

mein n injury, harm; disease; impediment

meiri comp adj of mikill bigger, greater, more

meir(r) comp adv of mikit; more greatly

mella f noose; poet giantess

men <dat pl menjum, gen menja> n necklace; pl treasures

menn nom/acc pl of maðr

merki <dat pl merkjum, gen merkja> n boundary; banner, standard; token, mark, sign

mest superl adv of mikit most

mestr superl adj of mikill biggest, tallest, greatest

meta <metr, mat, mátu, metinn> vb (V) to evaluate, value; set a price

mey acc sg of mær

meydómr m maidenhood, virginity

meyjar gen sg & nom/acc pl of mær

meyju dat sg of mær

mér dat sg of ek

Michael kátalaktús m Michael katalaktus (personal name)

miðdegi see hádegi

Miðfjarðar-Skeggi m Skeggi of Midfjord (personal name)

Miðfjǫrðr m Midfjord (place name)

Miðgarðr m Midgard, the Middle Enclosure, Middle Earth

Miðgarðsormr m Midgard Serpent, the serpent Jǫrmungandr that encircles the earth

miðla <-að-> vb (1) to share, hand out; miðla [e-t] við [e-n] share [sth] with [sb]

miðnótt f midnight

❖ miðr <m acc miðjan, n nom mitt> adj middle

miðr var of minnr (comp adv)

miðr-aptan m middle evening, six in the evening

miðrdegi see hádegi

mik acc of ek

❖ mikill <f mikil, n mikit, comp meiri, superl mestr> adj big, tall, great; much, very; mikill fyrir sér powerful, strong

mikillátr adj proud

mikinn adv hard, fast (m acc sg of adj mikill)

❖ mikit adv greatly

Miklagarðr m Miklagard (place name) ‘the Great City,’ Constantinople, capital of the Greek Byzantine Empire; spelled in some editions Mikligarðr

miklu adv much [w comp]

❖ milli (also millum, á milli and í milli) prep [w gen] between

❖ minn <mín, mitt> poss pron my

minna <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to remind; minna [e-n] [e-s] remind [sb] of [sth]; impers minnir mik I remember; mid [w gen] minnask remember, call to mind

minni comp adj of lítill littler, less, smaller

minnr (also miðr) comp adv of lítit less

minnst superl adv of lítit least

minnstr superl adj of lítill least, smallest

mín gen of ek

Mímir m Mimir, one of the Æsir

Mímisbrunnr m Mimisbrunn, the Well of Mimir

mjǫðr <dat miði, gen mjaðar> m mead

❖ mjǫk adv much, very

mjǫl <gen pl mjǫlva> n meal, flour

mjǫlleyfi n license to export meal

Mjǫllnir m hammer of Thor

❖ morginn (also morgunn) <gen morgins, pl mornar~morgnar> m morning; á morginn tomorrow

mosi m moss; moorland

❖ móðir <acc/dat/gen móður, pl mœðr, dat mœðrum, gen mœðra> f mother

móður acc/dat/gen sg of móðir

móðurbróðir m mother’s brother, uncle

móðurætt f kinsfolk on the mother’s side of the family

mór <dat mó, gen mós, pl móar> m moor, heath

❖ móti (also á móti and í móti) prep [w dat] towards; against; contrary to; in return

móttaka <pl móttǫkur> f resistance, defense, counter-attack; til móttǫku to a defense, to counter-attack

muna <man, mundi, munaðr> pret-pres vb to remember, call to mind

munat = muna + t (negative suffix)

mundi 3sg past of munu

mundr <-ar> m bride price

munnr m mouth

munr <-ar, -ir> m difference

❖ munu <mun~man, mundi, past inf mundu> pret-pres vb will, shall; to be sure to, must (probability); would, must (in past tense)

múgr <-s, -ar> m crowd

mús <pl mýss> f mouse

Múspellsheimr m Muspellsheim, the Land of Fire

mylla <pl -ur> f mill

mynda 1sg past subjunct of munu or muna

myrkr adj dark

Mýrkjartan <-s> m Myrkjartan (personal name)

mýrr <acc/dat mýri, gen mýrar, pl mýrar> f moor, bog, swamp

❖ mæla <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to say, speak; leg mæla eptir [e-t]/[e-n] take up the prosecution for [sth]/[sb] (who was murdered or wronged); mæla við [e-n] speak to or with [sb], say to [sb]; mæla með [e-m/e-u] recommend [sb/sth]

mær <acc mey, dat meyju, gen meyjar, pl meyjar, dat meyjum, gen meyja> f maid, girl, virgin

mætta 1sg past subjunct of mega

Mœrr <acc Mœri, dat Mœri, gen Mœrar > f region in West Norway

mœta <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to meet

mǫgfellandi m kin-slaying (one)

mǫgr <dat megi, gen magar, pl magir, acc mǫgu> m son, boy

mǫl <gen malar> f pebbles, gravel

mǫn <gen manar, pl manar> f mane

mǫnnum dat pl of maðr

Mǫrðr <gen Marðar> m Mord (personal name)

mǫrg f nom sg & n nom/acc pl of margr

N

nafn n name

nafnfrægr adj famous

nagl <pl negl> m nail

nam 1/3sg past of nema

nauðgjald n forced payment

nauð(r) f need, difficulty, distress; ætla [e-t] til nauða [e-m] intend [sth] as harm to [sb]

nauðsyn <pl nauðsynjar> f necessity

nauðugr adj unwilling, reluctant

naut n cattle, oxen

ná <náir, -ði, nát> vb (2) [w dat] to reach, catch, overtake; get, obtain; [w inf] be able to

nágrindr f pl gates of the dead

nál <pl -ar> f needle

náliga adv nearby; nearly, almost

nánd <-ar, -ir> f proximity

nár <nás, náir> m corpse, dead man

nátta <-að> vb (1) to become night, grow dark

náttmál n nine in the evening

náttstaðr m night-quarters

náttúra f natural ability

neðan adv from below, from beneath; without motion beneath, underneath

nef <gen pl nefja> n nose

nefna <-di, -dr> vb (2) to name, call; mention [e-r nom] er nefndr [sb] is mentioned

nei adv no

nema <nemr, nam, námu, numinn> vb (IV) to take; claim land; hear; learn

❖ nema conj except, save, but; [w subjunct] unless

nes n headland

nest n traveling provisions

❖ né conj nor; hvárki...né neither...nor; né...né not...nor

niðr <dat nið, gen niðjar~niðs, pl niðjar> m son, kinsman, relative through marriage

❖ niðr adv down

Niflheimr m Niflheim, the Underworld

Niflhel f Niflhel, Dark Hel, place for some dead

níð n insult

Níðhǫggr m Nidhogg, the serpent which dwells in the spring Hvergelmir

nítján <ord nítjándi nineteenth> num nineteen

nítugandi ord num ninetieth

❖ níu <ord níundi, ninth > num nine

Njáll m Njal (personal name)

njósn <pl -ir> f news; spying, scouting, looking out

njóta <nýtr, naut, nutu, notinn> vb (II) to enjoy

Njǫrðr m Njord, god of the sea, one of the Vanir

norðan adv from the north

Norðmaðr <pl Norðmenn> m Northman, Norseman, Norwegian

Norðmannalið n band of Norsemen

Norðmanndí n Normandy

Norðri m Nordri (mythological name) North, dwarf who supports the heavens

norðr <-rs> n the north

norðr <comp norðar> adv north, northwards

Norðrlǫnd <dat Norðrlǫndum> n pl the Northern countries or region, Scandinavia

Nóregr (also Norvegr or Noregr) <-s> m Norway, lit northern way or norð-vegr

norn <pl -ir> f norn, one of the three fates; one of various supernatural females who shape people’s fates

norrœna f Norse, lit northern

norrœnn adj Norwegian, lit northern

Nóatún n Njord’s home, lit precinct of ships (nóa), i.e., sea, see Njǫrðr

Nóregr (also Noregr or Norvegr) <-s> m Norway

❖ nótt (also nátt) <gen nætr, pl nætr> f night; of nóttina during the night

numinn ppart of nema

❖ nú adv now

nýr <acc nýjan, f ný, n nýtt> adj new

nýra n kidney

næði 3sg/pl past subjunct of ná

❖ nær prep [w dat] near; adv almost, nearly; hvé nær conj when; comp adv nearer

nærri comp adv nearer, very near

næst superl adv nearest, next; því næst thereupon

❖ næstr superl adj next; nearest

❖ nǫkkurr <f nǫkkur, n nǫkkut> adj pron any, anybody; some, a certain

nǫkkut adv somewhat

nǫkkvi <-a, -ar> m boat, ship

Nǫrðrlǫnd var of Norðrlǫnd

Nǫrr m Norr, (personal name)

O

of prep [w acc/dat] over, [of time] in, during; [w acc] of, about; adv too

❖ ofan adv from above, down; downwards; on the uppermost part, at the top of; [w gen] above the surface of

ofan á prep [w acc] down (from above) to

ofan til prep [w gen] down (from above) to

ofn <-s, -ar> m oven

v ok conj and; adv also

okkar gen of vit

okkr acc/dat of vit

❖ okkarr poss dual pron our

opt <comp optar, superl optast> adv often

❖ orð n word; repute, fame, report; í ǫðru orði at the same time, likewise, lit in a second word

orðit ppart of verða

orðstírr m fame, renown

Orkneyjar f pl the Orkney Islands (place name)

ormr <-s, -ar> m snake, serpent, worm

Ormr <-s> m Orm (personal name); Ormr inn auðgi Orm the Wealthy

ormr-í-auga n Snake-in-the-Eye (nickname)

ormslíki n shape, form of a dragon

ormstunga f Worm-Tongue (nickname)

orrosta f battle; til orrostu to or for battle

orrostumaðr (pl orrostumenn) m warrior, man of battle

orti see yrkja

oss acc/dat of vér

otr <gen otrs, pl otrar> m otter

otrbelgr m otter pelt or skin

otrgjǫld n pl wergeld, ransom, or compensation for a dead otter, Otter’s ransom

oxi var of uxi

Ó

ó- neg pref un-

ódæll adj difficult, quarrelsome, stubborn

óðal <pl óðǫl> n ancestral property, patrimony, allodium, property held in allodial tenure

óðfúss adj madly keen, eager

Óðindísa f Odindisa (personal name)

Óðinn m Odin, chief god of the Æsir

óðr <f óð, n ótt> adj frantic; furious, vehement

óeirðarmaðr m unruly man

óf 1/3sg past of vefa

Ófeigr <-s> m Ofeig (personal name)

óframliga adv timidly

ófriðr <-ar> m war, strife

ógurligr adj awful, terrible

óhræddr adj unafraid

ójafn adj uneven, unequal

ójafnaðarmaðr m an overbearing, unjust individual

ók 1/3sg past of aka

ókátr adj gloomy

ókembdr <n ókembt> ppart unkempt

Óláfr <-s> m Olaf (personal name); Óláfr pái Olaf the Peacock

Ólǫf <gen Ólafar> f Olof (personal name)

ólǫg n lawlesness

❖ ór (also úr) prep [w dat] out of, from, from inside of; made of

óráð n evil plan

óríkr adj weak

óskǫp n pl ill fate

óskorinn <n óskorit> ppart uncut, unshorn

ósætt f disagreement

ótrúligr adj unbelievable; unpredictable;suspicious

ótta f last part of the night before dawn

óttask <-að-> vb (2) to be afraid

ótti m fear

óvandr adj unwary

óvinr m enemy

óvitrliga adv foolishly

óvægr adj harsh, unmerciful

óx 1/3sg past of vaxa

óþýðr adj unfriendly; intimidating

P

pallr m step; raised platform along the side(s) of a hall

papi m pope; priest; name for the Irish anchorites said to be in Iceland when the first Norse settlers arrived.

pái (also pá) m peacock (nickname)

penningr m coin, penny; piece of property, article

prestr m priest; prestrinn the priest

R

Ragnarr <-s> m Ragnarr/Ragnar (personal name); Ragnarr loðbrókkr (also Loðbrók) Ragnar Shaggy/hairy -breeches, a legendary Viking chieftain of the 9th century; see loðbrókkr

ragnarøk(k)r <-rs> n Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods, the world’s end (also ragna rǫk n pl doom of the gods; see rǫk)

Ragnfrøðr <-s> m Ragnfrod (personal name)

Ragnhildr <acc/dat Ragnhildi, gen Ragnhildar> f Ragnhild (personal name)

Ragnvaldr <-s> m Ragnvald (personal name)

ragr <f rǫg, n ragt> adj effeminate, cowardly, (passively) homosexual

rammr <f rǫmm, n rammt> adj strong; mighty, powerful; rammr at afli extremely strong

Rangárvellir m pl Rangarvellir (place name) Rang River Plains

rangr <f rǫng, n rangt> adj crooked, unjust; wrong, false

Rannveig <-ar> f Rannveig (personal name)

Ratatoskr (also Ratatǫskr) <-s> m Ratatosk, squirrel that carries insults between Níðhǫggr and the eagle

Rauð-Balli m Red-Balli (personal name)

rauðr <f rauð, n rautt> adj red (frequently as a descriptor for gold)

Raumaríki n Raumariki (place name) Romerike

❖ ráð n advice, counsel; plan

❖ ráða <ræðr, réð, réðu, ráðinn> vb (VII) [w dat] to advise, counsel; rule, govern, manage; réð lǫndum ruled over (his) lands; þat var ráðit it was decided; ráða at + dat attack réð at húskǫrlum Flosa attacked Flosi’s men; ráða fyrir [e-u] rule over [sth]; ráða um við [e-t] deliberate or think about [sth];

ráðagørð <pl -ir> f council; eiga ráðagørð take council

ráðsnjallr adj wise in counsel

ráku 3pl past of reka

Refill m name of a sword

Refr <-s> m Ref (personal name) Fox; Refr inn rauði Ref the Red

Refsstaðir m pl Refsstadir (place name) Ref’s Farmstead

regin <dat pl rǫgnum, gen ragna> n pl (divine) powers, gods

Reginn <-s> m Regin; son of Hreidmar, brother of Fáfnir the dragon

regna <-di, -t> vb (2) to rain

reiddisk 2/3sg past of reiðask

reið 1/3sg past of ríða

reiðask <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to become angry

reiðfara adj indecl have a good passage

reiði f anger, wrath; af reiði in anger, out of anger

reiði m ship’s equipment, rigging

❖ reiðr adj angry, wrathful, offended

reis 1/3sg past of rísa

reisa <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to raise; láta reisa stein have a stone raised

reist 1/3sg past of rísta

reka <rekr, rak, ráku, rekinn> vb (V) to drive, herd; drive onto shore, wreck; [w gen] take vengeance for; reka spor follow tracks or footprints

rekaviðr m driftwood

reki m driftage, a thing drifted ashore, wreck

rekja <rakði~rakti, rakiðr~rakðr~raktr> vb (3) to track, trace

rekkja f bed; fara í rekkju go to bed

reknir ppart of reka

renna <rennr, rann, runnu, runninn> vb (III) intrans to run, flee; put to flight; melt

renna <-di, -dr> vb (2) trans to make/let run; twart

reri 3sg past of róa

Rerir <-s> m Reri (personal name)

reru 3pl past of róa

reyðr <acc/dat reyði, gen reyðar, pl reyðar> f rorqual, large baleen whale

Reykjanes n Reykjanes, Headland of Smoke (place name)

Reykjarvík f Reykjavik, Bay of Smoke (modern Reykjavík)

reyna <-di, -dr> vb (2) to try, prove; experience

réð 1/3sg past of ráða

réði 3sg/pl past subjunct of ráða

rétt adv directly

❖ réttr <f rétt, n rétt> adj straight; correct, right, just

réttr <-ar> m law

rif <dat pl rifjum> n rib; reef (in the sea)

Rifsker <dat pl Rifskerjum> n Rifsker (place name), Rocky or Rib Reef

rista (also rísta) <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to cut, carve, engrave

ristnar ppart of rísta (f nom/acc pl)

rita <-að-> vb (1) to write, var of ríta

❖ ríða <ríðr, reið, riðu, riðinn> vb (I) to ride

riði 3sg/pl past subjunct of ríða

Ríkarðr <-ar> m Richard

ríkastr superl adj of ríkr richest

ríki <dat pl ríkjum, gen pl ríkja> n power; realm; kingdom

ríkismaðr (pl ríkismenn) m great man, prominent man, wealthy man, man of power

❖ ríkr <acc ríkjan> adj powerful, mighty

rísa <ríss, reis, risu, risinn> vb (I) to arise, rise, stand up; rísa upp rise up, get up

rísmál n six in the morning

rísta <rístr, reist, ristu, ristinn> vb (I) to cut; carve, engrave; carve, form by carving; láta rísta rúnar have runes carved

ríta <rítr, reit, ritu, ritinn> vb (I) to write; scratch, cut

rjóða <rýðr, rauð, ruðu, roðinn> vb (II) to redden

rjúfa <rýfr, rauf, rufu, rofinn> vb (II)to break; break a hole in; rjúfa sáttmál break an agreement or truce; (impers) rýfr veðrit the weather clears

Roðbertr lǫngumspaði <-s> m Robert Longsword

Rogaland n Rogaland (place name)

róa <rœr, røri~reri, røru~reru, róinn> vb (VII) to row

róðr <gen róðrar, pl róðrar> m rowing, pulling

rógmálmr m gold, metal of strife

rót <gen rótar, pl rœtr> f root

róta <-að-> vb (1) [w dat] to throw into disorder; róta [e-u] í sundr knock [sth] apart

rúm n bed; space, seat

rún <pl -ar> f secret, mystery; rune, a letter in the runic futhark

rygr <-jar> f housewife

ræna <-di, -dr ~ -ti, -tr> vb (2) to rob, steal, plunder; ræna [e-n] [e-t] rob [sb] of [sth]

rœða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to speak; converse, discuss

rœtr nom/acc pl of rót

rǫg f nom sg & n nom/acc pl of ragr

Rǫgnvaldr <-s~ar> m Rognvald (personal name)

rǫk n pl judgment, doom

rǫkðu 3pl past of rekja

røk(k)r <-rs> n twilight

røru 3pl past of róa

rǫskr <acc rǫskvan> adj sturdy, vigorous, brave

rǫst <gen rastar, pl rastir> f unit of distance between two resting places (perhaps equivalent to the Old Scandinavian mile)

S

saga <pl sǫgur> f what is said, story, saga, tale, legend, history; saga til [e-s] a story about [sth]; nú víkr sǫgunni now it [the subject] in the saga moves

sagði 3sg past of segja

sagt ppart of segja

sakar gen of sǫk

sakeyrir m fine

sakna <-að> vb (1) [w gen] to miss, feel the loss of

salr <dat sal, gen salar, pl salir> m hall

❖ saman adv together

samfǫr <pl samfarar> f (usu in pl) relationship, marriage

sammœðr adj of the same mother

❖ samr <f sǫm, n samt> adj pron same; ina sǫmu nótt on the same night; it sama the same, likewise

sannnefni n appropriate, truthful name

❖ sannr <f sǫnn, n satt> adj true

sat see sitja

sauðahús n sheep pen, sheep-fold

sauðamaðr (pl sauðamenn) m shepherd

sauðr <-ar, -ir> m sheep

sautján (also sjautján) <ord s(j)autjándi, seventeenth> num seventeen

❖ sá <f sú, n þat> dem pron that (one)

sá <sær, søri~seri, søru~seru, sáinn> vb (VII) to sow

sá 1/3sg past of sjá

sál <gen sálar, pl sálir> f var of sála

sála <pl sálur> f soul

sáld n cask, vat

sámr adj swarthy, blackish

sár n wound

❖ sárr adj wounded; painful, sore

❖ sáttr adj reconciled, at peace

sátu 3pl past of sitja

sáu 3pl past of sjá

sefr 2/3sg pres of sofa

seggr <pl seggir, gen seggja> m man

❖ segja <sagði, sagt> vb (3) to say; segja frá [e-u] reveal, tell about [sth]; segja [e-m] til [e-s] tell, inform [sb] of [sth]; segja til sín give one’s name

❖ sekr <acc sekan~sekjan> adj guilty; convicted, condemned to outlawry; gera [e-n] sekan condemn [sb] to outlawry

selja <-di, -dr> vb (2) to hand over to another; sell; seljast mid give oneself up

❖ sem rel particle who, which, that; conj as; [w superl] as ... as possible; where

❖ senda <-di, -dr> vb (2) to send

sendi 1/3sg past & 1sg pres of senda

sendimaðr m messenger

senn adv at once, straight away

❖ setja <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to set, seat, place; setja til ríkis put in power; setja at [e-m] attack [sb];setja á push; setja saman set up, put together; setja upp set, stand up; setja við prepare; setjask mid seat oneself, sit

❖ sex <ord sétti, sixth > num six

sex tigir num sixty

sextán <ord sextándi, sixteenth> num sixteen

sextugandi ord num sixtieth

seyra f starvation, famine

sezk 2/3sg pres of setjask (setr + sk)

sé 1/3sg & 3pl pres subjunct of vera (see also sjá, síga)

sém 1pl pres subjunct of vera

sér dat of sik

sér 2/3sg of sjá

sétti ord sixth

Sif f Sif, a goddess, the wife of Thor

Sigfaðir m Victory-father, a name for Óðinn

Sighvatr <-s> m Sighvat (personal name)

sigla <-di, -dr> vb (2) to sail

sigla f mast

Sighvatr <-s> m Sighvat (personal name); Sighvatr inn rauði Sighvat the Red

Sigi m Sigi (personal name)

Sigmundr <-ar> m Sigmund (personal name)

Signý <-jar> f Signy (personal name)

sigr <-rs> m victory

sigra <-að-> vb (1)to defeat

Sigríðr <acc/dat Sigríði, gen Sigríðar> f Sigrid (personal name)

sigrsæll adj victorious

Sigrøðr <-ar> m Sigrod (personal name)

Sigtryggr <-s> m Sigtrygg (personal name)

Sigurðr <-ar> m Sigurd (personal name); Sigurðr slefa Sigurd the Slobberer

❖ sik <dat sér, gen sín> refl acc pron him-/her-/it-/oneself, themselves; undir sik under himself

silfr n silver

Silfrintoppr m Silfrintopp (mythological name) ‘Silver-Tuft’ or ‘Silver-Mane’, horse of the Æsir

silki n silk

silkitreyja f silken jacket

❖ sinn n time (of repetition); eitt sinn one time; einu sinni once; hvert sinn every

❖ sinn <f sín, n sitt> refl poss pron his, her, its, their own

❖ sitja <sitr, sat, sátu, setinn> vb (V) to sit; reside

síð <comp síðr, superl sízt> adv late

❖ síðan adv then, later, afterwards

síðar(r) comp adv of síð later

síðast superl adv of síð later

síðr superl adv of síð less

síðr <f sið n sítt> adj long, low-hanging

síga <sígr, sé~seig, sigu, siginn> vb (I) to sink gently down; glide, move slowly

Símon knútr m Simon Knot (personal name)

sín gen of sik

sína f acc sg of sinn

Síreksstaðir m pl Sireksstadir (place name) Sirek’s Farmstead

sízt conj since, for

sízt superl adv of síð least

sjaldan adv seldom

sjautján var of sautján

❖ sjau <ord sjaundi, seventh > num seven

sjautugandi ord num seventieth

❖ sjá var of þessi

❖ sjá <sér, sá, sá(u), sénn> vb (V) to see, look; understand; sjá á [e-m] look upon [sb]

sjái 3sg & pl pres subjunct of sjá

Sjáland n Zealand, Sjælland in modern Danish (place name)

sjálfbjargi adj indecl self-sufficient

❖ sjálfr adj pron self, oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves

sjávarafli m catch of fish, bounty of the sea

sjónhverfing f optical illusion (caused by a spell)

sjónlauss adj blind, sightless

sjór <gen sjóvar~sjófar> m sea; fyrir ofan sjó above the waterline

skaði m harm, damage; death

skafa <skefr, skóf, skófu, skafinn> vb (VI) to scrape, shave

skaka <skekr, skók, skóku, skekinn> vb (VI) to shake

skal 1/3sg pres of skulu

skalat = skal + -(a)t; ‘shall not’, -(a)t is a negative suffix

Skalla-Grímr <-s> m Skalla-Grim, Bald-Grim (personal name)

skalt 2sg pres of skulu

skaltu = skalt + þú

❖ skammr adj short; brief

skammt adv short distance, not far (place)

skap n state, condition; temper, mood

skapa <-að-; skepr, skóp, skópu, skapinn> vb (wk/str 1/VI) to shape, form, make, create

skapt <pl skǫpt> n handle, shaft; á hávu skapti on a long shaft

skar 1/3sg past of skera

skarpr <f skǫrp, n skarpt> adj scorched, pinched, chafing

skattr <-s, -ar> m tribute, tax

skáld n poet, skald

skáldskaparmál n pl poetic diction

skáli m main hall, sleeping hall

skálm <pl -ir> f short sword, cleaver

Skáney f Skåne, Denmark (place name), now part of Sweden

skáru 3pl past of skera

skegg n beard

skeinuhættr adj likely to wound

skel f shell

skelfr 2/3sg pres of skjálfa

skellr <pl -ir> m blow, stroke

sker <dat pl skerjum, gen pl skerja> n skerry, isolated rock sticking out of the sea

skemaðr (also skímaðr) <-manns, -menn> m impostor; hypocrite

skera <skerr, skar, skáru, skorinn> vb (IV) to cut

skikkja f cloak

❖ skilja <-di~ði, skiliðr~skildr~skilinn> vb (2) to part, separate, divide; understand; þá skilr á um [e-t] impers they fall out over, differ, disagree about [sth]; skiljask mid separate, part from each other

skillingr <-s, -ar> m shilling, i.e., piece of money; pl money

skilnaðr <-s> m parting

skinn n skin, hide, fur

Skinna-Bjǫrn m Bjorn Fur-Skins (personal name)

skinni m skinner (nickname)

❖ skip n ship

skipa <-að-> vb (2) to arrange, array; man, occupy

skipfǫr <gen skipfarar, pl skipfarar> f voyage, sailing, passage of a ship

skipsflak (also skipflak) n shipwreck

skipsǫgn f ship’s crew

skipt n nom/acc ppart of skipta

skipta <-ti, -tr> vb (2) [w dat] to divide; share; change

skipti n division

skíð n ski, piece of wood; skíð Atals grundar ski of the land of Atal (kenning for ‘ship’)

skíð n stick

Skíði m Skidi (personal name)

skína <skínr, skein, skinu, skininn> vb (I) to shine

Skírnir m Skirnir (personal name)

skjaldborg f shield-wall, protection

skjall n white membrane of an egg

skjálfa <skelfr, skalf, skulfu, skolfinn> vb (III) to tremble, shake

skjóta <skýtr, skaut, skutu, skotinn> vb (II) to shoot

skjótari comp adj of skjótr quicker, swifter

skjótliga adv swiftly

skótligr adj swift, alert

skjótr adj quick, swift

skjótt adv suddenly

❖ skjǫldr <dat skildi, gen skjaldar, pl skildir, acc skjǫldu> m shield

Skjǫldr <gen Skaldar> m Skjold (personal name)

Skoll m Skoll, the wolf that pursues the sun

skorinn ppart of skera

skorta <-ti, -t> vb (2) to be lacking to one; [e-n] skortir [e-t] [sb] is short of [sth]

skot n shooting, shot, missiles

Skotland n Scotland

skógr <-ar, -ar> m wood, forest

skór <dat skó, gen skós, pl skúar, acc skúa, dat skóm, gen skúa> m shoe

skrifa <-að-> vb (1) to write; draw

skríða <skríðr, skreið, skriðu, skriðinn> vb (I) to crawl

Skrýmir <-s> m Skrymir, name of a giant

Skrælingr <-s, -ar~-jar> m term referring to natives of North America and Greenland (derogatory)

Skuld f Skuld (mythological name,) Debt, that which should become, one of the three Norns

❖ skulu <skal, skyldi, past inf skyldu> pret-pres vb shall (obligation, purpose, necessity, fate); should

skurðr <-ar, -ir> m cutting, slice; a trench; the flensing of a whale

skúr f shower

Skútaðar-Skeggi m Skeggi of Skutad (personal name)

skyld <pl -ir> f tax, due; incumbrance (on an estate); reason, sake

❖ skyldr adj bound, obliged; due; urgent; related by kinship

skyldi 3sg past & 3sg/pl past subjunct of skulu/skyldu

skyldu 3pl past & past infin of skulu

skyli 3sg & pl pres subjunct of skulu

skynda <-di, -dr> vb (2) [w dat] to hurry, hasten

skynja <-að-> vb (1) to perceive, make out, understand

skyr n curdled milk

ský <gen pl skýja> n cloud

Skǫfnungr (also Skǫflungr) m Skofnung, possibly Shin Bone, the name of King Hrolf’s sword

skǫkull <dat skǫkli, gen skǫkuls> m harness

skǫr <gen skarar> f locks, hair

skǫrungr <-s, -ar> m notable man or woman, leader

slá <slær, sló, slógu, sleginn> vb (VI) to strike; forge

slefa f saliva, slobber; slobberer (nickname)

Sleipnir m Sleipnir, Odin’s horse

sleppa <sleppr, slapp, sluppu, sloppinn> vb (III) to slip; escape, slip away; fail, slip up

slíðrar (also slíðrir) f pl sheath, scabbard

slíðrir var of slíðrar

❖ slíkr adj such

slíkt adv in such a way

sló 1/3sg past of slá

slǫngva (also sløngva) <pl slǫngur> f sling

smalamaðr (pl smalamenn) m shepherd

smár <f smá, n smátt> adj small

smiðja <-u, -ur> f smithy

smiðr m smith

smjúga <smýgr, smaug~smó, smugu, smoginn> vb (II) to creep through an opening; pierce

smjǫr <dat smjǫrvi> n butter

Smjǫrvatnsheiðr f Smjorvatnsheid (place name), Butter-Lake Heath

sneiða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to slice; glance off

snemma (also snimma) <comp snemr, superl snemst> adv early

snemr comp adv of snemma earlier

snerta <snertr, snart, snurtu, snortinn> vb (III) to touch; concern

snimma var of snemma

snjallræði n wise counsel

snjófa / snjáfa <-að> vb (1) to snow

snjór <gen snjóvar~snjófar> m snow

Snorri <-a> m Snorri (personal name)

snúa <snýr, sneri~snøri, sneru~snøru, snúinn> vb (VII) to turn; twist, plait, braid; snúask til turn oneself to

Snækólfr m Snaekolf (personal name)

sofa <søfr~sefr, svaf, sváfu, sofinn> vb (IV) to sleep

sofna <-að-> vb (1) to fall asleep; vera sofnaðr have fallen asleep

sokkr <-s, -ar> m sock, stocking; einir sokkar a pair of socks

soltinn adj hungry (see also svelta)

sonargjǫld n pl wergeld, ransom, or compensation for a dead son

son var nom of sonr

sonarsonr m grandson

❖ sonr <dat syni, gen sonar, pl synir, acc sonu> m son

Sóknadalr m Soknadale (place name)

sól <dat sól~sólu> f sun; day

sólskin n sunshine

sómi m an honor

Sótanes n Sotaness (place name)

sótti 3sg past of sœkja

sóttu 3pl past of sœkja

spaði m spade, shovel

spakara comp adv of adj spakr more wisely

spakr <f spǫk, n spakt, comp spakari, superl spakastr> adj wise

spá <-ði, spát> vb (2) to prophesy, fortell

spánn (also spónn) <dat spæni, gen spánar, pl spænir, acc spænir> m chip, shaving; spoon

spekð (also spekt) f peace; wisdom

speki f wisdom

spekingr <-s, -ar> m wise person, sage

spekt (also spekð) f peace; wisdom

spilla <-ti, -tr> vb (2) [w dat] to spoil, destroy

spillir m spoiler; spillir bauga spoiler of rings, generous prince

spinna <spinnr, spann, spunnu, spunninn> vb (III) to spin

❖ spjót n spear, lance

Spjútr <-s> m Spjut (personal name)

spor n track, trail, footprint; step, foothold

spónn var of spánn

spretta <sprettr, spratt, spruttu, sprottinn> vb (III) to spring up, burst forth; start, spring; sprout

springa <springr, sprakk, sprungu, sprunginn> vb (III) to jump, spring; issue forth; burst; die from overexertion or grief

spurði 3sg past of spyrja

spurðusk 3pl past mid of spyrja

❖ spyrja <spurði, spurðr> vb (3) to ask; hear, hear of, learn, be informed of, find out; spyrja til [e-s] have news of [sb], learn of [sb]; spyrja [e-n] at [e-u] ask [sb] about [sth]; spyrjask mid

spǫrr <pl sparvar> m sparrow

staddr (ppart of steðja) placed, present; situated

❖ staðr <dat stað~staði, gen staðar, pl staðir> m stead, parcel of land; place, spot; abode, dwelling

stafr <gen -s, pl stafar~stafir> m wooden staff, stick; pole, timber

stalli <-a, -ar> m altar (heathen)

stallr <-s, -ar> m stall; pedestal

❖ standa <stendr, stóð, stóðu, staðinn> vb (VII) to stand; stay, remain; stand, stick; rest, stop; befit, become; catch, overtake; standa af [e-u] be caused by [sth]; standa undir [e-u] be subject to [sth]; standa undir [e-t] support, approve of [sth]; standa við [e-u] withstand [sth]; standa yfir last

stanga <-að-> vb (1) to ram, (head)butt, gore (of cattle); stangask mid butt each other

starf n work

steði <gen steðja> m anvil

steðja <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to stop; fix, settle

stefna <-di, -dr> vb (2) to aim at, go in a certain direction; call, call together, summon

stefna f direction, course; meeting; appointment; summons

steikja <-ði~ti, -ðr~tr> vb (2) to roast

steina <-di, -dr> vb (2) to paint

Steinbjǫrn <gen -bjarnar> m Steinbjorn, Stone-Bear (personal name)

steinn <-s, -ar> m stone; cave or stone dwelling; poet precious stone, jewel

Steinn <-s> m Stein (place name) Stone

steint ppart of steina; steint mjǫk fully painted

stela <stelr, stal, stálu, stolinn> (IV) vb to steal

❖ sterkr <comp sterkari, superl sterkastr> adj strong

Stiklastaðir m pl Stiklastad (place name)

stikublígr m stick-gazer, miser (nickname)

stinnr adj stiff, unbending, strong

stirðr <n stirt> adj stiff, rigid; harsh, severe

stirt adv harshly

stíga <stígr, sté~steig, stigu, stiginn> vb (I) to step, tread; stíga á hest mount a horse

stjarna <gen stjǫrnu, pl stjǫrnur> f star

stjórna <-að> vb (1) [w dat] to rule over, govern, command

stjórnsamr adj ambitious, overbearing

stofa f stove room, a room in a long house, secondary to the eldaskáli and warmed by a stove of flat stones; served as a living room, where women worked the looms, families sat in the evenings, and feasts were held

stokkr <-s, -ar> m trunk or log of wood; wooden beam; base under an anvil

stolinn ppart of stela

stormr m storm

stóð 1/3sg past of standa

stóðu 3pl past of standa

stóll <-s, -ar> m stool, chair; bishop’s see; king’s throne or residence

stólkonungr <-s, -ar> m ‘throne-king’, emperor

stórilla adv very badly

stórlátr adj proud, haughty, arrogant

stórlæti n pride; overbearing; liberality

stórmannligr adj magnificent, grand

stórmennska f magnanimity

stórmerki n pl great wonders

❖ stórr <comp stœrri, superl stœrstr> adj big

strandhǫgg n shore raid, piracy; høggva strandhǫgg engage in piracy

Strandir f pl Strandir (place name), the Strands

straumr <gen straums, pl straumar> m stream

strá <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to strew, spread

strengja <-da, -dr> vb (2) to swear solemnly; string tight

strjúka <strýkr, strauk, struku, strokinn> vb (II) to stroke, rub, wipe; caress; smooth, brush

strǫnd <dat strǫndu~strǫnd, gen strandar, pl strendr~strandir> f strand, coast, shore; border, edge

stund f a while, a time; hour

stundum ... stundum conj sometimes ... sometimes, at times ... at times

stýra <-ði, -t> vb (4) [w dat] to steer, command; rule, govern; manage

stýrimaðr (pl stýrimenn) m captain, steersman

stœrri comp adj of stórr bigger

stǫðlinum = stǫðli + inum, dat sg of stǫðull

stǫðull <dat stǫðli> m milking pen (for cows)

stǫðva <-að-> vb (1) to stop, halt

stǫkk 1/3sg past of støkkva

støkkva <støkkr, stǫkk, stukku, stokkinn> vb (III) to spring, burst, leap; be sprinkled

stǫng <stangar, stangir~stengr> f staff, pole

stǫnguðusk see stangask

suðr <-rs> n south

suðr adv south, southwards

Suðreyjar f pl the Hebrides (from a Norwegian perspective, lit the South Isles)

Suðri m Sudri (mythological name) South, dwarf who holds up the sky

Suðrlǫnd n pl the Southlands, Germany

Suðrmaðr m South-man, southerner; a German, a Saxon

Suðr-Rygirnir m pl South Rogalanders

suðrœnn adj southern

sultr <-ar> m hunger, famine

❖ sumar <pl sumur> n summer; um sumarit in the summer; hvert sumar every summer

sumir m nom pl of sumr

❖ sumr adj pron some

sumra <-að> vb (1) to draw near summer

sumur n nom/acc pl of sumar

sundfœrr adj able to swim; sundfœrr of sæ sea-worthy, lit able to swim over the sea

sundr adv asunder

sunna f sun

sunnan adv from the south

Sunnudalr m Sunnudal (place name)

Surtr m Surt, the lord of Múspellsheimr

sú <acc þá, dat þeir(r)i, gen þeir(r)ar> f sg dem of sá that (one)

Súðvirki n Southwark (place name)

Súlki m Sulki (personal name)

súpa <sýpr, saup, supu, sopinn> vb (II) to sip, drink; take a sip

svaf 1/3sg past of sofa

svalr adj cool

svaltz var of svalzt

svalzt 2sg past of svelta

svanr <-s, -ir> m swan

Svanr m Svan, Swan (personal name)

svar <pl svǫr> n answer, reply

❖ svara <-að-> vb (1) [w dat] to answer

svardagi m oath

Svartálfheimr m Svartalfheim (mythological name) world of the dark elves

svartr <f svǫrt, n svart> adj black

Svartr m Svart (personal name) Black

❖ svá adv so, thus; such; then; so (denoting degree); svá at such that, with the result that; svá sem so as, as; svá mikill at so great

❖ sveinn <-s, -ar> m boy, lad; servant; page

Sveinn tjúguskegg <gen Sveins> m Svein Forkbeard, king of Denmark (987–1014)

sveit <pl sveitir> f group or body of men; troop, band, company; region, district

sveiti m sweat, blood

svelgja <svelgr, svalg, sulgu, sólginn> vb (III) ti swallow

svelta <sveltr, svalt, sultu, soltinn> [w dat] vb (III) to starve, die (of starvation); suffer hunger; svelta hungri die of hunger

❖ sverð n sword

sverðsegg f sword’s edge

sverja <svarði, svarðr or sverr, sór, sóru, svarinn> vb (VI) swear (an oath)

svimma <svimmr, svamm, summu, summinn> vb (III) to swim

svipan f swing, blow

Svipdagr <-s> m Svipdag (personal name)

svipstund f moment

svipta <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to sweep; throw, fling

Svíaland n Sweden (see also Svíþjóð)

Svíar m pl the Swedes

svíða <svíðr, sveið, sviðu, sviðinn> vb (I) to singe, burn

svíkja <svíkr, sveik, sviku, svikinn> vb (I) to betray, deceive, cheat, defraud

Svívǫr f Svivor, a giantess killed by Thor

Svíþjóð f Sweden

svǫr nom/acc pl of svar

svǫrt see svartr

syngja (also syngva) <syngr, sǫng, sungu, sunginn> vb (III) to sing

syni dat of sonr

synir dat pl of sonr

syrgja <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to mourn

systir <acc/dat/gen systur, pl systr> f sister

sýna <-di, -dr> vb (2) to show; sýnask mid seem, appear

sýndisk 2/3sg past of sýnask

sýnum adv by sight, apparently

sæhafa indecl adj sea-tossed, driven off one’s course; verða sæhafa be driven off-course

Sæhrímnir m Sæhrimnir, the boar who feeds the warriors in Valhǫll

sæll <comp sælli, superl sælstr> adj fortunate, happy

sær <acc sæ, dat sævi~sæ, gen sævar> m sea

sæta <-tta, -tt> vb (4) [w dat] to wait in ambush, waylay; undergo, suffer; bring about, cause

sætt <pl sættir, dat sáttum, gen sátta> f settlement, reconciliation, atonement, agreement; at sætt as atonement

sætta <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to reconcile; make peace among; sættask mid come to terms, settle, agree, be reconciled

sættusk 3pl past mid of sætta

❖ sœkja <sótti, sóttr> vb (3) to seek; pursue; sœkja til [e-s] seek out [sb]

sœmð f honor

sœnskr adj Swedish

sǫgu see saga; sǫgunni in the saga

❖ sǫk <gen sakar; pl sakar~sakir> f cause, reason, sake; fyrir [e-s] sakar on account of, because of [sth]

sǫk f thing, case

søkkva <søkkr, sǫkk, sukku, sokinn> vb (III) to sink

sǫm f nom sg & n nom/acc pl of samr

sǫmu str n dat sg, wk f acc/dat/gen sg & all wk nom/acc/gen pl of samr

sǫngr <-s, -var> m song

T

ñv taka <tekr, tók, tóku, tekinn> vb (VI) to take, catch, seize; take hold of, grasp; reach, touch; [w inf] begin; impers [e-t] taka af [sth] comes loose, comes off; [sth] ceases; taka arf inherit; taka [e-t] á [e-u] touch [sth] with [sth]; taka [e-m] fegins hendi receive [sb] gladfully, joyfully; taka í sundr cut asunder; taka í hafi take to sea; taka [e-n] hǫndum seize or capture [sb]; taka upp [e-t] pick up [sth]; taka við [e-m] take in, receive, or welcome [sb] into one’s house; taka við [e-u] receive, take possession of, acquire, inherit [sth]; taka til begin; takask mid begin; take place; behave takask til happen

tal n talk, parley, conversation

❖ tala <-að-> vb (1) to talk, speak; tala við [e-n] speak to [sb]

teinn <-s, -ar> m twig, spit, stake

tekinn ppart of taka

telgja <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to shape, hew, carve, cut

telja <talði~taldi, talið~taldr~talinn> vb (3) to count; reckon, consider

temja <temr, tamði~tamdi, tamði~tamdr, taminn> vb (3) to tame; train, exercise

Temps f the river Thames

tigr <gen tigar; pl tigir, acc tigu> m ten; a decade

❖ til prep [w gen] to; till; for (of use); for (of object, intention); with respect to ;alt er til vápna var everything that could be used as a missle; brjóta legg til mergjar break a leg to get at the marrow; til vista var eigi gott they were not well off for provisions

til adv too (of excess)

til handa prep [w dat] for

tilkall <pl tilkǫll> n claim

tillagagóðr adj well-disposed, reliable

tillit n look, glance (cf. líta)

tíð <pl -ir> f time; hour

tíðara comp adv of títt more frequently, more quickly

tíðast superl adv of títt, quickest, most frequent; sem tíðast immediately

tíðendi var of tíðindi

❖ tíðindi (also tíðendi) n pl news, events, tidings

tíðr <f tíð, n títt> adj frequent

tíðum adv often

títt adv quickly, frequently

tími m time

tírœðr adj counted by tens, ten tens

❖ tíu <ord tíundi, tenth > num ten

tívar m pl gods (plural only, in poetic usage)

tjalda <-að-> vb (1) to pitch a tent

tjaldat ppart of tjalda, tented; Skipit flaut tjaldat ‘The ship floated tented [with a sail cloth over the mast serving as a tent]

toddi m bit, piece, morsel (nickname)

topt <-ir> f homestead; the walls or foundations of a (former) building

Toptavǫllr m Toptavoll (place name)

tók 1/3sg past of taka

tóku 3pl past of taka

❖ tólf <ord tólfti, twelfth > num twelve

tólfræðr adj counted by twelves, twelve tens

tómliga adv slowly

tómr adj slow

tré <dat tré, gen trés, pl tré, dat trjám, gen trjá> n tree; wood

tréfótr m pegleg; ‘Tree-Foot’ (nickname)

tréna <-að-> vb (1) to dry up

trjá see tré

troða <treðr~trøðr, trað, tráðu, treðinn> vb (V) to tread; cram, pack; troðask mid crowd upon each other

troll (also trǫll) n monstrous inhuman creature; human with troll characteristics

trollkona f troll-wife, giantess

trúa (also trú) <trú> f faith, word of honor; (religious) belief

trúa <-ði, trúat> vb (4) to believe

trúr adj true

tryggvi m True, Faithful, Loyal (nickname)

trǫll var of troll

tunga f tongue; language, tongue; tongue of land at the meeting of two rivers

tungl n moon

tuttugu <ord tuttugandi~tuttugundi, twentieth> num twenty

tún n enclosure, farmstead; hayfield, homefield; poet dwellings, precincts

❖ tveir <f tvær, n tvau, acc m tvá, dat tveim(r), gen tveggja, ord annarr, second> num two

typpa <-ti~typði, -tr~typðr> vb (2) to top, crown

týja <3sg pres týr, 3sg past týði> vb (2) to do, work; [w dat] help, assist; impers avail, týði ekki it was of no avail

tæla <-di, -dr> vb (2) to trick, betray

tœki 3sg/pl past subjunct of taka

tǫnn <gen tannar, pl tenn~tennr~teðr> f tooth

U

Uðr var of Unnr

ulfr var of úlfr

ull <dat ullu> f wool

ullarlagðr m tuft of wool

❖ um prep [w acc] about; around; across; for, because of; beyond; during, for, in, by (time); [w dat–in poetic and older texts] over; by, in (time); [w vb of motion] over, past, beyond, across; um alla hluti in every way; fram um or um fram [w vb of motion] on past, up beyond, out over; um dag one day; um nætr by night; um sumarit during the summer; um fram adv in addition; um sinnsakar for this once

um adv, pre-verbal particle (untranslatable, but carrying connotation of completion)

umfram prep beyond, more than

um þvert adv (diagonally) across

umhverfis prep [w acc] round, all around; adv there about, all around

una <-ði/di, unat, subjunct ynði> vb (4) to be content in a place; to like/be satisfied Gullharaldr undi þá miklu verr enn áðr GullHarald liked this much less than before; enjoy, be happy, be content with a thing unðu þeir þar litla hríð they were content there only a little while; þeir undu illa sínum hlut they very much disliked their lot; dwell, stay, abide, live at; [w dat]

und var of undir

❖ undan prep [w dat] from under, from beneath; away from; just off, near to

undarliga adv strangely; weirdly

undarligr adj strange; weird

❖ undir (also und) prep [w acc/dat] under, underneath; [w dat] under, depending on; undir sér with him

undirhyggjumaðr m guileful or deceitul person

unðu 3pl past of una

❖ ungr <comp yngri, superl yngstr> adj young

unna <ann, unni, unnt~unnat> pret-pres vb to grant, allow, bestow; [w dat] love; unna [e-m] [e-s] let [sb] have [sth]

unninn /unnin/ unnit ppart of vinna;

Unnr (also Uðr) <acc Unni, dat Unni, gen Unnar> f Unn (personal name)

unnu 3pl past of vinna

uns var of unz

unz (also uns) conj until, till

❖ upp adv up, upward (motion toward)

upphiminn m heaven (above)

uppi adv up (position); vera uppi live, last

upplenzkr adj of or pertaining to the Uplands (Norwegian highlands)

Upplǫnd n pl Uplands (place name) Norwegian highlands

Uppsalir m pl Uppsala (place name)

Urðarbrunnr m Urdarbrunn, the Well of Fate

Urðr f Urd, Fate, that which should become, one of the three Norns

urðu 3pl past of verða

uxi (also oxi) <acc/dat/gen uxa, pl yxn~øxn, dat yxnum~øxnum, gen yxna~øxna> m ox

Ú

Úlfarr m Ulfar (personal name)

úlfr <-s, -ar> m wolf

úr var of ór

❖ út adv out, outward (motion toward), out to Iceland

❖ útan adv from outside; from abroad, from Iceland, from without; (without motion) outside

útanverðr adj outward, outside, outer part of

útar comp adv of út farther out

útarliga adv far out

Útgarðr m Utgard, the Outer Enclosures, the home of the giants (place name)

úti adv out (place), outside, out-of-doors

útlagi m outlaw

útlendr adj foreign

V

vaða <veðr, óð, óðu, vaðinn> vb (VI) wade (through water); rush (at an opponent)

vagn <-s, -ar> m wagon, vehicle

vaka <-ti, vakat> vb (4) to be awake

vakði (also vakti) 1/3sg past of vekja

vakna <-að-> intrans vb (1) to awake, get up

Valaskjálf f Valaskjalf, Odin’s silver-roofed hall

vald n power

Valdres n Valdres, highland region in Norway

Valhǫll f Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain

Valir m pl inhabitants (esp Celtic) of France

valkyrja f chooser of the slain, valkyrie

Valland n France

valr m corpses on the battlefield, the slain

valr <-s, -ir> m hawk

vandahús n wicker house

vandamál n complicated case, difficult matter

vandi m habit; custom

vandliga adv carefully

vandr adj difficult

Vanir m pl one of the two major groups of gods

vann 1/3sg past of vinna

❖ vanr adj accustomed, wont; vanr [e-u] accustomed to [sth]; usual

var 1/3sg past of vera

varð 1/3sg past of verða

varðveita <-tta, -ttr> vb (2) to keep, preserve, watch, defend

vargr <-s, -ar> m wolf

varla adv hardly, scarcely

varmr adj warm

❖ varr <f vǫr, n vart> adj aware; cautious, wary

vas (older form of var) 1/3sg past of vera

vatn <gen vatns~vatz~vaz, pl vǫtn> n water, fresh water; lake

vaxa <vex, óx, óxu, vaxinn> vb (VI) to grow

vá 1/3sg past of vega

vágr <-s, -ar> m bay,inlet; wave, sea

Vágr m Vag, Bay (place name)

vágskorinn ppart vágr + skorinn, bay-cut, with bays or inlets

vágu 3pl past of vega

ván <pl vánir> f hope, expectation, prospect

❖ vándr adj (qualitatively) bad, wretched; (morally) bad, wicked

❖ vápn n weapon

vápnaðr ppart armed

Vápnafjǫrðr m Vapnafjord, Weapon’s Fjord

vápndjarfr adj fearless, gallant, daring in battle; inn vápndjarfasti the most fearless in battle

vápnfœrr adj skilled in arms

❖ vár n spring

vár gen of vér our (pl)

Vár f perhaps a goddess associated with pledges; Várar hendi by the hand of Var

vára <-að> vb (1) to draw near spring

várar f pl oath, solemn vow

❖ várr poss pl pron our

váru 3pl past of vera

várþing n spring assembly

veð <dat pl veðjum, gen veðja> n pledge

veðr n weather; wind; storm

Veðrfǫlnir m Vedrfolnir, the hawk which sits between the eyes of the eagle atop Yggdrasill

vefa <vefr, óf~vaf, ófu~váfu, ofinn> vb (IV) to weave

vega <vegr, vá, vágu, veginn> vb (V) to kill, slay; fight

veggr <dat vegg, gen -jar~-s, -ir> m wall

❖ vegr <gen vegar~vegs, pl vegir~vegar, acc vegu~vega> m way, road; mode, manner; direction; side

veiða <-ddi, -ddr> vb (2) to catch; hunt

veiðr <acc/dat veiði, gen veiðar, pl veiðar> f hunting, fishing, catch

veit 1/3 pres sg of vita

❖ veita <-tti, -ttr> vb (2) to grant, give, offer; assist; veita [e-m] atgǫngu attack [sb]; veita [e-m] atlǫgu attack [sb]; veita atróðr set out rowing (toward); [e-m] veita betr [sb] has the better of it; veita tilkall make a claim

veizla f feast, banquet

veiztu = veizt þú 2sg pres of vita, you know

vekja <vakði~vakti, vakiðr~vaktr~vakinn> trans vb (3) to wake, awake; vekja [e-n] upp wake [sb] up

❖ vel <comp betr, superl bezt~bazt> adv well; very; vel at sér gifted, capable

velli dat sg of vǫllr

❖ vera <er, var, váru, verit> vb (V) to be; last; vera fyrir lead; vera þar fyrir be there present; vera vel at kominn be welcome; vera við be present, take part in

❖ verða <verðr, varð, urðu, orðinn> vb (III) to become, happen; have to; verða at [e-u] become [sth]; verða at grjóti turn to stone; verða at sœtt reconcile; verða sæhafa be driven off-course (when sailing)

Verðandi f Verdandi (mythological name) Becoming or Happening, one of the three norns

❖ verðr adj [w gen] worthy; verðr [e-s] worthy of [sth]

ver-gjarn adj eager for men, lustful

verit ppart of vera (n)

verja <varði, variðr~varðr> defend, verja [e-u] keep [sth] away; verjask mid defend oneself

verk n work

verpa <verpr, varp, urpu, orpinn> vb (III) to throw

verr <-s, -ar> m [poet] husband; [pl] men

verr comp adv of illa, worse

verri comp adj of illr and vándr, worse

verst superl adv of illa worst; sem verst as bad as it can be, as bad as possible

verstr superl adj of illr and vándr worst

verǫld f world

vesa var of vera

vesall adj pathetic, miserable, wretched

vestan adv from the west

Vestfold f Vestfold (place name)

vestr <gen vestrs> n west; adv westward, vestr um haf, west over the ocean (to Britain)

vestri comp adj of vestr more westerly

Vestri m Vestri (mythological name) dwarf who holds up the sky

Vestribyggð f Western Settlement (place name), part of Norse Greenland

Vestrlǫnd n pl the Weslands, the British Isles and France

vestrvegir m pl the west, i.e., toward the British Isles and beyond, lit the western ways

vestrœnn adj western

❖ vetr <dat vetri, gen vetrar, pl nom and acc vetr> m winter; um vetrinn for the winter

vetra <-að> vb (1) to draw near winter

vexti dat of vǫxtr

Véfastr <-s> m Vefast (personal name)

vél f deceit, trick

véla <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to defraud, betray, seduce

vér <acc/dat oss, gen vár> pron we (pl)

❖ við prep [w acc] with; at, by, close to; according to, after; [w dat] against; toward; with; in exchange for, for

viðartaug <pl -ar> f flexible and tough twig

viðr <gen viðar, pl viðir, acc viðu> m tree; forest, wood; timber

viðtaka <gen viðtǫku, pl viðtǫkur> f reception

vika f week

Vilhjálmr m William (personal name); Vilhjálmr bastarðr m William the Conqueror, illegitimate son of Robert Longsword

vili m desire

❖ vilja <2/3sg pres vill, vildi, viljat> vb (4) to wish, want

vil 1sg pres of vilja

vill 2/3sg pres of vilja

viltu = vill + þú

vinaboð n feast for one’s friends

vinátta f friendship (esp a sincere, personal friendship)

vinda <vindr, vatt, undu, undinn> vb (III) to twist, wring, squeeze; wind, hoist; turn, swing; vindask mid make a sudden movement, turn oneself away

vindr <gen -s~-ar> m wind, air

vinfengi n friendship (esp a contractual alliance)

vingóðr <f vingoð, n vingott> adj good towards one’s friends, friendly

Ving-Þórr m poet brandishing-Thor

vinna <vinnr, vann, unnu, unninn/unnin/unnit> vb (III) to gain, win; work; perform, accomplish; vinna herskap á [e-m] win battles against [sb]; mid vinnask win or gain for oneself; sá þat at áin var unnnin they saw that the river was taken

❖ vinr <-ar, -ir> m friend

❖ vinsæll adj beloved, popular

virða <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to evaluate, value, appaise

virðing f respect, value

vist f food, provisions; stay; abode

vista <-að-> trans vb (1) lodge, find lodging, furnish with food and provisions; vistask mid intrans lodge, take up lodging, stay

vistuðusk 3pl past of vistask

vit n sense, wit, intelligence, understanding

vit <acc/dat okkr, gen okkar> pron we (dual)

❖ vita <veit, vissi, vitaðr> pret-pres vb to know; vita fram or vita fyrir know the future, foresee

vitandi pres part of vita, knowing

vitja <-að-> vb (1) [w gen] to go to a place; visit

❖ vitr <acc vitran> adj wise, intelligent

vitrari comp adj of vitr wiser

vitrastr superl adj of vitr wisest, most intelligent

víða adv widely, far and wide

víðfrægr adj widely-renowned, famous

víðr adj wide

❖ víg n battle; homicide, manslaughter, killing

vígja <-ði, -ðr> vb (2) to consecrate, hallow

vígr adj able to fight; vígr vel well-skilled in arms

vígvǫllr m battlefield

vík <gen víkr, pl víkr> f bay

Vík f Vik, Bay (place name)

Víkin f the Vík region, Oslo fjord

víking <pl -ar> f raid; í víking on a raid

víkingavǫrðr <-varðar, -verðir> m Viking-Guard (coast guard against Vikings)

víkingr <-s, -ar> m Viking

víkja <víkr, veik, viku, vikinn> vb (I) [w dat] to move, turn; impers nú víkr sǫgunni now the saga shifts

Víkrmaðr (pl Víkrmenn) m man from Vik

Vínland n Vinland (place name) ‘Wine Country,’ region along the North American Atlantic; Vínland it góða ‘Wineland the Good,’ same

❖ vísa f verse

Vísburr <-s> m Visbur (personal name)

vísindi n pl knowledge, intelligence

❖ víss adj certain; wise; known

víst adv certainly

vísundr <-s, -ar> m bison

vítt adv far

vægð f mercy, forbearance

vægja <-ði, -t> vb (4) [w dat] to spare; give way to

vængr <-jar, -ir> m wing

❖ vænn <comp vænni, superl vænstr> adj beautiful, fine, handsome; likely, to be expected; hopeful, promising

vænta <-ti, vænt> vb (2) [w gen] to expect, hope for

væri 3sg & pl past subjunct of vera

Væringi <pl Væringjar> m Varangian, the name of the Norse warriors who served as bodyguards to the emperors of Constantinople in the Varangian Guard

vætr n indecl nothing

vættr <dat vætti, gen vættar, pl vættir> f creature, being; supernatural being, spirit

vǫðvi m muscle

Vǫggr m Vogg (personal name)

vǫllr <dat velli, gen vallar, pl vellir, acc vǫllu, gen valla> m field, plain

Vǫllr m Voll, field (place name)

vǫluspá f the sybil’s prophecy

vǫlva <gen vǫlu, pl vǫlur> f seeress, sybil

vǫrðr <dat verði, gen varðar, pl verðir, acc vǫrðu, gen varða> m warden; coastguard, watchman

vǫrr <dat verri, gen varrar, pl verrir, acc vǫrru> m pull of an oar

vǫxtr <dat vexti, gen vaxtar, pl vextir, acc vǫxtu> m size, stature, growth; shape

Y

yðarr (also yðvarr) poss pl pron your

❖ yðr acc/dat of pl pron þér, you

yðru n dat of yðarr

yður f nom sg and n nom/acc pl of yðarr

yð(v)ar gen of pl pron þér

yðvarr var of yðarr

❖ yfir prep [w acc/dat] over, above, across; adv over

Yggr m Ygg (mythological name) ‘Terrible One’, a name of Odin

Yggdrasill m Yggdrasil, name of the World Tree

ykkar gen of dual pron þit

ykkarr poss dual pron your

ykkr acc/dat of dual pron þit, you

ylgr <-jar> f she-wolf

Ymir m Ymir (personal name)

Ynglingar m pl Ynglings (personal name) Swedish-Norwegian dynasty

yngri comp adj of ungr younger

yngstr superl of ungr youngest

yrkja <orti, ortr> vb (3) to work, esp cultivate; compose (verses); yrkja á [e-t] set about; mid attack one another, yrkisk á um [e-t] it begins

Yrsa f Yrsa (personal name)

yxnum, yxna see uxi

Ý

ýrit (also œrit) adv sufficiently

ýtri comp adj outer

ýztr superl adj outermost

Z

Zóe dróttning in ríka f Empress Zoe the Great

Þ

þaðan adv from there, thence; þaðan frá from that point onward

þagði 3sg past of þegja

þakka <-að> vb (1) [w dat] to thank

❖ þangat adv to there, thither (motion toward)

Þangbrandr <-s> Thangbrand (personal name)

þann acc sg of dem sá

þannug (also þannig) adv thither, that way (= þann + veg); thus

❖ þar adv there; þar sem conj where

þarf 1/3sg pres of þurfa

þat <acc þat, dat því, gen þess>pron it; n nom/acc of dem sá that (one)

þau <acc þau, dat þeim, gen þeira~þeirra> n pl pron they; those (ones)

❖ þá adv then, at that time

þá f acc sg of sú; m acc pl of þeir

þá er conj when

þás = þá es (þá er)

þáttr <dat þætti, gen þáttar, pl þættir, acc þáttu> m tale, short

❖ þegar adv at once, immediately; already; þegar á morgin first thing in the morning; þegar á unga aldri already by a young age; þegar um haustit that very autumn; conj as soon as, when

þegja <þegir, þagði, þagat> vb (3) to be silent, keep one’s mouth shut

þegn m subject; freeman, a good man

þegnskapr <gen -ar> m generosity, open-handedness

þeim m dat sg of dem sá that (one) & all dat pl of þeir/þær/þau they; those (ones)

þeima (also þessum) m dat sg & all dat pl of þessi

þeir <acc þá, dat þeim, gen þeira~þeirra> pron they; those (ones) (m pl)

þeira (also þeirra) pron gen pl of þeir/þær/þau they; their

þekkja <-ti~þekti~þekði~þátti, -tr~þektr~þekðr> vb (3) to perceive, notice; know, recognize; þekkjast mid know one another

þenna m acc sg of þessi

þess m/n gen sg of sá/þat

❖ þessi (also sjá) <f þessi, n þetta, m acc sg þenna, m dat sg & all dat pl þessum~þeima, m/n gen sg þessa, m nom pl þessir, all gen pl þessa~þessar(r)a, f acc sg þessa, f dat sg þessi~þessar(r)i, f gen sg þessar~þessar(r)ar, n dat sg þessu~þvísa, n nom/acc pl þessi> dem pron this, these

þetta n nom/acc sg of þessi

þér <acc/dat yðr, gen yðarr~yðvarr> pl pron you; þér frequent dat of þú; see ér

Þiðrandi m Thidrandi (personal name)

þiggja <þiggr, þá, þágu, þeginn> vb (V) to accept; receive; accept lodgings

þinglogi adj indecl engagement breaker

þik acc of þú

❖ þing n assembly, lit thing

þingmaðr (pl þingmenn) m thingman, follower of an Icelandic chieftain

Þingvǫllr m Thing-Plain (place name)

❖ þinn <þín, þitt> poss pron your (sg)

þit <acc/dat ykkr, gen ykkar> dual pron you

þín gen of þú

þjóð <dat þjóðu, gen þjóðar, pl þjóðir> f people, nation

þjófr m thief

þjófsaugu n pl thief’s eyes

þjóna <-að> vb (1) [w dat] to serve

þola <þoldi, þolt~þolat> vb (4) to tolerate, endure

þollr m tree; fir tree

þora <-ði, þorat> vb (4) to dare

Þorbjǫrg <-bjargar> f Thorbjorg (personal name)

Þorbrandssynir m pl sons of Thorbrand

Þorfastr <-s> m Thorfast (personal name)

Þorfinnr <-s> m Thorfinn (personal name)

Þorgeirr <-s> m Thorgeir (personal name); Þorgeirr flǫskubakr Thorgeir Flask-Back

Þorgerðr <acc/dat Þorgerði, gen Þorgerðar> f Thorgerd (personal name)

Þorgils <gen Þorgils> m Thorgils (personal name); Þorgils Þorsteinssonar Thorgils, son of Thorstein (personal name)

Þorgrímr m Thorgrim (personal name)

Þorkell <-s> m Thorkel (personal name); Þorkell Geitisson m Thorkel, son of Geitir

Þorleikr <-s> m Thorleik (personal name)

Þormóðr <-ar> m Thormod (personal name)

Þorsteinn <-s> m Thorstein (personal name); Þorsteinn hvíti m Thorstein the White

Þorvarðr <-s> m Thorvard (personal name)

❖ þó adv yet, though, nevertheless

þó 1/3sg past of þvá

Þóra f Thora (personal name)

Þórarinn <-s> m Thorarin (personal name)

Þórdís <-ar> m Thordis (personal name)

Þórðr <-ar> m Thord (personal name)

Þórir <gen Þóris> m Thorir (personal name)

Þórólfr <-s> m Thorolf (personal name)

Þórr <dat Þór~Þóri, gen Þórs> m Thor, god of thunder, husband of Sif, son of Odin and Earth

❖ þótt conj although

þótti 3sg past of þykkja

þóttisk 2/3sg past of þykkjask

þóttu poet = þó at þú

þrasa <3sg pres þrasir> vb (2) be belligerent

þrausk n rummaging

þreifa <-að-> vb (1) touch or feel with one’s hand; þreifask mid fumble, grope

þrekvirki n courageous deed, feat of strength

þrettán <ord þrettándi, thirteenth> num thirteen

þriðjungr <-s> m a third

þriði <f þriðja, n þriðja > ord num third

Þriði m Third, one of the three interrogators of King Gylfi

þrífa <þrífr, þreif, þrifu, þrifinn> vb (I) grasp; þrífa til [e-s] grab hold of [sb/sth]

❖ þrír <f þrjár, n þrjú, acc m þrjá, dat þrim(r), gen þriggja, ord þriði, third > num three

þrír tigir num thirty

þrítugandi ord num thirtieth

þrjá m acc pl of þrír

þrjár f nom/acc pl of þrír

þrjú n nom/acc pl of þrír

þrúðugr adj strong, powerful

Þrymr <-s> m lord among the giants

þræll <-s, -ar> m thrall, slave

Þrœndalǫg n Trondelag (place name)

Þrǫstr <-s> m Throst (personal name)

þumall <dat þumli, gen þumals, pl þumlar> m thumb

þumlungr <-s, -ar> m thumb (of a glove)

❖ þungr <comp þyngri, superl þyngstr> adj heavy

þunnr adj thin

þurfa <þarf, þurfti, þurftu, þurft> pret-pres vb [aux] need; [w gen] need, have need of

þurft f need, necessity

þurs <dat þursi, gen þurs, pl þursar> m giant, ogre

Þurvi f Thurvi (personal name = OI Þyri)

❖ þú <acc þik, dat þér, gen þín> pron you (sg)

þúsund <-ar, -ir> f thousand, usually long thousand, twelve hundred

þvá <þvær, þó, þógu, þveginn> vb (VI) to wash

þverr adj across; see also um þvert

þverra <þverr, þvarr, þurru, þorrinn> vb (III) to wane, decrease, grow less,

Þvinnill <-s> m Thvinnil, name of a Viking (personal name)

því n dat of þat

því conj thus, therefore

þvígit = því-gi at [w comp adj] not the; þvígit fleira no more, not much more

þvísa (also þessu) n dat sg of þetta

því at conj for, because

því næst thereupon, then

❖ þvílíkr adj such

þvít = því at

þykkisk 2/3sg past of þykkjask

❖ þykkja <þykkir, þótti, þótt> vb impers (3) seem to be, [w dat subj] to think/believe, seem (to one); þykkjask mid seem to one, think oneself

þykkr <acc þykkvan> adj thick, close

þykkt adv thickly

Þyri f Thyri (personal name)

þýða (-ddi, -ddr) vb (2) to explain, interpret; signify; win over; þýðask [e-n] mid associate with [sb]

þær <acc þær, dat þeim, gen þeira~þeirra> pron f pl they; those (ones)

þættir nom pl of þáttr

þǫkk <gen þakkar, pl þakkir> f thanks

Æ

æ adv ever, always, forever

æja <ær, áði, áð> vb (3) to graze; rest

ærinn adj sufficient

Æsir m pl of áss, one of the two major groups of gods

æti 3sg & pl past subjunct of eiga

❖ ætla <-að-> vb (1) to intend, purpose, mean; think, consider

ætlan f intent

ætlat ppart of ætla

ætt <pl ættir> f family, kindred; generation

ættangr m family calamity or misfortune

ætti 3sg & pl past subjunct of eiga

ævi f indecl age, time; alla ævi for all time, forever

Œ

œðri comp adj higher

œgishjálmr m helm of terror

œpa <-ti, -t> vb (4)to cry, scream, shout

❖ œrinn (also ýrinn) adj sufficient

œrit adv sufficiently, overly, very

œxla <-ti, -tr> vb (2) to cause increase, multiply

œztr superl adj highest

Ǫ/Ø

ǫðlask <-að-> vb (1) to win, earn

ǫðru n dat sg of annarr

ǫðrum m dat sg; all dat pl of annarr

øfri var of efri

øfstr var of efstr

ǫfundarorð n pl slander, words of envy

ǫkkla <-lu> n ankle

ǫl <dat ǫlvi, gen pl ǫlva> n ale, beer

ǫld <dat ǫldu, gen aldar, pl aldir> f age, time; poet man pl mankind, men

ǫldnu wk f acc sg of aldinn

ǫll f nom sg & n nom/acc pl of allr

ǫllum dat pl of allr

Ǫlvir <gen Ǫlvis> m Olvir (personal name)

ǫnd <dat ǫnd~ǫndu, gen andar, pl andir> f breath; life; spirit, soul

ǫndóttr adj fearsome, terrifying

Ǫndóttr kráka m Ondott Crow (personal name)

ǫnnur f nom sg & n nom/acc pl of annarr

Ǫnundr <-s> m Onund (personal name)

ǫr <gen ǫrvar> f arrow

ørendi var of erendi

ørendislauss adj without effect, purposeless, lit errand-less

ørendislaust adv without purpose, in vain, for nothing; fara ørendislaust go in vain, without a purpose or reason

ǫrlǫg n pl fate

ǫrn <dat erni, gen arnar; pl ernir, acc ǫrnu> m eagle

øx <acc/dat øxi, gen øxar, pl øxar> f axe

Øxarfjǫrðr m Oxarfjord, Axe Fjord (place name)

ǫxl <gen axlar, pl axlir> f shoulder

Øxna-Þórir m Oxen-Thorir (personal name)

Books by Jesse L. Byock

The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer

Translated with introduction and notes by Jesse Byock

Penguin Classics, Penguin Books

Unforgettable, The Saga of the Volsungs is one of the great works of world literature. Based on heroic poems from the Viking Age, Volsung Saga (Völsunga) is myth, legend and sheer human drama. At its heart is the hero Sigurd the dragon slayer who acquires runic knowledge from Odin’s Valkyrie. Set in a legendary world, it incorporates oral memories of the 5th century, when Attila the Hun and warrior kings fought on the northern frontiers of the Roman empire. The book’s Introduction links the Huns, Burgundians and Goths with the events of this Icelandic saga, whose medieval author claimed that Sigurd’s name was ‘known in all tongues north of the Greek Ocean, and so it must remain while the world endures’.

With its ill-fated Rhinegold, the sword reforged, and the magic ring of power, this saga, is the Norse version of the Nibelungenlied and a primary source for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and for Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle.— from the back cover

The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology

Snorri Sturluson

Translated with Introduction and Notes by Jesse L. Byock

Penguin Classics, Penguin Books

The Prose Edda is our major source for Norse mythology and a renowned work of Scandinavian literature. Written in Iceland, it preserves the Norse creation epic, telling ancient tales of the gods, giants, dwarves and elves and their struggles for survival. It recounts ancient oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and women. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods’ tragic realization that the future holds one final battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan past are among the most influential of myths and legends, inspiring Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The source for the ‘long winter.’

This new translation by Jesse Byock captures the strength and subtlety of the original, while his introduction sets the tales in the context of Norse mythology and migration. The edition includes detailed notes and appendices. — from the back cover

Viking Age Iceland

by Jesse Byock

Penguin History, Penguin Books

The Viking Age is a time of warlords and marauding bands. This deeply fascinating and important history reveals the society founded by Norsemen in Iceland, becoming an independent, Free State, without warlords or kings. Honour was crucial. In Jesse Byock’s words, it was ‘a great village’: a self-governing community of settlers, who adapted to Iceland’s harsh climate and landscape, creating their own society.

Combining history and anthropology, this remarkable study explores in rich detail all aspects of Viking Age life: feasting, farming, battling the elements, chieftains’ power, the church, marriage, women’s roles, and kinship. ‘Blood feud’ prevailed while law courts favored compromise. Iceland thrived for 300 years until it came under the control of the King of Norway.

A unique time in history, which has long perplexed historians and archaeologists, and which provides us today with fundamental insights into forgotten aspects of western society. By interweaving his own original and innovative research with masterly interpretations of the Old Icelandic Sagas, Jesse Byock brilliantly brings it to life.— from the back cover

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

Translated with an introduction by Jesse Byock
Penguin Classics, Penguin Books

Hrolf’s Saga recalls ancient Scandinavia, when the warrior chieftain King Hrolf ruled in Denmark. In the Viking world, King Hrolf was a symbol of courage. Sharing rich oral traditions with the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, Hrolf’s Saga recounts the tragedy of strife within Denmark’s royal hall. It tells of powerful women and the exploits of Hrolf’s champions – including Bodvar Bjarki, the ‘bear-warrior’, who strikingly resembles Beowulf. Combining heroic legend, myth and magic, Hrolf’s Saga has wizards, sorceresses and ‘berserker’ fighters, originally members of a cult of Odin.

Most startling is the central love triangle: Hrolf’s father, with insatiable appetites, unknowingly abducts his daughter, who marries the despised Swedish sorcerer King Adils. A powerful human drama with deep historical roots, Hrolf’s Saga ranks among the masterworks of the Middle Ages, influencing writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien.— from the back cover

Sagas and Myths of the Northmen

Translated by Jesse Byock
Penguin Classics / Penguin Epics xvi
(Penguin Series: The Greatest Stories Ever Told)

A short. introductory sampling of Norse myths and legends. For beginners and children, selected excerpts from The Saga of the Volsungs, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki , and The Prose Edda chosen by Penguin editors to whet the appetite for Norse tales and mythology of the Viking Age. Start with these and move to the reading of full sagas.

Here you begin the journey into the realm of Viking myth and legend. In a land of ice, great warriors search for glory… a dragon threatens the people of the north, and only one man can destroy the fearsome beast. Elsewhere, a mighty leader gathers a court of champions, including a noble warrior under a terrible curse. Learn the Norse creation, tales of gods and frost giants, and the dark days of the final battle Ragnarok. — from the back cover

Grettir’s Saga

Translated by Jesse Byock

Oxford University Press, Oxford World’s Classics

A sweeping epic of the Viking Age, Grettir’s Saga follows the life of the outlaw Grettir the Strong as he battles against the vengefulness of his enemies, sorcery, and bad luck. Feared by many, Grettir is a warrior, a poet, and a lover who is afraid of the dark. Unable to resolve the dispute that has outlawed him, Grettir lives outside the bounds of family life. He roams the countryside, ridding Iceland and Norway of berserkers, trolls, and walking dead. The saga presents medieval Icelandic life, including love, food, blood feud, folklore, and legend. Grettir’s Saga, with its scathing humour, explicit verses, and fantastic monsters, is among the most famous, and widely read of Iceland’s sagas.

This new translation features extensive maps and illustrative material. — from the back cover

Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power

Jesse L. Byock, University of California Press

“Byock’s book is a tour-de-force of historical argument. He brilliantly reconstructs the inner workings of an intriguing society, not elsewhere found in the Western world.”

— David Herlihy, History Book Club

“The first to demonstrate the importance of brokerage, advocacy, and arbitration as social methods of maintaining the governmental system, balance of power, and peace.”

— Helgi Thorláksson, Skírnir

“Iceland was an anthropological laboratory… It ought to have been a Utopia: no foreign policy, no defense forces, no king, no lords, no dispossessed aborigines, no battles (till late on), no dangerous animals, and few clear taxes. What could go wrong? Why is their literature all about killing each other? Answers lie, says Byock, in ‘the underlying structures and cultural codes’ of the island’s social order… Fascinating parts discuss the ways in which saga characters operate within a system of checks and balances.” — Tom Shippey, London Review of Books

“Stimulating, important work. Byock has succeeded in rehabilitating the Icelandic sagas as important sources for the social and economic history of the Free State. Highly recommended.” — C.W. Clark, Choice

Feud in the Icelandic Saga

Jesse Byock, University of California Press (UCPress)

“Byock’s thorough inquiry into the Icelandic feud system and impact on saga literature is valuable and fruitful in itself. But his research also results in important general conclusions concerning the Icelandic saga as a medieval epic genre… A sound and convincing statement on the unique character of the Icelandic saga.” — Peter Hallberg, International Journal of Scandinavian Studies

“Byock not only succeeds in grounding, in a convincing manner, the social roles of individuals in the sagas but also lays bare the role of narrative in Old Icelandic society.”

— Vilhjálmur Árnason, Skírnir

“Jesse Byock has here established an admirable basis for further research by clearing away much of the debris of the past. We are now ready for a full-scale reevaluation of saga materials in light of socio-historical and evolutionary views.”

— Einar Haugen

“Admirable study… Wealth of information about the political, social, and economic development and social thought underlying institutions and practices.” Scandinavian-American Bulletin“Byock has illuminated fundamental social concepts better and more clearly than previously done because he uses Icelandic sources in a new way.” — Helgi Thorláksson, Ný Saga

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas

2nd Edition

Jesse L. Byock, Jules William Press

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas (The first book in the Viking Language Series)is a new introduction to the Old Norse language of the Vikings. In one book: graded lessons, vocabulary, grammar exercises, pronunciation, student guides, and maps. It explains Old Icelandic literature, Viking history, and myth. Readings include runes, legends, and sagas.

Viking Language 1 focuses on the most frequently occurring words in the sagas, an innovative method which speeds learning. Because the grammar has changed little from Old Norse, the learner is well on the way to mastering Modern Icelandic. Provides a wealth of information about Iceland, where the sagas were written and Old Scandinavian history and mythology were preserved. Viking Language 1 is accompanied by Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader.

Viking Language 2:The Old Norse Reader

Jesse L. Byock, Jules William Press

Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader (the second book in the Old Norse Series) is a wide collection of original texts to accompany Viking Language 1. A stand-alone book for classes and the self-learner, The Old Norse Reader immerses the learner in Icelandic and Viking Age sources. Provides the tools necessary to read complete prose sagas and Norse mythic and heroic poetry. The Reader includes:

• Sagas of blood feud accompanied by introductions, notes, maps and cultural discussions.

• Extensive vocabulary and whole sections on runes, eddas, and skaldic verse.

Selections from Old Norse texts ranging from the Doom of the Gods at the final battle Ragnarok to descriptions of the cursed gold and the ring of the dwarves.

Saga of the Volsungs:

The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Jesse L. Byock

University of California Press

Source for Wagner’s Ring and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

A trove of traditional lore, this Icelandic prose epic tells of love, vengeance, war, and the mythic dragonslayer, Sigurd the Volsung. With its magical ring, and the sword to be reforged, the saga remains a primary source for writers into the 21st century. Byock’s comprehensive introduction explores the history, legends, and myths in the Volsung (Völsunga) Saga, tracing the narrative back to the great folk migrations in Europe when the Roman Empire collapsed.

“Byock extends the background to the saga … to the complex relationship between history and legend in the Middle Ages and the social context of the myths and heroes of the saga... [Byock is] very successful in his adept renderings of Eddic rhythm... The prose is equally fine.” — Judy Quinn, Parergon

“A book of highest importance. No one should attempt to teach Viking society or claim to understand it without this chilling and enduring myth.” — Eleanor Searle, Medieval Academy

L’Islande des Vikings

Jesse Byock, traduit de l’anglais (E.-U.) par Béatrice Bonne

Préface de Jacques Le Goff

Flammarion / Aubier, Collection Historique

Les Vikings n’ont pas bonne réputation. Et pourtant ils ont fondé, en Islande, sur cette île demeurée quasi vierge de toute présence humaine jusqu’au ixe siècle, une société unique: un État libre et indépendant, elle est en grande partie exempte des hiérarchies sociales habituelles – y compris les rapports entre hommes et femmes – et fait reposer le règlement des conflits davantage sur le consensus que sur la violence. Entre festins de raie pourrie et manuel de survie en milieu hostile, conflits juridiques et méthode de construction des maisons en mottes de terre herbeuse… c’est la vie quotidienne des Vikings à l’époque médiévale qui nous est ici dévoilée. En entrelaçant ses propres recherches historiques et archéologiques avec ses interprétations magistrales des sagas, ces récits littéraires typiquement islandais, Jesse Byock fait revivre cette civilisation avec brio. — quatrième de couverture

Исландия эпохи викингов

Джесси Байок, Москва / Jesse Byock, Viking Age Iceland.

Москва / Moscow, Corpus, 2012

Перевод Ильи Свердлова / Translated by Ilya Sverdlov

Джесси Л. Байок - специалист по древнеисландскому языку и средневековой Скандинавии, профессор Калифорнийского университета, автор множества книг, переводов и научных статей. Его главный труд, «Исландия эпохи викингов», - это и увлекательное путешествие по исландской действительности в период X-XIII вв., и полезное пособие по чтению саг, и экскурсия в удивительное общество, которое настолько занято делом, что вынуждено вместо междоусобных войн развивать правовую систему.

La Stirpe di Odino: La Civiltà Vichinga in Islanda

Jesse Byock

Traduzione di Marco Federici

Prefazione di Jacques Le Goff

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore

I primi raggiunsero l’Islanda dalla Scandinavia e dalla Brittannia vichinga alla metà del IX secolo e qui diedero vita a uno stato libero, indipendente e non gerarchico, che costituisce un unicum nella storia europea. Le strutture sociali, economiche, politiche e giuridiche, infatti, per quanto ispirate a quelle delle zone d’origine, doveterro essere modellate su una realtà geografica del tutto nuovo, difficile e affascinante, e durarono con minime evoluzioni fino alla conquista norvegese del 1260, dando vita a una civilità rurale, con una stupefacente cultura del diritto e un forte senso dell’onore.

In questo libro, che il grande medievista Le Goff ha definito “splendido e affascinante”, l’autore indaga l’Islanda indipendente in modo globale, facendo ricorso a molteplici tipologie di fonti, da quelle giuridiche a quelle archeologiche, e in particolare analizza le splendide saghe, capolavori letterari dai quali è possibile ricavare la più esatta descrizione di quello che voleva dire vivere nella “terra dei ghiacci” tra IX e XIII secolo.

Island i sagatiden: Samfund, magt og fejde

Jesse Byock

Oversat av Jon Høyer, C. A. Reitzels forlag

De islandske sagaer udgør i denne bog et vindue ind til et usædvanligt samfund: Uden nogen central og udøvende myndighed formåede denne sociale nyskabelse at inddæmme fejder og konflikter og holde fred og forlig i omkring 300 år. I hele denne tradition, med dens tingsamlinger og kompromisløsninger, har de nordiske samfund dybe rødder.

Sagaerne opfattes i denne bog som et middelalderfolks beretninger om sig selv, fortalt til sig selv, til underholdning og social orientering. De opfattes således som pålidelige gengivelser af sociale mønstre og normer igennem den islandske fristatstid, der var kendetegnet ved en forbavsende kontinuitet. Læst i sammenhæng med anden islandsk middelalderlitteratur kaster sagaerne et gennemtrængende lys over hele dette historiske forløb. — bagsidetekst

Island i sagatiden udkom første gang i 1988 i USA og England med titlen Medieval Iceland og er en meget benyttet fagbog i mange lande. Denne danske udgave er gennemgribende udvidet siden da og omkring halvanden gang så omfattende. Denne bog kan anbefales til både erfarne forskere og nybegyndere inden for sagastudierne. Byock fremlægger sine undersøgelsesresultater og sine præmisser forbilledligt og klart, og netop derfor vil denne bog stimulere debatten på bedste vis. — Nanna Damsholt, Scandinavian Journal of History

Byock er sandsynligvis den første forsker, der viser, hvordan mægling, tredjepartsindgreb og forhandling udgør en vigtig social metode til at sikre statssystemet, magtbalancen og freden. — Helgi Þorláksson, Skírnir

Byock’s bog er en tour-de-force inden for historisk argumentation. På fremragende måde rekonstruerer han de underliggende styringsmekanismer i et fejdesamfund, der ikke findes noget andet sted i den vestlige verden. — David Herlihy, History Book Club

De mest fascinerende dele af Byock’s bog blotlægger de måder, som sagapersoner handler på for at nå deres mål inden for samfundets kontrol- og balancesystem. — Tom Shippey, London Review of Books

アイスランド・サガ

血讐の記号論

Feud in the Icelandic Saga

(Japanese edition)

Jesse L. Byock

Translated by

Chusaku Shibata and Tomoyuki Inoue

Tokai University Press, Tokyo

サガの社会史

中世アイスランドの自由国家

Medieval Iceland

(Japanese edition)

Jesse L. Byock

Translated by

Chusaku Shibata and Tomoyuki Inoue

Tokai University Press, Tokyo

Viking Archaeology in Iceland

Mosfell Archaeological Project

Edited by Davide Zori and Jesse Byock

Cursor Mundi, Brepols

The Viking North Atlantic differs significantly from the popular image of violent raids and destruction characterizing the Viking Age in Northern Europe. In Iceland, Scandinavian seafarers discovered and settled a large uninhabited island. To survive and succeed, they adapted lifestyles and social strategies to a new environment. The result was the Icelandic Free State.

This volume examines the Viking Age in Iceland through the discoveries and excavations of the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) in Iceland’s Mosfell Valley (Mosfellsdalur). Directed by Prof. Jesse Byock, the Head Archaeologist, with Field Director Prof. Davide Zori, MAP brings together scholars and researchers from Iceland, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the United States.

The Mosfell Project incorporates the disciplines of archaeology, history, saga studies, osteology, zoology, paleobotany, genetics, isotope studies, place-names studies, environmental science, and historical architecture.

MAP’s decade-long research has led to the discovery of an exceptionally well-preserved Viking chieftain’s farmstead, including a longhouse, a pagan cremation site, a conversion-era stave church, a Christian graveyard, and a Viking Age harbor at Leiruvogur.

The research results presented here tell the story of how the Mosfell Valley developed from a ninth-century settlement of Norse seafarers into a powerful Icelandic chieftaincy of the Viking Age.

Altnordisch 1: Die Sprache der Wikinger, Runen

und isländischen Sagas

The German Edition of Viking Language 1

Jesse L. Byock, Jules William Press

Amazon.de

Altnordisch 1: Die Sprache der Wikinger, Runen und isländischen Sagas (das erste Buch der Altnordisch-Reihe) ist eine umfangreiche Einführung in die altnordische bzw. altisländische Sprache, die sich aus 15 aufeinander aufbauenden Lektionen zusammensetzt und von Textpassagen, einem umfangreichen Wörterverzeichnis, ausführlichen Erläuterungen der altnordischen Grammatik und darin anknüpfenden Übungen sowie Hinweisen zur Aussprache ergänzt wird. Der Lösungsschlüssel zu allen Aufgaben kann kostenlos auf unserer Webseite heruntergeladen werden, www.vikinglanguage.com Da die Grammatik der modernen isländischen Sprache sich nur geringfügig von seinem mittelalterlichen Vorgänger unterscheidet, lässt sich mit Kenntnissen des Altnordischen auch das Neuisländische meistern. ̶ Amazon.de

Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader (das zweite Buch der Altnordisch-Reihe) taucht noch ein Stück weiter in die Welt der altnordischen/-isländischen Literatur ein. Es beinhaltet Texte über die altnordische Mythologie, komplette Sagas und skanidnavische Götter- und Heldenlider und runische Inschriften sowie ein umfangreiches Wörterverzeichnis und eine vollständige Kurzgrammatik.

www.vikinglanguage.com

Amazon.de

1 Jesse Byock, Viking Age Iceland. London and New York: Penguin Books. See also Feud in the Icelandic Saga. Berkeley: University of California Press.

2 The translation of Ibn Fadlan’s report is from Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North. Trans. Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. London: Penguin Classics, 2012, pp. 45-49 and p. 54. I have changed the descriptive headings. See also Johannes Brønsted, The Vikings. Trans. by K. Skov. Baltimore: Pelican Books, 1973, pp. 266-267.

3 For a discussion of different types of sagas, see Lesson 1.

4 Modern English depends mostly on word order and prepositions to distinguish a word’s role in the sentence. Old English, however, was an inflected language with an inflectional system of endings similar to Old Norse. In contrast to the change between Old and Modern English, Modern Icelandic remains a highly inflected language like Old Norse, retaining most of the ON endings and sound changes.

5 Vellum and parchment are two words used to describe skin manuscripts. Most Icelandic manuscripts were made from calf and sheep skin.

6 These MP3 pronunciation albums are available for download on: Amazon (under All, Music, and Digital Music); itunes; and cdbaby.com. Pronunciation samples are found under the Audio tab on the Viking Language website: www.vikinglanguage.com.

7 Íslendingasögur orðstöðulykill og texti: Handbók. Eds. Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir, Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson (chief editor), Guðrún Ingólfsdóttir, and Örnólfur Thorsson. 2nd ed. Reykjavík: Mál og menning, 1998.

8 The Old Norse Icelandic Learner’s Dictionary (Jules William Press, forthcoming) expands the list from the 246 most frequent words to the 500 most frequent. The 500 core words account for approximately 90% of all words (excluding proper names) found in Old Norse manuscript and runic texts.

9 Prepositions are discussed in Lessons 2 and 3. These ‘parts of speech’ are mostly small indeclinable words that specify the time, place/location, direction, and manner of actions. Prepositions form phrases and generally precede nouns which are their objects.

10 Þenna tíma ‘At that time’ an accusative of time

11 By ‘prehistory’ we mean times before there was good textual documentation.

12 On the basis of systematic similarities between words within Old Norse and across languages such as its close relative Old English and its more distant cousins like Russian, Greek and Sanskrit, linguists reconstruct ‘proto,’ that is, ‘original’ hypothetical forms of words and grammar as they likely appeared in the ‘parent language,’ i.e. the lost language that existed in prehistory and later split into the known ancient and modern language. See the section ‘Old Norse Language’ in the Introduction for the history of Old Norse and the presence of cognates and borrowings.

13 Sound changes in Old Norse are discussed in Lesson 4.

14 Although not necessary for learning Old Norse, it is interesting to note that a common ancestry for ON gestr can be treaced further back, and gestr derives from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *ghos-ti-s. Here the root *ghos- (meaning ‘stranger’ or ‘guest’) carries the basic meaning of the word, while *-ti- is a suffix which makes nouns. This combination produces the noun stem *ghosti- to which the nominative ending *-s is added, forming the full PIE word *ghostis, meaning ‘stranger’ or ‘guest.’ See also next section.

15 Note that the PN word gastiR employs an -R ending, while ON gestr uses a lower case -r. The -R in PN gastiR represents a word-final /z/-like sound that originated in Proto-Germanic. By the year 1000, the /z/ sound had mostly changed and become the ON /r/ sound. Still the change was not complete. When reading the runes in the coming lessons, we will see that many runic inscriptions from the Viking Age show both -R and -r ( and ).

16 Modern English grammar often refers to verbs as ‘regular’ and ‘irregular,’ whereas Old Norse and Old English grammar usage distinguishes between ‘weak’ and ‘strong.’

17 Dental sounds are made with the tip of the tongue at, or just behind, the top front teeth, for example, t, d, n, th, etc. If you make a series of such sounds (ta-ta-ta or na-na-na) you will notice the tip of your tongue tapping against, or just behind, your top front teeth. A dental suffix is simply a suffix which is a dental sound.

18 Here in the word sögur, -ö- is used instead of -ǫ- because Íslendinga-sögur, biskupa-sögur, etc. are Modern Icelandic terms and not Old Norse coinages. Modern Icelandic employs -ö- rather than -ǫ-.

19 Lygisǫgur, in contrast to such modern terms as konunga-sögur, is an original Old Norse word which appears only once in the corpus of Old Norse literature, in Ch. 10 of Þorgils saga ok Hafliða (a part of Sturlunga saga). It refers to a fornaldarsaga, in this instance a tall tale or fairytale-like story, and the term lygisǫgur may or may not refer to what was felt to be a saga genre. The passage where the term appears describes an oral performance of such a story. For a short discussion of saga genres in light of contemporaneous European narrative and early Icelandic society and conditions, see Byock, Feud in the Icelandic Saga, p.4., and Ch. 1.

20 See Viking Age Iceland, Ch. 1, ‘The Sagas, An Ethnography of Medieval Iceland,’ pp. 21-24.

21 For more on the distinctions between the family and Sturlunga sagas, see Viking Age Iceland, Ch. 19, ‘Big Chieftains, Big Farmers, and Their Sagas at the End of the Free State,’ pp. 341-349.

22 For a more extensive list of the family sagas with a series of maps showing the locations of the main action of each saga, see: J. Byock, Viking Age Iceland, pp. 159-169.

23 A full Elder Futhark is carved on the Gotlandic Kylver Runestone from ca. 400 and the Vadstena Bracteate from ca. 600.

24 The buzz in the throat comes from the vocal folds inside the larynx, commonly known as the voice box. The larynx sits in the neck above the windpipe (the trachea) and in front of the food pipe (esophagus).

25 See Elmer H. Antonsen, Runes and Germanic Linguistics, in Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 140, New York: Mouton de Gruyter 2002, pp. 87 and 304-307. As regards these two runes, Antonsen writes: ‘these two phonemes were consistently and correctly distinguished by writers in runes in Denmark until after the beginning of the 12th century.’

26 The full poem, with discussion of eddic verse, is given in Viking Language 2.

27 Note, the -i- in sinn is short when it precedes a double consonant (-nn- and -tt-) and long elsewhere.

28 Assimilation is the process by which one sound becomes more like another sound which is next to, or close to it. Assimilation applies in all languages, often imperceptibly. Over centuries, however, it can bring about radical changes in the sound of words. For example, see the discussion of umlaut in Lesson 4.

29 The opening two words of this runic inscription (haraltr : kunukR) employ the two different -r runes: z ( (/z/) and r ( /r/). As discussed in section 3.5 of Lesson 3, the modern convention is to transliterate the r rune as lower case r and the z rune as upper case R.

30 bað gera kumbl þessi: In English, we might translate this construction using passive voice even though Old Norse gera is in active voice. For example, ‘Harald commanded these monuments/mounds to be made.’

31 es = er, the relative particle ‘who.’ The runestone has the spelling . However, the initial rune of this word is obscured and not depicted in Figure 4.1

32 fór at brjóta haug ‘he went to break open the burial mound.’

33 tók hann þar ór haugi ‘there he took from the mound.’

34 Hjalti was one of King Hrolf Kraki’s legendary champions.

35 Proto-Norse equivalent of spyrja was something like *spurjaną. The PN version of 1st conjugation kalla would have had the suffix *-ō- in the stem. This *-ō- became -a- in ON, seen in the present and past root kall-.

36 The meaning of the nickname Skútaðr is unclear.

37 Vǫlsunga saga is an example of the process which Tolkien described as: ‘History became legend and legend became myth.’ Like the Eddas and ‘sagas of ancient times,’ it tells of ‘things that were, things that will be, and some things that will come to pass.’ For more about the roots of the Volsung tale, see the Introduction to The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, Penguin Books.

38 On eddic and skaldic poetry, see Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader, Chapters 12-17.

39 As mentioned earlier, asterisk * at the beginning of a word indicates that the form is ‘reconstructed.’ Prehistoric languages leave few direct traces, and the attested vocabulary is often very small. In the case of Proto-Norse, the attested vocabulary is that of runic inscriptions in Elder Futhark. For unattested words, linguists work backward through all known regular sound changes to establish what an unattested word would have looked like at an early stage of the language.

40 On chieftains and thingmen, see Viking Age Iceland, pp. 118-141.

41 Another example of this change occurs in the adverb suðr ‘to the south,’ based on the stem sunn- (compare the adverb sunnan ‘from the south’).

42 Dyrr meaning doorway is f pl (pl gen dura).

43 Engi var hann ... sem Egill: ‘He was not an outstanding man in size or strength like Egil.’

44 it mesta afarmenni: ‘a most powerful or strong man.’

45 Norðmandí in Old Norse, the region of northern France across the Channel from England that was settled by Northmen a century earlier (ca. 911) and named after them. See Introduction for more details.

46 var þat ráðit, hvernug hann skyldi vinna bryggjurnar: ‘It was decided [verb ráða], how he would attack/win/take the bridge’ (skyldi, 3sg past subj of skulu). Hvernug is a variant of hvernig. Bryggja f has numerous meanings. It can be a pier; dock; gangway (sometimes carried on ships); in some instances, as here, it means a bridge, constructed like a pier, hence the plural as it was a series of piers with pilings, making a long gangway. bryggurnar = bryggjur+inar.

47 hvernug þeir skyldi koma ofan bryggjunum: ‘how they would tear down the bridge.’ Bryggjunum = bryggju + inum.

48 leggja til sínu liði: ‘to attack with his men.’

49 bjó þá hverr: ‘Each then made ready.’

50 flaka stora � af blautum viði� þá er up heldu bryggjunum: ‘big wicker coverings…from wet [green] wood…those [posts/trunks/staves] which held up the bridge.’

51 vandahús: houses constructed of ‘wattle and daub,’ that is, from branches covered with a mixture of mud and manure.

52 ok lét þat bera yfir skip sín svá vítt, at tók út af borðum: ‘and had them carried [placed] over his ships so far that they stretched out over the sides of the ships.’

53 at bæði var h�gt at vega undan: ‘that [the wicker shield] was both easy to fight from underneath.’ vega: ‘to thrust or hew with weapons.’

54 ef ofan væri á borit: ‘if these were borne [thrown] down upon it from above.’ borit see verb bera.

55 þá veita þeir atróðr neðan eptir ánni: ‘they set out rowing up along the river.’

56 ok skipin meiddusk sjálf ákafliga: ‘and the ships themselves were exceedingly damaged.’

57 allt upp undir bryggjurnar ok báru kaðla: ‘all the way up under the bridges and put cables.’ Kaðla see kaðall and báru see verb bera. báru is the 3pl past. Would be good to familiarize yourself with bera.

58 þá: refers to the ropes.

59 They used the strength of the river’s downstream (ON adv forstreymis) current to pull down the bridge.

60 stafirnir drógusk með grunni: ‘The posts were pulled loose from the riverbed.’

61 allt til þess er: ‘right up to the point when.’

62 mart = margt (n nom/acc sg of margr).

63 Concerning Mord and the issues which develop from this passage in Njal’s saga, see Viking Age Iceland, Ch.1, ‘An Immigrant Society,’ pp. 5-24.

64 Hǫskuldr Dala-Kollsson, i.e. Hoskuld the son of Koll [Kollr] of the Dales, dala pl gen of dalir m pl nom of dalr; hlíð: ‘a broad sloping hillside.’

65 ríkr hǫfðingi: Old Norse ríkr means ‘(politically) powerful,’ not ‘rich’.

66 málafylgjumaðr: m lawyer; from mál + fylgja + maðr.

67 engir þóttu lǫgligir dómar dœmðir, nema hann væri við = engir dómar þóttu lǫgligir dœmðir, nema: ‘no cases/judgements [were] thought to be lawfully judged, unless.’

68 dóttur eina: this could be ‘[only] one daughter,’ but more likely ‘a certain daughter.’

69 [hon] þótti sá beztr kostr á Rangárvǫllum: ‘[she] was thought [to be] the best match in Rangárvellir.’

70 tillagagóðr inna stœrri mála: ‘gave good advice’ (lagði gott til), ‘gave sensible advice in matters of importance,’ lit. ‘reliable in bigger matters.’ tillaga means ‘to contribute, suggest, advise.’

71 einu hverju sinni: ‘on one occasion.’ The dat case can be used to express a point in time.

72 ok sat it næsta honum: ‘and sat [sitja] the closest [nearest] to him,’ on the seat of honor next to the host.

73 Hǫskuldr átti sér dóttur: ‘Hoskuld had a daughter.’

74 hversu lízk þér á mey þessa?: ‘What do you think of [how do you like] this maiden?’ lízk from lítask see líta in the vocabulary. See also sections 6.10 and 7.5.

75 Þykki þér eigi fǫgr vera?: ‘Does [she] not seem beautiful to you?’ lit: ‘Seems it to you she not be beautiful.’

76 Hrútr þagði við: ‘Hrut was/remained silent.’

77 Hǫskuldr innti til annat sinn: ‘Hoskuld mentioned [it] a second time,’ that is, he asked again.

78 Œrit fǫgr er mær sjá, ok munu margir þess gjalda = sjá mær er œrit fǫgr, en margir [menn] munu gjalda þess: ‘That girl is beautiful enough, and many will pay [i.e., suffer] because of it.’

79 hvaðan þjófsaugu eru komin í ættir várar: lit. ‘from where thief’s eyes have come into our family.’ Hrut’s words foreshadow the trouble that Hoskuld’s daughter will cause later in the saga.

80 ok var fátt um með þeim brœðrum nǫkkura hríð: ‘and [there] was little with/between those brothers for some time,’ i.e. the brothers’ relationship soured and there was a coldness between them for a while.

81 gerðisk sultr ok seyra: sultr ok seyra is a form of alliterating poetic expression, in which both nouns mean the same thing, and this may have influenced the choice of a singular verb.

82 it fyrsta haust ‘the first autumn;’ annat haust, ‘second,’ see annarr. The acc case is used without a preposition to express the time when something happens.

83 kom þat ásamt með þeim: ‘it was agreed among them.’

84 ok þat með: ‘accordingly,’ ‘and along with that.’

85 þá er: ‘then when, at the moment when’ but better translated as simply ‘when.’

86 til graptar ætlat: ‘intended for burial.’

87 þótti þat...þeim: ‘that seemed to them.’

88 næði: subjunctive of the verb ná, ‘should acquire [get].’

89 líkinu var skipt: ‘the body was divided,’ see ‎6.14 for the grammar of this clause.

90 eru þat allt kallaðir: the subject is þat allt, a collective noun, which often in Old Norse are pl (eru kallaðir).

91 Í þessu: ‘at that moment.’ varð þeim litit: impersonal construction with litit from the verb líta, ‘to look,’ meaning ‘at that moment, it so happened that they looked at the sea.’

92 er þar skjǫldr við skjǫld: ‘there [on the ship] is shield by shield,’ i.e. the ship sides were lined with shields.

93 Hverir eigu hér leik svá ójafnan?: ‘Who have here a game so uneven?’ or ‘Who are the players here in so uneven a game?’ Hverir (pl) from hverr, so that the verb eiga must agree with it in number.

94 Hann spurði, hvers synir þeir væri: ‘He asked whose sons they were’; væri: 3pl past subj of vera.

95 For friendship (vinfengi) and Icelandic feud see Viking Age Iceland, Ch. 13, pp. 233-251.

96 Dala gen pl following the preposition til refers to Dalir, the ‘Dales’ region of Breiðafjörðr in Western Iceland. Um Dala ‘around the Dales’ in the next sentence is acc pl of Dalir [or of pl nom Dalar, an old pl of dalr]. Place names have often changed little in Iceland over the past thousand years and ‘the Dales’ in Modern Icelandic are called Dalir.

97 tóku allir honum fegins hendi: lit. ‘they all received him with happy arms,’ i.e. joyfully, were glad to see him.

98 eigi verri til fylgðar en rǫskr maðr. Þat fylgir ok: ‘he is ‘no worse a follower than a sturdy man. It also follows’

99 hvárt honum er til þín vel eða illa: ‘whether he means you well or ill.’

100 skaltu: skalt þú becomes skaltu.

101 fyrir fœtr honum: ‘at his feet.’

102 Þenna tíma ‘At that time’ an accusative of time. The preposition í (‘in’ or ‘at’) was probably dropped from the front of í þenna tíma. See section 9.7 Demonstrative Pronouns Þessi and Sá

103 Rogaland and Hǫrðaland are regions in Western Norway. Before King Harald Fairhair, many such small regions in Norway were independent chiefdoms ruled by warlords or petty kings.

104 þeir Suðr-Rygirnir ok Súlki konungr: ‘South Rogalanders and King Sulki.’ See 3.15 where a pronoun followed by two or more personal names is discussed.

105 Karfi was a fast, coastal rowing ship often used in raiding. It was long and narrow with 6, 12, or 16 rowers on each side. Such vessels were also used on large lakes.

106 er reru á borð tólf menn eða þrettán: ‘which 12 or 13 men rowed on a side.’

107 hǫfðu nær þrjá tigu manna: ‘they had [a crew of] nearly 30 of men.’

108 En er þeir kómu til Þóris: ‘And when they arrived at Thorir’s home.’ Earl Thorir Hroaldsson (Jarl Þórir Hróaldsson) was a hersir in Firðir (also sometimes called Firðafylki), a region (ON fylki) in Western Norway (modern Norwegian fylke, i.e. county, of Sogn og Fjordane). A hersir was a Norwegian regional military leader. King Harald Fairhair abolished the regional small kings of Norway but kept the title of hersir, giving it to some of his own followers such as Þórir. Although not royal, a hersir had noble status and functioned much as a local chieftain. The office was hereditary.

109 skipit flaut tjaldat the ship floated [at anchor] [with its sail] tented [as an awning]. See the the picture.

110 Present tense segir contrasts with past tense mælti in the previous sentence. The abrupt change from past to present within a narrative is common in Old Norse texts; this use of present is sometimes called the ‘historic present.’ See also footnote 170 in section 11.1 in Lesson 11.

111 ef þú vill þiggja: ‘if you are willing to accept [it].’

112 Wulfstan I, archbishop of York from 931-952. A second Wulfstan, Archbishop of York from 1002-1023, wrote Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (‘The Sermon of the Wolf to the English’) a key Old English text (with title in Latin) that is of interest for students of Old Norse because its subject is the Viking raids on England.

113 kvenna fegrst: ‘fairest of women.’

114 undirhyggjumaðr mikill ok in grimmasta: ‘a great deceiver and the most savage.’ The final word maðr in the compound noun undirhyggjumaðr (undir+hyggju+maðr) has the sense of a ‘person’ and refers to both males and females. Both undirhryggjumaðr and in grimmasta refer, in grammatically different ways, to Gunnhildr, the subject of the sentence. The adjective phrase in grimmasta is fem nom sg agreeing with Gunnhildr (fem proper name, the subject of the sentence). Undirhryggjumaðr is a masc noun, and, for this reason, the adj mikill (masc) agrees with it.

115 Þau váru bǫrn þeira Eiríks ok Gunnhildar: ‘These were the children of them, of Eirik and of Gunnhild.’

116 Miklagarðr is spelled Mikligarðr in some editions.

117 The Logos (Greek ‘Λόγος νουθετικός προς βασιλέα’) is part of a larger late 11th century Byzantine military manual called the Strategikon of Kekaumenos (Greek ‘Στρατηγικόν του Κεκαυμένου’). An important source of information on 11th century life in the Byzantine Empire, the book advises on warfare and the handling of public and domestic affairs, but little is known about its author apart from the family name.

118 Michael kátalaktús: ON sources refer to Michael by his nickname kátalaktús, from Greek κατ-αλλάκτης, lit. ‘down-changer,’ that is, ‘money-changer,’ which was Michael’s profession before his marriage to Empress Zoe. He is more generally known as Michael the Paphlagonian (Μιχαήλ ο Παφλαγών), after his home region on the south coast of the Black Sea. The name ‘Paphlagonia’ ceased to be used after the 12th century. In modern Turkey, this ancient territory roughly corresponds to the provinces of Bartın, Kastamonu, and Sinop.

119 ok á fund dróttningar: ‘and to a meeting of [with] the queen [empress].’

120 þá gekk hann þar á mála: ‘there [at that meeting] he then entered into the service [of the empress].’ Harald undertook a contractual agreement-for-pay as a mercenary soldier: máli masc noun, in this instance meaning ‘soldier’s agreement for paid service,’ hence a mercenary.

121 fór þegar um haustit á galeiðr með hermǫnnum: ‘he went immediately that autumn onto the galleys with his soldiers/warriors.’

122 litla hríð: ‘for a short time’; the acc can be used without a preposition to express a duration of time.

123 allir Væringjar fóru saman: ‘all the Varangians moved together [assembled as a group],’ that is, they abandoned their original units to form a special troop.

124 Kom þá svá, at...: ‘It came then so, that [i.e. it so happened that]...’

125 þeir Gyrgir: ‘Gyrgir and his men,’ on this use, see section 3.13 in Lesson 3.

126 The Rus/Varangians tended to group their ships for protection into often large trading fleets. The journey was especially dangerous at the portages between rivers and over rapids where the cumbersome ships were open to attack while being dragged on rollers across land.

127 There are no exact figures, but the quantity of silver was very large, and huge coin hoards, sometimes as much as 80 kilos (176 lbs), have been found buried on Gotland and in Scandinavia. The majority of imported Arabic silver was melted down.

128 ON húsbóndi means ‘master of the house’ and is the origin of English ‘husband.’

129 ON frændi is cognate with English ‘friend,’ but the meanings are different. ON compound nouns with frændi- refer to kinship, not friendship. For example, ON frændkona means ‘a female relative,’ not a ´lady friend.´

130 alþýðu mál: ‘common report,’ ‘talk or consensus of the general public.’

131 at engi hǫfðingi hefir sá verit: ‘that no chieftain has that been’ [i.e. ‘that no one had been such a chieftain.’

132 en hverr maðr annarra: ‘than any other man.’

133 Ófeigs sonr burlufótar: ‘the son of Ofeig Clumsy-Foot.’ Note the word order in which sonr intervenes between name and nickname.

134 Ívars sonar beytils: this phrase takes the genitive to agree with Ófeigs. Beytill <-s> m horse-prick, see the Vocabulary. The nicknames are in the genitive because the personal names they refer to are in the genitive. The two must agree grammatically.

135 móður Óláfs konungs ins helga: ‘the mother of King Olaf the Saint.’ Nicknames are frequently preceded by a form of the definite article (here ins). The article agrees with its noun (here, a name, Óláfs konungs) in case, number, and gender. See also the next note.

136 Hallvarðr hét inn þriði félagi þeira: ‘Hallvard was the name of their third companion,’ lit. ‘the third companion of theirs was called Hallvard.’

137 var þar fyrir konungr sá er Kjarvalr hét: ‘was there present the king who was called Kjarval.’

138 Þeir lǫgðu til bardaga við hann: ‘They engaged him in battle.’

139 hǫrð hríð: ‘a hard fight.’

140 en svá lauk at: ‘and it so ended that.’ Lauk is 1/3sg past of lúka.

141 For a series of maps showing Onund’s and Grettir’s travels and battles, see Grettir’s Saga in the Oxford World’s Classics edition, Oxford University Press. The edition includes an introduction about Grettir and a discussion of the sagas. Russell Poole spendidly translates Grettir’s many verses.

142 fyrir þat, er hann náði eigi fénu (fé + inu): ‘for that [reason], when he did not get the payment.’

143 til handa konungi: ‘for the king.’

144

þegar ina sǫmu nótt: ‘at once on that same night.’

145 litlu síðar: ‘a little later.’

146 unðu þeir þar litla hríð: ’they were pleased there [only] a little while.’

147 A skerry is a cluster of rocky small islands or big rocks usually lying just offshore.

148 er fyrir þeim var: ‘who was their leader.’

149 reka sína: The men referred to here are the Icelandic owners of the shoreline checking their driftage.

150 hval rekinn innan fram á nesinu: ‘a whale washed onto Rifsker (the shallow rocky reef) out on the headland.’ Fram á nesinu denotes the outermost point of the headland.

151 þar sem hét at Rifskerjum: ‘at that place which was called at Rifskerjum (beside Rifsker).’ Place names in Old Norse frequently include prepositions. English has some examples of this, for instance, Stratford-on-Avon. The preposition is often best omitted in translation.

152 Kaldbeklingar: ‘the men of Kaldbak.’ The suffixes -ingr (pl -ingar), -lingr (pl -lingar), and -ungr (pl -ungar) are frequently used to denote members of a family or group.

153 The phrase skurð ok skipti ‘cutting and dividing’ and the word brautflutning ‘carrying away’ are legal terms used in connection with driftage rights.

154 bað hann Þorgrím eigi láta ræna sik: ‘he told/requested Thorgrim not to let himself be robbed.’

155 One of the differences between Old and Modern Icelandic is that MI two-syllable adjectives whose stems end with -ig or -ug do not drop the vowel of the second syllable. This change started toward the end of the 13th century.

156 Þorgeirr flǫskubakr réð fyrst upp á hvalinn at húskǫrlum Flosa: ‘Thorgeir Flask-Back attacked first [réð…at + dat] Flosi’s men up on the whale.’

157 fram við hǫfuðit hvalsins: ‘forward on the head of the whale.’

158 stóð í spori, er hann hafði gǫrt sér: ‘(he) stood in the cuts [of the fatty hide], which he had made for himself [in order to secure his footing as he mounted the whale].’

159 svá at af tók hǫfuðit: ‘so that the head came off.’

160 Nú berjask þeir lengi: ‘Now/Then they fight [among themselves] for a long time.’

161 veitti Kaldbeklingum betr: ‘the better was granted to the Kaldbak men.’

162 skálmir: ‘flensing knives’ [long knives or short swords used for cutting up whales]; later skálm became the name of a blade affixed to a long wooden shaft.

163 af hvalnum í fjǫruna: ‘from the whale (hvali + inum) onto the beach (fjǫru + ina).’

164 Austmenn: Norwegians, ‘Eastmen.’ Norwegians and Viking Age merchants were usually well armed.

165 ljósta í hel: ‘to strike into hel [the realm of the dead].’

166 Viking Age Iceland, Ch. 3, ‘Curdled Milk and Calamities: An Inward Looking Farming Society,’ pp. 43-62; for bad year economics, pp. 57-58.

167 er Hǫgni er nefndr: ‘who is named Hogni.’ The first er is the relative particle (‘who’ or ‘which’) and introduces a relative clause. The second er is the 3sg present of vera ‘to be.’

168 Hana: acc sg of the fem pron hon – this is a good reminder of the governance of case rather than word order in ON.

169 Þá var Hǫgni konungr farinn: ‘At that time King Hogni had gone.’

170 en er hann spurði at herjat var í ríki hans: ‘and when he heard that there had been raiding in his kingdom.’ En is a conjunction meaning ‘and’ or ‘but,’ and er is a conjunction meaning ‘when.’

171 með landi: ‘along the coast.’

172 It is common in Old Norse narrative for the author to switch from the past to the present tense for the sake of vividness, sometimes within the same sentence. This usage, sometimes called historical present (see section 7.11 and footnote 108 in Lesson 7) is often rendered in the past tense when translating into English.

173 ok er hann kom þar sem heitir Háey: ‘And when he came there [to the place] which is called Haey.’

174 ok bauð honum men at sætt af hendi Héðins: ‘and she offered him a necklace as reconciliation on behalf of Hedin.’

175 En í ǫðru orði: ‘but on the other hand,’ ‘at the same time’

176 sagði hon at Héðinn væri...ok ætti Hǫgni: ‘she said that Hedin was...and Hogni should expect.’ Væri from vera and ætti from eiga are examples of the subjunctive mood when used in indirect speech.

177 af honum engrar vægðar ván: ‘no hope of mercy from him’ (lit. ‘from him hope of any mercy’).

178 ganga upp á eyna (‘go up onto the island’), a frequent phrase in Old Norse texts. Islands were often the designated arenas for duels or battles.

179 The English linguistic term for the system of root vowel change in Old Norse strong verbs is ablaut (a German loanword just as umlaut is). The Old Norse ablaut system derives from the one present in Proto-Germanic, and that from Proto-Indo-European language, both of which had a system of regular vowel variations or gradations.

180 of síð bauztu þetta: ‘Too late you offered this.’ The pronoun þú alters to bauztu < bauzt þú.

181 hvert sinn er bert er: ‘each time when it (sverð) is bared,’ i.e. unsheathed.

182 alla þá er dauðir váru: ‘all those who were dead.’

183 hinn = inn. An example of the definite article inn with initial h-, see Lesson 2.

184 ON tómliga acquires its meaning of ‘slow’ from compounds such as tóm-læti ‘laziness, indolence’ (lit. ‘empty behavior’).

185 kom fyrst út til Íslands þeira langfeðga: ‘came first of their ancestors out to Iceland.’

186 sonr Refs ins rauða: ‘the son of Ref the Red,’ with sonr in apposition with Steinbjǫrn.

187 honum eyddisk fé fyrir þegnskapar sakar: ‘Wealth was exhausted by him on account of generosity,’ i.e. overspending, living too lavishly, perhaps squandered. Honum is the so-called “loser’s dative” (Latin dativus incommodi), denoting a person who loses or is bereft of something.

188 átti: ‘was married to’; átti, past tense of eiga, literally means ‘to own’, ‘possess’ and is used in Old Norse as well as Modern Icelandic to express kin and family relationships (English uses ‘to have’ in similar contexts).

189 þegar á unga aldri: ‘already at a young age.’

190 frá því er sagt: ‘it is said,’ or, lit ‘about this it is told.’

191 er þeir frændr áttu: ‘which those kinsmen owned.’

192 þeira graðungr dugir verr ok ferr frá: ‘their bull fares/suffices worst [gets the worst of it] and backs off.’

193 í enni graðunginum: ‘on the bull’s forehead.’ Old Norse employs the dat case to denote possession of body parts, hence graðunginum.

194 afbragð ... at atgørvi: ‘the most outstanding ... in abilities,’ ‘the most talented.’ Two of the major manuscripts use the word afbragð, ‘outstanding example, paragon,’ whereas one uses afbrigði, ‘deviation, transgression, offense.’

195 er kom út hingat: ‘who came out here’, i.e. to Iceland. In sagas, koma út also means ‘sail to Iceland’ by itself.

196 þá Svart ok Skíða skilði á um beitingar: ‘Then Svart and Skidi disagreed about grazing rights.’

197 leggsk á fé Hofsverja: ‘preyed upon the livestock of the people of Hof.’

198 en honum var nauðsyn til: ‘than was necessary for him.’

199 þar sem: ‘there where.’

200 hversu hefir at farit í dag, félagi?: ‘how have things gone today, buddy?’

201 hinn: dem pron ‘the other one.’

202 komnir munu til sauða annarra manna: ‘they will have [‘be’ from vera ] come to the sheep of other men.’ [Þeir munu vera komnir], komnir nom pl ppart functioning as a noun agreeing with þeir/þrír aðrir.

203 slíkt er þér líkar: ‘such as it pleases you [as you like].’ Impersonal construction.

204 For a discussion of Icelandic chieftains as ‘big men,’ see Viking Age Iceland; also Ch. 7, ‘Chieftain – Thingman Relationships and Advocacy,’ pp. 118-141.

205 ok þeira Gauts: ‘and of Gaut and his brothers.’

206 þessi: The correct form in Standardized Old Norse would be acc þessa to match bru.

207 gæti: The meaning of gæti is unclear. If the form is singular (gæti), it could be a man’s name (Gætir), but this is a very unusual name. Possibly the word could be plural (gæta), making Assur the commander of a troop of guards. It might also be part of a formulaic expression and read ‘...með. Gæti [vor] Guð [ok]...’ meaning, ‘...also. May God watch over us and...’

208 For the feud in Vápnfirðinga saga, see Viking Age Iceland, Ch 13, ‘Friendship, Blood Feud, and Power: The Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord,’ pp. 233–251. For more on feud: Ch. 10, ‘Systems of Power: Advocates, Friendship, and Family Networks’; Ch. 11, ‘Aspects of Blood Feud,’ pp. 107-232; and Ch. 12, ‘Feud and Vendetta in a ‘Great Village’ Community,’ pp. 184–232.

209 hversu flakkat hefði: ‘how things went wandering about [with the sheep]’ from the verb flakka; hefði is 3sg past subjunct of hafa. In indirect questions, the verb is often in the subjunctive.

210 ǫll in sǫmu svǫr: ‘all the same replies.’

211 ok spurði, hverr þar væri: ‘and he asked who might be there.’ Another indirect question with the subjunctive (væri: 3sg past subjunct of vera).

212 Þú munt ætla at fara á fund minn: ‘You probably intend to come find me.’ The verb munu is used when a speaker believes that a future event is likely to happen. Munu is a preterite-present verb (see section in this lesson).

213 ok [hǫgg] kom á útanverðan skjǫldinn ok kemr í helluna: ‘and [the blow] landed on the outer part of the shield and struck against the stone covering Helgi’s chest.’

214 hann fell eptir laginu: ‘he [Svart] fell along with the blow.’ Svart lost his balance.

215 svá at af tók: ‘so that [the foot] was cut off.’

216 Nú gerði gæfumun okkar: impersonal construction, ‘now the difference in luck between us has been revealed.’

217 mun verða í kyni yðru heðan af: ‘will come to pass on your kin henceforth.’ Svart puts a curse on Spike-Helgi’s family.

218 at alla ævi mun uppi vera: ‘that will last for all time.’

219 ok tekr í rúm Brodd-Helga: ‘and he touches Spike-Helgi’s bed.’

220 ok hǫfðu með sér allt þat, sem fémætt var: ‘and recovered everything which was valuable.’

221 jafnungr sem hann var enn at aldri: ‘as young as he still was at that age.’

222 Viking Age Iceland, Ch. 9, ‘The Legislative and Judicial System,’ pp. 170-184.

223 Krossavík inni ýtri: ‘Krossavik the outer,’ distinguishing its location on the coast. The phrase is in the dative.

224 Hann átti konu...Þau áttu tvo sonu: ‘He was married to a woman...They had two sons.’

225 þá er við þessa sǫgu koma: ‘those who with this saga come.’ [Those who get mentioned in this saga.’]

226 fǫðursystur Droplaugarsona: ‘the paternal aunt [father’s sister] of the sons of Droplaug,’ for whom Droplaugarsona saga is named.

227 ok fannsk mǫnnum orð um, hversu ‘and word was found [spread] among men how [i.e., ‘and people commented on how.’]

228 In Ch. 6 of the ‘Saga of Magnus Barefoot’ (Magnúss saga berf�tts, in Heimskringla), a person who is being hanged is said to ríða upp gálga-tréit, ‘ride up the gallows-tree.’

229 Ragnarok is presented somewhat differently according to the different sources. The Prose Edda generally employs the term Ragnarøkr for the battle, while The Poetic Edda mostly uses Ragnarǫk. For more on Ragnarok, see ‘Ragnarok: The Battle at the World’s End,’ Ch. 3 in Viking Language 2.

230 For a listing the names, with English, Old Norse, and possible translations of individuals (divine, otherworldly, and human), groups, places, animals, and objects, see the Glossary of Names in the Penguin edition of Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda.

231 Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld was a seafaring Icelandic merchant and skald, who lived from ca. 1012–1070s. He often sailed between Norway and the Orkney Islands where it is said that he composed poems for the Orkney Earls. He was remembered in Icelandic sources as jarlaskáld, ‘the Jarls’ Poet.’

232 Hvat er at segja frá þeim stað?: ‘What is there to say about that place?’

233 límar hans: ‘its limbs’ (referring to askr, a masculine noun).

234 enn ǫnnur: ‘yet another.’

235 er spekt ok mannvit er í fólgit: ‘wherein wisdom and intelligence are hidden.’

236 er á brunninn: ‘who possesses the well.’ In this case á is the 3sg pres form of the verb eiga.

237 fyrr en hann lagði auga sitt at veði: ‘until he placed his eye as a pledge.’

238 hon: ‘it’ (referring to Bifrǫst, a feminine noun).

239 See figure 14.2 for the drawing of the World Tree (at the start of the lesson).

240 Hvat er fleira at segja stórmerkja frá askinum?: ‘What more concerning great wonders is there to say about the ash tree?’

241 Mart er þar af at segja: ‘There is much to say of [it].’

242 ok er hann margs vitandi: ‘and it knows much,’ lit. ‘is knowing of much,’ that is, the eagle sees much of the world from the limb of the ash.

243 If the Norns are themselves pouring their mixture over the ash tree, perhaps this locates Asgard (and, oddly, one of its roots) above, or nearly above, the tree. On the other hand, perhaps it is the root that draws the Norns’ mixture up over the tree from the well in Asgard. It is also possible that the Norns are either quite large or quite mobile.

244 til þess at eigi skyli limar hans tréna eða fúna: ‘so that its limbs should not dry up or rot.’ The verb skyli is 3pl pres subjunct of skulu.

245 svá hvítir sem: ‘as white as.’

246 er innan liggr við eggskurn: ‘which lies within against the eggshell.’

247 ok þar af fœðask býflugur: ‘and therefrom bees nourish themselves.’

248 svá at lýsir af honum: ‘that light shines from him.’

249 eitt gras er svá hvítt, at jafnat er til Baldrs brár: ‘one herb is so white that it is likened to Baldr’s eyelash.’

250 ok þar eptir mátt þú marka fegrð hans: ‘and accordingly, you can judge his beauty.’

251 bæði á hár ok á líki: ‘both with respect to his hair and his body.’

252 See secion 6.10 in Lesson 6 where voices (active, middle, and passive) are introduced. Middle voice usually indicates that the subject is the actor who acts upon him- or herself reflexively, or for his/her own benefit. In case of plural subjects, the actors may act upon themselves or reciprocally, and may act upon each other.

253 Askr Yggdrasils: The name of the World Tree also appears as Askr Yggdrasill (two nominatives).

254 ...þeir Balli ok Frǫysteinn lið Hlífsteins...: ‘...those followers of Hlifstein, Balli and Froystein...’

255 ok spyrr engan at: ‘and asks no one about it.’ Bodvar does not seek permission to stable his horse among the king’s best.

256 Hann sezk útarliga: ‘He seats himself far out [from the center of the hall].’

257 Þá var honum svarat: ‘Then an answer was given to him,’ lit ‘then it was answered to him’/’then he was answered.’

258 Vesall ertu þinnar skjaldborgar: [‘Pathetic are you (because of) our shield-wall.’] ‘You and your shield-wall are pathetic.’

259 hafða ek nú svá gǫrt hana háva útan at mér: ‘I had built it [the shield-wall] so high around me.’

260 ykkar: although Hott uses the gen of the dual pronoun þit, the sense is the same as the gen of the pl pronoun þér. Although an old saga, Hrolf’s Saga survives in rather late manuscript copies, and in later Icelandic usage ykkar becomes indeclinable and is used instead of the plural, as is the case here. Evidently Hott takes Bodvar to be in league with Hrolf’s champions.

261 ekkert: a later form of ekki, the nom neut sg form of the pronoun engi. Ekkert agrees with hǫgg.

262 en ekki var hon enn svá búin sem ek ætlaða hon skyldi verða: ‘but it was not yet as complete as I had intended it should be’ (skyldi: 3sg past subjunct).

263 Ekki muntu fá skjaldborgina gerða lengr: ‘You shall not get to fence in the shield-wall any longer.’ Gerða to fence in; fá with the sense ‘to be able to, be allowed to, get a chance to.’

264 gáfu fáir at þessu gaum: ‘few paid attention to this.’

265 þó: 3sg past of þvá ‘to wash.’

266 That is, the sitting and sleeping bench that Bodvar had taken earlier.

267 leggr ok liðr: ‘leg and joint,’ a stock expression that gives the sense, ‘all over his body.’

268 en þó þykkisk hann skilja, at...: ‘although he seemed to understand that...’

269 er þetta hefir til tekit: ‘who has undertaken this.’

270 hann hefir illt eitt af þeim reynt: ‘he has experienced only evil from them.’

271 svá at hann náir ekki í brottu at fara: ‘so that he is not able to get away.’

272 ef hann næði þangat at komask: ‘if he should be able to get to there’ (næði: 3sg past subjunct of ná.)

273 Bǫðvarr lætr sem hann sjái eigi þetta: ‘Bodvar lets on as if he does not see it’ (sjái: 3sg pres subjunct of sjá).

274 þá ok þá: ‘nearly every moment.’

275 sem hann muni vera lostinn: ‘as if he would be struck’ (muni: 3sg pres of munu).

276 mun þetta ætlat okkr til nauða: ‘that will be intended to do us harm.’

277 Hann setr við holan lófann: ‘He readies his open palm.’

278 með: ‘along with it’ (i.e., the knucklebone).’

279 rétt framan í hann: ‘right in his face.’ Framan, ‘from the front,’ indicates that Bodvar and the assailant face each other across the floor.

280 Sló þá miklum ótta yfir hirðmennina: Impersonal construction. Lit: ‘[It] Struck then great fear over the king’s men.’ ‘Great fear then fell over the king’s men.’

281 For more on the relationships between Old English and Old Norse versions of these tales and the nature of Hrolf’s Saga, see The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki in the Penguin Books edition. See also Robert E. Bjork ‘Comparing the Events and Characters of Beowulf and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki’; also A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles, 1997. Also John D. Niles, Beowulf and Lejre, 2007.

282 Heita also has the alternative meanings of ‘to promise’ and ‘to call on somebody’. With these meanings, 3sg pres is heitr, not heitir.

283 Bǫðvarr spyrr Hǫtt hverju þat sætti: ‘Bodvar asked Hott what caused that.’

284 dýr eitt hafi þar komit tvá vetr í samt: ‘a beast has come there the past two winters.’ (hafi 3sg pres subjunct of hafa, used in indirect speech).

285 sem at eru einna mestir: ‘who are the greatest of all men’ (einna signifies an evaluation one-by-one as opposed to an evaluation of all together as a group).

286 Bǫðvarr segir, at betr mundi takask: ‘Bodvar says that things would go better than that.’ (mundi 3sg past subjunct of munu).

287 ok kvað dýrit mundu gleypa hann: ‘and said the beast would swallow him’ (mundu past infin of munu).

288 The ancestor of the Ottonian dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors and a character in Richard Wagner’s opera ‘Lohengrin.’

289 heyrða’k = heyrða ek ‘I heard.’

290 In J.R.R.Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit,’ the character Beorn, whose name means ‘bear’, has similar powers.