Saga | Define Saga at Dictionary.com saga noun 1. a medieval Icelandic or Norse prose narrative of achievements and events in the history of a personage, family, etc. 2. Synonyms: epic , tale , history . 3. Also called saga novel. a form of the novel in which the members or generations of a family or social group are chronicled in a long and leisurely narrative. 4. a dramatic history of a group, place, industry, etc.: the saga of the transcontinental railroad. 5. any very long story with dramatic events or parts: the sad saga of her life in poverty. Origin of saga 1700-10; < Old Norse; cognate with saw 3 Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for saga Expand The U.S. Cannot Confront China on Every Move it Disagrees With Zachary Karabell May 4, 2012 Historical Examples This is largely a matter of personal feeling, but Saxo's account seems to me pointless, till it is supplemented from the saga. Beowulf R. W. Chambers Epic and Romance W. P. Ker The simplest form of the saga occurs in Gildas, with very few historical ingredients.

British Dictionary definitions for saga Expand noun 1. any of several medieval prose narratives written in Iceland and recounting the exploits of a hero or a family 2. any similar heroic narrative 3. Also called saga novel. a series of novels about several generations or members of a family 4. any other artistic production said to resemble a saga 5. (informal) a series of events or a story stretching over a long period Word Origin C18: from Old Norse: a narrative; related to Old English secgan to say1 Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for saga Expand n. 1709, an antiquarians' revival to describe the medieval prose narratives of Iceland and Norway, from Old Norse saga "saga, story," cognate with Old English sagu "a saying" (see saw (n.2)).

Properly, a narrative composition of Iceland or Norway in the Middle Ages, or one that has their characteristics. Meaning "long, convoluted story" is from 1857. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper (WPI) A cuspy but bogus raving story about N random broken people. Here is a classic example of the saga form, as told by Guy Steele (GLS): Jon L. White (login name JONL) and I (GLS) were office mates at MIT for many years. One April, we both flew from Boston to California for a week on research business, to consult face-to-face with some people at Stanford , particularly our mutual friend Richard Gabriel (RPG). RPG picked us up at the San Francisco airport and drove us back to Palo Alto (going logical south on route 101, parallel to El Camino Bignum ). Palo Alto is adjacent to Stanford University and about 40 miles south of San Francisco. We ate at The Good Earth, a "health food" restaurant, very popular, the sort whose milkshakes all contain honey and protein powder.

JONL ordered such a shake - the waitress claimed the flavour of the day was "lalaberry". I still have no idea what that might be, but it became a running joke. It was the colour of raspberry, and JONL said it tasted rather bitter. I ate a better tostada there than I have ever had in a Mexican restaurant. After this we went to the local Uncle Gaylord's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor. They make ice cream fresh daily, in a variety of intriguing flavours. It's a chain, and they have a slogan: "If you don't live near an Uncle Gaylord's - MOVE!" Also, Uncle Gaylord (a real person) wages a constant battle to force big-name ice cream makers to print their ingredients on the package (like air and plastic and other non-natural garbage). JONL and I had first discovered Uncle Gaylord's the previous August, when we had flown to a computer-science conference in Berkeley , California, the first time either of us had been on the West Coast. When not in the conference sessions, we had spent our time wandering the length of Telegraph Avenue, which (like Harvard Square in Cambridge) was lined with picturesque street vendors and interesting little shops.

On that street we discovered Uncle Gaylord's Berkeley store. The ice cream there was very good. During that August visit JONL went absolutely bananas (so to speak) over one particular flavour, ginger honey. Therefore, after eating at The Good Earth - indeed, after every lunch and dinner and before bed during our April visit --- a trip to Uncle Gaylord's (the one in Palo Alto) was mandatory. We had arrived on a Wednesday, and by Thursday evening we had been there at least four times. Each time, JONL would get ginger honey ice cream, and proclaim to all bystanders that "Ginger was the spice that drove the Europeans mad! That's why they sought a route to the East! They used it to preserve their otherwise off-taste meat." After the third or fourth repetition RPG and I were getting a little tired of this spiel, and began to paraphrase him: "Wow! Ginger! The spice that makes rotten meat taste good!" "Say! Why don't we find some dog that's been run over and sat in the sun for a week and put some *ginger* on it for dinner?!" "Right! With a lalaberry shake!" And so on.

This failed to faze JONL; he took it in good humour, as long as we kept returning to Uncle Gaylord's. He loves ginger honey ice cream. Now RPG and his then-wife KBT (Kathy Tracy) were putting us up (putting up with us?) in their home for our visit, so to thank them JONL and I took them out to a nice French restaurant of their choosing. I unadventurously chose the filet mignon, and KBT had je ne sais quoi du jour, but RPG and JONL had lapin (rabbit). (Waitress: "Oui, we have fresh rabbit, fresh today." RPG: "Well, JONL, I guess we won't need any *ginger*!") We finished the meal late, about 11 P.M., which is 2 A.M Boston time, so JONL and I were rather droopy. But it wasn't yet midnight. Off to Uncle Gaylord's! Now the French restaurant was in Redwood City, north of Palo Alto. In leaving Redwood City, we somehow got onto route 101 going north instead of south.

JONL and I wouldn't have known the difference had RPG not mentioned it. We still knew very little of the local geography. I did figure out, however, that we were headed in the direction of Berkeley, and half-jokingly suggested that we continue north and go to Uncle Gaylord's in Berkeley. RPG said "Fine!" and we drove on for a while and talked. I was drowsy, and JONL actually dropped off to sleep for 5 minutes. When he awoke, RPG said, "Gee, JONL, you must have slept all the way over the bridge!", referring to the one spanning San Francisco Bay. Just then we came to a sign that said "University Avenue". I mumbled something about working our way over to Telegraph Avenue; RPG said "Right!" and maneuvered some more. Eventually we pulled up in front of an Uncle Gaylord's. Now, I hadn't really been paying attention because I was so sleepy, and I didn't really understand what was happening until RPG let me in on it a few moments later, but I was just alert enough to notice that we had somehow come to the Palo Alto Uncle Gaylord's after all.

JONL noticed the resemblance to the Palo Alto store, but hadn't caught on. (The place is lit with red and yellow lights at night, and looks much different from the way it does in daylight.) He said, "This isn't the Uncle Gaylord's I went to in Berkeley! It looked like a barn! But this place looks *just like* the one back in Palo Alto!" RPG deadpanned, "Well, this is the one *I* always come to when I'm in Berkeley. They've got two in San Francisco, too. Remember, they're a chain." JONL accepted this bit of wisdom. And he was not totally ignorant - he knew perfectly well that University Avenue was in Berkeley, not far from Telegraph Avenue. What he didn't know was that there is a completely different University Avenue in Palo Alto. JONL went up to the counter and asked for ginger honey. The guy at the counter asked whether JONL would like to taste it first, evidently their standard procedure with that flavour, as not too many people like it. JONL said, "I'm sure I like it. Just give me a cone." The guy behind the counter insisted that JONL try just a taste first.

"Some people think it tastes like soap." JONL insisted, "Look, I *love* ginger. I eat Chinese food. I eat raw ginger roots. I already went through this hassle with the guy back in Palo Alto. I *know* I like that flavour!" At the words "back in Palo Alto" the guy behind the counter got a very strange look on his face, but said nothing. KBT caught his eye and winked. Through my stupor I still hadn't quite grasped what was going on, and thought RPG was rolling on the floor laughing and clutching his stomach just because JONL had launched into his spiel ("makes rotten meat a dish for princes") for the forty-third time. At this point, RPG clued me in fully. RPG, KBT, and I retreated to a table, trying to stifle our chuckles. JONL remained at the counter, talking about ice cream with the guy b.t.c., comparing Uncle Gaylord's to other ice cream shops and generally having a good old time. At length the g.b.t.c. said, "How's the ginger honey?" JONL said, "Fine!

I wonder what exactly is in it?" Now Uncle Gaylord publishes all his recipes and even teaches classes on how to make his ice cream at home. So the g.b.t.c. got out the recipe, and he and JONL pored over it for a while. But the g.b.t.c. could contain his curiosity no longer, and asked again, "You really like that stuff, huh?" JONL said, "Yeah, I've been eating it constantly back in Palo Alto for the past two days. In fact, I think this batch is about as good as the cones I got back in Palo Alto!" G.b.t.c. looked him straight in the eye and said, "You're *in* Palo Alto!" JONL turned slowly around, and saw the three of us collapse in a fit of giggles. He clapped a hand to his forehead and exclaimed, "I've been hacked!" [My spies on the West Coast inform me that there is a close relative of the raspberry found out there called an "ollalieberry" - ESR] [Ironic footnote: it appears that the meme about ginger vs. rotting meat may be an urban legend.

It's not borne out by an examination of mediaeval recipes or period purchase records for spices, and appears full-blown in the works of Samuel Pegge, a gourmand and notorious flake case who originated numerous food myths. - ESR] Saga - definition of saga by The Free Dictionary Saga - definition of saga by The Free Dictionary n. 1. a. A prose narrative usually written in Iceland between 1120 and 1400, dealing with the families that first settled Iceland and their descendants, with the histories of the kings of Norway, and with the myths and legends of early Germanic gods and heroes. b. A modern prose narrative that resembles a saga. 2. A long detailed report: recounted the saga of their family problems. [Old Norse; see sekw-3 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] saga (ˈsɑːɡə) n 1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) any of several medieval prose narratives written in Iceland and recounting the exploits of a hero or a family 2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) any similar heroic narrative 3.

(Literary & Literary Critical Terms) Also called: saga novel a series of novels about several generations or members of a family 4. (Theatre) any other artistic production said to resemble a saga 5. informal a series of events or a story stretching over a long period [C18: from Old Norse: a narrative; related to Old English secgan to say1] sa•ga (ˈsɑ gə) n., pl. -gas. 1. a medieval Scandinavian prose narrative of events in the lives of historical or legendary individuals or families. 2. any narrative of heroic exploits. 3. Also called sa′ga nov`el. a form of novel that chronicles the members or generations of a family or social group. [1700–10; < Old Norse; c. saw 3] saga See also related terms for narrative . ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1.

saga - a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family; originally (12th to 14th centuries) a story of the families that settled Iceland and their descendants but now any prose narrative that resembles such an account adventure story , heroic tale - a story of an adventure saga noun 1. carry-on , to-do , performance (informal) (informal, chiefly Brit.), rigmarole , soap opera , pantomime (informal), chain of events, catalogue of disasters the whole saga of Hoddle's dismissal رِواية طَويلَة عن أجيال أسْرَةٍ واحِدَه sága saga [ˈsɑːgə] N (Hist) → saga f; (= novel) → serie f (de novelas) (fig) → epopeya f he told me the whole saga of what had happened → me contó toda la odisea or historia de lo ocurrido saga n → Saga f; (= novel also) → Generationsroman m; (fig) → Geschichte f, → Story f (inf) saga saga (ˈsaːgə) noun a long, detailed story.

I expect he told you the saga of his troubles. sage رِواية طَويلَة عن أجيال أسْرَةٍ واحِدَه сага saga sága die Saga saga έπος saga saaga داستان حماسي saaga saga הגדה आख्यान pripovjetka, saga családregény kisah saga saga 物語 무용담,전설 saga, istorija sāga; stāsts kisah panjang relaas saga saga, historia داتلانو كيسه، دمېړنو كيسه، جنګىكيسه، داّيسلينډ لرغونۍ جنګى كيسه saga saga сага sága saga saga saga, historia ตำนาน; เรื่องเล่า) destan 長篇故事 сага, легенда داستان trường thiên tiểu thuyết 长篇故事 Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content .

Link to this page: Galsworthy References in classic literature ? Take up the literature of 1835, and you will find the poets and novelists asking for the same impossible gift as did the German Minnesingers long before them and the old Norse Saga writers long before that. Marketing and PR: Saga is good for the Heart in the radio ratings skirmish Published by Microsoft Game Studios, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is a third-generation massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) that offers an online world of incredible detail and interactivity. Sigil Games Online Supports AGEIA PhysX Processor in MMO Vanguard: Saga of Heroes; AGEIA PhysX-Enabled MMORPG From Microsoft Game Studios Already Attracting Thousands of Beta Testers and a Host of Affiliated Fansites This DVD has literally been three years in the making, and it's going to be a fantastic way to complete the `Star Wars' saga at home. An Epic Journey Begins: The Banner Saga Now Available For iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch On the event floor, SCEJ provided attendees with a sneak preview of Endless Saga.

WEBZEN Announces Development of New MMORPG for PlayStation(R)3; Global Online Games Leader Joins Ranks of Top Game Companies to Publish for Next-Gen Console Papa Pear Saga, the next game in a series of hits from King, is free-to-play and launches on mobile with 120 exciting levels across eight episodes. Bounce your way to victory with Papa Pear Saga on mobile - the latest cross-platform game from the makers of Candy Crush Saga From exciting role play toys like the Darth Vader Voice Changer that lets you feel the "power of the Dark Side" to games like Trivial Pursuit DVD Star Wars Saga Edition that bring the pop culture phenomenon home to your living room, Hasbro's Episode III Revenge of the Sith toys and games are sure to spark the imagination of Star Wars fans of all ages. Introduction to Old Norse Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum Vikings Old Norse may be succinctly characterized as the "language of the vikings". Indeed the term víkingr is found in Old Norse itself; but its use in other languages (cf. Old English wicing), where it refers to the seafaring marauders who plagued their shores, typically forms the basis for the modern connotations.

Beginning in the late 8th century AD, much of western Europe fell subject to periodic harassment by these ship-borne warriors from the north, and their desecration of such holy sanctuaries as Christian monasteries did much to cement the notion of ruthless, lawless savages which remains bound to the term viking. But this is not the whole story. To be certain, the northmen who went on such raids were harsh warriors taking plunder from often defenseless peoples. They did not, however, form the entirety of the culture of Old Norse speakers. Not every speaker of Old Norse was termed a víkingr; and often when the term is applied, it has more the connotation of 'free enterpriser' than 'cutthroat pirate'. Archaeology rounds out the picture, showing that the part of Scandinavian culture not engaged in foreign raids was in places tied to the land, and more often centered on trading. Presumably it was the search for new trade routes which impelled Scandinavians to push into eastern Europe, laying the foundations for the cultures mentioned in the earliest Russian documents. Scandinavians prospered along such trade routes, the wealthiest evidently in Gotland.

These Gotlanders were themselves wary of pirating, since most of the treasures unconvered by archaeologists come from hidden stashes deliberately buried by the foot of trees or near large rocks. Of course it is the literature of Old Norse itself which finally rounds out the cultural picture. The literature is voluminous, and the lengthy sagas often mention a bold víkingr and his exploits. They tout manly virtues, extol armed combat, and laud rash and rowdy behavior. But most of these stories were written over a century after the viking raids ceased to dominate the concerns of other Europeans. Though the writing style of many sagas is matter-of-fact, it must be borne in mind that it is being written for a dispersed group of rural aristocrats sometimes more attached to political intrigue and literary pasttimes than to pillaging and plundering. It is uncertain how much of the heroic actions are to be attributed to historical fact, and how much to the romanticizing tendencies of the authors. Poetry, by contrast, does seem to date back to the period of the viking raids. And it may be telling that sagas often portray great warriors simultaneously as great poets.

In fact, some of the Scandinavian poetry is more technically and metaphorically complex than anything else produced in Europe at the time. Linguistic Heredity The linguistic genealogy of Old Norse begins with the spread of Proto-Indo-European. Proto-Indo-European (PIE) refers to a language reconstructed by linguists and presumably extant before the advent of writing in its speaking area. The term can likewise refer to the presumed speakers of this language: a group united by a linguistic identity, though perhaps ethnically diverse, as we see among modern languages like English and Spanish. PIE provides the root of a linguistic family tree including, aside from Germanic, other branches such as Slavic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian, Romance, and Greek languages. Schematically, we may imagine that a certain dialect group within the PIE speaking community began to distance itself from the remainder of the community. This might have happened, for example, through migration, increased commerce with neighboring cultures, or an influx of speakers of non-Indo-European backgrounds. Over time this speech community became sufficiently distinct from other PIE speakers to allow for independent language evolution.

Through ensuing centuries of population influx, shifting geographic frontiers, and intermingling with neighboring cultures this dialect developed into what we may term Common Germanic or Proto-Germanic (PGmc). The same process then repeated, so that PGmc itself came to display ever more dramatic regional variation. By the late pre-Christian, early Christian era, there emerged three distinct dialects: East, West, and North Germanic. From West Germanic developed Old English and Old Frisian, as well as Old High German and Old Saxon. From North Germanic are descended the Scandinavian languages, with the oldest literature in Old Norse. East Germanic is only attested in Gothic, which has no modern descendants. Such a tripartite division unfortunately oversimplifies the situation. There seem to be several points of convergence between branches, so that it is difficult to maintain a view of early division and subsequent isolation. For example, Old Norse and Gothic show a common innovation within the Germanic family, whereby medial jj and ww are both sharpened (to ddj and ggw in Gothic, to ggj and ggw in Old Norse). Likewise both retain -t as a marker of the second person singular past indicative.

These might be considered indications of a close affinity between the East and North branches of Germanic. On the other hand, Old Norse shares some features with West Germanic, to the exclusion of Gothic. In Old Norse and West Germanic both -dōm and -skapi are used as suffixes to produce abstract nouns, whereas they are only used as root nouns in Gothic. Old Norse and the West Germanic languages also show the pervasive traces of umlaut, which is absent in Gothic. Gothic exhibits the change of initial fl- to þl-, absent in both North and West Germanic. Reduplicated verbs are still somewhat productive in Gothic, but completely marginalized in Old Norse and West Germanic. Thus a simplistic family-tree model resulting from presumed linguistic isolation is a tenuous and sometimes misleading synopsis of the early development of the Germanic languages. Close ties between speech communities must have survived migratory periods, and the relative uniformity of literary traditions must gloss over a more intricate web of common speech. Origin and Geographical Location Recent theories place the speech area of Proto-Germanic in the region of what is now Denmark and southern Sweden.

Although archaeological evidence shows that the area was inhabited as far back as 10,000 BC, the Germanic presence is usually associated with the "Battle-Axe Culture", a group which invaded the region sometime in the third millenium BC. It seems that the speakers of North Germanic did not move far from this area in the earliest migration phases of the Germanic tribes. There is a general consensus that the locus of Norse speakers was still centered on this region just before their entrance into wider European historical traditions. This is not to say that the North Germanic speakers were necessarily completely sedentary. The nature of the contact between various members of the three basic branches of Germanic in this region is not entirely clear. As seen in the discussion of linguistic heredity, though Germanic divided into three main branches, there is a complicated network of interrelations between them. If these linguistic interrelations are reflections of close contact, then the motions of the Germanic-speaking peoples in this area were constantly shifting, and sedentary lifestyles were possibly the exception and not the norm.

Matters of locale become quite a bit easier after Old Norse speakers start to migrate from the area of Denmark and Sweden, for then their exploits are recorded, either by the Norse themselves, or by other people of Europe upon whom they made an impression. Some pushed north into modern Norway, others west toward the Orkneys and Shetland Islands. Others made their way to the northern coast of France. From the island outposts it was not a far push to Iceland; then on to Greenland and as far as North America. A long period of migration established a lasting presence in the northern region of England. Ventures in the opposite direction took the Norse along rivers of eastern Europe through western Russia and into Byzantium itself. In this vein it should be noted that Old Norse is a term not denoting a particularly uniform spoken language as such, but rather a collection of wide ranging dialects with extremely close affinities. Old Norse is a catch-all term for Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian, Old Swedish, Old Danish, and Old Gotlandic, though it is often used as a synonym for Old Icelandic because the majority of documents come from this region. Documents The earliest documents from the Scandinavian speaking area are runic insciptions.

These extend as far back as the 2nd century AD. For the most part they are inscriptions on stone, or on more personal artifacts, such as brooches or swords. The largest number of these come from Denmark and Sweden. Many of them are in a dialect much more archaic than Old Norse itself. The preponderance of documents in Old Norse comes from Iceland. Among these literary monuments, Eddic poetry appears to represent the oldest stage. This is preserved mainly in one manuscript, which contains several poems of alliterative verse. The basic themes of the poems center either around the gods and mythic origins, or around heroes of an earlier age. Another important genre in Old Norse was that of Skaldic poetry. This was a highly wrought form of poetry well steeped in tradition. It seems generally to have been a sort of praise poetry, meant to extol the virtues and sing the notable exploits of kings and other patrons. Many references talk of how skaldic poems were composed on the spot, all the more impressive because of the intricacy of the genre. The poetic forms were varied, yet each individual form was quite rigid.

Direct statement was avoided, rather persons or things were referenced by means of ornate circumlocutions known as 'kennings'. So intricate was the style, and so long was the tradition, that Snorri Sturluson composed a monumental work dedicated to the subject. His Prose Edda contains a collection of stories which flesh out the mythic material often elliptically referenced in skaldic verse. It likewise contains a robust treatment of the mechanics of skaldic composition, together with examples of the various types of meter. Historical investigations also occupied the literary talents of Icelanders. Foremost among these was Ari Þorgilsson, who compiled a history of the settlement of Iceland. The original version of his Íslendigabók (Book of Icelanders) is lost, but a shorter version composed later still survives. A large body of Icelandic literature is in the form of sagas. These are prose compositions with single authors, generally intended to be read as entertainment. For the most part the sagas center around some historical figure or group, and purport to give an accurate account of events. But this notion is only a skeleton about which an ornate and richly decorated narrative art is woven.

Sagas tell the stories of Norwegian kings, of the early settlers of Iceland, of Snorri's own family, and of legendary personages. Typical themes are family feuds and the quest for revenge. Related Language Courses at UT Most but not all language courses taught at The University of Texas concern modern languages; sometimes courses are offered in ancient languages, though more often at the graduate level. Germanic language courses, except for English, are taught in the Department of Germanic Studies (link opens in a new browser window). Online language courses for college credit are offered through the University Extension (new window). North Germanic Resources Elsewhere Our Web Links page includes pointers to North Germanic resources elsewhere . The Old Norse Lessons Rob's Old Norse Page Rob's Old Norse Page What is 'Old Norse'? Old Norse is the language spoken and written by the inhabitants of Scandinavia around 1000 A.D. and earlier. The modern Nordic languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic descended from Old Norse. Old Norse has a rich literary history, and the most extensive body of literature of any Germanic language. Runes were written in Old Norse, as were the Icelandic Sagas.

The Icelandic language of today is not very diifferent from Old Norse, making Old Norse more accessable to language learners. Anyone interested in the roots of Germanic languages such as English, German, Dutch and Swedish should take an interest in Old Norse. The relationship of Old Norse to English and other languages I was always interested in word roots. And in learning word roots, you usually hear that they are Greek or Latin. Now I never gave it much thought, but I always assumed English was derived from Greek and Latin. This is not true. English belongs to the Germanic language family, along with German and Old Norse. All the languages of the world can be divided up into families. Languages within these families are closely related, and originated from the same early language. The Sino-Tibetan language family is one of the largest, containing the modern Chinese languages, Burmese and Tibetan. The Quechuan language family has few speakers now, being the language of the Incas in South America. Some languages are so unique they have no close relatives and are in their own family, such as Basque, only spoken in parts of Spain and France. Germanic langauges and Romance languages belong to the Indo-European language family.

Indo-European languages are believed to be descended from one language, called Proto-Indo-European. Sadly, this language and its speakers are long gone, but we can know a little about it by looking at similarities among the Indo-European languages that arose from it. But thats another story. This Proto-Indo-European language spread out of India through Persia into Europe. It spread either by speakers migrating, or the language being adopted through trade or perhaps conquest. As time passed groups of people became isolated and their language changed from the Proto-Indo-European ancestor, evolving into a separate language. Thus this ancestral language was breaking up into other languages, which would further give rise to even more languages. The Proto-Indo-European language was breaking up, into Proto-Italic, Proto-Germanic, and many others. Here is a table of the major divisions among the Indo-European languages. Indo-European Language Groups desiat' A few things to note about this chart: The words on the left are cognates, they look and sound similar because they all came from the same Indo-European word, so the English word 'mother' did not come from the Latin 'mater', rather both these words came from the same Proto-Indo-European word.

(To be fair, there is no linguist or dictionary that would claim 'mother' arose from 'mater', only the unwary Latin student might jump to this conclusion.) None of these languages arose directly from another in a different group, so neither Greek or Latin are ancestral to English (this doesn't mean English didn't borrow a lot of words, which is the case) If you were to line up Chinese, Egyptian and Basque words for mother, you'd find they were very different. So there are relationships within the Germanic Languages. Take a look at the chart below: (Proto-Germanic) Gothic (extinct) Now, don't misread this chart, just because English neighbors Danish, doesn't mean it's any more closely related to Danish than the other North Germanic Languages. You should note that English is in the West Germanic Group along with its close relatives German and Dutch, and, at the next level, the West Germanic languages are related to Old Norse and Gothic. You could reorder the languages within the groups. This is a very simplified chart too, it is adapted from Orrin W. Robinson's "Old English and Its Closest Relatives".

Take a look at that book for a thorough discussion and elaboration of this table, including many controversial points. So English is a Germanic language and it is related most closely related to German, Dutch and Scandinavian languages, and Old Norse. Here is a chart of words from Italic languages compared to Germanic languages. Italic Languages vinur vinr Old English : Shakespeare and Chaucer, right? Wrong, too 'new'. Old English is Beowulf and perhaps even what you know as Beowulf is a translation into modern English. Here's a bit of the real Beowulf: It's unintelligible to the modern English speaker - a foreign language. You may recognize the ï¿½ letter (as in Encyclopï¿½dia Brittanica), but not the ï¿½ and the ï¿½. These letters are also found in Old Norse and modern Icelandic. Had Old English survived until today (and assuming we all spoke it) we'd have a much easier time learning Old Norse. So what happened to Old English to make it Modern English? Well, Christianity happened, and the Normans brought French. The study of languages, linguistics, goes hand in hand with history.

Here is a brief history of what happened. Around 400 AD, present day England was ruled by the Roman Empire, but the fall of the Roman empire left Britain poorly protected from Celtic and Pictish tribes elsewhere in Great Britain. To protect themselves, the Britons hired Germanic mercenaries from tribes such as the Angles and the Saxons. This proved to be a good idea as the Germanic warriors did a good job defending Briton's borders. On the other hand, it proved to be a bad idea as the Germanic people decided Briton would be a nice place to live and, after a bit of a struggle, they made it their own. Many Germanic colonists made the trip from continental Northern Europe (present day Germany and Holland) to their new land in Great Britain bringing their Germanic culture and language with them. Back then, the Germanic language was one language, someone from a Germanic tribe in what is now Sweden would've been able to understand someone from what is now Germany or France. They brought with them their culture consisting of elaborate historical and entertaining stories and poems, and a panoply of gods nearly identical to those we know of as the Norse Gods.

This was the culture that grew into England, this was Anglo-Saxon Great Britain. With isolation, the language spoken by these Germanic peoples began to differ from that of the other Germanic tribes, and it developed into Old English. Old English was primarily a spoken language although it did have a written component; runic inscriptions, or runes. Many samples of this early Germanic written language survive today, we can only wonder how much has been lost. Anglo-Saxon culture and the English language suffered two serious blows. The conversion to Christianity and the eventual Norman Conquest. Saint Augustine arrived around 600 AD and by around 650 the Anglo-Saxons had succumbed to Christianity. With this conversion came the death of the Germanic pantheon of gods for the Anglo-Saxons and the rich oral traditions that surrounded them and their history, now the main focus of their religious life would be the dealings of the Middle East as told in the Bible. As a small consolation, Christians had a tradition transmitting their stories in written form, thus we do have written samples of Old English and examples of heroic, Germanic legends like Beowulf.

The death blow for Old English came when England itself fell to the Normans, after English forces, weakened from battling the Norsemen at Stamford Bridge, fell to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. French (a Italic language like Italian and Spanish) became the official language and English was forced underground. Interestingly, those who brought French to Great Britain were of Germanic origin, having abandoned their Germanic tongue years before. So Germanic Old English was beaten by Germanic peoples who had switched to an Italic language. Well, it took awhile, but eventually English reasserted itself as the language spoken in England, but in recovering, it had to borrow a huge number of words from French, changing it so much that it is now known as Middle English, to distinguish it from Old English. So now a lot of its words now had 'Latin' roots. Even after its recovery, 'Latin' classics were now studied in England, and Latin gained even a stronger foothold. So now you can see why Latin is studied so much among English-speakers (compared to Old Norse). Why study Old Norse?

First the short answer: You should study Old Norse because it is your best source of information in understanding how early Germanic people thought, what their world was like, and what was important to them, and it is your best source for understanding the early history of all Germanic languages, including German, English, and the Scandinavian languages. Ok, let me elaborate on this. And here I am going to get a bit personal. I am largely of German and English descent, with a bit of Norwegian in there too, and I'm interested in my 'deep roots'. My ancestors, like those of all people of Germanic descent, spoke a Proto-germanic language. and those who are bilingual (unlike me) will know that to learn a language you really have to learn to think in that language, and the language has a big effect on how you think of things. Therefore, to really know what it was like to be in those early Germanic times, I should really learn their language, how they organized thoughts and related tales. Reading translations really won't do, so much alliteration, puns, and emphasis through word order is lost when you read a translation. To really understand something you must read it in its original language.

Early Germanic people had a rich oral tradition, filled with all kinds of Gods, villains, monsters and heroes, we know this from some surviving 'catalogs of heroes'. The stories themselves have for the most part been lost, all the German ones, all the Gothic ones (and they were supposed to be the richest), all the Anglo-Saxon ones, except for Beowulf. Now I did say, 'for the most part', brace yourselves, there really is a big vein of early German culture that survived, thanks to Icelanders. Iceland, that fair sized island in the North Atlantic, was settled by Norwegians around the 900's. And one thing these new settlers did that no other Germanic people had done, is they wrote. Boy, did they ever write. They wrote down many of the stories, and historical accounts (Sagas). They wrote of the marvelous type of strict poetry that had arisen in Germanic culture. They wrote of the Gods and Goddesses and monsters that had so shaped their culture and view of the world.

(Mind you, by this time they were Christians, so they didn't believe in these Gods.) They wrote in a certain blunt, yet powerful style that is tremendous and something really to be experienced and unlike any other type of writing, and they used many kennings, or metaphorical phrases for things (modern English has few kennings, an example would be 'the ship of the desert', for 'camel'.) They wrote all this marvelous stuff in Old Norse, and it survives until today, and you can read it for yourself. So why study Old Norse? To give yourself a thrilling window into a world long gone, the heritage of a people who have undergone so many changes. To Germanic peoples, Old Norse literature is a treasure, a gift from ancestors long gone, and learning Old Norse is a chance to see the world through the eyes of early Germanic people. How do I learn Old Norse? This website has been online for over 15 years and a lot has changed on the internet since then. Remember altavista? lycos? We used to be the top result for them for "Old Norse" and a lot of people came here. Nothing has changed in Old Norse. The best way to learn Old Norse is through books.

Like you, I spent a lot of time on the internet looking for resources to help me learn Old Norse, and there are some out there, but not enough to learn Old Norse, to do that, you really need books. Personally, I think this is a better way to go anyway. Books do not consume power when you use them, they are very portable, and you don't need to tie up the phone line to use them! (Haha, I wrote that back in the modem days. Remeber those? I don't either.) I myself am still just learning Old Norse, and though I've found some of the sagas on-line, I haven't really used them yet, I'm still working through my books. here are some books for your library, really, the first one is all you need though... An Introduction to Old Norse by E.V. Gordon (1990, Oxford University Press) This is THE book for learning Old Norse, but heed the warnings below. This is the second edition, edited by A.R. Taylor, and not much different from the first, aside from having all of Hrafnkels saga freysgoï¿½a.

This is THE book for English speakers who want to learn Old Norse, but be warned, it is very difficult to read. You must be extremely patient and use other books like English grammar books to help you know what a participle is, what the passive voice is, etcetera. This book assumes you are a student of linguistics - this means more reading for you. You must be very patient. It took me years to get to page 27! It starts out with a inspiring essay on Old Norse and Heroic literature that will inspire you to press on, then the bulk of the book is selections from Old Norse texts. The vital grammar is in a very terse section at the end of the book before the glossary, a good, large glossary. Many will tell you this book is incomprehensible to the modern reader. Ha! They are of weak mind, pay no attention to them. Do however scare up and English grammar book, so you can recognize nouns, verbs adjectives, direct, indirect objects, appositives and all that good stuff. This is your main book, but the following will also be very helpful...

I've said it before so I'll be brief get the books - use them learning Icelandic or even German will help That being said, here are some Old Norse resources I've found that look good. Old Norse for Beginners - Old Norse lessons on the internet, finally. An excellent site you must see, especially the Old Norse cartoons... Netï¿½tgï¿½fan - here is the text of all the Sagas online - all of them in original Old Norse (the spelling has been normalized, or standardized) Not as enjoyable as reading them in a nice book - but they're all there. This is an amazing resource. Pick 'fornrit' ("old-book") and then 'Gylfaginning' or 'ï¿½slendingasï¿½gur' for the Eddas and Sagas. Saganet - want to see what the actual texts that the Sagas are from look like? Here is another amazing project to digitize the pages of the actual manuscripts! Outstanding! Hurstwic: Norse Literature Stories, Poems, and Literature from the Viking Age 13th century Icelandic manuscript Our knowledge of the Viking people comes from several sources. One valuable source is the literature from the period.

Norse people loved stories, and some of the stories and poems they themselves wrote, and that their descendants wrote still survive. Stories about the Norsemen were also written by their contemporaries, including both their trading partners (such as the Arabs) and the victims of their raids (such as the Christian clerics who kept the historical records in Europe). This section describes written records the Viking-age people left behind. Language The Norsemen spoke Old Norse, which they called dönsk tunga (the Danish tongue). With minor variations, this language was spoken throughout the Norse lands during the Viking period. Old Norse is one of ten branches that make up the Indo-European family of languages which have been spoken throughout Europe and southern Asia for the last 3000 years. Old Norse is the root language from which the modern Scandinavian languages descended, and is a close relative of modern English, Dutch, and German. During the period from 550-750 AD, rapid linguistic changes occurred, which separated the Norse from other Germanic people on the European continent to the south and west. During the Viking age, language was no barrier to communication across the Norse lands; from Greenland to the Baltic, nearly the same language was spoken throughout.

However, there is evidence that, despite the common language, a man's homeland could be identified by his speech. Some scholars today would go further and say that by the start of the Norse era, significant differences already existed between East Norse (Sweden and Denmark) and West Norse (Norway and the Atlantic settlements such as Iceland) dialects. If you would like to learn Old Icelandic, the language of the sagas and eddas, please consider joining us for our annual Hurstwic Old Norse Language Bootcamp , an intensive weekend-long introduction to the language. Writing and Runes The futhork runic "alphabet" (so called for the sounds of the first six letters in the runic row) was in wide use throughout northern Europe from roughly the 3rd to the 12th century. At first, 24 letters were used, but in the 9th century, the futhork alphabet was simplified to 16 letters, beginning in Denmark, then rapidly spreading throughout the region. Many variations of the futhork rune row were used; one of the Danish variants is shown above.

In the same way that a modern reader of English would recognize all these glyphs as representing an upper case "G", a Viking-age reader would recognize the many ways a rune might be represented. The runes consist of straight lines, typically in the form of a vertical (a stave) with diagonal branches (twigs). The lack of any curves makes the runes easy to carve into wood, bone, or stone, which were the normal writing materials among the Norse. Runes are found carved graffiti-like into historical buildings and statuary not just in northern Europe, but all across the continent, clearly showing the extent to which the Norsemen roamed over Europe. The marble lion shown in the sketch to the left is from outside Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, where some unknown Norse traveler carved runic graffiti into the shoulder of the beast. Judging from the number of inscriptions found on stones in Nordic lands that were clearly intended to be seen and read, and from the number of everyday objects inscribed with runes, it is possible that much of the Norse population could read runes. Many of the inscriptions are in the form of memorial stones, such as those illustrated below on this page. These stones are highly public memorials.

There's scarcely any reason to erect them if most of the population could not read them. Many everyday objects are found inscribed with the owner's name, or the maker's name, or other messages. The spindle whorl shown to the left (used for spinning yarn ) is inscribed with the owner's name, Viborg. Runic inscriptions have been found ranging from trade and legal documents such as bills of sale, all the way to coarse lavatory scribblings. Some runic inscriptions are clearly just for fun; a comb was found inscribed "I am a comb". Some inscriptions may have been the equivalent of "Post-It" notes; one wooden runestick from Bergen is inscribed: "Gytha says come home". Additional evidence of widespread literacy comes from the old Icelandic literature. In an episode from Morkinskinna (ch 34), it was not considered the least bit remarkable that a poor, unnamed Icelander from the northern quarter was able to read the inscription on a buried treasure chest.

In chapter 18 of Vï¿½gilundar saga, Ketilrï¿½ï¿½'s father Hï¿½lmkell left a rune stick on the path where Vï¿½glundur and Trausti were sure to find it as they rode to the ship that would take them away from Iceland. On the stick were Ketilrï¿½ï¿½'s words saying she wanted to marry no other man but Vï¿½gilundur. There was no question that Vï¿½gilundur would be able to read the message. ï¿½ï¿½rï¿½ur challenged Klaufi to a wrestling match via a message on a rune stick in chapter 12 of Svarfdï¿½la saga. Interestingly, just two chapters later, Klaufi and Grï¿½s found runes carved on a ship naming the skipper, which Klaufi was unable to read. He demanded that Grï¿½s read them. Wooden writing tablets provide additional evidence of the widespread use of runic writing among ordinary people. The tablet shown in the photos is a modern reproduction.

The historic tablets are about 20-30cm high (about 8-12 in) and were filled with blackened wax within their raised borders. A pointed iron stylus was used to write in the wax (top right). The reproduction stylus in the photos is set in an antler which allows a nice grip and which can be used to smooth the wax and erase unwanted writing (bottom right). The wooden surface of historical tablets from the Norse era bear marks where the stylus broke through the wax, and the marks show that the runic alphabet was being used. These tablets are more commonly found in rural areas, rather than in towns, suggesting that even remote farm dwellers could read and write runes. On the other hand, objects have been found inscribed with runes which appear to be utter nonsense, or filled with errors. Perhaps it made perfect sense to the craftsman who made the object. Or perhaps, realizing that the object he just made needed to decorated with runes, but not knowing the futhork, the artisan simply made up something rune-like. The medium of choice for runic inscriptions was probably a stick or scrap of wood, which explains why few runic inscriptions are found today.

Extraordinary conditions are required for the preservation of these wood scraps over the centuries since the Norse era. The runic writing shown to the right is one of a number of wooden merchant's markers excavated in Bergen. It indicates the owner's name, and was meant to be stuck in or tied to a pile of merchandise. It can be difficult to transcribe and translate runic writings. One difficulty is that there are more sounds in the language than there are runes to represent them. Thus a single character could represent one of several sounds. Another difficulty is the variations in the various futhork alphabets that were in use during the period. Further, archaic or otherwise unknown words were used in runic inscriptions. Runes were frequently incorporated into the zoomorphic designs (left) favored by the Norse. Additionally, every effort was made to reduce the space required to inscribe the message and the number of runes that needed to be carved. So, for example, if a rune repeated, only the first rune was carved and the second discarded. Generally, there were no breaks between words or between sentences. Runes could be written left to right or right to left. The "facing" of the runes makes it clear which way to read.

For inscriptions longer than one line, alternating lines were frequently written in opposite directions, first leftwards, then rightwards. Sometimes, the lines bent around at the end, so that one line reads left to right and the next line right to left and upside down. The effect is shown with English text using Roman letters to the right. Some rune stones (such as the Rï¿½k stone shown to the left) have text crammed onto every surface of the stone, with lines reading upwards, downwards, leftwards, and rightwards. Further, runes could be coded into other figures, called cryptic runes. The intent is not always clear. Perhaps it was meant to highlight a portion of the text, or to show off the skill of the person carving the runes. And perhaps it was meant to hide the meaning of the text to those who did not now how the runes were encoded. One example of cryptic runes are skiprúnar (ship runes), where the twigs adorn the stem and stern of the ship. The number of twigs in a figure indicated two numbers. The rune was coded by these two numbers.

The first represented a particular ætt (grouping of runes within the futhork), and the second indicated which rune in the grouping was meant. Shown to the right are two figures from a series of cryptic runes in an Icelandic manuscript. Portion of rune stone with several same-stave runes Same-stave rune with missing portion restored Same-stave rune separated into individual runes Transcription into Roman letters Another example of cryptic runes is same-stave runes, in which all of the twigs branch from a single stave. The composite image to the left shows an example of this kind of runic inscription. The left image shows a small portion of the Sønder Kirkeby stone in Denmark that uses same-stave runes for a portion of its message. The stave of interest in this example is the second from the left. The stone was damaged in this region, and a portion of this stave is missing. This part of the stone is shown in the second image, with a speculative reconstruction of the missing portion. The individual runes are shown in the next column, and the transcription into the Roman alphabet in the final column. The complete message is ï¿½orr vigi runar, or "ï¿½orr hallow the runes".

Another form of cryptic runes is visible at the top of the Rï¿½k stone, above left. With the coming of Christianity, and its educated clergy reading and writing Latin, runes were displaced by the Roman alphabet (modified to fit the needs of the various northern European languages), written with pen and ink on vellum. However, runes continued to be used for many centuries, since the materials for runic writing were always readily at hand: everyone carried a knife, and a stick could be picked up from anywhere. The Viking-age people did not develop a written culture until the arrival of the church. In the Viking age, runes were used for short notes only. The Viking culture was oral, and long works were remembered using poetry. Runes certainly could have been used for longer messages in the same way as Roman characters, but they were not. Perhaps the Norse people saw no need to preserve long works in written form, even though everything was in place to do so. Only a single rune stone containing a complete poem survives, although many stones contain individual verses.

In chapter 78 of Egils saga, ï¿½orgerï¿½ur asked her father Egill to compose a memorial poem, telling him she would carve the verses into a rune stick (rï¿½sta ï¿½ kefli). Whether that was common practice or not is conjectural. The Rï¿½k stone is an extraordinary rune stone over four meters high (13 feet) and is covered on all five sides with runic inscriptions. The front (and the beginning of the inscription) is shown to the left, and the reverse is shown in the photo above left. Many of the rune stones, particularly later ones, are memorial stones, which commerated the dead and may have served as declarations of inheritance. The purpose of the Rok stone is subject to debate, but may well be a memorial stone, as well. Poetry Surviving poems show a wide range of topics and tones: respectful and reverent; boastful and proud; witty and humorous; threatening and defiant; vile and obscene. However, scurrilous or satirical poems were banned because of the injury they caused to the subject and to his reputation.

Poems, being a divine gift from Óðin (the highest of the gods), were thought to have special power. Poems had the power to bestow honor on a worthy man and to remove honor from a wretch. A skillful poet could earn a valuable reward from a generous king, or save his head from an angry king, by creating a well composed poem. Poems praising a woman were banned, both because of the publicity and the possible effect it might have on her reputation, but also because of possible spell binding effects the poem might have. (Surviving love poems suggest the ban was regularly ignored.) On hearing certain kinds of poetry (for instance, poetry implying that a man was womanish), a man was at liberty to kill the person reciting the poem. The proscribed types of poetry are described in the medieval Icelandic lawbook Grï¿½gï¿½s (K 238). Norse poetry does not have the regular rhythm and end-rhyme that one conventionally associates with poetry, but rather uses alliteration and irregular stress which falls on the most significant words in each line. Norse poetry can be divided into three classes, depending on form and content.

Rune poems were usually inscribed on monuments and serve to praise an individual. They are brief and usually have a simple meter and style. Eddic poems describe the Norse gods and ancient Norse heroes and their exploits. Eddic poetry also has relatively simple meter and style. The stories are exciting, packed with action, and frequently contain valuable object lessons. Little can be said about the development of eddic poetry, but it was probably in place and in use at the start of the Viking age. Skaldic poems typically praise the deeds of notable people, and they were usually written during the lifetime of the person being praised. While some of the surviving skaldic poetry dates from the medieval period, many of the poems are believed to date from the Viking age. The Rï¿½k runestone shown above on this page records one stanza of skaldic poetry and dates from the middle of the 9th century. The Karlevi runestone shown to the right is the only skaldic verse in the elaborate drï¿½ttkvï¿½tt meter known to have been written down in the Viking age. It dates from roughly the year 1000 and is located in ï¿½land in Sweden.

While the eddic poetry is uniformly anonymous, much of the surviving skaldic poetry is credited to a particular poet at a particular place and time. The skaldic poems have complicated meters, strict patterns of alliteration, and ornate metaphoric language, with wordplay to delight the sophisticated listener. The poems usually celebrate the exploits of a particular king or leader. Since, in the Viking age, exaggeration was considered to be mockery, and since mockery was considered a lethal insult, these poems are thought to be reliable testimony to the events, even though (in some cases) they weren't committed to writing for centuries after their composition. Unfortunately, the factual information in such poetry tends to be limited. Skaldic poetry uses a variety of circumlocutions, such as kennings. A kenning uses a phrase as a metaphor to represent an idea. The usual form is a noun, qualified by another noun in the genitive case. For instance sweat of the sword is used to mean blood, or horse of the sea to mean ship. Some of the kennings can only be understood by someone with an extensive knowledge of the culture and of the great stories.

For example, flame of the Rhine is used to mean gold but would probably be understood only by someone who is familiar with the Völsunga saga in which the great gold treasure of the Vï¿½lsungar ended up at the bottom of the river Rhine. Kennings can have multiple levels. For example, a poet might use a kenning for gold, and then use that phrase in place of the word "gold" in yet another kenning, such as flame of the sea-stead's path. Sea-stead's (ship) path is water, so flame of the water refers to gold. Some kennings depend on hyperbole. Enemy of gold refers to a man who does not like gold and gives it away: a generous man. Some kennings take the form of puns, such as using sky of the eel to represent ice in identifying someone as an Icelander. The form of Norse poetry is complicated beyond the wordplay of the kennings. The need to fit strict rules of alliteration and rhyming and rhythm result in verses in which multiple ideas are being formed simultaneously.

(This concept is illustrated on the skaldic stanza page.) Because Icelandic is a highly inflected language (word forms change depending on their usage in a sentence), it's possible to jumble the word order yet retain the meaning of a sentence. Norse visual arts share this property (left). Exceedingly complicated forms are used all over a figure to create a single unified image. It's been suggested that this similarity between poetry and visual arts derives from the same underlying sensibility, some innate appreciation of the baroque form in Norse culture. Because of its complexity and wordplay, I wonder whether skaldic poetry could be understood by a listener hearing a verse for the first time. There are examples in the stories that support this belief, such as chapter 18 of Gï¿½sla saga. ï¿½ï¿½rdï¿½s overheard a verse spoken by her brother, Gï¿½sli , in which he took credit for the killing of her husband, ï¿½orgrï¿½mr. Not until she returned home did ï¿½ï¿½rdï¿½s interpret the verse and understand its meaning. I may be overstating my case.

At least one scholar of skaldic poetry has told me that he believes the verses were easily understood by a listener in the saga age. Additionally, in an oral culture, it would be important to recall poetry without error. Because of the complexities of Norse verse, a defect in a recalled verse would be immediately apparent, since the rhyme, rhythm, or alliteration would no longer work. Any erroneous substitution would stand out. Thus, the complexity of the verse acted as a mnemonic aid to help recall the verse and to identify errors. This built-in error detection was one of the reasons that information conveyed by poetry during the Viking age was thought to be more reliable than information in prose. The 12th century authors who first wrote the histories and stories of Iceland viewed the words of poets to be more authoritative than other oral sources. Some modern scholars disagree, and they suggest that in oral form, even poetry is unlikely to remain unchanged over long periods of time. Literature Many of the important poems were composed in the 9th through 12th century. These were part of the oral tradition, and were kept alive by repetition as they were passed from one generation to another. Poetry was likely a major form of entertainment for the Norse.

Poets were held in high regard, not only for their ability to improvise poetic entertainment on the spot, but also because they were the repository of the shared cultural experience. They were the vessel through which the culture was passed from generation to generation. Once committed to poetry, a thought was expected to last "as long as the land is inhabited" or "as long as the Norse language is spoken". Story-telling was a popular entertainment wherever people gathered. Fï¿½stbrï¿½ï¿½ra saga says in chapter 23 that ï¿½orgrï¿½mr Einarsson told a story while sitting on his chair in front of his booth at the ï¿½ing. People sat all around him, listening to his tale. When an unexpected downpour forced everyone to leave and seek shelter, ï¿½ormï¿½ï¿½r took advantage of the opportunity and killed ï¿½orgrï¿½mr. Beginning in the 12th century, educated men in Iceland, where the oral tradition was strongest, began to write down the important stories.

Iceland was unique among European countries at this time in having a population comprised of a large number of relatively free, land-owning farmers. These men had the means to commission the creation of books in their own language, rather than in Latin as was the rule throughout the rest of Europe. The oral story-telling tradition of the Icelanders also favored writings in the vernacular. A wide variety of material was written down in the Icelandic language. One of the first books to be written in the northern lands was the Icelandic law codes, begun in the year 1117. Prior to this time, the law codes were remembered and recited orally by the law speaker (lögsögumaður) at the Alï¿½ing. A short time later, a history of Iceland was written known as ï¿½slendingabï¿½k (the Book of Icelanders) by Ari frï¿½ï¿½i (the learned) around the year 1130. Scholars wrote books describing how to use Roman letters to represent the sounds of the Icelandic language. The First Grammatical Treatise was followed by three others.

The genealogy and history of Icelandic settlers were written down in Landnï¿½mabï¿½k (the Book of Settlement)s. European literature was translated into Icelandic, including stories of the lives of saints, and learned books on topics including astronomy, natural history, and geography. Travel books were written by Icelandic visitors to Europe. New stories were written to commemorate the exploits of kings or other great leaders. Some of these books were in the form of histories, such as Heimskringla, a history of the kings of Norway. Others described contemporary events, such as the sagas of the lives of Icelandic bishops, and Sturlunga saga, a compilation of sagas describing the events in the turbulent times when the sons of Sturla ï¿½ï¿½rï¿½arson were changing the political landscape of the Iceland. Icelanders also wrote down the stories of their ancestors. These Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders, also called family sagas) remain compelling and entertaining reading today. They are a unique and new form of story-telling unlike anything that preceded them. Most of these sagas are thought to have been composed between 1200 and 1400.

These stories tell of the tales of farmers and chieftains living in Iceland from the 9th through the 12th century. Many of them follow families for generation after generation, from the settlement era to the commonwealth period in Iceland's history. They are distinctive in that they tell heroic tales not about heroes, but about just plain folks: the early Icelanders. Although distorted by the time that separates the events depicted and the writing of the stories, the family sagas present one of the best pictures we have of Norse society. We know the names of only a very few of the writers of these works. It was not customary to put the author's name on the manuscript. However, one author who can be identified with some certainty is Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241). A 20th century sculpture of Snorri by Vigeland is shown to the left. Snorri feared that the tradition of composing poetry to commemorate great men and great events was dying. For this, and other reasons, he wrote the Snorra edda, a four part textbook on writing skaldic poetry.

The book summarizes Norse mythology (necessary for the poet to understand the kennings), teaches the language of poetry, and presents examples of the various verse forms. The illustration to the right is from the section Gylfaginning (the tricking of Gylfi), showing Gylfi in a contest of wisdom with three ï¿½sir. The book not only provides us with a unique overview of the Norse mythology, but Snorri quotes excerpts from poems and stories as examples of proper form and technique. In most cases, the full works are now lost, so the quotes from Snorra edda are the only way we have any knowledge of these stories. Over the centuries, the original manuscripts of the old stories were copied, transcribed, combined, interpolated, and edited. Material was deleted and new material written to bridge the gap. In some cases, the original stories may have been distorted, but in some cases, the stories may well have been improved. None of the surviving manuscripts represent the "original" version of the stories as set down by the first author. All the surviving manuscripts date from well after the time the stories were written down. Thus, each tells a different version of the story.

Both early and late manuscripts survive for some stories, and occasionally, the differences are quite significant. In some cases, bored copyists may simply have made scribal errors. Many of the copies are thought to have been made at the monastery at ï¿½ingeyrar. (The ï¿½ingeyrar church is shown as it appears today to the left). The monastery held one of medieval Iceland's largest libraries, and it's likely that some of the histories and sagas were composed there, as well. Like the poetry, the form of some of these sagas is complicated. Seemingly unrelated plot lines and characters are introduced and dropped and "stranded", only to be picked up later. But the sagas are a "verbal braid" of many strands whose meaning is not stated outright, but implied by the various juxtapositions and intersections. A Norse author of the time compared it to running water, which flows from many sources, yet all comes together to flow into a single place, the sea. The sagas are narrated in a sparse, objective style. The author rarely tells anything that could not be observed by a witness.

Any internal thoughts or emotions a character might have are revealed to the reader through behavior or dialog observable by a witness. The author rarely explains or judges characters or events and rarely intrudes on the narrative. The stories survive today in the form of hand written manuscripts on vellum and (Iater) on paper, dating from the 13th through the 17th century. Scholars combed Iceland during the 17th and 18th century in search of surviving manuscripts. One of the best known of these scholars was the Icelander Árni Magnússon (right). When found, the manuscripts were brought to Denmark (which governed Iceland at that time) for preservation. Tragically, fire swept through Copenhagen in 1728. While the best manuscripts were saved, many lesser works were lost. Of the Sagas of Icelanders, about 80 works survive, ranging from short-story length (called ï¿½ï¿½ttur) to long-novel length. Some of the manuscripts survive only in a single copy. For instance, most of the poems in The Elder Edda exist only in the manuscript called the Codex Regius.

(A portion of a leaf of the Codex Regius is shown to the right.) On the other hand, seven manuscripts or fragments of Snorri Sturluson's Edda survive. Today, most of the manuscripts have been repatriated to Iceland for safekeeping at Stofnun ï¿½rna Magnï¿½ssonar (the Árni Magnússon Institute) in Reykjavík (left). The accuracy of the sagas (especially the Icelandic family sagas) has long been debated. They were not written down until centuries after the events they depict took place. We don't know the authors of any of the sagas. We don't know where or when they were written. Are they factual records or simply stories and legends to while away the hours on long winter nights? Are they a wistful look backwards from the turbulence of the Sturlunga era and the loss of Icelandic independence (in which they were written) back to the golden age of Iceland's settlement (in which they are set)? Are they literary creations, composed by an author, or merely the written transcription of an older oral narrative?

In some ways, I feel unqualified to step into this scholarly debate and so prefer to use the term "historical novel". On one hand, one takes a risk when one uses a saga as a primary reference or as a source of "facts". On the other hand, the sagas clearly are a valuable resource for information about society and culture and behavioral norms during the Viking age in Iceland. Our Viking combat research at Hurstwic is an example where the sagas, when combined with other sources, seem to be a very credible source, as discussed in the Hurstwic arms and armor article on sources of information . A (somewhat dated) introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders and their use as a historical source is available here (700KB pdf file). Spelling and Pronunciation The original documents that form the basis for our knowledge of this period were written in Old Icelandic, not far removed from Old Norse, the language spoken throughout northern Europe during the period. The written Icelandic language has changed comparatively little over the centuries, such that modern speakers of Icelandic have less trouble reading the sagas in the original than do modern speakers of English reading Shakespeare, despite the sagas being twice as old.

(However, I've recently been told by Icelanders that I overstate the case; the archaic vocabulary and phrasing make it difficult for modern Icelanders to read the sagas in the original.) Throughout these pages, I've tried to use the Icelandic spelling of names and places. As my knowledge of the language has increased, I've tried to be careful about usage and spelling, but I know I have not been consistent. Limitations in the characters available in HTML require me to use modern Icelandic substitutes in place of some of the old Norse characters. The Icelandic language has many sounds not present in modern English, and so it uses additional characters to represent those sounds. There are two additional consonants. "Thorn" (ï¿½ ï¿½) which represents the sound "th" as in Thor, and "edh" (ï¿½ ï¿½) which represents the sound "th" as in father. There are many additional vowel sounds, which are represented by accents (such as ï¿½), ligatures (such as ï¿½) and umlauts (such as ï¿½). There are no equivalent sounds in English, so pronounce them as you like.

I have seen several conflicting guides to the pronunciation of old Icelandic. I now understand that some of my confusion relates to my not comprehending all the pronunciation changes and dialect variations that occurred over the centuries that Old Norse was spoken. Since I don't know, I'm not even going to try to provide a guide. Barnes' recent old Norse textbook provides a detailed guide to pronunciation, as well as a fascinating discussion of the differences between old Norse and modern Icelandic pronunciation. I refer interested readers to his text. The full citation is on the references page. So as not to leave readers totally in the dark about pronunciation, I conclude with an audio recording of a short excerpt from Völuspá performed by Sveinbjörn Beinsteinsson in old Icelandic. This excerpt is the first half-verse from the poem in which the speaker calls for the attention of the audience. Hliï¿½ï¿½s biï¿½ ek allar helgar kindir, meiri ok minni, mï¿½go Heimdallar.

Question: Long story - from Old Norse?
Answer: Saga