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SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 292 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCANDINAVIAN See also:

LANGUAGES .' By this expression we understand the closely allied languages which are and have been Territory. spoken by the See also:Teutonic See also:population in Scandinavia, and by the inhabitants of the countries that have been wholly or partially peopled from it. The territory of these languages embraces: See also:Sweden, except the most northerly See also:part (chiefly See also:Lapland and inland parts of Vesterbotten, where Finnish and Lappish exclusively or chiefly prevail); certain islands and districts on the See also:coast of western and See also:southern See also:Finland, as well as Aland; a small See also:tract on the coast of See also:Esthonia, where See also:Swedish is spoken, as it is also to some extent in the Esthonian islands of See also:Dago, Nargo, Nukko, Odensholm, Ormso and Rago; Gammalsvenskby (" Galsvenskbi " ) in southern See also:Russia (See also:government of See also:Kherson), a See also:village colonized from Dago; the Livonian See also:island of Runo, where Swedish is spoken, as it formerly was on the islands of Kyno, Manno, See also:Moon and Osel; See also:Norway, except certain regions, especially in the See also:northern part of the See also:country, peopled by Finns and Lapps (mainly in the See also:diocese of See also:Tromso); See also:Denmark, with the Faeroes, See also:Iceland and See also:Greenland, where, however, Danish is only spoken by a very small part of the population; the northern See also:half of See also:Schleswig; and, finally, several Scandinavian colonies in the See also:United States of See also:North See also:America (especially in See also:Minnesota and See also:Illinois). Scandinavian dialects have besides been spoken for varying periods in the following places: See also:Norwegian in certain parts of See also:Ireland (A.D. 800-125o) and northern See also:Scotland, in the Isle of See also:Man (800-1450), the See also:Hebrides (800-r400), the See also:Shetland Islands (800-1800) and the Orkneys (800-1800); Danish in the whole of Schleswig, in the north-eastern part of See also:England (the See also:Danelagh, q.v., 875-1175), and in See also:Normandy (goo-See also:Iron, or a little longer); Swedish in Russia (862-13o0, or a little longer);2 Icelandic in Greenland (985-about 1450). At what See also:epoch the Teutonic population settled in Scandinavia we cannot as yet even approximately decide. It is quite certain, See also:Age however, that it already existed there before the See also:Christian era—most probably as See also:early as the beginning of the so-called Later See also:Stone Age (5000 B.C., but see SCANDINAVIAN See also:CIVILIZATION), if not still earlier. If this view be correct, the Scandinavian languages have had an existence of seven thousand years at least. But it is only from the beginning of the Christian era that we can get any See also:information concerning the See also:language of the old Scandinavians, which seems by that See also:time not only to The See also:prim,. have spread over Denmark and See also:great parts of southern tare scan- and See also:middle Sweden and of Norway, but also to have dinavian reached Finland (at least Nyland) and Esthonia. In language. spite of its See also:extension over this considerable See also:geographical See also:area, the language appears to have been fairly homogeneous throughout the whole territory. Consequently, it may be regarded as a See also:uniform language, the See also:mother of the younger Scandinavian See also:tongues, and accordingly has been named the See also:primitive Scandinavian (urnordisk) language. The See also:oldest See also:sources of our knowledge of this See also:tongue are the words which were borrowed during the first centuries of the Christian era by the Lapps from the inhabitants of central Sweden and Norway, and by the Finns from their neighbours in Finland and Esthonia (partly, it is true, also from their See also:Gothic neighbours in Russia and the Baltic provinces), and which have been preserved in Finnish and Lappish down to our own days .3 These borrowed words, denoting chiefly utensils belonging to a fairly advanced See also:stage of culture, amount to several hundreds, with a phonetic See also:form of a very primitive See also:stamp; as Finn. terva (O. Swed. ticera, Ger. teer), See also:tar; airo (O.

Swed. ar.), See also:

oar; kansa (O.H.G. hansa), ' For details see A. Noreen, " Geschichte der nordischen Sprachen " (Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 2nd ed., 1897). 2 V. See also:Thomsen, The Relations between See also:Ancient Russia and Scandinavia (1877). ' W. Thomsen, Uber den Einfluss der Germ. Sprachen auf See also:die Finnisch-Lappischen (187o); E. N. Setala, Zur Herkunft and Chronologie der alteren germanischen Lehnworter" in See also:Journal de la Societe Finno-ougrienne, xviii. (2906).society; napakaira (O.H.G. nabager, O. Swed. navar), See also:auger; ansas (Got. ans, O. Swed. as), See also:beam; Lapp sajet (Got. saian, O.

Swed. sa), sow; garves (O.H.G. garaweer, O. Sw. gor), Borrowed finished; divres (O. See also:

Sax. diuri, O. Swed. dyr), dear; words. saipo (O.H.G. seifa), See also:soap. These words, with those mentioned by contemporary See also:Roman and See also:Greek authors, as well as the most ancient runic See also:inscriptions mentioned below,are the oldest existing traces of any Teutonic language. Wrested from their context, however, they throw but little See also:light on the nature of the See also:original northern tongue. But an equally old See also:series of linguistic monuments has come down to us dating from a little before the. end of the so-called Early Iron Age (about A.D. 400)—the knowledge and the use of the oldest runic See also:alphabet (with twenty-four characters) having at that See also:period been propagated among the Scandinavians by the southern Teutonic tribes. In fact we still possess, preserved down to our own times, primitive northern runic g;Inlons. inscriptions, the oldest upon the utensils found at Vi in Schleswig and Thorsbjerg in Denmark, dating back to about A.D. 250-300, which, together with the MS. fragments of See also:Ulfilas' Gothic See also:translation of the See also:Bible, about two See also:hundred years later in date, constitute the oldest genuine monuments of any Teutonic tongue. These runic inscriptions are for the most part found on stone monuments (sometimes on rocks) and bracteates (See also:gold coins stamped on one See also:side and used for ornaments), as well as on metallic and wooden utensils, weapons and ornaments.' Up to Igo8 there had been discovered more than one hundred, but of these only about one-half give us any information concerning the language, and most of them are only too See also:short.

. The longest of those satisfactorily interpreted, the stone-See also:

monument of Tune, in See also:south-eastern Norway, contains only sixteen words. Their language is perhaps somewhat later in See also:character than that of the oldest words borrowed by the Lapps and Finns, voiced s, for example, is changed into a See also:kind of r (cf. dagaR= Goth dags, See also:day; but Finn. armas=Goth. arms, poor). On the other See also:hand, in all essential matters it is much earlier in character than the language of contemporary Gothic See also:manuscripts, and no doubt approaches more nearly than any Teutonic See also:idiom the primitive form of the Teutonic tongue For the See also:sake of comparison, we give a Gothic translation of one of the oldest of the primitive Scandinavian inscriptions, that on the See also:golden See also:horn of Gallehus, found on the Danish-See also:German frontier, and dating from about A.D. 300 Scand.: EK HLEWAGASTIR. HOLTINGAR. HORNA. TAWIDO; Goth.: ik Hliugasts Hultiggs haurn tawida; Engl.: I, HlewagastiR, from Holta, made the horn; as well as the inscription on the stone monument of Jarsberg in western Sweden, which is about 250 years later: Scand.: UBAR HITE. HARABANAR WIT IAH EK ERILAR RUNOR WARITU; Goth.: Ubs See also:Hita, Hrabns wit jah ik Airils riinos writu; Engl.: UbaR (erected the monument in memory of) HitaR. We both, HarabanaR and I ErilaR, wrote the See also:runes. Although very brief, and not yet thoroughly interpreted,5 these primitive Scandinavian inscriptions are nevertheless sufficient to enable us to determine with some certainty the relation which the language in which they are oeother written bears to other languages. Thus it is proved yanguages. that it belongs to the Teutonic See also:family of the Indo-See also:European stock of languages, of which it constitutes an See also:independent and individual See also:branch. Its nearest relation being the Gothic,these two branches were formerly sometimes taken together under the See also:general See also:denomination Eastern Teutonic, as opposed to the other Teutonic idioms (German, See also:English, Dutch, &c.), which were then called Western Teutonic.

The most essential point of See also:

correspondence between the Gothic and Scandinavian branches is the insertion in certain cases of gg before w and j (ggj in Gothic was changed into ddj), as in gen. plur. O.H.G. zweiio, O. Eng. twe3a (two), compared with O. Icel., O. Norw. tueggia, 0. Swed., O. See also:Dan. twmggiae, Goth. twaddje"; and, still, in German treu, Eng. true, compared with Swed., Norw., Dan. trygg, Icel. tryggr, Goth. 4 See the plates in G. See also:Stephens's Handbook of Old Northern Runic Monuments (1884), and S. See also:Bugge's Norges Zndskrifter med de wldrs Rnner I. (1891-1903). ' For the interpretations we are principally indebted to Prof.

S. Bugge's ingenious investigations, who in 1865 satisfactorily succeeded in deciphering the inscription of the golden horn, and by this means gained a fixed starting-point for further researches. A short See also:

review of their most important results is given by A. Noreen, Altisldndische Grammatik (3rd ed., 1903), appendix. triggws. However, even in the primitive Scandinavian age the difference between Gothic and Scandinavian is more clearly marked than the resemblance; thus, for example—just to hint only at some of the oldest and most essential See also:differences—Goth. nom. sing. ending in -s corresponds to primitive Scandinavian -an, -iR (as Goth. dags, day, gasts, See also:guest =Scand. dagaR, gastiR) ; Goth. gen. sing. in -is to Scand. -as (as Goth. dagis, day's = Scand. dagas) ; Goth. dat. sing. in -a to Scand. -e (as Goth. kaurna, See also:corn =Scand. kurne) ; Goth. 1st pers. sing. pret. in -da to Scand. -do (as Goth. tawida, did =Scand. tawido). Already before the beginning of the so-called See also:Viking period Trans- (since about A.D. Soo) the primitive Scandinavian formation, language had undergone a considerable transformation, as is proved, for example, by the remarkable runic stone at Istaby in the south of Sweden, with the inscription (about A.D.

End of Article: SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES

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