Komiði sæl og blessuð, vinir,
(Come happy and blessed, friends,)This post is part of a collective project called the Víkingabók Database. The goal of this project is to compile various resources, whether as links or lists (particularly of books, articles, or sites), that relate to the fields of medieval Scandinavian and Irish studies. This project began on the 6th of December, 2016. This post may be updated in the future so that the information it contains remains current and applicable. In such instances, an amendment date will be provided. As of the date provided below, you may view this post, and the others associated with it, on the following platforms: Tumblr and WordPress.
This post was last updated on: 12 JAN, 2017.
DÖNSK TUNGA ORÐ (OLD NORSE WORDS):
First off, dönsk tunga is what the medieval Scandinavians themselves called their language, which we now call ‘Old Norse’.(1.) This translates to ‘Danish tongue’, and was likely called such because of Danish political authority, mainly due to their early centralization (among other factors) in comparison to other Scandinavian regions.
As for pronouncing these words, there are two methods for Old Norse. I prefer the modern method, but I have provided both methods, of course. The information can be found in Jesse L. Byock’s book, listed below, but I have also made posts about these methods on this blog. Here are links to those respective guides on pronunciation:
- Old Icelandic Method (a bit of an older post)
- Modern Icelandic Method
The list provided here on this post is meant more for reference, or, perhaps more appropriately, for the casual learner, or even an already (somewhat) familiar learner. In other words, this list is not meant to learn from (at least not from scratch), but to complement more reliable sources of learning, if not just for casual entertainment and practice. If you would like more comprehensive resources for learning Old Norse, see the citations at the bottom of this post.(2.)
Here, each word is included in an alphabetically ordered list, including basic (and I do mean basic) grammatical information and English definitions. If any questions concerning this list arise, send them my way via an ask and I will elaborate or explain the issue. More words will be added roughly every thirteen weeks, or every three months. Nonetheless, individuals words are posted once a week, on Wednesday, and can be viewed here.
ORÐAFORÐI (Vocabulary):
- ársæll (adj.) fortunate (in terms of harvest)
- bjó (vb: 1/3sg. past of búa) lived
- bók (noun, f.) book
- bóndi (noun, m.) husband, farmer, landowner
- bœr (noun, m.) farmstead; town
- draumr (noun, m.) dream
- dóttir (noun, f.) daughter
- dróttning (noun, f.) queen
- efniligr (adj.) promising
- einnhverr (adj. pro.) some, some one
- fagr (adj.) beautiful
- ferð (noun, f.) journey
- frændi (noun, m.) kinsman
- gaf (vb: 1/3sg. past of gera) gave
- gamall (adj.) old
- goði (noun, m.) chieftain, heathen priest
- góðr (adj.) good
- hann (pro: m. nom./acc. sg.) he
- hauss (noun, m.) skull
- heim (adv.) (to) home, homeward
- heita (vb.) to be named
- hús (noun, n.) house
- jól (noun, n. pl.) Yule; Christmas
- kona (noun, f.) woman, wife
- konungr (noun, m.) king
- kostr (noun, m.) choice
- kunnigr (adj.) wise, versed in magic
- landnámsmaðr (noun, m.) settler
- maðr (noun, m.) man, person
- mál (noun, n.) speech
- mikill (adj.) big, great, prominent
- morginn (noun, m.) morning
- nes (noun, f.) headland
- Norðrlönd (noun, n. pl.) Northern lands; Scandinavia
- papi (noun, m.) priest
- rauðr (noun, m.) red
- ríkr (adj.) powerful, mighty
- saga (noun, f.) history, story
- saman (adv.) together
- sá (vb.) to see
- skál (noun, f.) bowl
- skip (noun, n.) ship
- skógr (noun, m.) forest
- skjöldr (noun, m.) shield
- sonr (noun, m.) son
- sterkr (adj.) strong
- sverð (noun, n.) sword
- vápn (noun, n.) weapon
- vera (vb.) to be
- vetr (noun, m.) winter
- vinr (noun, m.) friend
- vitr (adj.) wise
- víking (noun, f.) raid
- Víkingr (noun, m.) Viking
- vísa (noun, f.) verse
- þing (noun, n.) assembly
I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any questions concerning this list, or pertaining to the project in general, feel free to contact me at fjorntheskald@gmail.com. If you are viewing this post on Tumblr, feel free to send me either an ask, message, reply, or reblog to voice any concerns or feedback. If you have any additional information you would like to add to this post, such as updated text availabilities, contact me using any of the methods listed above.
Æsir leiða þig.
(Gods guide you.)
FOOTNOTES:
1. Jesse L. Byock, Viking Age Iceland. (London: Penguins Classics, 2001), 11-12.
2. Jesse L. Byock, Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas. (Jules William Press, 2013) and Geir T. Zoëga, A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2004). I will expand this as I learn of new sources.
Víkingabók Database Project: Dönsk Tunga Orð (Old Norse Words).
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